Banana bread is the first baked good I veganized when I began eating vegan in 2007, and it remains my – and my family’s – favorite vegan dessert recipe to date. It tastes amazing, slices beautifully, and it’s loaded with so many goodies, including five bananas and lots of crunchy walnuts. I love baking with bananas, including recipes like this tasty vegan banana cake, vegan banana upside down cake and vegan banana muffins, among so many others. But this easy vegan banana bread is the banana dessert I make most often for my family because it’s so healthy and so versatile. I am sure you have some overripe bananas sitting in your kitchen right now. Go, make this exquisite vegan banana bread, and be sure to let me know how much you love it in the comments below!
Why you’ll love this recipe
It’s packed with fresh, banana flavor and it has a soft, tender, moist texture. This is truly a classic banana bread, just eggless and dairy free. It’s so good for you. This is truly a perfect banana bread. There’s very little sugar and fat in this recipe. Instead we rely on the natural sweetness and moisture in bananas to do their magic. The applesauce, nuts and flax meal add more healthfulness and deliciousness. It’s super kid-friendly. It makes the best lunchbox or after-school snack. It is easy to make. This is a one bowl batter and it’s a super simple recipe to put together. Mix the dry ingredients, dump in the wet ingredients, mix and bake. Easy peasy. It’s quite foolproof and a great recipe to start out with if you are new to baking quick breads.
How to make vegan banana bread
These are the step by step instructions with photographs. To simply see the recipe steps, check recipe box below. -Hemi
Flour. You can use all purpose flour or a 50-50 mix of regular whole wheat flour and unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour. I have made the bread with all of these and it turns out great. My favorite, to keep this bread healthy, is whole wheat pastry flour. Leavening: Baking soda + baking powder. Salt Oil. Most oils will work here, including avocado oil, grape seed oil, sunflower oil and coconut oil. You can also use an equal quantity of melted vegan butter. Sugar. Cane sugar, coconut sugar, turbinado sugar or any sugar you want to use is fine. You can also use date syrup, coconut palm syrup or maple syrup. Flax meal (ground flaxseed, not flax eggs). This adds more nutrition and, along with the bananas, serves as an egg replacer for this eggless banana bread. Apple cider vinegar. To give more rise and fluffiness to the bread. Unsweetened applesauce. This adds lots of moisture and flavor and also gives a nice nutrition boost. Very ripe bananas. Bananas that are very soft, with deeply mottled skins, will work best here. You need four bananas for the batter and one banana for the decorative top, which is optional. Walnuts (or pecans, optional). The crunch from the chopped walnuts flecking the soft, tender banana bread crumb is wonderful. You can skip the nuts if you are nut-free. See variations below for other suggested additions to the banana bread batter.
Variations
Stir in pecans instead of walnuts into the batter. Add ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips to the batter instead of the nuts for a delicious vegan chocolate chip banana bread. If you like some warmth in the banana bread loaf add a teaspoon of ginger or cinnamon or a 50-50 mix of both. Stir in a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract for a nice boost of sweetness. Use no more than a teaspoon.
Expert tips
You may have less moisture in the batter if the bananas you use are not too ripe. In that case add up to a fourth of a cup of non dairy milk (soy milk, oat milk, almond milk or any milk of your choice), a tablespoon at a time, until the batter achieves the right consistency. Toast the nuts lightly before adding to the batter for the best, nutty flavor. Don’t overmix the batter after adding the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix with a spatula just until no dry flour remains in the bowl. Make cleanup easier by using a blender to mix your wet ingredients. You can throw in the bananas first, blend them, then add all the other wet ingredients and blend them for a few seconds before adding to the dry ingredients.
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