Easy Healthy Banana Carrot Muffins Recipe
Healthy, grain-free, and dairy-free Banana Carrot Muffins are made with wholesome ingredients like almond flour, honey, bananas, carrots, dates, and nuts. This muffin recipe freezes beautifully and makes a perfect on-the-go breakfast or midday snack.
What Makes This Recipe Great
A few years ago I posted a recipe for some delicious almond flour muffins with banana, chocolate, and chia seeds. I will for sure make a batch or two of those next week, but I will also be making these amazing banana-carrot-coconut muffins. I found these Carrot Banana Muffins in Andrew Weil’s True Food cookbook and made a few adjustments to make them even more healthful.
These healthy muffins are a great cross between carrot cake and banana bread and have a subtle, natural sweetness and a delicious banana flavor. I actually make one batch as a 2-layer cake for my Passover seders and spread my vegan frosting in between. I’ll make another batch and freeze them for breakfasts and school lunches since I think these are the perfect size and can serve as a meal-in-a-muffin.
Ingredient Notes
- blanched almond flour: (not almond meal) I use Honeyville. This is our grain-free and gluten-free flour substitute. See notes below for tips.
- baking soda
- sea salt
- ground cinnamon
- unsweetened shredded coconut
- large eggs: At room temperature.
- very ripe bananas
- raw honey or pure maple syrup
- unrefined coconut oil or unsalted butter
- pure vanilla extract
- apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- dates: Pitted and chopped (or raisins or dried cherries).
- fresh carrots: I prefer using a box grater to make my grated carrots, but you can use pre-shredded carrots if preferred.
- chopped walnuts or pecans
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or silicone muffin liners.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and coconut. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, mashed banana, melted coconut oil, honey, vanilla, and vinegar together, making sure that the oil is well incorporated into the other ingredients.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Fold in the dates, carrots, and walnuts. Divide the muffin batter among the muffin cups. You will fill the cups to the top since these muffins don’t rise very much.
Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown or a toothpick/skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (Since there is no actual flour, the muffins will not rise significantly.)
Cool in the pan or on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn out the muffins onto the rack and let cool to warm or room temperature.
Expert Tips
- If you don’t have overripe bananas, substitute ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce + an extra 2 Tablespoons raw honey
- This recipe calls for blanched almond flour, which is much finer and lighter than almond meal. Bob’s Red Mill “almond flour/meal” is not fine enough. You can use almond meal in this recipe, but the results will be heavier and coarser.
Storage Tips
To store muffins, let them cool completely after baking. Place them in an airtight container with a paper towel on the bottom and top to absorb moisture, and keep them at room temperature for up to 2 days.
For longer storage, refrigerate the leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To freeze them, wrap each muffin in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, place them in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen muffins in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a few hours.
More Easy Muffin Recipes
Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Strawberry Jam Flaxseed Muffins
Gluten-Free Raisin Bran Muffins
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Easy Healthy Banana Carrot Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour not almond meal I use Honeyville.
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 3 very ripe bananas* mashed
- 2 Tablespoons raw honey
- 1/4 cup 4 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 cup dates pitted and chopped (or raisins or dried cherries)
- 2 medium carrots peeled and shredded
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and coconut. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, melted coconut oil, honey, vanilla and vinegar together, making sure that the oil is well incorporated into the other ingredients.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Fold in the dates, carrots, and walnuts. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. You will fill the cups to the top since these muffins don’t rise very much.
- Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown or a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. (Since there is no actual flour, the muffins will not rise significantly.) Cool in the pan or on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn out the muffins onto the rack and let cool to warm or room temperature.
Notes
55 Comments
This was fantastic! I made mine whole30 compliant by omitting the honey (though technically, if you’re a purist, baked dessert substitutes are off limits). In place of honey, I just added 2T warm water to the chopped dates. It was plenty sweet. I used almond *meal* instead of almond flour and I personally preferred the courser/denser texture.
