Gluten Free & Vegan Banana Bread
Want to Save This Post?
Enter your email & we’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from us every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Hurry the Food Up.
The world went crazy for banana bread during covid, and vegan banana bread was no exception. Do you remember that? What a time, we were clearly all very understimulated.
I’m not surprised though – banana bread is absolutely delicious and so easy to make. Rich, warm and buttery, with a hint of cinnamon, it’s a crowd pleaser and the perfect comfort food. I know very few people who would turn it down!
Our easy vegan banana bread recipe is, in our humble opinion, the best vegan banana bread out there (we also think our high protein banana bread is the best non-vegan banana bread out there ). It’s kind of like a loaf version of our quick and easy vegan banana muffins!
It needs about 50 minutes in the oven, but it only takes 10 minutes to prepare, so it’s overall quite low effort – and worth it for the mouthwatering results.
Keeping our vegan banana bread healthy!
We’ve made an effort to ensure this is a healthy vegan banana bread, because we know that that is important for many of our readers!
Because of this, it looks a bit different to a normal vegan banana loaf recipe, but we can assure you that nothing has been lost when it comes to flavour.
The first thing you will notice is that the recipe doesn’t use any flour! We have replaced flour with rolled oats, because they are less processed than regular white flour, more fibrous and oats have a lower glycemic load.
This means that they don’t cause as sharp a spike in blood sugar, so they leave you feeling fuller for longer.
This also means that this recipe can also be a gluten free banana bread, as long as you make sure your oats are gluten free oats! They should normally be by nature, but some manufacturers make doubly sure there’s no cross contamination.
It’s basically sugar free!
Another choice we have made to up the healthiness of this recipe is to make it a vegan sugar free banana bread. Well, almost.
There is some sweetener in there (maple syrup), but no white refined sugar, and, if you want, you can swap it out for an even more natural source of sugar – agave, maybe, or honey, if you aren’t that fussed about the vegan part!
Plus, it is only 1 tbsp of maple syrup, which is very little. The majority of the sweetness comes from bananas and applesauce. Coincidentally, both these things serve as the binders that allow this to be a dairy free banana bread!
Subscribe to get our FREE 7-Day Vegetarian High Protein Meal Plan for Weight Loss
If you want to try another recipe sweetened mainly by bananas, try these oatmeal banana pancakes (not vegan though, sorry!)
Finally, we keep fat low by using just 1.5 tablespoons of oil overall. With the bananas and applesauce, there is already a very moist vegan banana bread – no need for oodles of butter!
Because it is so healthy, you can enjoy a lot of it in one serving. Three of the slices pictured = one serving!
Tips, tricks & alterations
This is a very simple vegan banana bread, so you don’t need any extraordinary baking skills to put it together.
One thing to check, however, is the ripeness of your bananas. The riper they are the sweeter they are, so if you aren’t using very ripe bananas, then add half a tablespoon more sweetener to the mix!
You could also make this a vegan chocolate banana bread by adding 100 grams of dark chocolate when you add the wet ingredients. Alternatively, some roughly crumbled walnuts or pecans would be a lovely addition.
But there’s no need to tamper with your gluten free banana bread too much – the simplicity is what makes it so good!
Vegan Banana Bread Variations
You can also add your favourite sweet treats to the banana bread! How about raisins, chocolate drop or cranberries?
It’s really up to you, just mix them gently into the mixture before you pour into the baking tray. Enjoy!
Equipment
- 1 Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe banana
- 2 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbsp applesauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1.5 tbsp coconut oil (or any other neutral oil)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg (can be left out if you don’t have any)
- 1 pinch salt
Optional
- 4 tbsp raisins
- 4 tbsp chocolate drops
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 C/ 340F.
- Blend the rolled oats for a minute, until they have a flour-like texture. Put aside.2 cup rolled oats
- Peel then squash the bananas really well (I use the blender for that as well.)3 very ripe banana
- Add the apple sauce and maple syrup to the banana and stir.2 tbsp applesauce, 1 tbsp maple syrup
- Cover the loaf pan with baking paper and thinly spread ½ tbsp of oil over the paper (use some kitchen paper to do this). Add the other 1 tbsp of oil to the banana mix.1.5 tbsp coconut oil
- Now, add all the dry ingredients: baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and your oat flour.1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 pinch salt
- Stir short and quickly, just until the wet and dry ingredients are combined.
- If you're using optinal ingredients like raisins or chocolate drops, stir them in now too.
- Add the mixture to the baking tin and pop in the oven for about 50 minutes.
- Get it out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Before you proceed to the next step, make sure that the tin’s cooled off enough for you to touch it, or use oven mittens.
- Place a large plate or a chopping board over the tin as a ‘lid’, and flip the tin around so it’s upside-down. Gently peel away the baking paper.
- Munch!
NOTES
Nutrition
This is one of our favourite banana recipes for breakfast, and it’s super-easy and healthy, too (and I even made it at Easter once!). What better way to start the day?
Hauke Fox
I’m always on the lookout for these damn smart recipes. You know, those that only take a few minutes to put together and taste delicious. Vegetarian Cooking at home is a way to take back control over what I eat. I don’t like what many companies do to animals and the environment with their products.
This article has been medically reviewed by James LeBaigue MSc Learn More
James LeBaigue MSc
James has a Masters Degree in Sport and Exercise Nutrition, as well as an Advanced Diploma in Human Nutrition.
He loves combining his scientific knowledge along with food in the real world, and these recipes are the result.
He’s on top of all the latest evidence and guidelines to make sure our nutrition advice on the website is as accurate as it can be.
By day he works as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in a busy NHS GP Practice.
Each recipe is tested and then eaten (much to James’ delight), many times before it is deemed worthy to be published. Bon appetit!
Comments
Leave a comment below
3 comments
uggg i didnt see the picture on top of page with the paper in the LOAF PAN! SORRY!
Hi Carole! All good. I’ll edit the instructions anyway to make it more clear 🙂 I hope you enjoy the banana bread!!
hi unless i missed it your recipes never have the size of tin or baking dish to use…it looked like a loaf pan so thats what i used! will let u know how it comes out!