A simple recipe for breakfast spiced carrot bread made with real food ingredients like carrots, walnuts, and raisins – naturally sweetened with maple syrup. You can make a double batch and freeze some for later too!
My family really likes many types of breakfast bread and muffins and that makes me very happy.
It makes mornings much, MUCH, MUCH easier to have something ready when both kids come down the stairs with growling stomachs, saying “I’m HUNGRY!” to a mom who hasn’t even poured water into the coffee pot yet.
Banana chocolate chip muffins are everyone’s favorite – hands-down – but the peanut butter chocolate chip muffins are a close second place. The kids even love moist cranberry orange scones, which tend to be a grown-up only pastry.
My only breakfast failures have come from one culprit – vegetables. I’ve tried several breakfast recipes that use vegetables, but one bite and they’ve all gotten the thumbs down.
When I happened to see a recipe for spiced carrot bread, I was skeptical yet hopeful. Could it be a recipe with vegetables that the kids actually ate? This would be a wonderful answer to the “What do I do with the remaining 8 pounds of carrots I just bought?” question that goes through my head when I’m at Costco.
The taste-test results were unanimous – empty plates and a “can I get more” from The Boy! Mr. Crumbs, The Girl, and I loved it too! Of course, I made it with less sweetener and a bit more spice, which makes for a healthier and more flavorful breakfast bread! Served warm with a pat of butter, this spiced carrot bread is a winner!
Spiced Carrot Bread
Besides the fact that it’s the best carrot bread I’ve ever tasted, it’s also:
- Healthy. Packed with nutritious carrots, raisins, nuts, yogurt, and spices, breakfast doesn’t get any better than this!
- Naturally and lightly sweetened. Without refined sugar, this recipe allows for your family to enjoy the natural sweetness of wholesome real food ingredients.
- Convenient. Plan to double or triple the recipe so you’ll always have a healthy snack or breakfast ready to go right from your freezer.
Ingredients for Breakfast Carrot Bread
With simple ingredients, you can throw this recipe together easily with ingredients that are already in the pantry…
- Walnuts
- Raisins
- Carrots
- Maple syrup
- Coconut oil
- Eggs
- Greek yogurt
- Whole wheat flour
- Vanilla (here’s how to make it homemade)
- Baking powder & baking soda
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
- Salt
Note: Some people like to dust the top of the carrot bread with powdered sugar. Of course, there is no refined sugar in this recipe, but here’s how to make homemade powdered sugar.
Should I use regular yogurt or Greek yogurt for this carrot bread recipe?
I prefer to use Greek yogurt in this carrot bread recipe because it gives a better rise than regular yogurt.
Can I substitute brown sugar for maple syrup in carrot breakfast bread?
I prefer to use a natural sweetener like maple syrup rather than granulated sugar or brown sugar. Of course, if you cannot use maple syrup, you can sub in brown sugar. About 1 cup for the ½ cup of maple syrup.
How to Make Carrot Bread
- Preheat the oven. Prepare baking cups or loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, combine the raisins, walnuts, and 1 Tbsp flour. Add dry ingredients.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Scoop ¼ cup batter into each muffin cup or pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake 15-18 min (mine took exactly 16 min) for muffins, and 30 mins for loaves.
Can I make both carrot bread and carrot bread muffins?
Yes! Just follow the recipe the same way for both versions. For muffins, you will scoop ¼ cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
For loaves, pour the batter into your pan(s) – dividing evenly if you’ve used more than one – and bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. This is about 1 hour for an 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pan and 30 minutes for mini-loaves. Since every oven is different, check often to ensure the bread isn’t over-baked! Set on a wire rack to cool completely.
More Breakfast Bread Recipes
- 5-Ingredient Banana Bread Muffins
- Molasses Breakfast Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips Muffins
- Banana Nut Muffins with Crumb Topping
- Zucchini Muffins with Apples and Carrots
Freezer Cooking: Breakfasts
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A simple recipe for breakfast spiced carrot bread made with real food ingredients like carrots, walnuts, and raisins – naturally sweetened with maple syrup.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 16 mins
- Total Time: 26 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ¾ c walnuts, chopped (measure first, then chop)
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 cups shredded carrots (you can use a food processor for grated carrots)
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla (here’s how to make it homemade)
- 1 ¾ c + 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ginger
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp + ⅛ tsp nutmeg
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 425F. Prepare baking cups (for muffins) or loaf pans with cooking spray.
-
In a large bowl, combine the raisins, walnuts, and 1 Tbsp flour. Mix well so the raisins don’t clump together. Add the rest of the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and stir together well. Set aside.
