Healthy Carrot Cake Bars (No Bake!)

These Healthy Carrot Cake Bars taste like a treat but make a healthy breakfast or snack! This is a quick and easy no bake recipe.

Luke, Meghan, and I were in the car when Luke was a toddler and he said, “Mommy, I love you, Meghan, and Daddy, but I love YOU the best!”  My logical and sensitive 6-year-old at the time, Meghan, chimed in, “You shouldn’t say that, Luke!”

Just like you probably shouldn’t admit if you have a favorite in your family, I probably shouldn’t play favorites with my blog recipes.  I can’t help it, though. These healthy carrot cake bars immediately made their way to the top of my favorite recipes list the first time I made them.

It’s probably because I just love carrot cake so much. I have a whole lot of carrot-cake inspired recipes on this little website of mine. I have Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes, Carrot Cake Cookies, Carrot Cake Energy Balls, Carrot Cake Oatmeal Muffins, and even a Carrot Cake Smoothie.

All of that, but no actual classic carrot cake recipes. 🤣 That’s because if I can make a healthier version and enjoy the flavor and essence of carrot cake without all the refined sugar and refined flour, I’m going to do just that. These Healthy Carrot Cake Bars do just that, plus they’re really easy to make.

There’s so much to love about this healthy dessert/snack/breakfast.  Yep, these are healthy enough to eat for breakfast or a snack.  And we most certainly have.

First, they are very low in sugar.  The bars are sweetened with dates, raisins, and just a little maple syrup.  They are gluten-free, too.  I used some rolled oats, but no flour or wheat at all.  The texture is perfect!  They aren’t Larabar-ish, despite the dates and nuts used to create the bars.

Because carrot cake isn’t carrot cake without a cream cheese frosting, I used real cream cheese for these. I wanted to ensure the frosting stayed nice and thick and I didn’t want to add anymore sugar, so I used liquid stevia drops  to sweeten the frosting. It worked perfectly, but if you don’t have liquid stevia, you can use this recipe for cream cheese frosting sweetened with maple syrup. Let’s check out all the recipe ingredients.

Recipe Ingredients–What You Need

You’re going to love this ingredient list!

Rolled Oats

Oats form part of the base for these healthy carrot cake bars. Consumption of oats has been shown to help lower total cholesterol, control body weight, and have an anti-cancer effect. (source) Quick oats will work, but I never have them on hand.

Walnuts

Walnuts are another part of our base. They have strong anti-inflammatory properties thanks to their omega-3 fatty acids.

Almonds

Another part of the base is almonds. They are high in vitamin E, which is great for keeping your immune system strong.

Dates

Pitted dates help keep the bars together and add sweetness without adding refined sugar.

Maple Syrup

Maple syrup adds another layer of sweetness. If you don’t have any or prefer a less-expensive option, try another one of your favorite natural sweeteners, like honey. You can also leave it out if you favor treats that are only lightly sweet.

Raisins

Raisins add more sweetness and keep this more authentically like traditional carrot cake.

Dried Pineapple

If you love regular pineapple in your carrot cake, you’ll love the addition of dried pineapple here. It can be hard to find dried pineapple without added sugar, so feel free to use a few more raisins and leave this ingredient out.

Fresh Carrots

Of course we have shredded carrots in our healthy carrot cake bars! Start with five medium carrots, which will give you 4-5 cups of shredded carrots. This recipe is flexible. You can shred them with your food processor shredding attachment or use a box grater.

Spices

Carrot cake isn’t carrot cake without using warm spices like cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. These are a must.

Cream Cheese

The cream cheese frosting is my favorite part of carrot cake, so I make a healthy simple cream cheese frosting for these bars. If you want to keep yours vegan carrot cake bars, use a vegan cream cheese or try cashew cream cheese frosting. 

Liquid Stevia

To keep the added sugars as low as possible, liquid stevia was the answer to sweeten the cream cheese frosting.

Vanilla

Pure vanilla extra lends another layer of flavor to the frosting.

How to Make Healthy No Bake Carrot Cake Bars

These Healthy Carrot Cake Bars could not be any easier.  You can use your food processor  for the whole thing.  No other bowls needed.  If you don’t have a  food processor (get one!!), you can chop everything by hand, but it’ll be a bit more work.

And you don’t even need to turn on your oven. This carrot cake bars recipe is a no-bake recipe! They can be ready in about 20 minutes, tops.  Here are the steps:

1. Using the fine shredding attachment on your food processor, shred the carrots.  (Alternatively, use a hand grater)
2. Next, put in the S-blade and then add the walnuts, almonds, and dates.  Process until everything is broken down and you have a  crumbly mixture.  Add the oats, raisins, pineapple, maple syrup, and spices and pulse until everything is well mixed.  (Alternatively, you can chop the nuts and dates by hand and then mix in the rest of the ingredients.  The texture may be slightly different, but it should still work.  Disclaimer:  I have not tried this.)
3. Line an 8X8 inch pan with parchment paper or lightly oiled tin foil.  Press the carrot mixture into the pan.  Put it in the freezer to help it set while you are making the frosting.
4. Rinse out the food processor and put the S-blade back in.  Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and stevia and process until it is just mixed.  Don’t over process. You can use an electric mixer to do this if you don’t have a food processor.
5. Use a spatula to put the frosting on top of the bars.  Optional: Grate some carrots on top of the cream cheese frosting. See below for how it looks with and without.
6. Cut into the size you desire.  These need to be stored in the fridge because there is no sugar in the cream cheese.  Store them in an airtight container. Enjoy!

I cut these healthy bars into small bars for portion control in hopes that I’d be able to eat just one or two in a sitting.  It didn’t work.  You are going to LOVE these healthy carrot cake bars! But be warned:  they are addicting.

 

This post was originally published in 2015. A video was added in 2019 and process details added in 2024.

Recommended for this recipe: Food Processor

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I hope you love these Healthy Carrot Cake Bars as much as my family does! If you try this or any of my other healthy recipes, please leave a comment and star rating below. It helps other readers know which recipes are tried and true and also helps my recipes be found more easily. I appreciate you! Share your photos of my recipes you make on Instagram and tag me and I’ll feature you!