Vegan Banana Carrot Muffins

These Vegan Banana Carrot Muffins are a delicious way to use up the carrot pulp from your homemade ABC juice. They are sweet, light, and fluffy, thanks to ripe bananas and apple cider vinegar. Customize them by swapping carrots for zucchini or apples, and adding walnuts or chocolate chips to further enhance the taste.

Prep Time25

Cook Time25

Cooling Time10

Total Time1

Method: Baking

Course: Muffins

Servings: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

PART 1:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

PART 2:

1 to 1 and ¼ cups mashed banana (2-3 medium size bananas)
1 to 1 and ¼ cups light brown sugar
⅓ cup oil
½ cup almond milk+ water/milk as needed (See My Notes)
½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ADD ONS:

1 and ½ cups carrot pulp/shredded carrots (see My Notes)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F/220C. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liner and grease it generously with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl stir together the dry ingredients listed in Part 1
In a medium size bowl add the ingredients listed in Part 2 and stir it with a whisk thoroughly.
Pour the wet mix into the flour mix and make a smooth batter.
Now stir in the shredded carrots and walnuts, if using. Mix well enough so that these are incorporated evenly throughout the batter.
Use a ⅓rd measuring cup to scoop out the batter and fill each muffin cup. This batter was perfect for 12 muffins.
Bake at 400F/200C for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 375F/190C and bake for 12-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
Remove the muffin tin from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. After about 10 minutes remove the muffins out of the tin and let the muffins cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.

Notes

The first time I baked these banana carrot muffins I had used 1 cup each of mashed bananas and brown sugar. I felt that the sweetness was mild so I increased the quantity to 1 and ¼ cups for both bananas and brown sugar the second time. This time the muffins were sweeter than the first time. So you can play around with the quantity of bananas and brown sugar to suit your taste without it affecting the outcome of the muffins.
For the flour, the first time around I baked it with 2 cups of all-purpose flour and the next time I used 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour. I didn't notice any difference in taste whatsoever.
If you want to bake gluten-free banana carrot muffins you can use gluten-free baking mix. Even though I have not tried it myself in this particular recipe I have had success in the past in other recipes, like this gluten-free banana muffins recipe.
Start with ½ cup of almond milk. If you feel that the batter is too thick add couple of tablespoons of milk or water to get a thinner consistency. Both the times I baked these muffins I had to add about 2 more tablespoons of milk.
If you don't want to bake vegan muffins you can substitute actual buttermilk instead of almond milk and vinegar. Any type of vinegar can be used. I usually prefer apple cider vinegar.
I have used carrot pulp which I had from making the ABC juice. You can use freshly shredded carrots too and of course zucchini, apple instead of carrots. Parsnips also give a spicy flavor to the muffins like these vegan parsnip muffins.
You can also add chocolate chips or walnuts. I added walnuts the second time I baked these muffins and it did enhance the taste.
The nutritional information is for banana carrot muffins without walnuts.

Taste & Texture

The ripe bananas added a natural sweetness that, along with the brown sugar, created the perfect level of sweetness in these banana carrot muffins. If you prefer them less sweet, using just one cup works just as well.

I used carrot pulp from the ABC juice (apple, beet, carrot juice) instead of shredded carrots and noticed no difference in taste or texture. The vegan buttermilk substitute, made from almond milk and apple cider vinegar, contributed to the muffins' wonderfully light and airy texture. Overall, these muffins turned out simply perfect.

Nutrition