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This Vegan Banana Bread is fluffy, soft, and bakes up into an absolutely delicious treat. Plus, it’s actually healthy — you only need 9 whole food plant-based ingredients to make it! Gluten-Free, Refined-Sugar Free, Oil-Free, Nut-Free Option.
This Vegan Banana Bread really does check all the marks for a delicious loaf. It’s light, fluffy, perfectly sweet, has a tender crumb and makes for a good breakfast, snack, and dessert. What’s not to love?
Table of Contents
A Loaf That’s Good and Good For You
I have always had a love for banana bread (who hasn’t!?). However, when I adopted a plant-based diet in 2015, I did have one small problem – Vegan Banana Bread always seemed to fall flat. There are a plethora of vegan recipes out there, but none of them have ever seemed to knock my socks off.
Luckily, after months (and yes, I really do mean months) of testing, I think I’ve finally done it! This banana bread is tall, fluffy, not gummy whatsoever, and made from healthy, good-for-you ingredients!
What You Need for Vegan Banana Bread
In addition to ripe, spotty bananas, you’ll need just 8 other ingredients. Let’s go over what each ingredient is doing here:
- Rolled oats: We’re using a combination of both rolled oats and oat flour to make the perfect textured gluten-free, vegan banana bread.
- Coconut sugar: One of my favorite go-to ingredients to add sweetness, yet keep a recipe refined sugar-free. As a bonus, it is always vegan!
- Ground flax: The binder that holds this loaf together and gives it structure.
- Nut butter: In the spirit of keeping this recipe good for you, I’ve used nut butter in place of refined oil. Don’t worry, it still bakes up soft and fluffy.
- Baking powder + Baking soda: Essential to giving this banana bread a lift in the oven and keeping it from falling flat.
- Apple cider vinegar: Activates the baking soda and helps the loaf brown beautifully.
How to Make Vegan & Gluten-Free Banana Bread
- Blend the rolled oats using a food processor or blender until a fine flour.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining rolled oats, and salt until combined.
- Mash the bananas in a separate large bowl until even and runny in texture. Add the nut butter, sugar, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and flax egg. Mix to combine.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir to combine until all clumps have dissolved. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts, if using.
- Pour the banana bread batter into the bread pan and spread smooth using a spatula.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer the loaf to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice and serve at room temperature with nut butter or vegan butter.
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Use overripe bananas. As bananas ripen, the starches in the fruit break down and increases the overall sweetness. For best, sweet vegan banana bread, use ripe, spotty bananas!
- Check your baking powder’s expiration date. Baking powder’s leavening powers greatly diminish after the container has been open for a few months. If you’ve had the same tin of baking powder for over 4-6 months, it is best to discard and purchase a new one.
Serving Suggestions
Like my favorite vegan muffins, my favorite way to enjoy a slice of banana bread is with a spread of nut butter or soft vegan butter. It makes the perfect snack or easy vegan breakfast. Serve alongside a drink like my Beet Latte or Iced Chamomile Matcha Latte for the ultimate bakery-inspired experience.
If you’re looking for more Vegan Bread Recipes, you’ll also love this Vegan Zucchini Bread, Vegan Pumpkin Bread, Sweet Potato Bread and this Cranberry Orange Bread!
If you’re looking for more Vegan Bread Recipes, you’ll also love this Vegan Zucchini Bread, Vegan Pumpkin Bread, Sweet Potato Bread and this Cranberry Orange Bread!
How to Store Vegan Banana Bread
As with most of my quick breads and loaves, this vegan banana bread keeps best at room temperature covered with a loose fitting lid. Individual slices of banana bread will also freeze well for up to 2 months.
For best results, wrap individual slices of banana bread in plastic wrap to help prevent sticking and freezer burn.
Thaw frozen banana bread slices at room temperature until soft again, then heat as desired.
Substitutions and Variations
- Coconut sugar substitution: Use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar has a higher moisture content and will make the banana bread slightly more moist.
- Oat flour substitutions? As I have tested this recipe multiple times to ensure it’s deliciousness, I would strongly advise no flour substitutions. If you do decide to live life on the edge and experiment (and it works for you), please let me know in the comments below and I can update the recipe notes.
