As a young girl, I always looked forward to Easter. It meant Mom took me shopping for a fancy new dress to wear to church, usually something with a full skirt perfect for twirling, and it also meant a visit from the Easter Bunny.
On Saturday evening, my brother and I set out our pastel blue and pink straw baskets with fake opaque grass in the bottoms. Although not as exciting as Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve, it still took a little extra cajoling to get us to go to bed on time because…
In the morning, we woke up to find those baskets full of plastic eggs, each hiding a different type of candy! Sugar-coated marshmallow Peeps, Starburst-flavored jelly beans, small milk chocolate eggs, and sometimes even a few Hershey kisses wrapped in pale yellow or green foil.
Mom usually let us eat the contents of one plastic egg along with our typical bowl of Life or Raisin Bran cereal before driving across town to church. After the service, the church hosted a special potluck brunch, and we stood in line to grab sugary donut holes and slices of cake… Along with a piece or two of fruit to appease Mom!
As an adult, my stomach feels a bit queasy at the thought of that much sugar in the morning… Which is why I’m planning on baking this Healthy Carrot Cake Breakfast Quick Bread for Easter morning instead! It has the same flavors as the iconic dessert, but it has no refined flour or sugar—and just 104 calories!
And with how easy it is to make, I have a feeling it’s going to be a huge hit with my family this year!
To make this healthy breakfast loaf, you’ll start with whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, if you prefer!) and lots of cinnamon and nutmeg. There’s something so cozy about those spices, don’t you think? This is my current favorite cinnamon. It tastes warmer, richer, and brighter than the brand name red-capped bottles I grew up using!
To keep this quick bread on the healthy side, you’ll just use ½ tablespoon of butter or oil. Yes, that’s it! The rest of its tender texture comes from… Greek yogurt! I bet you knew I was going to say that! I ♡ baking with Greek yogurt because it adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil—but for a fraction of the calories. It also gives your healthy baked treats a protein boost!
To sweeten your healthy breakfast quick bread, you’ll use another one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!). This is the kind I use because I love its warm flavor and don’t notice any funky aftertaste like with some other stevia products. Although you can find it in many health-oriented grocery stores, I actually buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Time for the star of the show → freshly grated carrots! Yes, you must use freshly grated carrots, not store-bought pre-shredded carrots. The latter are thicker and drier, and they don’t soften properly while baking. I promise it’s worth the extra effort of grating your own!
Then spread your batter into a loaf pan, pop it in the oven, set a timer and…
Wait {impatiently like me} until it’s ready to eat! ? 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 breakfast quick bread!
| Healthy Carrot Cake Breakfast Quick Bread | | Print |
- 2 ¼ cups (270g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla stevia
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp (210mL) nonfat milk
- 2 cups (180g) freshly grated carrots (about 2 medium, peeled first!)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat a 9x5” loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining 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 40-50 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted in place of the whole wheat flour.
The quick bread requires 2 full egg whites. The whites contain the majority of the protein in eggs, and that protein is required to ensure the loaf maintains its shape and texture while cooling. Without both egg whites, the loaf will collapse while cooling and turn out much denser.
I do not recommend substituting for the vanilla stevia, if at all possible. (It’s one of my favorite ingredients, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!) I buy mine online here because that's the cheapest price I've found. However, if you really prefer to omit the vanilla stevia from the quick bread, substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) granulated sugar, brown sugar, or coconut sugar and reduce the milk to ½ cup + 1 tablespoon (135mL). You may also substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (150mL) pure maple syrup, honey, or agave and reduce the milk to ¼ cup (60mL) instead. The baking time may vary with either of those substitutions as well.
Do not substitute store-bought pre-shredded carrots (aka matchstick carrots). They’re thicker, drier, and don’t have as good of a flavor as freshly grated carrots.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
Do not use an electric mixer to mix up the batter. This will result in a dense or tough quick bread. Use a whisk where instructed, and use a fork for everything else.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Mini Muffins
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Snack Cake
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Bran Muffins
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Chai Spice Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
♡ Healthy Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Loaf
The brand of stevia I used is Stevita. It says it’s 96% steviosides, and 8 drops contain 15 mg of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (leaves). Thanks for the instructions on plumping the raisins. I’ll try that!
Thanks for sharing, Bonney! It sounds like you’re using Stevita’s clear liquid drops. If that’s true, then according to their conversion chart, you’d need ⅞ teaspoon to replace the liquid stevia that I use in this breakfast quick bread, or half the amount my recipe calls for. Since your Stevia clear liquid drops product is twice as sweet as the one that I use, if you used the same amount (1 ½ teaspoons), that would probably be why you detected the aftertaste!
I really hope you like the hydrated raisins trick too! 🙂
Hey Amy! I’m making this for Easter… if I make it tomorrow and freeze it… how long will it take to thaw?
It means so much that you’d like to include my recipe as part of your special Easter celebrations, Brooke! I’m honored! 🙂 Whenever I freeze quick breads like this, I actually cut them ahead of time and then freeze the individual slices. It drastically cuts down on the thawing time! To speed up the thawing time of individual slices, I’ll also use the microwave on 30-50% power. That works really well, and it means I can thaw the slices in just a few minutes!
I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Easter!
Thank you Amy! Unfortunately I saw this after putting in the freezer whole. Any suggestions?
If you move your whole loaf from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw a full day ahead of time, that should be okay. I don’t recommend thawing it on the counter (for food safety reasons!), and although I haven’t tried heating it in the oven to thaw, it seems like many websites say that’s an alternative method. 🙂
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome, Brooke! 🙂
Love the way you explain the ingredients! What salt do you like to use?
Thanks Taylor! Unless otherwise noted, I just use regular table salt for my baking recipes. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this breakfast quick bread if you try making it!
I made this recipe and followed instructions exactly, using all recommended ingredients. First, it fell apart when I tried taking it out of the pan after cooling for 10 minutes. I tasted the bread and it was AWFUL. No sweetness at all. At the risk of sounding rude, it went right into the garbage disposal. I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to making this recipe.
It means a lot that you tried our recipe, Ellen! That sounds really frustrating and not like how this quick bread is supposed to turn out, so we’d love to work with you to figure out what happened. In order to do so, we have some questions for you!
Could you taste the spices and carrots, and it was just the sweetness level that was off?
Did you make any substitutions, included those provided in the Notes section of the recipe?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons to measure all of the ingredients — especially the flour, Greek yogurt, and milk?
Did you use regular whole wheat flour or the homemade gluten-free blend provided in the Notes section?
Did you use the standard-sized holes of a box grater to grate your carrots? Not the fine holes? (Some people have done this by accident, so we like to double check!)
Did you measure the carrots by cups, grams, or “2 medium carrots?”
Did you use the same vanilla stevia that we linked to in the Ingredients list? If not, what’s the exact stevia (brand + product name!) that you used instead?
How long did you bake your quick bread?
When you inserted a toothpick into the center, did it come out clean?
When your loaf fell apart, was that because the middle was still raw and underdone? Or was it fully baked all the way through, and it ripped because the bottom and/or sides stuck to the pan?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but we’ll have a much better idea of the culprit (and how to fix it!) once we know your answers to all of them! 🙂