Carrot bread is a sweet and delicious quick bread filled with carrots, spice, and everything nice!
Use up all that fall bounty of garden carrots and bake them into this moist carrot bread. Quick breads are easy to make and freeze beautifully!
We love this recipe for carrot bread! Extra moist, a bit sweet and full of flavor. It’s a great twist on a banana bread recipe or carrot cake!
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS Typical of a basic quick bread, this uses all-purpose flour with baking soda to give it some rise. I add cinnamon and a dash of pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use extra cinnamon or even apple pie spice.
CARROTS Carrots should be shredded using the coarse side of a cheese grater. They can be peeled or if you scrub them, you can skip peeling them.
VARIATIONS We like to add mix-ins like toasted walnuts. Toss in some coconut, raisins, or even diced apples if you’d like.
How to Make Carrot Bread (overview)
- Combine dry ingredients (per recipe below) and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients with the shredded carrot.
- Fold dry ingredients to the wet, being careful not to overmix. Fold in any mix-ins and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
PRO TIP: For the walnuts, gently toast them in a sauté pan before using. Toasted nuts stay crunchier and have a more pronounced flavor!
Freezing and Storage
- Like most quick breads, carrot bread will last up to a week as long as it’s at room temperature in a zippered bag or container with a tight-fitting lid.
- Try keeping a slice of regular bread in the container with the carrot bread to absorb extra moisture.
- Freeze carrot bread by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil with the date written on the outside. Frozen carrot bread will last about a month in the freezer.
Kitchen Tips
- Do not overmix the batter, stir just until combined.
- Use parchment paper to line the bottom of the loaf pan to make it easy to remove.
- Ovens can vary slightly, check the bread at least 10 minutes before you think it will be done.
- This bread is easier to slice when completely cooled.
More Quick Breads We Love
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – moist & decadent
- Zucchini Bread – the perfect snack
- Homemade Cornbread Recipe
- Pumpkin Bread – easy to make
- Homemade Gingerbread – soft & moist
- Classic Banana Bread – 5 star recipe
Did your family love this Carrot Bread? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Homemade Carrot Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 ½ cups shredded carrot
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Mix carrots, eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Fold in walnuts and mix just until combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
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great easy recipe….alot of nice flavor..not gummy but not dry….used an 8×8 square pan .will definitely make it again
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I’ve made so many recipes from Pinterest but I had to leave a comment for this one. It came out so moist, not too sweet but sweet enough that you still taste the carrot. I used 100g granulated sugar and 100g brown sugar. Thats the only thing I did differently. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
You are welcome, Kimberly! I am so glad you enjoyed our recipe.
Real good. When I put the batter in the pan I thought it was going to be a small loaf but I was wrong. It was beautiful and smelled wonderful. Very good.
I doubled the recipe and my loaves didn’t really rise at all like normal quick bread. I’ve never had this problem before but I noted when making it that there was no baking Powder in the recipe. Maybe that was why. I definitely doubled everything and know how important the Baking Soda and salt are for quick breads but I’ve never made one that didn’t also include the baking powder. I’m sure however that it will taste great. Just wanted to share my experience. Thanks for the recipe as I had carrots I needed to use up.
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t rise as expected, Mary! I hope you still enjoyed it ❤️
How long the carrot breads can freeze ?? I thought that it can frozen as long and not sure
Thank you
Alisia
Hi Alisia, Frozen carrot bread will last about a month in the freezer.
Can I use an 8×41/2 pan? I don’t have a 9 x 5 pan. Thanks
I have never tried but it should work just fine, Julie! I would just keep an eye on the baking time, a smaller pan could mean a quicker bake. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
I added about 1/3 cup of crystalized ginger, minced to the recipe. It was delicious!
Great Carrot Bread, super easy. I made 3 loaves the first time, they were slightly less sweet. 2nd time I made 7 loaves, added a little extra sugar to recipe 1/2 cup sugar more and 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Spice per loaf, it was perfect. Thank you!
Thank you for leaving a comment, Sevi! Glad you liked this recipe
Hi I made your carrot loaf for Thanksgiving and it was very good. It was easy, I made cream cheese icing and iced the top.
First time making this recipe… I had to make a few substitutions Because of what I had in-house… I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and pecans instead of walnuts… I also made 3 mini loaves instead of one big loaf as I wanted to use for gifts.! Will be adding to my rotation :)
Update… had to make a second batch of this for gifts…my husband ate the first one in a day! We absolutely love this recipe, thank you
It smelled so good when it was baking but did not taste good. Not very sweet. Needs raisins or pineapple or maybe a glaze – something to make it taste better
Well, I don’t know what went wrong. I’m pretty sure I did everything right; just didn’t put icing, because I thought it would be very moist. That was the problem: more on the dry side. The only way it was fairly good, was to cut a slice, heat it with butter.
Very disappointed
Thank you for trying our recipe, Anne! We find this recipe to quite moist so I am not sure what happened, maybe another reader can offer some guidance.
I loved following your recipes because the ingredients are what I have in my pantry and easy to follow but good tasting.
Linda M
Thanks Linda! So glad you enjoyed it.
so delicious
I just finished baking this carrot bread and it’s the best awesomest recipe. Well, I had to cut into it warm to taste it and the flavor is fantastic. To be honest, I was a little doubtful because of ‘notafan’ comment, but their comment didn’t match the bread I baked from this recipe. I did reduce the sugar a bit. That’s the only editing I’ve done. Great recipe and will definitely be baking it again this coming week
So glad you loved it Joyce, it’s on repeat at our house too!
Just finished making this. Don’t understand all the glowing reviews, it was very subpar as carrot cake recipes go.
Thanks for trying our recipe! I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it.
This recipe is not for carrot cake. It’s carrot bread. You shouldn’t expect a rich cakey flaour. It’s a wholesome, healthy option with a much different texture than cake. Maybe that threw you.
Extra yummy I make a lot of these quick breads and this one is on the menu
Is it possible to substitute almond flour? Or any other flour to make it gluten free?
When baking gluten free I will usually use an all purpose gluten free flour. Almond flour will most likely make this recipe too moist to hold it’s shape properly. I hope that helps!
Delicious and forgiving. I accidently forgot the sugar (sigh…cooking with ‘help’ is a recipe for not paying attention!). I remembered 15 minutes before it was due to be done. Quickly heated the sugar with 3/4 cup of water and stirred till dissolved. I poked holes in the bread and spooned ~3/4 of the mixture over the bread evenly along with a few teaspoons of maple syrup. Put it back in the oven for the remaining 15 minutes then turned the oven off and let sit for another 5 in the oven (to help absorb extra liquid). Once fully cooled it stayed together and tasted delicious despite the oops! My 6 year old gave it 2 thumbs up! A note to not pack the carrots unless you want a more carrot than ‘cake’ bread. Still tasty but next time we’ll avoid packing them in (more ‘help’).
I am so glad that it turned out okay in the end, Sherry!
Hello,
Can I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk? or buttermilk…rather than regular milk.
We have only made this recipe as listed but that should work well!