Breakfast is served with this decadent yet healthy vegan gluten-free banana bread. It’s also refined sugar free, using only the power and luscious taste of maple syrup and it’s oil free! Ripe bananas, a pinch of cinnamon and vanilla, sorghum and millet based flour and maple syrup for the win!
One of the goals here on The Whole Scoop Blog is to take traditional and delicious yet typically unhealthy dishes and make them healthier! We might be changing up some of the ingredients but that doesn’t mean we are sacrificing on flavor. This vegan gluten-free banana bread is made with simple, common pantry items. If you have a nut allergy, check out my recipe notes -this banana bread is for everyone!
The Ingredients
Are you looking for a way to eat less white flour in your diet? If so, then this will be a good recipe to keep handy! Typically, banana bread is made with white flour but we’re swapping it out for a gluten-free flour. Now, I personally have nothing against gluten-containing products and there are so many healthy gluten-containing whole grains out there! However, there are those with a gluten-allergy or folks who simply want to cut down on white flour.
Some gluten-free flours are made with rice or potato starch which isn’t my personal favorite. That’s why I was so incredibly excited when Queen Street Bakery contacted me about trying out their gluten-free flour made from sorghum and millet! Sorghum and millet are wonderful grains and quite frankly, their power is not used enough! Sorghum is powerful for it’s antioxidants and millet is packed with fiber! The ingredient list is simple, clean and made with the power of plants. It aligns so perfectly with what I look for in my ingredients.
Instead of eggs, we’re using applesauce as a binder. I’m also happy to say that we’re not using any refined sugar in this recipe. Rather, we are using maple syrup which, yes, it’s still sugar, but it’s not processed or refined. To really give this batter some texture and thickness, I used a vegan yogurt and fortunately, there are tons of dairy-free yogurt options out there.
I’ve added pecans and chocolate chips to this banana bread to amp up the taste. However, you could easily omit the nuts for a nut allergy. You could also use blueberries or cranberries or any other ingredient you like to spice it up.
How do you like to top it off?
There are so many amazing ways to eat banana bread. Plain, of course. Or you can lather a thick layer of peanut or almond butter, yogurt, fruit, jams or jellies, date syrup, and more. My family’s favorite way is a layer of peanut butter and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. What’s yours? Drop me a comment below. We hope to see your banana bread creations on Instagram!
If you’d like a whole wheat version of banana bread, you can see my recipe here!
Vegan Gluten-Free Banana Bread
Equipment
- 9×3 bread pan
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 3 overripe bananas
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 flax eggs* see recipe notes
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp dairy-free yogurt
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease or line a 9×3 bread loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Prepare the flax eggs* (see recipe notes below).
- Sift the flour. Then, in a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a smaller bowl, mash the 3 bananas. Then add the maple syrup, flax eggs, applesauce, vanilla and yogurt.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until JUST combined. Do not overmix. Then fold in the chocolate chips/nuts last.
- Add the batter to your pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Remove and let cool completely (at least 10 mins) before slicing.
Notes
Did you make this? Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #thewholescoopblog
