Carrot Bread is an easy take on carrot cake with walnuts, carrots, cinnamon, and nutmeg that’s perfect for brunch, dessert or gifting!
Move over Banana Bread and Zucchini Bread, there’s a new tasty, easy bread in town. While we will always love classic Bread Recipes, we’d never turn down a cake inspired breakfast.
Quick breads are some of the easiest and tastiest breakfasts to make. They last a long time at room temperature and they can go from morning treat to hearty dessert with just a few swaps.
We love making bread year round, from Pumpkin Breads in the fall to Banana Breads in the summer. Carrot Bread is one of those recipes you can make every season and it never feels out of place. You can turn sweet and savory carrots into muffins, cupcakes, and even cookies but the easiest way to enjoy them is with this yummy bread.
This Carrot Bread recipe has all the classic flavors of Carrot Cake, minus the rich frosting. It’s sure to be one of your new favorite recipes for breakfast, plus you can always add that frosting later.
This is a perfect treat for Easter morning, it can be baking while your little bunnies dive into their baskets, plus is savory enough to balance out all the candy they are going to eat later.
If you want a more healthy, but still yummy, bread, try mixing in some zucchini and substituting the oil for apple sauce. Serve with a greek yogurt spread instead of butter for extra protein.
If you are hosting an Easter Brunch, why not bake this in a bundt pan for a more festive breakfast. Dust with powdered sugar after its completely cooled. You can even use little cardboard stencils of rabbits or flowers to give it a truly Spring look.
Tips for making Carrot Bread
- To tell if your bread is done cooking, insert a toothpick in the middle. If it is cleaned when removed, then it is ready to come out of the oven.
- Allow grated carrots to drain a bit on paper towels while you assemble other ingredients, to soak up any excess moisture without drying them out.
- If you don’t have baking spray, use regular cooking spray and dust your loaf pan with flour to prepare.
- Remove your bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack to stop the cooking process and keep your bread moist.
Other Delicious Quick Bread Recipes
Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Zucchini Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Easy Banana Bread (No Mixer!)
How to Make Carrot Bread
- Mix Well: Make sure your eggs, sugar and oil are well mixed (a whisk is just fine for this).
- Dry Ingredients: Sift well then add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat well.
- Mix-Ins: Stir in the carrots and 1 cup of the walnuts.
- Prepare the Loaf Pan: Grease a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan and pour in the batter. Top with the remaining walnuts.
- Cook time: Bake for 1 hour and let rest 10 minutes before removing from pan.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Turn these into Carrot Muffins by dividing the batter into a lined 12 cup muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Swap out the walnuts for pecans. You can also add chocolate chips or dollops of cream cheese.
Make this into a dessert bread by spreading some Cream Cheese Frosting over your cooled bread. Go even further with your sweet tooth by drizzling some Salted Caramel Sauce on top.
Apples bring out the natural sweetness of carrots. Reduce the oil to 2 tablespoons and add ⅓ cup applesauce and 1/2-1 cup of grated apples to your batter. Bake as normal.
Give your bread an easy, sweet topping by mixing ¼ cup flour, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Combine and break into large pieces. Sprinkle on top of batter before baking.
More Sweet and Tasty Breakfast Recipes
Easy Cinnamon Rolls (in 1 Hour!)
Gooey Monkey Bread
Easy French Toast Bake
Bread Pudding
How to Store Carrot Bread
- Serve: Cover your bread in airtight container after serving. Store in a cool, dry place for up to 1 week.
- Store: Keep your bread fresh by storing in the fridge, sealed up, for about 2 weeks.
- Freeze: You can freeze this bread in an airtight container for 3 months.
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups carrots , shredded
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts , chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat the eggs.
- Mix in the sugar and vegetable oil. Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat well.
- Stir in the carrots and 1 cup of the walnuts.
- Grease a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan and pour in the batter. Top with the remaining walnuts.
- Bake for 1 hour. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick and removing it; if any batter sticks to the toothpick, continue to bake until done.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from loaf pan.
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Nutrition
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Photos from a previous version of this post:
This recipe is great, I added 1/3 cup apple sauce and 1/2 cup shredded coconut. A family favorite ?
Sounds yummy Jessica! Thank you for your feedback.
I am not a cook, but I thought the mixture was too thick with only the 2 eggs and oil being the only liquid so I added 1/4 cup of milk to make it more workable. It turnned out wonderful.
