Recipe Details
Community Pick: Banana Carrot Muffins
Photograph by Jonathan Melendez
Quick Recipe Overview
| Total Time | Number of Ingredients | Yield |
|------------|-----------------------|-------|
| 45 minutes | 9 | 24 standard-sized muffins |
Baking Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together Crisco shortening and sugar until smooth.
Mix in eggs and juice fully.
Use a fork or a traditional potato masher to thoroughly mash your carrots and bananas.
Fold the mashed carrots and bananas into the egg-sugar mixture.
Stir in the dry ingredient mixture only until all ingredients are moistened (do not overmix).
Scoop the batter into lined muffin tins.
Bake at 350°F for roughly 30 minutes, until the tops turn light golden brown.
Microwave Baking Option
Adjust cook time based on your microwave's power output:
High-wattage microwave: ~5 minutes at 50% power
Low-wattage microwave: ~7 minutes at 70% power
Got a question about the recipe? Share it with the community!
Community Reviews
I haven’t gotten a chance to test this recipe yet, but I’m making it tomorrow! It sounds so delicious! One quick thought: there’s no reason to leave a negative review if you don’t follow the original recipe exactly. That kind of feedback is unnecessary and unhelpful—you can’t fairly rate a recipe when you’re not following its instructions! Rant over… happy baking 🙂
When everyone was baking batches of banana bread at the start of the pandemic, they should have made these muffins instead! They are incredible—this might just be my new go-to banana muffin recipe.
These muffins are so versatile, moist, and packed with flavor, and this recipe makes a huge batch! I got 15 large muffins and 30 mini muffins out of mine. I wanted to use up a jar of coconut oil I had on hand, so I swapped it for the shortening and got great results. If you’ve never baked with coconut oil before, give it a try! It’s solid below 70°F so it creams beautifully with sugar, and it doesn’t add an overwhelming coconut flavor to baked goods. It’s also a much heart-healthier option than shortening, vegetable oil, or corn oil. I used shredded carrots, which was super easy to prep with my food processor’s grating attachment. I swapped 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the called-for all-purpose flour, and added 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, and a dash of ground cloves. My whole house smelled amazing while these baked. While the first two pans baked, I experimented with leftover batter by adding raisins and topping the last pan with finely chopped praline pecans. I froze ⅔ of the muffins to pull out overnight for fresh-feeling breakfasts, and it works perfectly—give it a try! Thanks for sharing, we’ll make this again.
I give this 5 stars, it’s absolutely fabulous. I was looking for ways to use up shredded carrots I had (I don’t enjoy eating plain carrots) and found this online. At first it sounded odd and I almost scrolled past, but I’m so glad I didn’t! I agree with other commenters: you can’t change half the recipe then leave a low rating—that’s rating your own version, not the original. Try the creator’s recipe before you knock it! That said, I made a couple small tweaks myself: I swapped orange juice for applesauce (I had no orange juice on hand), added ½ tsp cinnamon and ½ tsp vanilla for extra flavor, and used butter instead of Crisco. The smell of these baking had me drooling, and they came out perfectly. I have no doubt they would have been just as amazing without my changes. I’ve shared this with everyone I know, and I’ll make it all the time for my little boy! Thank you so much for sharing.
These were wonderful! They’re so addictive, I couldn’t stop eating them! Soft, fluffy, and packed full of flavor. They make the perfect grab-and-go breakfast and stay fresh for days. I’ll definitely make these again.
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Popular Community Tweaks
I only use butter for baking, so I swapped shortening for pure butter and got a much better flavor and texture.
I cut the recipe in half and got 12 perfectly sized standard muffins, then topped half with chopped walnuts—so good!
(Full popular adaptation shared by a community member): These are very versatile, moist and flavorful, and the recipe makes a lot! I ended up with 15 large & 30 mini muffins. I had been wanting to use up some coconut oil I had on hand, so in place of the shortening I did so with great results. If you haven't tried coconut oil in baking, you should. At room temperature it's liquid; around 70 and below, it's a solid which creams beautifully with sugar in baked goods. If you're worried about the coconut flavor taking over your baked goods, it really doesn't. It's a heart healthier option than shortening, vegetable or corn oils. I went with the shredded carrot option, which was a breeze to do in the food processor grating attachment. Lastly, I subbed 1 c. of whole wheat flour for one of the cups of AP flour called for. I also added 1 t. ground cinnamon, 1/2 t. ground nutmeg and a dash of ground cloves. The house smelled amazing while they baked. While the first 2 pans were baking, I played around with the remaining batter and added some raisins and topped the last pan of muffins with some finely chopped praline pecans. I froze about 2/3 of the muffins so we can pull them out the night before and have "fresh" muffins for breakfast, it works...try it! Thanks for sharing, we'll be making these again!
Unfortunately, I only give this recipe 2 stars, and that's with making a lot of changes. I used apple sauce and olive oil in place of the shortening, added cinnamon and nutmeg and used fresh carrots that I cooked in the microwave. These did rise but they were just okay.
We made this and like most others substituted the shortening with butter, and instead of orange juice we used carrot juice, making them extra banana-carrot flavored, I guess.
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Recipe Submitted By
I’m still based in West Virginia, but we’ve moved a few miles away to the county capitol. It’s a compromise: bigger than our last town but smaller than the “big city” of Cumberland MD, right up the road. Jobs are not that plentiful here so I am fortunate to be able to work at home (I'm a writer). My passion is cooking and feeding my family well, my pet peeve is the family court systems in America, and I have a deep love for emergency medicine and the people that make survival in a crisis possible.