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These easy vegan banana carrot muffins are light, moist, and refined sugar free. They’re a healthy breakfast option, a sweet snack, or a decadent dessert when topped with vegan cream cheese frosting!
There’s nothing like a decadent carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It has always been my favorite type of cake, and that’s saying a lot coming from a chocoholic like myself.
At our wedding I had a carrot cake with our coffee station for guests to munch on throughout the night.
The typical carrot cake recipe is not vegan, so I set out to make a spectacular alternative that would satisfy my hankering for the old classic without the guilt, or dairy. I came up with these moist banana carrot muffins.
Why you’re going to love these banana carrot muffins…
- Dairy-free and Vegan
- Refined sugar free
- Full of fruits and veggies
- Perfect for picky kids
- Make for an excellent breakfast, snack, or dessert
- Allergy friendly!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Banana Carrot Muffins:
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Ripe bananas
- Shredded Carrot
- Vanilla Extract
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Coconut sugar
Tools You’ll Need to Make Banana Carrot Muffins:
How to Make Vegan and Gluten-Free Banana Carrot Muffins – Step by Step
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2: Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon). Whisk to combine. Add sugar. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Step 3: In a food processor blend the bananas until they become smooth. Add carrots, applesauce, and almond milk. Blend until combined.
Step 4: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Don’t over mix. Add nuts if you choose.
Step 5: Line muffin tin with muffin cups. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each cup about 3/4 of the way full.
Step 6: Place in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Insert toothpick to check that it comes out clean.
Step 7: Take muffins out of tins immediately, and allow to cool on cooling rack.
How to Substitute Ingredients to Make a Vegan and Gluten-Free Version of Your Favorite Baking Recipes:
A typical muffin recipe uses oil or butter, enriched white flour, eggs, and copious amounts of sugar. To turn these muffins are vegan I substituted applesauce for the oil or butter. I used whole wheat four in place of enriched white flour, and date sugar in place of white or brown sugar.
Applesauce as a Substitute for Oil
You can use unsweetened applesauce in baking in place of oil. This cuts back on added fat. While you can use applesauce in place of butter in a recipe this trick works best for oil.
Avocado is often a good substitute for recipes that call for butter. When using applesauce for oil it’s a 1:1 ratio. If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup oil use 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce.
Chia Paste as a Substitute for Eggs
If a recipe calls for eggs use chia paste as a substitute. You can also use flax to make a flax paste, but I like chia seeds best.
To make a chia egg you take 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, place them in a spice or coffee grinder, and grind them down. Mix the ground chia with 1/4 cup of warm water. Stir to combine and let sit for about 3 minutes.
The chia when combined with water creates a gelatinous consistency. This measurement is equivalent to one egg. If your recipe calls for 2 eggs you would double the amount of chia and water.
If your recipe calls for more than 2 eggs this substitution will not work as well. In most baking the eggs in a recipe help to bind the ingredients. The chia paste acts to bind the ingredients.
If a recipe calls for more than 2 eggs the chances are the eggs are used in the recipe for more than a binding agent and so the chia paste will not work as well.
How do you make this recipe gluten-free?
There are A LOT of gluten free flours out there. Not all gluten free flours work in the same way as white or wheat flour. So when you are using them as a 1:1 substitute in your favorite baking recipe it won’t always turn out the way you hope.
I’ve found that in baking it helps to use a blend of gluten free flours as these flours can have a strong flavor all on their own. Combining the flours helps to mitigate the stronger flavor so it doesn’t overpower your baking recipe.
If you want to make your own blend try using brown rice flour, chickpea flour, and arrowroot starch. To make your own flour use 1 1/2 cups of each flour mix and store in a sealed container for your baking needs.
How do you serve banana carrot muffins?
These muffins taste great all on their own. If you’d like to turn it into more of a carrot cake type of muffin top it with vegan cream cheese frosting. I like this easy recipe from the Minimalist Baker.
If you don’t have a nut allergy these taste fantastic with a sprinkle of crushed pecans. Another idea is to serve it with banana chips on top (although these can be high in sugar)!
Need a little something more with your banana carrot muffin, try pairing it with my spinach apple smoothie or homemade oat milk.
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER VEGAN BREAKFAST IDEAS!
If you’ve tried my banana carrot muffins, please rate them and let me know how they turned out. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more plant-based family recipes your whole family will enjoy!
Banana Carrot Muffins | Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup date sugar reduce for lower sugar
- 2 ripe bananas mashed
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon). Whisk to combine. Add sugar. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a food processor blend two large ripe bananas. Add apple sauce, almond milk, and carrots. Pulse until combined.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Don't over mix. At this time you can add a 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional).
- Line muffin tin with muffin cups. Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter into each cup about 3/4 of the way full.
- Place in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Insert toothpick to check that it comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to sit in the muffin tins for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve had carrot cake. I like the idea of substuting apple sauce for the oil (my mom has been doing that for years), but I wonder if you can use sweetened applesauce and then cut down on the sugar or not need to add sugar at all?
Yes, you can actually cut the sugar in half with this recipe. They won’t be quite as sweet but the natural sweetness of the banana adds enough for me. I wouldn’t use sweetened applesauce, but just reduce the sugar by half.
Looks so good!! Follow on IG and Pinterest too…
Thanks!They are a great healthy breakfast option! Thanks for the follow!
These banana carrot muffins are a great alternative to a carrot cake that is usually full of butter and sugar. These will make perfect after school snacks for my girls.
We loved these muffins! I had one breakfast today and one for dessert yesterday and didn’t even feel bad about it! Thanks!
I made these this morning and I have to tell you—your recipes could easily turn me away from meat products forever. The entire family enjoyed this recipe and asked me to make another batch! I feel like I am winning today thanks to your recipe.
We are all about muffins in our house and keep our freezer stocked with them! Thanks for this new variety to try out!
Hi There,
It’s just impossible to get applesauce here in the UK, especially on lock-down and on a very low income
Is there an easy (low cost) alternative?
thank you
Hi Veronica!
If you can’t find applesauce I recommend using a different fruit or vegetable puree. The purpose of the applesauce in this recipe is as a substitute for oil. Oil creates moisture in a baking recipe. Other fruit purees do the same thing. So any type of fruit puree could work. You could use pumpkin, extra banana, or pear. Or if you’re not opposed to using oil, you could also use oil as a substitute.
Hello! Can you use coconut sugar?
Yes, you can use coconut sugar.