I’m squeaking in before our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to share this gem of a banana bread recipe with you all. I figured it would make the perfect addition to your weekend breakfast table! We’ve been making this banana bread for weeks and weeks (you may have seen this recipe added to the app last month, too!), and it’s become nothing short of an obsession. (Truth be told, I have to hide it from Adriana some days because it’s all she wants to eat. Okay, okay, I have to hide it from myself, too.) I’ve had some great feedback from kids and adults outside the Liddon household as well.
Over the years, I’ve tested oodles of vegan banana bread recipes and never settled on one that I thought was “it”. Too dense, too dry, too moist, lacking banana flavour, too sweet, not sweet enough, etc. It drove me nuts. Each time, I would tweak my recipe a bit more. But this is The One, my friends. It’s crazy to think that, in 8 years, this is my very first vegan banana bread recipe on the blog. Well, enough is enough, I say!
The prep time is incredibly fast and involves just one bowl—you can have it baking away in the oven in only 10 to 15 minutes! It freezes well too, so it’s a great recipe to make in advance before the holidays. I made a loaf for the freezer a couple weeks ago, forgot about it (hello, preggo brain), and found it yesterday as I was rooting through the freezer looking for treats. “OMG, Eric, I found a loaf of banana bread in the freezer!!” It was like Christmas morning. And since we don’t have a microwave and I’m not patient enough to thaw it in the oven, I ate a slice completely frozen. Sad, but true.
I don’t think I’m alone in my obsession, though. See what blog reader, Laurie, wrote about it:
“Everyone raves about my banana bread but I’ve always hated it because it’s made with white flour and sugar. My kids (daughter about a year ago and son just this week) went vegan. I’ve been making vegan BB for a while but nothing to write home about…until now! This is better than my regular banana bread – I’ll never go back!”
Thank you Laurie!!
To freeze the banana bread, I simply allow it to cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap, followed by a layer of tinfoil. If you plan to store it for more than a week, I’d recommend popping the wrapped loaf into a freezer bag, too. My mom made us a couple loaves while she was here, and we enjoyed a slice (or two) every day until they were both gone! I can’t think of a better comfort food right now.
I’ve tested this loaf using whole spelt flour, light/white spelt flour, and regular all-purpose flour. My favourite was light/white spelt flour and second favourite was whole spelt flour. The regular all-purpose flour version worked too, but it wasn’t quite as flavourful. There’s just something I love about the nutty, wholesome flavour of spelt. I expect that other flours, such as whole wheat pastry flour, should work, but I have yet to test any more out. I suspect that 100% whole wheat flour might be too drying since it’s quite dense/hearty, but maybe a 50/50 all-purpose/whole wheat flour split might be okay. In terms of a gluten-free version, I’ll be sure to share the recipe if I land on a combo of gluten-free flours that I love. If you try anything out, please let us know how it goes in the comments!
And finally, on a non-banana-bread-related note, here’s a roundup of the latest #osgeveryday blog tour posts, which include some great giveaways and recipe sneak peeks. Thanks to all of these wonderful bloggers for their support!
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4.9 from 231 reviews |
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One Bowl Vegan Banana Bread
By
This vegan banana bread is delicious, wholesome, naturally sweetened, and takes 10 minutes to throw together. What could be better when you have some overripe bananas to use up? Nothing, my friends, absolutely nothing! Whip this into the oven before guests arrive to fill the house with a delectable banana bread aroma. For a fun twist, try adding cinnamon and nutmeg into the dough before baking, or even stir in some chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate for a more decadent loaf. I love it topped with both sliced banana (which enhances the sweetness and banana flavour) and crunchy walnuts. This recipe is adapted from my Blissful Banana Blueberry Muffins.
Yield
1 (9x5-inch) loaf
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients:
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cups (320 g) mashed very ripe banana (about 4 medium or 3 large)
- 2 tablespoons (15 g) ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) plant-based milk (I like almond milk)
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) coconut oil, melted*
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) pure maple syrup**
- 2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (60 g) coconut sugar***
- 1/2 cup (50 g) rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups (210 g) light/white spelt flour or whole-grain spelt flour****
- Sliced banana, chopped walnuts, and/or chocolate chips, for topping (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the banana until almost smooth, and make sure you have 1 1/3 cups.
- Stir the wet ingredients (ground flax, milk, melted oil, maple syrup, and vanilla) into the banana until combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients (sugar, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour) into the wet mixture, one by one, in the order listed. Stop stirring when there are no flour patches at the bottom of the bowl.
- Spoon the dough into the loaf pan and spread out evenly. Add your desired toppings and gently press them into the dough to adhere.