Nice! Thank you for sharing, Emily. Love the idea of using date liquid in place of honey.
Flavorful, moist and light – these grain-free muffins are delicious! I’ll be making them again. Thank you, Pamela!
So glad to hear that, Liz! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
I made these last night; sadly, the 40 minute time was way over the mark (at least in my oven); I checked at 30 and they looked underdone; at 35 they were burned on top. Maybe because I used a dark pan? Just keep a better eye on them than I did and don’t trust the time. I may try these again,
Hi Casey! Sorry you had trouble with the timing of this recipe. Couple of thoughts – does your oven tend to run hot? Maybe the position of the muffin tin was too high in the oven. Always best practice to bake in the center of the oven for muffins and cakes. Also wondering if the ingredients were not well combined causing either the nut flour and/or sweetener to burn quickly. I would give these another go, baking in the center of the oven, and test them at the 32-minute mark.
After baking my muffins for 45min at 180deg they were still very moist and and i struggled to get them out of silicone muffin pans as they were breaking apart
I’m so sorry the recipe did not turn out well for you. Did you happen to make any substitutions or use a different type of flour?
I love these muffins! Have made them several times, but today I was out of carrots and added two raw, grated sweet potatoes instead. They were just as delicious!
Genius idea, Vikki!
Hi! Is there a good substitute for almond flour for this recipe? Would oat flour work?
Thank You!
Unfortunately, you can’t substitute nut flours for other flours. You can try making the blueberry-banana spelt bread on my site into muffins and you can sub shredded carrots for the blueberries. Muffins will take less time to cook than a loaf pan, so I would start checking them at the halfway mark. https://pamelasalzman.com/blueberry-banana-spelt-bread-recipe-gluten-free-version-too/
This recipe or the grain-free banana muffins from KM – which so you prefer?
Ohh gosh…I love them both! These taste more like a carrot cake, whereas the ones from KM are lighter. They are both delicious!
Thanks! Kids are home sick and have been demanding some banana muffins. 🙂
What is the reason for using unrefined coconut oil as opposed to refined? I like using the refined so there is no coconut taste. Does it make a difference? Thanks in advance.
I tend to stay away from refined oils since they go through heat and/or chemical processing.
The muffins came out beautifully! Not so patiently waiting for them to cool so I can dig in! Recently began the SIBO diet and your recipe was a great fit – just had to leave out the dates. Thanks for a great recipe!
Can I store these in the refrigerator to eat on for the week or do you recommend freezing and thawing each day?
You’ll love them! Yes, store them in the fridge for the week. They hold up very nicely!
These would be perfect to make during Passover with what I have in my pantry while “staying at home” during Covid-19 times. I am no longer going out to stores. I have everything but the almond flour, but I do have almond meal. If I make the almond meal finer by running it thru a clean electric coffee grinder or even a blender (I don’t have a food processor), would that help make the meal more flour-like (or would it just be a finer meal?)
I worry that the meal may turn into almond butter. The meal is ok to use, but the cake will be heavier.
Followed this recipe exactly, my house smells fantastic, the muffins are EXACTLY what I was looking for. Not too sweet, but sweet enough to be a real treat. And very nice flavour and texture. Very nice combination of flavours.
Thank you!
And that’s exactly the kind of treat I like to create – not too sweet, but just right. Thanks, Shelley!
Great Muffin! This recipe is a go to while we are eating Whole30. I use date paste vs honey, raisins vs dates and I save some chopped walnuts to sprinkle on top for added crunch. So good. I’m going to try with zucchini in place of carrots next.
I bet zucchini will work really nicely in this recipe!
Can I use coconut flour instead?
Tnx!
Coconut flour and almond flour have different properties, so you can’t swap them 1:1. Recipes with coconut flour will require much more liquid than other flours.
Made this as a double layer cake with cream cheese frosting for easter and unfortunately passed out leftovers. Wish I would have had more to take home, because this is amazing! I can’t wait to make it again!