- Nut butter options: Any nut or seed butter will work, but I’d recommend using a neutral nut butter for the best flavor. A strong tasting nut butter such as peanut butter will greatly change the flavor. Some readers have also shared success replacing the nut butter with oil.
Recipe FAQs
This egg-free banana bread uses ground flaxseed as an egg replacer.
Oats in and of themselves are gluten-free, but they are often grown near wheat and can be cross contaminated. If you cannot tolerate gluten, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
Yes! A few brands such as Bob’s Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills sell a pre-made oat flour for purchase.
Absolutely. The best loaves of banana bread should be moist, but not wet. If you were to insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf it should come out fairly clean, with just a few crumbs.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Fluffy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 Medium Bananas make sure they are very brown and spotty!
- 2 1/2 cup Rolled Oats divided (not Instant)
- 1/2 cup Coconut Sugar
- 1/4 cup Nut or Seed Butter*
- 2 tbsp Ground Flax OR Ground Chia Seeds + 6 tbsp Water
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract Optional, but recommended
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- In a small bowl, combine the Ground Flax OR Ground Chia seeds with 6 tbsp water to form an “egg.” Stir and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Add 2 cups of the Rolled Oats into a blender or food processor and blend until they form a fine flour, about 45-60 seconds.
- Place the Oat Flour into a medium sized bowl and add the Baking Powder, Baking Soda, remaining 1/2 cup of Rolled Oats, and Salt. Mix well and set aside.
- Add your ripe Bananas to a separate, large bowl, and mash with a fork until they form an even, runny texture. Add the Nut Butter, Coconut Sugar, Apple Cider Vinegar, Vanilla Extract, and Flax or Chia Egg to the bowl. Mix well.
- Slowly incorporate the dry flour mixture into the wet Banana mixture, stirring well and until all clumps have dissolved.
- Pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined or greased 8″ bread pan, smoothing the top off with a spatula.
- Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes, or until the top is golden brown, and a toothpick comes out cleanly or with minimal crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan and allow to cool completely before slicing.
- Store in a container at room temperature for up to one week.
Recipe Notes
- Coconut Sugar may be substituted with Brown Sugar or Cane Sugar.
- You can use any Nut/Seed Butter that you’d like for this recipe, but this will affect the final taste. I prefer to use either Almond Butter or Peanut Butter, but you can also use Tahini, Cashew Butter, or Sunflower Seed Butter!
I made this banana bread and added some walnuts. It looked very dry from the outside but was dense and moist and was very nice. I really liked the texture that the walnuts added to the banana bread. I was very impressed with this recipe and will be making it again. It was also very simple to make. Highly recommend this recipe for a health vegan banana bread.
Happy to hear you liked it!
This is a clean eating recipe . I did use maple syrup instead of coconut sugar and it still came out fluffy. It was delicious. This will be my go to recipe for banana bread for now on. Thanks for sharing.
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So happy to hear that – thank you!
Hello! Quick question. 2 cups of oats blended will make how much cups of oat flour? I have oat flour on hand already. Thanks in advance for your response.
Hi Amber! It would make roughly 2 1/4 cups of oat flour 🙂
We followed this fairly close but subbed in 1/2 c of teff flour in for the unground oats to add a nutty flavor, or maybe just because I love teff so much. We also added in ground cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cardamom to warm it up a bit. Both my kids loved it and after only 24 hours we’re down to the last slice and fighting over it. Will definitely be making this again, probably adding in some chopped walnut or chocolate chips to indulge even more.
That’s so awesome! Love hearing when people make recipes their own!
Hey Caitlin! Ack, I just realized your website IS a vegan site and I just sent a message about a potential egg substitute. I hope that wasn’t offensive as I certainly wasn’t trying to be! Thanks!
No worries! Happy to have people enjoy the recipes! If you’re interested in substitutions for eggs this recipe uses what would be 2 eggs.
Hi can we use banana flour instead of oats ?
We haven’t tried it, but the ratio of banana flour would be less due to its absorbency. If you give it a try let us know what you do!