- Bake the loaf, uncovered, for 45 to 55 minutes (I bake for 47 to 48 minutes, but your time may vary), until lightly golden and firm on top. The top of the loaf should slowly spring back when touched.
- Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. Then, slide a knife around the loaf to loosen it and gently remove it from the pan, placing it directly onto the cooling rack until completely cooled (or to hasten the cooling process, transfer to the fridge for 45 minutes).
- Slice the loaf once cooled. I love to spread it with vegan butter or coconut oil. The loaf will keep in the fridge tightly wrapped for 3 to 4 days, or it can be frozen for 4 to 6 weeks.
Nutrition Information
Tips:
- * I have not tried it yet, but you can probably swap melted vegan butter for the coconut oil.
- ** If you don’t have any maple syrup on hand, feel free to swap in another 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar. The loaf won’t be quite as moist, but it’ll still work.
- *** Coconut sugar can probably be swapped for natural cane sugar.
- **** I tried this recipe with light/white spelt flour, all-purpose white flour, and whole-grain spelt flour. My preference is light/white spelt flour because it lends a great flavour while still feeling quite light in texture. The whole-grain spelt flour version is my second favourite; it is heartier in texture than the light/white spelt flour version (and cracks more on the top of the loaf), with a slightly earthier flavour. It doesn’t rise as much, though, and is more dense. If your whole-grain spelt flour is quite coarse, I recommend sifting it prior to use for the best results.
Last but not least, thank you so much for Arlo’s warm welcome and congrats! We’re all settling in well and soaking up these newborn days.
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{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Angela! I love this recipe but am wondering could I sub in almond flour instead?
Hi Zita, I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think almond flour would be stable and binding enough to use on its own. It typically has to be combined with other GF flours (including a starch) for it to have a chance of working out. I would suggest checking out some of the helpful comments that other blog readers have left as some of them have made GF versions. Hope this helps!
This is the best banana bread recipe I’ve found!! I’ve been vegan for 6 months now but I remember banana bread being my favourite thing for my entire life, and even trying the non vegan recipes before never satisfied my tastes so I didn’t even attempt to try vegan ones once I changed my diet. But this is honestly incredible.
I try not to eat any gluten so instead of spelt flour I used 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, 1/8 cup almond flour and 1/8 cup chickpea flour. (I basically just tossed in a bit of this, but of that, but it was probably close to this). I also added 1/4 cup apple sauce toward the end for moistness before putting it into the pan, and my oven wasn’t fully preheated when I put it in the oven. I baked it for 30 minutes on 200 degrees, then brought it down to 175 for the last 20 minutes, when I turned the oven off and checked if it was cooked all the way through with a knife (it wasn’t entirely) so I let it sit in the oven (turned off) for another 10 min.
Tbh I didn’t expect much from a cake that had hardly any sugar and no refined sugar, was vegan AND gluten free, which is why I was kind of just winging what I was doing, but it turned out so good I feel like I need to share what I did and let everyone know how delicious this recipe is!
Thank you for this recipe, Angela! I am back to being excited to bake again! Xoxo
Hey Starlin, Thank you so much for the feedback! I love all your tweaks. :) So happy it turned out so great!
Excellent banana bread. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Jan, I’m so happy you loved it! Thanks for trying it out.
Hi, can I replace the light/white spelt flour with almond flour? Looks delicious and can’t wait to try it. Thanks, Samar
Hey Samar, Almond flour as a swap 1:1 is tricky since it doesn’t have gluten like spelt flour does. You’d probably be better off with a combo of flours. That said, I haven’t tried a completely almond flour version so I can’t say for sure that it wouldn’t work. I’d love to hear what you try out! :)
I’ve made this banana bread time and time again and it’s a really moist, delicious, and flexible recipe. I have made many substitutions (ie. 1/3 cup olive oil replacement for the coconut oil, omitting maple syrup, omitting the coconut sugar and replacing it with 1/4 cup white sugar or omitting added sugar all together, I’ve replaced the spelt flour for all purpose flour and/or whole wheat flour) and it’s always a winner. I keep the proportions the same if I make any replacements and it is always moist! I’ve also done a variation of adding half almond meal and half whole wheat flour (as I never have spelt flour on hand) and it’s incredibly moist and delicious. Thanks for posting a keeper of a recipe!
Hey Jessica, Wow, I love all the different ways you’ve tried this banana bread!! Thanks for sharing :)
About to try it!
I will try definitely, thanks for sharing.
Once again a faaaabulous recipe!!!! We love our quick breads and I added pumpkin seeds, whole flax seeds, raisins, coconut, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and a 1/2 tsp almond extract. Moist, beautiful, easy! Tastes totally gourmet!!!! Thanks for another party worthy recipe!
