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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Get the Recipe
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
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
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.