You sound like a cook to me?!!! Good job!
Can you use cooked carrots instead of grated
When I made this recipe I added 1/3 cup of milk with the flour. It prevents the bread from being dry. Instead of nutmeg I added 1/4 tsp. of cloves because I prefer the taste of cloves. I’m on a gluten-free diet so I used gluten-free flour. It was delicious. Yummy!
This recipe for carrot bread I add 1/3 cup of milk. I like the flavor of cloves over nutmeg, so I add 1/4 tsp. of cloves.
Recipe easy. I followed exactly, the taste is wonderful.
However, it came out pretty dry.
Recommendations?
Sabrina, if I’m using self rising flour, do I need to add salt and baking soda?
Delicious, delicious! Since I had recently made applesauce, I made this bread with the Apple Carrot Bread variation. With my oven, it took only about 50 minutes to bake. I didn’t have walnuts on hand, so substituted with pecans. It does take a little time to shred the carrots (I needed only two), but the taste of this bread is divine, especially with the apple carrot bread recipe. Thanks, Sabrina, for the recipe.
Janice, thank you so much for the support! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Delicious, delicious! Since I had recently made applesauce, I made this bread with the Apple Carrot Bread variation. With my oven, it took only about 50 minutes to bake. I didn’t have walnuts on had, so substituted with pecans. It does take a little time to shred the carrots (I needed only two), but the taste of this bread is divine, especially with the apple carrot bread recipe. Thanks, Sabrina, for the recipe.
Can I use cooked left over carrots instead of grated carrots for this receipe? If so what would the amount be? Thanks
Hi Pat, so sorry for the delay. I haven’t tested with cooked carrots, and the added moisture may be an issue. If you have cooked, mashed carrots you may want to try the recipe on here for the Sweet Potato Bread and sub mashed carrots.
I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top before adding the nuts. Great recipe!
Perfect!
great recipe
I made this carrot bread using butter instead of oil. It came out very dry. I wonder if I should have melted the butter to make sure I had 2/3 cup of liquid. I beat the butter till soft but the batter was quite thick. I would appreciate the feedback. Thanks. Pat
Yes, I’d suggest melting it down and then cooling it a bit before using as a substitute to ensure you have the correct amount. Hope this helps for next time.
I like this bread. Will make it again. Thank you for the recipe. Used coconut sugar instead.
Very good except too much nutmeg. Next time I’d reduce it to 1/2 tsp.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the alteration suggestion, I’m making this for the holidays and will test with less nutmeg too.
THIS IS A VERY HEAVY batter, use your leightest mixing bowl and have a good bowl scraper ready.
Made it ate it awesome, watched the cooking time as suggested so it would not dry out. Every oven is different.
Hi! I was wondering if I could substitute the white flour with whole-grain flour. If so, would the quantity be the same or would I have to make changes?
Yes, just make sure you’re substituting by volume and not by weight since whole wheat has a higher absorption.
I added cardamom, ginger (fresh and dried) and allspice to this AMAZING recipe. Moist and spiced and oh-so nice! Thanks for sharing.
Sounds amazing! Thanks for the suggestions, Anne.
Not impressed. Too much baking soda. Very dry and crumbly.
Tried the recipe, great taste, great crust but a bit dry. Will be good with coffee. I swapped walnuts for pecans (great suggestion). I will decrease my baking time next time. Perhaps 50 min.
I wanna try your recipes. First time I will make carrot bread .
Enjoy!
Hi Sabrina!
Can I use butter instead of Oil and Brown Sugar rather than white?
Btw, loved your recipe of Vanilla Pound Cake.
Of course! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes.
I have made this 3 times. First time, I followed recipe exact and was very happy. Second time I did half white sugar and half brown sugar and added pinch of ginger. Was very happy with results. Today I added 1/4 each allspice and ginger together with only 1/2 tsp nutmeg and the half and half of brown sugar and white. Fingers crossed that it will be good. Thank you for the original easy recipe that we can tweak depending what we are craving. ?
I’m happy to know you’re loving the recipe so much!
Hi Sabrina:
Thanks for this recipe. You made my husband day with all those nuts permeating the recipe.
You’re welcome!
Best ever! I substituted half a cup of pecans for the topping, giving it a bit of sweet and delicious roasted snap-crunch.
Made on yesterday. The flavor was great, but I wished I saw one if the other comments about the cook time. 1 hour made it dry inside. I will try and rate again.
