Easy Vegan Banana Bread
on Oct 19, 2019, Updated Jul 18, 2024
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This easy vegan banana bread with chocolate chips is completely oil-free but still moist and delicious. The recipe takes just minutes to prepare in one bowl with simple, everyday ingredients. Enjoy a thick slice, warm from the oven topped with vegan butter.
This banana bread is easy to make, perfectly moist and completely oil-free and refined sugar-free. Try it topped with apple butter, date paste or homemade cranberry sauce for a healthy and delicious treat.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Let’s go over how to make this banana bread step-by-step.
Before you start: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
Step 1. Mash the Banana
The first step to making this banana bread is to mash up the banana in a bowl. You could also blitz it in a blender a couple times or use an immersion blender.
It doesn’t have to be completely smooth but close to it, a few small lumps are ok. I like using an immersion blender for this. A couple quickly blitzes is perfect.
Step 2. Mix in the Wet Ingredients
Once you’ve mashed the banana, add the nut butter, vanilla and maple syrup and stir or whisk until smooth.
You can use peanut butter, almond butter or any other nut butter in this recipe as long as it’s not too dry.
How ripe should the bananas be?
For wonderfully moist banana bread, the bananas should be ripe to the point that you wouldn’t want to eat one for a snack. They should be soft but not complete mush, with spotty brown peels. If the bananas are green or under ripe, the bread will be on the dry side.
Step 3. Mix in the Dry Ingredients
Next, add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. While the dry ingredients are sitting on top of the wet mixture, gently mix together to help distribute the baking powder.
Quick Tip: I highly suggest using a kitchen scale for accurate baking. For example, 2 cups of whole wheat flour weighs 240 grams but when just using a measuring up I’ve had 1 cup weigh over 200 grams before!
When mixing the dry ingredients into the wet, gently fold together until all the flour has been wetted. When there are no dry bits left, stop mixing. Finally, gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Do I have to add chocolate chips?
No, you don’t have to use chocolate chips but I think chocolate chips in banana bread are a must. I like Made Good, Enjoy Life or Camino dairy-free chocolate chips. You could also use chopped dark chocolate.
Step 4. Bake and enjoy!
Woohoo! We’re almost ready to bake! Scoop the banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Once baked, let the banana bread sit in the loaf pan for a few minutes, then lift it out of the pan using the edges of the parchment paper.
Let the banana bread cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Do I have to use parchment paper to line the pan?
No, it’s not totally necessary but it does make it easy to pop the finished bread out of the pan. If you’re not using parchment paper, rub the pan with a small amount of vegan butter, olive oil, coconut oil or avocado oil or give it a quick spritz of non-stick cooking spray.
More Vegan Baking Recipes
Here are some more delicious vegan baking recipes:
- Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes
- Carrot Cake Banana Bread
- Vegan Zucchini Bread
- Vegan Olive Oil Cake
You might also like this date and pumpkin bread.
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Easy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas, 350 g, 1.5 cups when smushed into a measuring cup
- 1/4 cup 60 g almond butter (or any other nut or seed butter as long as it’s not too dry)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup, 165 g
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract, optional
- 2 cups whole wheat flour, 240 g
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips, mini or regular, 75 g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add the banana to a mixing bowl and mash with a fork or immersion blender until it forms a thick paste. A few small lumps are okay but it should be almost completely smooth.
- Add the maple syrup, almond butter and vanilla and stir until completely combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. While the dry ingredients are sitting on top of the wet mixture, mix them together a bit so the baking powder is distributed then fold it all into the wet ingredients until no dry bits of flour remain. Do not over mix the batter.
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold in to the batter.
- Line a loaf pan with a parchment paper. One strip placed across the pan is perfect so you can easily lift the finished bread out of the pan.
- Scoop the batter into the pan and spread evenly to create a flat surface.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes. You can test for doneness by inserting a knife into the middle, if it comes out clean (a little chocolate is ok), the bread is done.
- Remove from the oven, let sit in the pan for 5 minutes then lift out of the pan and let cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing into 12 even slices.
- Store the bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or freeze up to 3 months.
Delicious! This is my go-to banana bread recipe since becoming vegan. Also bakes up great as mufffins!
Thank you!!
Deryn,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It was so good. I love that you used the simplest ingredients and they are also healthier. Absolutely delicious!!
Easy and delicious! My first time baking banana bread and I broke my ‘no eating after dinner rule” because I just had to have another piece!
Haha. So glad it was enjoyed!! Thanks for the review.
Can I use oat flour instead of whole wheat flour?
Not in the recipe unfortunately. You should be able to use a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour but plain oat flour won’t work. Sorry!
It’s very dense… any idea what might have went wrong?
Were you able to use a scale to measure ingredients? How did you measure the flour? Did you make any other changes? If it’s dense or heavy, that usually indicates too much flour was used.
I tried it with brown sugar, I added small amounts and try the mix very time to check the taste. Best banana bread I’ve tried so far!! We eat it all in one day!! Thank you for the recipe!
Great to hear! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
Can I replace maple syrup for brown soft cane sugar since is pretty difficult to find maple syrup in the country I live?
You can but I’m not sure the exact amount since it’s a dry sweetener…I would try a bit less to start, or use the same amount and adjust the banana and almost butter if needed. I haven’t tested this recipe with dry sweetener though so I cant guarantee results! Let me know if you try it.
Can wheat flour be replaced by almond flour? If so, same ratio?
I’m not really sure without testing. It would definitely need something in addition to the almond flour since it doesn’t bind as well as wheat flour, possibly a flax egg or two.
As for the ratio, you may need more almond flour to reach the right batter consistency. I can’t guarantee anything though since I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flours. Let me know if you try it!
What temperature do you cook this at?
It’s 350 degrees F. Enjoy!