Healthy Banana Carrot Muffins [Oil Free]

A cross between banana bread and carrot cake brings you these delicious, yet healthy banana carrot muffins. They’re super tasty, lightly sweetened with hints of lemony flavour, perfectly moist, and completely wholesome.

This recipe was originally published in April 2019. It has been updated for content, photos, and video.

Carrot muffins are a popular treat in the Spring and near Easter, but of course you can make these healthy muffins any time of year.

I love adding a little lemon to my baked goods and just like my lemon cran muffins and lemon blueberry muffins, these are made using healthier ingredients.

So go ahead and serve these for breakfast or a healthy snack. 💚

And if you want to add these to an incredible breakfast spread, be sure to check out these air fryer hash browns.

Jump to:

• How are they healthy?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• What else can I add?
• Storage
• Expert Tips & Tricks
• More healthy vegan muffin recipes
• 📖 Recipe

How are they healthy?

Healthy is a pretty subjective term, but here are a few reasons why I consider these banana carrot muffins to be “healthy.” 🙂

1. The flour: Unlike many muffin recipes, these are made without refined white flour. I’m using a combination of chickpea flour and oat flour which are wholesome and have the added bonus of being gluten-free with a little protein-boost. No all-purpose flour needed.
2. No oil: Rather than use oil or butter to add moisture, I’m using ripe bananas to keep these muffins moist and delicious in texture, adding natural sweetness at the same time.
3. All the fruit and veg: These banana carrot muffins have a healthy dose of fruit and veggies with 1 whole cup of mashed banana and 1 cup of grated carrots!
4. Low sugar! With only ¼ cup of unrefined maple syrup in the entire batch. That means each muffin has only 1 teaspoon of maple syrup. The remaining sweetness comes from carrots and overly ripe bananas.

Instructions

(This is a summary with step by step photos, full recipe measurements and instructions are in the recipe card below.)

NOTE: Let your banana carrot muffins cool for at least 10 minutes before transfering them from the muffin tin to a wire rack. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Substitutions

• If you don’t have chickpea flour on hand, you can make some in a high speed blender, like a Vitamix. Grind dry/raw chickpeas into a flour consistency in seconds.
• The same goes for the oat flour. If you don’t have oat flour on hand, you may grind oats in your blender into a flour consistency.
• To skip the chickpea flour, you may sub with all oat flour instead of the mix. Whole wheat flour should also work, however, I haven’t specifically tried these with whole wheat flour yet.
• You may sub the maple syrup with another liquid sweetener of your choice. Date syrup or agave syrup would work well at an equal ratio.
• For soy-free, you may use almond milk or another dairy-free milk instead of soy milk. However, to make vegan buttermilk, soy milk works best.

What else can I add?

If you want to add more fun flavours to your muffins, fold in ¼ – ½ cup of any of the following:

• Chocolate chips
• Chopped walnuts or pecans.
• Raisins, cranberries, or chopped dates.

Storage

Store your muffins at room temperature for 2 days in an airtight container, or tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, to keep them moist.

For longer storage, refrigerate your muffins in an airtight container and you may reheat in the microwave for a few seconds, if desired. You may keep refrigerated for up to 5 days.

To freeze your banana carrot muffins, make sure they are completely cooled to room temperature first. Then store them in an airtight container or zip top bag in your freezer. You may keep frozen for up to 3 months.

When you’re ready to enjoy, thaw overnight in the fridge or on your counter. Then reheat in the microwave before serving if you prefer them warm.

Expert Tips & Tricks

These banana carrot muffins are pretty simple to make, but here’s a few tips to make sure they turn out perfectly. 🙂

1. Use overripe bananas. The riper your bananas, the greater flavour, sweetness and moisture they will add to your banana carrot muffins. Bananas with brown skins work best.
2. Grate your own carrots. Freshly grated carrots will add more moisture than the already shredded kind you can find at your grocery store. You want moist carrots to help in adding moisture to your muffins.
3. You may use a box grater or a food processor to grate your carrots. If you need to hide the carrots from picky eaters, be sure to use the fine grate side of your shredder. I use the larger side because I like the bright orange flecks it adds to my muffins and my kiddos eat them either way. You know your audience so choose accordingly.
4. Measure your mashed banana to ensure you’re using one cup. Bananas vary greatly in size. Two large bananas did it for me.
5. Same goes for the grated carrots. Keep grating until you reach one gently packed cup. I used 3 medium size carrots.
6. Use a non-stick muffin pan. If you do not have a non-stick muffin pan, make sure to grease your tins or muffin liners as these muffins have very little fat to prevent sticking..
7. Make sure to let your muffins slightly cool. Once removed from the oven, set the muffin pan aside for 5-10 minutes. As the muffins cool, they will be easier to remove from the pan without breaking them.

More healthy vegan muffin recipes

📖 Recipe