These Banana Carrot Muffins are super moist, soft, and topped with a buttery oat streusel. They come together in only 30 minutes and no mixer is needed!
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These Banana Carrot Muffins are melt-in-your-mouth delicious and the oat streusel on top gives the perfect crunch with every bite. This recipe is super easy and makes a great treat for breakfast (or any other time of the day)!
These muffins might be one of my new favorite recipes. At first, I was skeptical of the carrots, but to be honest you can't really taste them with the banana and cinnamon. They add the perfect amount of moisture to the muffins!
Sneaking vegetables into my breakfasts is one of my favorite pastimes, especially in smoothies like my salted chocolate peanut butter smoothie. These carrot banana muffins are loaded with fresh carrots and to be completely honest, you don't even taste them!
Ingredients needed for these Banana Carrot Muffins:
Here are some notes on a few ingredients- please see the full ingredient list in the recipe card below!
- bananas- these muffins are a great way to use up those old bananas! I used about 2.5 medium bananas.
- carrots- I recommend buying whole carrots and grating them yourself, this will give your muffins more moisture. You can buy pre-shredded carrots at the store, but they tend to be dry.
- maple syrup- I decided to swap the white sugar I typically use in my muffin recipes for some maple syrup, and it turned out great! You can also use honey if you prefer. I swapped out using granulated sugar for the maple syrup, so you coul say these are healthy carrot muffins!
- cinnamon- There is a lot of cinnamon in these muffins because that is what gives it a lot of its flavor and spice! If you love nutmeg, you could throw in ¼ teaspoon into the batter!
- old-fashioned oats- for the oat streusel, you're going to want to use old-fashioned (or rolled) oats. You can use quick oats as well if that's all you have on hand. Just don't use steel-cut oats.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Make the streusel- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour in the melted butter, and mix until completely combined. Set aside.
Step 2: Make the muffins- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until creamy (they will be lumpy). Add in the maple syrup, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and gently mix until there are no streaks of flour left (be careful not to over mix). Then fold the grated carrots into the batter.
Step 3: Bake the muffins- Scoop batter into paper liners, filling about ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle 2 tablespoon of streusel on top of each muffin, gently pressing it down so it sticks to the batter as the muffins rise.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I usually start checking my muffins around 15 minutes just to be careful. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Using room temperature ingredients helps the batter to combine better and trap air, which expands in the heat of the oven to give you light and fluffy muffins. Make sure your melted butter isn't scalding hot, and your egg is at room temperature.
Easy way to get an egg to room temperature- submerge it in a bowl of lukewarm water for a few minutes.
There are a few ways to do this. If you know you want to make these in a day or two, stick your bananas in a brown paper bag and let them sit in there to ripen more quickly.
If you are in a pinch, turn your oven on to 300 degrees F, put the bananas on a baking sheet, and bake for about 20-30 minutes. Your bananas will turn dark brown/black and will be squishy to the touch. Let them cool completely before using them in the recipe.
These muffins are super moist and soft, and shouldn't come out of dry. If they are, you likely added too much flour or over-mixed the batter. Be sure to use the scoop and level method or weigh the flour. For mixing, only mix until you no longer see streaks of flour in the batter.
Yes, you can! Just double the recipe ingredients. I suggest baking the muffins one batch at a time to get even baking in the oven. You can also cut this recipe in half to make fewer muffins
Tips and Tricks
- Use freshly grated carrots- this is the key to extra moisture in your muffins. When you buy grated carrots from the store, they are already dry. If you have the time, buy whole carrots and grate them yourself, it makes all the difference!
- Spoon and level your flour- I always recommend spooning and leveling your flour when baking. Scooping the measuring cup right into the flour will actually compact the flour and give much more than the recipe calls for. To spoon and level, use a large spoon to gently scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Once it's full, use a flat edge (like a butter knife) to gently scrape across the top of the measuring cup.
- Don't overmix the batter- when mixing the dry and wet ingredients, only mix until you no longer see the streaks of flour. Overmixing the batter can lead to dense muffins that aren't fluffy.
- Only fill the liners ¾ of the way- to avoid overfilling and spilling when they bake, only fill the muffin cups ¾ of the way full.
- Check your muffins in the oven- all ovens bake differently, so make sure to check them around 15 minutes to see if they are baking too fast.
Storing & Freezing
Leftover muffins can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. To defrost, allow them to sit at room temperature until no longer frozen. They can also be heated in the microwave.
Want to try more muffin recipes?
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📖 Recipe
Banana Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup mashed banana about 2½ bananas
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter melted
- ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
- ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup freshly grated carrots
Oat Streusel
- 1 cup flour spooned and leveled
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
Instructions
Make the oat streusel
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour in the melted butter, and mix until completely combined. Set aside.
Make the muffins
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until creamy (they will be lumpy). Add in the maple syrup, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and gently mix until there are no streaks of flour left (be careful not to over mix). Then fold the grated carrots into the batter.
- Scoop batter into paper liners, filling about ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle 2 tablespoon of streusel on top of each muffin, gently pressing it down so it sticks to the batter as the muffins rise.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I usually start checking my muffins around 15 minutes just to be careful. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- Leftover muffins can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. To defrost, allow them to sit at room temperature until no longer frozen. They can also be heated in the microwave.
- Use freshly grated carrots- this is the key to extra moisture in your muffins. When you buy grated carrots from the store, they are already dry. If you have the time, buy whole carrots and grate them yourself, it makes all the difference!
- Spoon and level your flour- I always recommend spooning and leveling your flour when baking. Scooping the measuring cup right into the flour will actually compact the flour and give much more than the recipe calls for. To spoon and level, use a large spoon to gently scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Once it's full, use a flat edge (like a butter knife) to gently scrape across the top of the measuring cup.
- Don't overmix the batter- when mixing the dry and wet ingredients, only mix until you no longer see the streaks of flour. Overmixing the batter can lead to dense muffins that aren't fluffy.
- Check your muffins in the oven- all ovens bake differently, so make sure to check them around 15 minutes to see if they are baking too fast.
Nutrition
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Karol says
I prefer to use a scale to weigh my ingredients, and when I changed the recipe card to metric (great to see that feature, thanks!) I noticed the flour ratio was way off. 1 cup of flour weighs between 120-125 grams, so 1.5 cups of flour should be around 185 grams, but your converter states only 62.5 grams. Glad I caught that before baking these!
I made another change, substituting flax eggs (1T ground flax meal mixed with 3T water for each egg - stir well, and let sit for 10-15 minutes), since real eggs are getting so pricey.
Otherwise, an excellent recipe that I’ll be making frequently.
Kelly Hamilton says
Thanks for bringing this to my attention Karol, just fixed it on my end! Glad you enjoyed these muffins!
Jeanne says
Yep these are the bomb. Love them. Super quick and impressive. Kids loved them too.
Kelly Hamilton says
Thanks so much for trying these, Jeanne! Glad to hear you and the kids enjoyed them!
Bona says
The flour ratio in this recipe is not right. Only 1/2 cup of flour? Is this correct? My muffins didn't turn out right.
Kelly Hamilton says
Hi Bona! I apologize, it is 1 and 1/2 cups of flour for this recipe. You should see that in the recipe card!
Phil says
These taste amazing!
Kelly Hamilton says
Happy to hear you love this recipe, thanks for trying!