Carrot Banana Bread
Moist banana bread meets carrot cake in this carrot banana bread mashup. In addition to grated carrot we’ll add classic carrot cake spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves. It’s everything you love about banana bread but add a carrot cake twist!
As much as I love basic banana bread, I find it very hard to get myself to make it. I just love a twist: hazelnut banana bread, apple banana bread, pumpkin banana bread! And since carrot cake season is here, I thought: carrot banana bread!
This recipe takes inspiration from my hazelnut banana bread, Yumna’s Carrot Banana Bread, and KAB’s carrot cake.
Recipe Ingredients
Bananas: Two medium sized ones, if you are weighing it’ll be about 200g total (without the peel). Use them when they are browned (but not black) all over.
Carrot: I shred my carrots using a cheese grater but if you’ve got a food processor that has a ‘chopper’ attachment you could use that instead.
Spices: I use a mix of cinnamon (always in my banana bread anyway), clove and ginger. Leave one or both of the latter out if you like and increase any of the amounts to your taste.
Flour: All purpose flour, if you are using measuring cups be sure to sprinkle the flour into the cup then level it gently so you aren’t overpacking it. See below question about gluten-free.
Oil: Any flavorless oil like grapeseed, canola, vegetable or avocado oil. If you were desperate to use butter, melt it.
Sour Cream: This adds to the softness of the bread, use yogurt if you don’t have sour cream.
How to make Carrot Banana Bread?
Right, this is going to be very difficult so take a breath…
…Basically you, throw everything into a bowl and stir =)
No, but do it gradually, we want the banana and carrots to begin to break down before we add the flour. The eggs should be well mixed into the batter too so we don’t have bits of cooked egg in the bread.
The flour & nuts go in last, so that we aren’t overmixing and overdeveloping the gluten which would make for a tough bread.
Can I make this carrot banana bread gluten-free?
Most people gluten-free my recipes by using a 1-to-1 flour swap like King Arthur or Bob’s, if you are doing that just use the same amount of flour I have listed.
But personally I love oat flour, so if you have it I’d swap oat flour for the all purpose, but add another 2 tablespoons of it (oat flour is lighter) and let the batter sit in the pan on the counter for about 20 minutes before you bake it.
Can I make it dairy free?
Yep. Use a dairy free plain or vanilla yogurt in place of the sour cream.
What should I top the bread with?
I’m a little bit of a banana bread purist so I like it best warm from the oven spread with salted butter.
But like, with this carrot twist I am loving the idea of topping it with a cream cheese buttercream. In fact if you bake it in a square pan instead, that would be a delicious way to serve it as a banana carrot ‘cake’ topped with cream cheese frosting.
Carrot Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 200g or 2 medium sized ripe bananas
- 145g or 1 heaped cup shredded carrot about 2 medium sized carrots
- 220g or 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 100g or ½ cup canola or flavorless oil
- 200g or 1 cup brown sugar dark or light
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp each ground cloves and ground ginger
- ½ fine sea salt
- 60g or ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts optional
Method
- Grease & flour a standard size loaf pan. Lay and tuck a sheet of parchment paper into it to be a sling to help you take out the bread once it’s done baking.
- Grate the carrot & mash the banana with a fork. Add them to a bowl and mix together with a fork.
- Add the oil and sugar and mix well with the fork.
- Add the eggs and mix. You can switch to a whisk now. Add the remaining ingredients, except the nuts. Whisk well to combine but don’t overdo it, once you can’t see any streaks of flour it’s done.
- Add the nuts and fold them into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Once it’s ready, set the bread in the oven.
- Bake for about 50-70 minutes, if your loaf pan is on the large side it may bake quicker (check it at 45) if it’s small it might take the full hour. My 8.5x4.5 took 60 minutes total. When a cake tester comes out clean from the center it’s done.
- Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes then use the sling to take it out.
- Banana breads get better with time so while absolutely delicious warm, it’ll also be soft and even more moist the next day.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Absolutely delicious!!! Best banana bread I’ve ever had – and I’ve had a lot lol! Comes together so easily and bakes nice and thoroughly – not too gooey or crispy anywhere. I added some cardamom and nutmeg because I’m a spice fiend lol and topped it with some cream cheese frosting as Sam suggested. But it’s also gorgeous on its own!