Healthy Carrot Cake Bars
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Last updated on Mar 22, 2025
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These healthy carrot cake bars are made with almond flour and sweetened with coconut sugar. They’re moist, fluffy and absolutely delicious topped with a cream cheese frosting. Gluten-free + grain-free.
If you have a carrot cake lover in your life, you have to try these carrot cake bars.
I would happily serve them “naked” as a dessert, but the frosting definitely makes them more decadent and cake-like. They do not disappoint.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They’re moist and not too sweet with the perfect amount of carrots and raisins.
- They’re made with almond flour, so are grain-free and gluten-free.
- This recipe is simple enough to make for a weeknight dessert, but also fancy enough to be served for special occasions like Easter!
Lexi’s Clean Kitchen Cookbook
When I received a copy of my friend Lexi’s cookbook, Lexi’s Clean Kitchen, and saw this recipe for Carrot Cake Bars, I knew they had to happen.
Her cookbook is HUGE and absolutely stunning! She has 150 paleo-friendly, clean recipes and in true Lexi’s Clean Kitchen fashion, each recipe has a gorgeous photo.
The cookbook includes a ton of nutritious, healthy meals from breakfasts to soups, hearty salads (yay!) and main course dinners. And then there is a section for sweet desserts and treats, which is where these carrot cake bars come in.
Carrot Cake Bar Ingredients
- almond flour – I like using Bob’s Red Mill blanched almond flour. Make sure you are getting almond flour and not almond meal as the texture is finer and better for baked goods.
- coconut sugar – I love using natural sweeteners like coconut sugar in baked goods. If you don’t have coconut sugar on hand, granulated sugar or cane sugar will work as a substitute.
- baking powder, baking soda and sea salt – three baking essentials.
- ground cinnamon – you can’t have carrot cake bars without cinnamon!
- eggs – another key ingredient in these bars. The eggs help the bars rise.
- unsweetened applesauce – this helps to keep the bars moist and tender.
- vanilla extract – just to add a little vanilla flavor.
- ginger – this ingredient is optional, but it adds a nice flavor! You can either grate fresh ginger or use ginger powder.
- grated carrots – the star of the show here! You can use store-bought shredded carrots or peel and grate carrots yourself.
- chopped raw walnuts – feel free to sub in a different nut like pecans or almonds or skip the nuts all together if you need these bars to be nut-free.
- raisins – I love the hint of natural sweetness the raisins add to these bars.
- dark chocolate chips – This ingredient is optional, but if using I’ve been loving Lily’s chocolate chips lately but Enjoy Life is also a great option if you need diary-free chips.
- vanilla buttercream frosting – I used the classic frosting recipe in Lexi’s cookbook (on page 288), but if you don’t have the cookbook yet, you can find a similar frosting recipe here or my healthy cream cheese frosting would also be delicious! Feel free to also go the store-bought route. My favorite healthier store-bought frosting is Simple Mills vanilla frosting.
How to Make Carrot Cake Bars
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well blended. Whisk in the eggs, applesauce, vanilla and ginger, if using, until smooth.
Step 3: Fold in the shredded carrots, walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chips, if using.
Step 4: Pour the batter into the baking dish, smooth out the top, and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Step 5: While the cake is baking, make the frosting and set aside. You will want to bake the cake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Step 6: When the cake is done, let it cool completely in the pan before frosting or cutting. Once completely cool, spread the frosting evenly across the top of the cake and garnish with extra chopped walnuts, if desired. Cut into 9 to 12 bars to serve.
Notes + Substitutions
- Almond flour – I don’t recommend using a different flour as this recipe has been tested specifically for almond flour.
- Coconut sugar – If you don’t have coconut sugar on hand you can use cane or granulated sugar instead.
- Walnuts – I prefer chopped walnuts, but you could play around with other nuts! I bet almonds or pecans would be delicious.
- Raisins – If you aren’t a raisin fan, you can use chopped dates or skip them all together.
- Vegan – I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I’m not sure how a vegan substitute like flax seed eggs or chia seed eggs would work, but let me know in the comments if you decide to try it! Also, make sure to use a vegan frosting and vegan chocolate chips, if using.
How to Store Carrot Cake Bars
Store any leftover bars in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days. For longer storage, you can store these bars in the freezer for up to 3 months. If you’re storing these in the freezer I would recommend storing them unfrosted. The day before you’re ready to serve, let them thaw in the fridge then frost and decorate as desired!
More Carrot Recipes to Try
- Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
- Carrot Raisin Salad
- Oatmeal Carrot Cake
- Healthy Carrot Raisin Muffins
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
- Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Carrot Cake Smoothie
Be sure to check out my full collection of healthy dessert recipes!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Healthy Carrot Cake Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almond flour, I used Bob’s Red Mill
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ginger powder, optional
- ⅓ cup grated carrots
- ⅓ cup chopped raw walnuts, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup raisins
- 3 Tablespoons dark chocolate chips, optional
Frosting
- 1 ½ cups healthy cream cheese frosting, or Lexi's vanilla buttercream frosting (page 288)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well blended.
- Whisk in the wet ingredients: eggs, applesauce, vanilla and ginger, if using, until smooth.
- Fold in the carrots, walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chips, if using.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smooth out the top, and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
- While the cake is baking, make the frosting and set aside.
- When the cake is done, let it cool completely in the pan before frosting or cutting.
- Spread the frosting evenly across the top of the cake and garnish with extra chopped walnuts, if desired. Cut into 9 to 12 bars to serve.
- Store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Frosting – I used my healthy cream cheese frosting, but Lexi recommends using the vanilla buttercream frosting from her cookbook (page 288). Feel free to also go the store-bought route. My favorite healthier store-bought frosting is Simple Mills vanilla frosting.
- Almond flour – I haven’t tested this with another flour, but if you want to experiment, let me know in the comments below how it turns out!
- Coconut sugar – If you don’t have coconut sugar on hand you can use cane sugar instead.
- Walnuts – I prefer chopped walnuts, but you could play around with other nuts! I bet almonds or pecans would be delicious.
- Raisins – If you aren’t a raisin fan, you can use dates or skip them all together.
- Vegan – I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I’m not sure how a vegan substitute like flax or chia eggs would work, but let me know in the comments if you decide to try it!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would love to try this recipe, but my stomach is pretty sensitive to anything apple related. Is there anything I can replace the applesauce with? Perhaps some type of neutral oil, like avocado? Or maybe some plain yogurt? If so, what kind of ratio would you recommend? Thanks! Xx
Hey Elia – Yes, you can swap the applesauce with 1/4 cup yogurt. Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
Thanks, will do. By the way, is the oven pre-heated to 350ºF using fan-forced or conventional settings?
350F with a regular oven!
I made them into muffins. It made 8-9 and baked for 20 minutes.
Love that idea, Sharon. Thanks for sharing how they turned out as muffins!
I was so pleased with this recipe. I substituted in almond meal in place of the almond flour and it worked perfectly fine! Once I tried pureeing pineapples instead of applesauce and it was delicious. Bonus was that this recipe (even with the icing!) didnt spike my blood sugar! 🧡
Love hearing this, Sharon! Your tweaks sound amazing, especially the pureed pineapple. And yay for it being blood sugar–friendly, even with the icing. Thanks so much for making it and leaving a review!
Just made this for the first time and it was delicious! Satisfied my carrot cake craving without too much sweetness. Paired it with the healthy cream cheese icing – which was also delicious! Will definitely be making both again. Thank you for the recipe.
YUM! I am so excited to hear you are loving this recipe, Adele. Thanks for taking the time to share your review & star rating, I really appreciate it!