I love baking.. I have tried many recipes.. So far, it’s an easy recipe. It’s in the oven, hopefully it will be awesome (according to the ingredients) however, I did not add the walnuts due to allergies.
Delicious and easy to make. I subbed 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce for the oil and did not strain the carrots, and the texture was great. I was low on sugar and only used about 3/4 of a cup, but I didn’t notice a difference.
Did you use castor sugar or did you use brown sugar?? It doesn’t specify
I used white sugar for this recipe. Enjoy!
Love this! Made a variation with dehydrated currants it was great!
Made today didn’t realize till I already started that I was out of sugar. Since I was already into it I used brown sugar instead. I didn’t have vegetable oil so I used olive. The bread turned out great in spite of me. Will make again.
So glad you were able to customize it to what you had on hand, Jill.
For over 20 years, I have been substituting olive oil for the butter or vegetable oil in recipes. Sometimes I even use 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 unsweetened applesauce. I have never noticed a difference in texture or taste. So, good for you for finding good substitutes!
Way too much oil.. The measurement can’t be right, just baked it and turn out bad. Will look for another recepie next time for sure.
Can you just omit the walnuts…I don’t want to add raisins either.
Sure 🙂
Chose this recipe for its simplicity of ingredients. I used gluten free baking flour and subbed a 2/3 cup of whole, plain yogurt for the oil. It came out beautifully. It was done at 40 or45 minutes.
So glad you enjoyed it, Jen.
Exactly what I was thinking of when I searched “carrot bread”. I subbed butter for the oil, and then used apple sauce for about a third of the butter, all in equal proportions. I also added raisins. It’s a keeper.
Thanks for the suggestions, Kristin.
I made this yesterday and it is the best by far. I cut the sugar by half and it was plenty sweet and tasty.
How do you think this recipe would work with the addition of one or two ripe bananas?
I haven’t tested it but it sounds delicious!
This is an amazing recipe! My partner and I can’t get enough! Wondering if I could GF flour or just almond flour for this? Asking for a friend!
I haven’t tested it but I would think the easiest swap would be GF flour. If you decide to use almond flour, you may need to substitute by volume as so get the right measurement. Good luck!
I just made this for the first time. Love all the nuts! I followed the recipe except I didn’t sift the flour (I don’t have a sifter). Is that why mine turned out a little dry? For clarification, your directions say “Sift well then add in the flour“. Does that mean sift the flour first, then measure it? I think the next time I’ll use butter and applesauce instead of oil, brown sugar instead of white, add a little more salt and toss in some raisins. FYI, I served mine with butter spread and my hubby ate his with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Did the muffin version and used 2 tsp it All Spice. Made 4 dozen and dropped off a dozen each to my parents and in-laws. They loved them!
So happy they loved it!
I see that the flour measurement was incorrect. I actually made it with the “error” of 1/2 cup of flour and it came out perfect.
Please fix your flour measurement – it is incorrect.
Andrea, thank you so much! I don’t know how that happened. It’s fixed.
In quarantine and trying to conserve my baking materials, so this was a perfect recipe. So moist and delicious. I’ve been eating it not stop.
This looks amazing! Is it 1/2 cup of flour or 1 1/2?
1 1/2, my apologies, I fixed it.
Is there really only 1/2 cup of flour? Most quick bread recipes have 1 1/2 – 2 cups.
Thanks!
There should be 1 1/2 cups of flour. Is it not showing that?? I wasn’t sure if there was a glitch earlier.
It looks really good! I am ten and this is the first recipe I ever cooked whithout super vision!
Good for you, Aubrey!! I’m so glad you liked it.
In the recipe it calls for 1/2 cups flour when it should say 1 1/2 cups flour.
Thank you for catching that, Jodi.
1/2 cup flour?
It should read 1 1/2 cups of flour. Enjoy!
It turned out perfectly! Super flavorful and it was nice and moist.
Thanks for coming back to let me know, Stephanie.
Great recipe! It was my first time making carrot bread and was very happy with how it turned out. Delicious!
Thanks for the 5 stars, Kate.
I have made carrot cake but never carrot bread. This recipe makes me want to change that error. I will be making this very soon.
Hope you enjoy it!
This looks and sounds fabulous. Too many carrot breads are on the dry side – this looks perfectly moist!
I hope you enjoy it, Kimberly!