If you love carrot cake, you’ll love this baked Paleo Carrot Bread! This gluten-free carrot cake bread is incredibly moist and full of spices, chopped walnuts, and golden raisins, made with all grain-free ingredients.

This Paleo Carrot Bread is incredibly moist, and full of spices, chopped walnuts and golden raisins. This hearty bread is gluten-free and refined sugar free.

I love a good carrot cake recipe. But sometimes, I just don’t feel like making a whole big cake. Other times call for carrot cake muffins, but sometimes you just want a slice of good quick bread. Enter paleo carrot bread, a delicious quick bread that is reminiscent of carrot cake, but made without grains, refined sugars, or dairy. Still maintains all of the deliciousness, though!

Really, I wanted to call this Sunshine Bread. My sister actually came up with the idea for a carrot turmeric bread when she was helping me recipe brainstorm over the holidays. I wrote “sunshine bread!” with the description, and the idea has been stuck in my head ever since.

I was predicting it would turn out to be a beautiful golden color thanks to the turmeric, grated carrots, and golden raisins. However, the coconut sugar derailed my color plans and the bread turned a more rusty orange color. Not as “sunshine-y” as I had envisioned, and the name didn’t fit as well as I had planned.

Regardless, though Google is calling it “Paleo Carrot Bread,” it will forever be referred to in my head as sunshine bread, because doesn’t it just make you smile? ☀️

Okay, enough talking about the name. Let’s talk instead about why I’m obsessed with it. It’s SO super moist. In fact, the few times I made it, it was so moist that the middle was sinking. It didn’t look perfect but still tasted amazing. I ate the whole thing, as I did repeatedly as I tested this recipe and…I finally GOT IT!

What’s this gluten-free carrot bread like?

This paleo, grain-free carrot bread is sweet, but not too sweet. It’s well-spiced, thanks to a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, and turmeric, without being overwhelming. It’s moist and soft without being too wet. I love texture in my quick bread, so I added crunch with walnuts and bursts of chewy sweetness with raisins. In the recipe though, I listed them as optional. I know some folks can’t stand the thought of nuts or raisins in their baked goods.

The combination of flours is important here. We only add one teaspoon of coconut flour, but it really does help absorb some of that excess moisture that the carrots give off as the bread bakes. You may skip it if you must, but your bread may sink a bit in the middle, as mine did initially.

The turmeric may seem like an unexpected addition, but it adds a wonderful slightly earthy flavor. It combines fabulously with the other spices, and also adds some color! Time to make some sunshine bread ☀️ Happy baking!