-
In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the shredded carrots, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, Greek yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk until the wet ingredients are combined well.
-
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
-
Scoop ¼ cup batter into each muffin cup or pour batter into the prepared pan.
-
Bake 15-18 min (mine took exactly 16 min) until the center comes out clean on an inserted toothpick
These were delicious. I’m usually not a fan of carrot bread, but this was fantastic.
I’ve been looking for a great way to get carrots into my son’s diet. He doesn’t like to taste or texture of raw or cooked carrots. But I think he will like this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Kristy
Coming over to visit from Kids in the Kitchen. This looks absolutely delicious! Feel free to join us over at “Try a New Recipe Tuesday.” I’d love to have you join us! 🙂
Thanks Lisa! I linked up my recipe, but I don’t have any of the accounts required for comments. 🙁
Thanks so much, Tiffany! 🙂 Hope you join us each week!
Oooh…I like how you added the chips, makes it a real treat. I recently made a similar bread with pears- yum. Will post it to my blog soon…hopping by from the eye heart hop 🙂
This looks so good! I was just introduced to cinnamon chips and now vanilla. I need to try this. I’d love it if you would like up to Fantastic Thursday. Hope to see you there.
Can’t wait ti try this recipe!! So glad you linked this to Things I’ve Done Thursday!
That looks so good! Thanks for sharing at the Pomp Party! Pinning to our Pomp Party board on Pinterest!
Hi Tiffany,
Your Carrot Bread looks so delicious, sure wish I had a slice to go with my afternoon tea. Hope you have a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Looks delicious! I love carrot cake, I bet this tastes similar. Thanks so much for sharing at Terrific Tuesdays.
Rachel
adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com
Thanks for linking up at Fantastic Thursday at Five Little Chefs! Hope to see you there next week!
It definitely sounds like you have a winner of a bread there!! Sounds like carrot cake…which I love…I can’t wait to try it out!!!
It probably is more of a cake, but calling it a “bread” makes us feel less guilty for eating a whole loaf at a time, lol.
Tiffany,
This looks delicious! I love all the spices with the carrot bread. Thanks so much for stopping by Creative Thursday last week. I couldn’t do these parties without you. Can’t wait to see what you link up this week. Have a great week.
Michelle
This bread looks so delicious! I like how it makes a bunch of mini loaves, so that you can make it for gifts too. Thanks for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday!
Gorgeous! I love carrot anything and yours looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Oh my this looks amazing! I will be featuring this tomorrow morning at our party. Thanks for sharing with us at Link It Up Thursday.
Oooooo…Carrot bread…we love carrot bread…this will be a hit at our house!
Thanks for linking up to Showcase Your Talent Thursday, you have been featured!
This sounds delicious and I would like to try it. I don’t know if I am blind or not, but in the prep directions, I cannot find when you add the vanilla chips.
Maybe someone can help me with this.
You know what, I don’t think I mentioned that part! They should be the last thing you add, after everything else is combined well. I hope you enjoy the bread as much as we do!
This looks so awesome I’ve printed it off to try this week. Pity we don’t have vanilla baking chips here in Oz.
Aw, that is a pity Jodie! I’ve mixed in dried cranberries before as a treat, but the bread really is delicious on its own. Enjoy!
I am searching the internet for healthier breads to serve my daughter for the next few months as we enter what I call “Phase 1” of dairy allergy elimination. She did a milk food challenge Thursday and I need to give her baked milk every day in a muffin or bread. It has to be exactly 1 cup of milk and cooked at 350-degrees for a minimum of 30 minutes. I wonder how it would turn out if I subbed in 1 cup of full fat milk for the half cup of buttermilk?
I haven’t tried that Margaret, but you’re welcome to experiment!
Hi just wanted to say that if you make this in a regular loaf pan it will overflow and take forever to bake.
Hi Jen! Typically quick breads take about an hour to bake in the oven. Thanks for letting me know about the quantity. We’ll definitely split between two pans if we make regular sized loaves. 🙂
So, I’m new here, but when you mention flour in this recipe what kind of flour are you referring to?
Hi Lynn! I’ve made this recipe using all-purpose, bread flour, whole wheat flour and a combination of spelt/whole wheat. The only flour I haven’t tried is GF. 🙂
Hi, this look delicious! What are vanilla baking chips? Thanks!
They’re like chocolate chips, but flavored vanilla!
I have made this recipe and it’s soooo good! I am going to make it again but replace raisins with dates!
★★★★★
I bet the dates will be great, Teresa!