Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

Are you all too familiar with your vegan bread coming out too dense, gummy, or plain?

Try this vegan banana bread recipe for a fluffy and naturally sweet alternative to the traditional recipe – one that’s better for your health and lifestyle.

How to Make Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 ripe medium bananas (1 ⅓ cups when mashed)
• ⅓ cup coconut oil (melted) or ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup honey (or ½ cup maple syrup)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax seed, 2.5 tbsp water mixed and thickened)
• ¼ cup soy, almond, or cashew milk (or you may also use water)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon (+ a dash of cinnamon used on top)
• 1 ¾ cups flour (white whole wheat or regular whole wheat will work)
• Nuts and cacao nibs (optional)

Cooking Tools

• A hand or stand mixer (optional)
• Whisk
• 2 large bowls
• 2 small bowls
• Measuring cups
• A spatula
• A 9×5 inch loaf pan

Directions for Easy Vegan Banana Bread

The trick to preventing your vegan bread from becoming too dense or gummy is to find the right moist-to-fluff ratio.

It takes more than just replacing the traditional non-vegan items with cruelty-free ingredients. You have to tweak other areas of the recipe as well, so that your bread is not too dry or sweet.

To do that, be meticulous about your mixture. Start by mixing your dry ingredients and your wet ingredients into separate bowls.

Mixing Dry (bowl 1)

In your first bowl, add the 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, and 1 3/4 cups of flour.

If you are aiming for gluten-free as well, opt for almond flour instead of whole wheat flour. Stir the dry ingredients, then place this bowl to the side.

Making Your Flax Egg

In a small bowl, pour 1 tbsp of flax seed and 2.5 tbsp of water. Mix them together with a fork and set this bowl to the side.

While you are mixing the remainder of your wet ingredients in bowl 2, this flax egg will thicken in consistency.

Mixing Wet Ingredients (bowl 2)

In a third separate bowl, mash three ripe or overripe bananas. Incorporate one more banana if you like your vegan banana bread moist. The mashed bananas should amount to about 1 ⅓ cups.

Now add your ⅓ cup of coconut oil (or extra-virgin olive oil), ½ cup of honey (or maple syrup), your 1 tsp vanilla extract, your ¼ cup of dairy-free milk, and finally, your thickened flax egg.

Adding Dry to Wet

Stir in the dry ingredients from bowl 1 to bowl 2. As you mix your batter, leave some lumps of banana.

The mixture does not have to look perfectly smooth since chunks will have your vegan banana bread tasting more flavorful and fluffy with each bite.

Sweetening It Up

If you like the additional flavor of chocolate in your banana bread, have no fear. There is a way to incorporate this delectable extra while still being cruelty-free. The secret ingredient? Cacao nibs.

Just mix in a handful of cacao nibs to your batter and it will give your bread the same natural sweetness you would get with chocolate chips.

While you’re at it – the taste of chocolate and banana pair really well with nuts.

The classic combination is with walnuts, as they have a bitterness to them that will highlight the sweetness of the chocolate and banana flavors.  You can also go for diced almonds and pecans.

If you want to add a crunchy texture, just add them to the outer layer of your loaf right before putting it in the oven.

Preheating and Prepping

Now it is time to preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. While waiting, assemble your baking tools. You will need a 9×5 inch loaf pan, greased with olive oil or a non-stick coconut oil cooking spray.

Pour or spoon the batter into your now-prepared pan and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon on the top. Press the nuts onto your batter, coating the surface evenly before putting it into the oven.

Baking

The final step of your recipe is to bake it. Set your oven to 45 minutes and place the loaf pan in the center.

Once it’s finished, you’ll note that it’s decently firm as well as light brown or golden. If you like yours crunchier, feel free to leave it in the oven for a greater amount of time.

Put the loaf pan on a cooling rack and wait 20 minutes. Then slide a butter knife around the corners of the loaf to loosen it from the pan before placing it directly on the cooling rack.

In about 10 minutes, your vegan banana bread should be ready for you to devour!

Here’s a video showing a chocolate-chip peanut butter banana bread variation.

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Have you tried making vegan banana bread?