For the President’s Day holiday weekend, my parents drove down to visit, along with their two golden retrievers. They arrived shortly before dinnertime, so while Grandma and Dad opted to stay home and order pizza, Mom and I drove to Panera for a healthier meal.
After ordering a salad for me and a half-sandwich for her, with a cup of black bean soup on the side, we found a little booth away from most of the other patrons. We chatted while waiting for our food to arrive, and when Mom realized that Target and Marshalls shared the same parking lot as Panera, her eyes lit up… And she asked if we could stop by both before heading home.
I laughed an immediately agreed!
We walked to Target first, and as soon as we entered the store, we slowly wandered through their “Dollar Aisle” section at the front, just past the shopping carts and baskets. Since Valentine’s Day had already passed, we found plenty of Easter-themed things: candy, plastic eggs, straw baskets, egg decorating kits, and even clip-on bowties for little boys to wear on Easter morning!
The same thing happened at Marshalls. Although we intended to go straight to the dog section for toys, we paused at their Easter display just inside the front door. I snagged a cute pastel ceramic orange egg carton, and Mom found adorable dishtowels covered in tiny Peeps!
When we arrived back at home with our purchases, we were both in the Easter spirit… Even though it was over a month and a half away! And since I associate all things carrot cake with Easter, I ended up baking this Healthy Carrot Cake Banana Bread soon after.
It has the same flavors as the iconic dessert—cozy cinnamon, a hint of nutmeg, and plenty of sweet carrots—but with a fun fruity twist! Yet unlike traditional carrot cake, this easy recipe is just 107 calories and healthy enough for breakfast!
To make this healthy banana bread, you’ll start with whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, if you prefer!), along with cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg. The nutmeg adds a wonderful richness and depth to the spice flavor. As for the cinnamon, I’m currently obsessed with this one because it tastes brighter, bolder, and sweeter than the most popular brand-name variety!
To keep this banana bread on the healthy side, you’ll use a mere ½ tablespoon of butter or oil. Yes, that’s it! The rest of this low-calorie banana bread’s tender texture comes from two other ingredients: Greek yogurt and mashed banana. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know how much I love baking with Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your treats a protein boost, too!
The mashed banana not only provides tenderness… It also adds natural sweetness! See those bananas? That’s the minimum amount of brown spots I recommend. I actually prefer bananas that are almost entirely brown for my baking recipes!
This is because the brown bananas contain more natural sweetness than their pure yellow friends… So if you use those extra ripe bananas, you’ll only need to mix a small amount of pure maple syrup (like this!) into your low-calorie banana bread batter.
Just before spreading the batter into your loaf pan, you’ll gently stir in freshly grated carrots. Do not use the pre-shredded store-bought ones! Those are much thicker and drier than freshly grated carrots, and they don’t soften as much while baking. I promise it’s worth the small amount of extra effort to grate your own carrots!
Tip: If your food processor has a grater attachment, that makes the grating process go even faster!
How yummy does that healthy banana bread look? ?? It definitely put me in a permanent Easter mood… So I have plenty more fun carrot cake recipes coming your way soon! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your banana bread!
| Healthy Carrot Cake Banana Bread | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup (200g) mashed banana (about 2 medium)
- 2 tbsp (30mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ cups (160g) freshly grated carrot (about 2 medium, peeled first!)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 9x5” loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Mix in the mashed banana and maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Gently fold in the carrots.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat flour.
For best results, use the ripest, darkest, most spottiest bananas you can find! The ones with more brown color than yellow are ideal. (See my photo in the blog post above for reference!) Measure the bananas by cups or grams. Not all “medium” bananas are the same size!
The mashed banana and Greek yogurt combined need to measure 1 cup. If you have slightly more than ¾ cup mashed banana, then reduce the Greek yogurt by the same amount, and vice versa.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
Do not substitute store-bought pre-shredded carrots! They’re too thick and dry, and they don’t soften properly while baking.
For a sweeter-tasting banana bread, substitute 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup for an equal amount of milk.
To see how this banana bread is made, watch my video here (it’s for a similar banana bread recipe!).
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Snack Cake
♡ Healthy Morning Glory Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Scones
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Pancakes
♡ Healthy Zucchini Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Cinnamon Apple Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Mini Muffins
What can I use instead of yogurt in this recipe?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Abbey! For the best results, I’d recommend non-dairy yogurt (ie soy-based, almond-based, coconut-based, etc!) because that’ll yield the closest taste and texture. You can also substitute additional mashed banana, but the loaf will be somewhat denser with that substitution.
I’d love to hear what you think of this banana bread if you try making it!
This is an outstanding recipe! 1/2 tablespoon of butter apparently goes a long way. I substituted agave rather than maple syrup and used regular flour, and cashew milk. The super ripe bananas added enough sweetness, although I did sprinkle a bit of Swerve over the top before baking. I love recipes with Greek Yogurt, it’s moist and a great combination of flavors!
Thanks for creating this winner!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this banana bread, Karen! It’s a huge compliment that you’d call this recipe a winner. Thank you for taking the time to let me know — you just put the biggest smile on my face!! 🙂
Impressive. A tasty carrot cake so low in calories. Thanks for sharing !!
My pleasure! I’d love to hear what you think of this carrot cake banana bread if you try making it, Vicky!
I love this nutritious recipe! Do you have the nutrition information?
I’m so glad you enjoyed this banana bread, Lilia! The full nutrition information is actually included directly underneath the recipe box. I know it can be really easy to miss though! 😉
This is divine Amy!! My son who is not easy to please, especially with his food restrictions being on a dragon boat team is having this bread generously. Thanks a bunch for this recipe, this way I’m able to get him some healthy calories. I just have a question around some ingredient to make it rise a bit more. I know it wont rise much because of all the dense ingredients, yet any suggestions??
dee
You are so sweet, Dee! We’re happy to hear you like this carrot cake banana bread! I’m not sure what to add to make this specific recipe rise more. It is intended to be more of a dense bread. However, you might like to try our Ultimate Healthy Banana Bread or Banana Pound Cake recipes. You can add carrots to either one of those like you did in this recipe. Both of those recipes have more batter, so will rise a little bit higher. We’d love to hear what you think if you try it out! 😉
We do not eat eggs so could I use flax or chia eggs? Recipe sounds great using Greek yogurt..
Thank you.
Carol
We really appreciate your interest in our recipe, Carol! Amy actually has a family member who is allergic to eggs, and Ener-G is her favorite egg replacement substitute. If you haven’t heard of it before, Ener-G is a flavorless and shelf-stable powder that keeps for ages. It works perfectly as an egg replacer in nearly all of our recipes, including this one! For our recipes, use 1 ½ teaspoons Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water for each egg white (and you’ll need an additional ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil {or Earth Balance, if you’re vegan!} for each egg yolk, although that doesn’t apply to this particular recipe!). I’d love to hear what you think if you decide making this banana bread! 😉