Lightly sweet and with an excellent texture, these banana carrot muffins are made with whole grain flour and sweetened with honey. Using a mix of grated carrot and mashed banana makes for a muffin that’s moist without being stodgy and rolled oats add an additional textural element.
These freeze very well – I am eating a thawed muffin as I write this – and some changes can be made to suit your tastes. More on these below.
If you’ve got lots of carrots to use up, use some in a carrot parsnip soup, dairy-free carrot cake, or fruit-sweetened vegan carrot bread. None of those recipes call for peeled carrots, so you’ll both need less time and make less food waste.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Spelt flour: substitute light spelt for whole grain if preferred, or use whole wheat flour, graham flour, or plain white flour.
- Carrots: scrubbed well, no need to peel, and shredded with a box grater.
- Bananas: they should be at least ripe enough to have some brown spots on them. The riper the bananas the sweeter the muffins will be.
- Oil: I always use olive oil, but any oil that’s liquid at room temperature can be used.
- Yogurt: use unflavoured, unsweetened yogurt of any kind. I use either oat or soya yogurt.
- Eggs: for best results, use room temperature eggs. If you store them in the refrigerator, quickly bring them up to room temp by submerging in warm (not hot) water for five minutes before using.
- Cinnamon: if you’d like a stronger spice flavour, add an additional 1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg and cardamom or cloves. A spice blend can be used too.
Step by Step
Step 1: add the bananas to a large mixing bowl and mash well with a fork.
Step 2: stir in the other wet ingredients.
Step 3: mix in the grated carrot.
Step 4: add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Step 5: divide the muffin batter equally among muffin cups.
Step 6: bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Topping the muffins with a little sprinkling of oats is optional, but cute. It’s always nice to have an idea of what’s in the muffin.
Raisins, currants, or dried cranberries would all make nice additions to the batter if you’d like a little something extra. I would be more likely to add chopped dark chocolate, I think, but all of the above would be good.
If you’d like a vegan version of this recipe, I recommend trying my vegan carrot muffins rather than trying to adapt this recipe. I tested several variations and the vegan versions always turned out dense and/or soggy.
How to Store
Storage: keep the muffins in a sealed container at room temperature for up to three days. If the space is warm, refrigerate them instead.
Freezing: transfer fully cooled muffins to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. They are a tiny bit more dry after thawing but it’s barely noticeable.
Newsletter
Expert Tips
- Add the carrot to the wet ingredients: while you might sometimes see ingredients like grated carrot folded into an already-mixed batter, this is a likely culprit for over-mixing quick breads. Stirring it into the wet ingredients means that it will be evenly incorporated and reduces the changes of tough muffins.
- Break up any clumps: baking soda and powder have a tendency to clump up and in a one-bowl recipe like this, that can lead to unmixed pieces of leavening agent in the muffins (foul) so I crush them with the back of a spoon before measuring or sift them through a small tea-sieve.
- Don’t over-mix: as mentioned above, it is important to have a light hand when mixing muffins or any quick bread. Stir until just combined and no further, or risk a tough and chewy end result.
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Banana Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe bananas peeled
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 100 grams unsweetened non-dairy yogurt room temperature if possible
- 50 ml olive oil
- 80 grams honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract optional
- 130 grams grated carrot
- 225 grams whole-grain spelt flour
- 100 grams rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
- Add the bananas to a large mixing bowl and mash well with a fork. Add the eggs and beat lightly, then mix in the yogurt, olive oil, honey, and vanilla.2 large ripe bananas, 2 large eggs, 100 grams unsweetened non-dairy yogurt, 50 ml olive oil, 80 grams honey, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Stir in the grated carrot to evenly incorporate.130 grams grated carrot
- Add the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir until just combined, being careful not to over-mix.225 grams whole-grain spelt flour, 100 grams rolled oats, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Divide the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups, then top with extra rolled oats if desired. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
- Cool the muffins in the tin for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing and cooling fully on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for a couple of days or up to three months in the freezer.
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
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