Hey Dana, I love all of your add ins…sounds so dreamy!! Thanks for sharing :)
Delicious! I used maple syrup instead of the coconut sugar (1/4 cup total) as sweetener and used GF flour instead of the spelt flour, and it still turned out great!
I LOVE this banana bread, but I am trying to be a whole food, plant based, no added oil kind of guy, so the coconut oil in this recipe has always given me guilt, UNTIL NOW. I declare myself a banana bread genius. I used a creation I came up with called aquafaba cashew cream, using 1/4 cups soaked raw cashews in 1/3 cup aquafaba, blended for about five minutes to make a cream to replace the coconut oil. OMG!!! the bread is moist, it is firm, it has a nice dome on it. You NO LONGER NEED OIL in you baking! I also did a 1:1:1 spelt:quinoa:banana flour mixture. The end result is a nuttier, more banana flavored loaf. It took about 55-60 min of baking, the last 15 minutes I cooled the oven down to 325 and covered the loaf with foil (afraid of overbrowning) to get the middle done. Try this no oil method. You will not be disappointed, and your cholesterol will love you too!
Hey David, I LOVE this…thank you so much for sharing! Banana bread genius indeed. ;)
This looks like moist perfection, thank you for sharing Angela.
This was amazing! Even with my no oil, no sugar, no maple syrup adjustments. I used apple sauce for the oil, skipped the maple syrup, skipped the coconut sugar (my bananas were sweet enough!) Everything else I did the same (though I used all oat flour (2 cups) instead of the spelt flour and oats.) The result was a lovely banana bread. Great flavor and texture. Thank you so much!!!
Hey Deana, Don’t you love when recipes work even with so many swaps/changes?! That’s so awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing and enjoy that banana bread. Really wishing I had some right now (we’re getting wintry weather).
Hey there, just wondering how integral the flaxseed is to this recipe as I don’t actually have any at the moment. Thanks! :)
Hey Darcy, It usually helps with binding, but I’m sorry I haven’t tried the bread without it so I’m not positive!
THIS IS THE BEST BANANA BREAD EVER!!!!
I’ve made this several times and I usually overcook it a little bit but it still comes out perfectly moist with a nice nutty taste. It’s not too sweet and the banana flavor comes through so nicely. Today I added some hemp protein and used date paste instead of maple syrup and it still turned out amazing with a little more almond milk and and an extra tablespoon or two of banana. I definitely have to freeze it to avoid eating all of it in two days…
Based on the comments I’m going to try to sub some of the oil with applesauce next time so I can cut the sugar a little bit.
Hey Irina, I’m so glad you love it so much! Thanks for your feedback :)
I came across this recipe because I didn’t have eggs but wanted to make banana bread. Now even if I had eggs, I will still chose to make this recipe instead. Simply delicious, moist and wonderful. Thank you for sharing!
Wow thanks so much Holly! :)
Definitely going to try this for mum’s day brunch, wondering though, has anyone tried this with buckwheat flour as a gluten free option?
Thanks,
Amie
Hello from Jamaica! This recipe is a MUST try. I’ve made it about 7 times now for different people as gifts and everybody has told me how quick it has disappeared because they loved it so much. Oh She Glows, you’ve found a perfect balance here with this recipe, its moist, soft and pretty to look at too. Don’t hesitate, this is the one for you!
Hey Kaodi, We just made it this weekend and I have to agree…it never lasts long! Eric suggested we bake two loaves next time. ;) So glad you love it!
I just made this, but I only had about half the needed amount of banana. So I substituted some ripe mashed avocado, and added an extra tbsp of maple syrup to add some sweetness and it’s AMAZING! Not too sweet, and not too dense. Lovely :)
Hi, this looks delicious and I would love to try it. But I don’t have any flax seeds on hand. Would it be okay to leave it out?
Hey there, I’m sorry I haven’t tried this recipe without the flax. You may be able to sub chia seeds instead if you have those. But I’m not sure how essential they are to the outcome.
Vegan butter worked great! Didn’t have any coconut oil on hand so I figured that would be fine. So moist and delicious, and the whole (not vegan) family looooved it!
I’m so glad to hear that Genny! I’m craving it now ;)
Legitimately the best banana bread I’ve ever eaten – vegan or not vegan. This is simply divine! I added some cinnamon and nutmeg to mine.
Aww thank you Carol! That makes me so happy to hear.
I just finished eating two pieces of this bread and it was really good! I’ve just started eating plant based and I wanted to try this because I had just the right amount of bananas. I added cinnamon and topped it with walnuts. I used raw cane sugar and it worked perfectly. I spread earth balance vegan spread. I’ve been making traditional banana bread for over 20 years so I was cautiously optimistic. This is a great alternative if you are switching to a plant based diet.