Well, now you have an excuse to make it again!
Hi. I cannot tolerate almonds. Would I be able to make banana carrot muffins with grd. pecans or walnuts for Passover. thanks for your help.
I haven’t tried substituting another nut flour in almond flour recipes, but if I were going to, I would try a pecan meal first. Bob’s Red Mill makes one.
My daughter really wants me to make carrot cake muffins so I’m looking for a recipe. She’s GF/DF/ and allergic to nuts – complicates things! Do you think this recipe could work with coconut flour instead of almond? Thanks for all the fabulous adaptable recipes!!!
Unfortunately, you can’t sub coconut flour for almond flour and I don’t like to use all coconut flour in recipes because you need to use so many eggs and then it tastes so egg-y. 🙁 If I were you, I would just take a good GF flour blend like King Arthur and mix it with GF oat flour and some xanthan gum and make my carrot cake recipe. Use coconut oil and you’re good to go!
These are fantastic and the house smells amazing! I was wondering how do you freeze your baked goods? Do you individually wrap them? What kind of container do you use? Thanks!
Glad you like them! I usually freeze muffins in twos, by setting the two bottoms next to each other and wrapping the pair in aluminum foil and then I put all the foil packets in a ziploc bag. If you think you are going to use the muffins within the week, just toss them all in a freezer bag. 🙂
Thanks! So are aluminum foil and ziploc bags not harmful (leach chemicals) if they are in the freezer?
Aluminum leaches when it is heated and when something acidic (like citrus juice or tomatoes) are stored in it. Plastic does leach, but mostly when it’s heated, something acidic or fatty is stored in it. I wouldn’t worry about a few muffins.
Hi can you use whole meal spelt flour?
Unfortunately, you can’t sub grain flours for nut and coconut flours — they all behave very differently. Check out my carrot cake and banana bread recipes and see if you want to add coconut flakes and chopped dates to either of those!
These muffins are fantastic…so moist and flavorful without the grease and sugar! Thanks for another great recipe.
Aww, thanks Mia. I agree — delicious!
These came out SO delicious!! Thank you for making my Passover a bit more bearable!! And for a muffin recipe without the dreaded potato starch that seems to be in every Passover dessert!
Passover desserts have had a lot of help from nut flours. Glad you enjoyed them!
if my muffin tins are stainless steel( without a coating) i don’t need the liners, right?
You don’t need the liners, but you do need to grease the tins before filling them.
Another thing to spruce up our Passover sedar! Thank you. If using teflon coated muffin tins (which is possibly a no-no), do I need to use muffin papers?
I would if I were you!
Any way to make these vegan?
I haven’t tried to make a vegan version of these muffins, but I would try this: sub equal amount of maple syrup for honey and try 3 flax eggs in place of the regular eggs. To make 3 flax eggs, stir together 3 Tablespoons of ground flax meal with 9 Tablespoons of warm water. Allow to sit on the counter for 15 minutes and then add to the batter. I wouldn’t put the flax egg mixture in a blender. Would love to hear if you try this!
If I have pre-shredded carrots is there a measurement instead of the number of carrots?
Thanks.
Good question. I’m going to guess and say 3/4 cup.
These look great! Will regular honey suffice if one does not have raw honey on hand? Thanks!
Most certainly. It’s a habit of mine to write raw honey since that’s all I have on hand. But truthfully, there’s no benefit to using raw honey in a baked good since you’re going to cook it. 🙂
Great! One last question: do you think I could substitute coconut flour or an ancient grains gluten free flour for the almond flour? Many thanks!
You’re welcome! Unfortunately all those flours work differently. Sometimes I supplement almond flour with a little coconut flour, but I don’t enjoy using all coconut flour. It’s really absorbent and you need to use so many eggs. Grain flours don’t contain fat like almond flour, so you would need to add more fat. Which gluten-free ancient grain flour did you have in mind?