Hey Shelley, Thank you so much for your feedback! I’m so happy you enjoyed it.
Thank you for this slice of heaven! I couldn’t find the coco sugar or those flours you suggested so I used regular sugar and 1 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat. The texture was just perfect!
Thanks for sharing April! :)
Angela, your banana bread recipe is simply fabulous:-) I used xylitol instead of sugar and Melt coconut butter. I have tried many of your creations and all of them was super delicious. Thank you for your awesomeness!
Hey Andrea, Thank you so much for trying it out. So happy it was a hit (and many others too). Enjoy that bread!
I used date sugar and whole wheat flour and I think it turned out great! Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for letting me know Jennifer! So glad those subs worked :)
Banana bread is the thing I bake most often, and this was the best banana bread I’ve ever made. I ended up using mostly whole grain spelt (150g) and some white flour (60g) and I put a load of chocolate chips on top and just eased them into the top with a knife so they weren’t all exposed.
Wow, thank you Jane! That’s such a huge compliment :)
This was so, so, so good! What a great recipe. It has the perfect amount of sugar. The only thing I did differently was use all-purpose flour instead of spelt because that was all I had on on hand. I’ve made (and eaten) a ton of banana bread over the years and this was really one of the best I’ve had, vegan or non-vegan. It was super light and moist. Thank you!
Hi Colleen, Oh I’m so glad you love it so much. Thanks so much for your review!
THANK you for this amazing recipe. It’s made me believe that I am a good baker. The original recipe is perfect & I can’t stop making & sharing this banana bread.
I omitted the maple syrup cos it’s not easily available in India & used castor sugar.
I also made this with Amaranth flour / Chocolate chunks mixed in & it turned out great ! Just 1 T.v. extra oil & milk ( I used coconut milk)
awww that’s the best feeling ever, isn’t it? I’m so happy you love it so much. Happy baking :)
Hi! I know this kind of defeats the purpose of a vegan banana bead but yor recipe sounds so good but we don’t have flaxseed. Do u think I can substitute one egg?
Hey Mimi, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, but I’m not certain. I wonder if a reader has left a comment about this swap…might be worth searching for “egg” to quickly check through the comments. Happy baking!
this is hands down the best banana bread I’ve ever had! my family long-time swore on a banana bread recipe passed down through family that of course wasn’t vegan, and this one absolutely beat it! I’m a fairly new vegan (six months) and i was determined to find the perfect vegan banana bread and this is it, everyone loved it. it was so moist and perfectly sweet and filling! it didn’t even last a day! definitely keeping this recipe. thank you!!
Hey Lexi, thank you! I’m so happy you loved the banana bread. It’s a huge hit in our house too…a loaf barely lasts a day around here as well!
I’ve been on the hunt for a delicious, healthier plant-based banana bread, and I was thrilled with how this one came out. By far the best I’ve tried, and will be my go to from now on! I made exactly as directed with regular spelt four, but I like to sprinkle a tablespoon of coarse (Turbinado) sugar on top of baked goods before baking, as I love the crunch and it’s not a ton of added sugar. It complimented the toasted walnuts so well on this bread. I love vegan recipes like this one. It’s simply delicious – vegan or not – so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything!
Hey Maggie, I’m so happy you enjoyed the banana bread! And I love your turbinado sugar tip. I’ll have to give that a try sometime!
The lack of spices made the initial batch of banana bread I cooked following this recipe come out bland. I ended up adding cinnamon, nutmeg, and a bit of ground cloves to the dough, which really made the bread come out delicious the second time around.
After some bad experiences with banana bread whoch had almost led me to giving up, this is finally a recipe for what I want! The texture is absolutely perfect, even though I didn’t have any flaxseed and used a teaspoon of chia seeds plus two teaspoons of water.
Hey Juliana, great news!! And I’m glad the chia egg swap worked out so well :)
Hi Angela!
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe! It has become one of my favorites since turning vegan. My mom and I have made it a few times for home and family and it tastes great each time. We experimented and added mashed blueberries and dates to the mixture and it comes out delicious!
Hope you have a great day! :)
Rishi
I’m so glad you love it Rishi! Thanks for sharing your additions too…mashed blueberries sounds dreamy!
I’ve made this more than once with Miyoko butter (vegan butter, I get it at Trader Joe’s), and it comes out perfectly. :)
Hey Emily, that’s great to know! Thank you.
Question hiw woukd you suggest using apple instead of banana do you think if same quantity and similar consistency it might work ? Am contemplating trying lol
Hey Jo, I’m sorry I haven’t tried it before so I have no idea if it would turn out or not.