I absolutely love this recipe! I use this recipe fairly regularly. I use a mini loaf pan. They’re great as mini loafs! I’m a mini loaf pan convert! ha! I also threw in about 8 oz. of crushed pineapple the last time I made it and it was just wonderful! Sometimes I throw in some dark chocolate chips which is just yum! Thank you so much for this recipe! My husband was asking how many calories are in one serving size. I did not see the information on the recipe Would you happen to know? Thanks!
Ooh that sounds great! Glad you guys are enjoying it! We don’t calculate calories or nutritional info, but there are some online calculators available that would help you determine that.
Hey Caitlin! Do you think could omit the the baking powder and use some extra baking soda and vinegar instead? Or is there a specific reason for using the combination of baking soda and baking powder?
Hey! The baking soda and baking powder combination is for the leavening. You can swap baking powder for a small addition of baking powder and some vinegar. We haven’t tested the recipe in that way, but the vinegar will leaven – it just works a little quicker so you’ll have to get it baking quickly after introducing the vinegar and soda.
I’ve made this twice … last night I decided to omit the sugars and I used 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce instead. I also added a 1/2 cup of no dairy chocolate chips. I put used my muffin tin and it made 12 nice size muffins ???? these are great for breakfast ????
That’s so awesome! Thanks for sharing!
This banana bread recipe turned out great. It turned out moist and flavorful.
One other Gluten free recipe i tried was awful. It turned out hard as a brick .
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks Sheila!
Can I use this to make muffins?
Totally! 350F for 35-40 minutes should do it!
I’m making this yummy Banana bread for the 2nd time. The only issue I had last time, it fell apart when i sliced it. How can i prevent this?
Did you make sure to wait until it was completely cool before slicing? Make sure it’s totally cooled down, possibly over night, and slice it with a good serrated/bread knife!
I followed this recipe to a T, and while it tastes phenomenal, the cooking time and oven temperature didn’t work out for me. I checked on my bread at the 23min mark, and the outside was definitely done (maybe even well done), but the inside was still mushy.
I returned it to the oven on a very low heat to try to get the inside cooked a bit more, and it worked a little, but was still undercooked on the inside and over cooked on the outside. Don’t get me wrong – still delicious with some vegan butter slathered into it 😉
Will absolutely try this recipe again, and maybe just try cooking at a lower temperature for a longer timeframe.
Definitely give a lower temperature a try and just cooking it for maybe a little longer, checking on it along the way. Thanks, Jaime!
Great recipe! I was actually running out of nut butter, so I replaced it with chickpeas and some vegetable oil. Worked out fantastic! Thank you!
Thanks! Nice innovating!
I’m trying to pin this recipe so I can refer to it later, but I only have three options of pictures to go with the recipe, and none of them are of the banana bread.
Hi Jean! We have the Pinterest extension as well and did not come across that issue. You can also scroll down to the bottom of the recipe and find the Pinterest-friendly image there!
I’ve made this banana bread countless times. It’s her absolute favorite! I was wondering if I could make muffins with the same mixture?
You definitely could make it into muffins! We’ve done something similar and had adjusted the temperature to 350F for 35-40 minutes.
Could i use an egg instead of flex egg here?
The basic conversion is 1 tablespoon of flax (with 2.5 tablespoons of water) = 1 egg!
I love this recipe! But I i cant tolerate coconut sugar. I read your comments saying that liquid sweeteners do not work. I have had success inn using maple syrup. It still has seemed bready once cooled and not mushy.
Glad to hear that it worked for you! We just recommended granulated sugar to manage the texture.
Hi, did you sub the sugar with maple syrup 1:1? Thanks!
This recipe is so so good!! So soft and fluffy and perfectly sweet! I have been looking for a good vegan banana bread recipe and this exceeded all my expectations! I used half oat, half almond flour, added some cinnamon, and made them into muffins, and they worked great!! I have already eaten 3 today 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Using a muffin tin is perfect if you wan’t to use them as snacks/meal prep.
Banana bread is really the only thing I bake. So when i went vegan i needed to find an alternative recipe. I love how easy this recipe is to make. I made the bread a few times and then one day decided to try making muffins instead. So all i did was changed the baking time to 25 mins and they turned out perfect! Been making them ever since. Made them tonight. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe Caitlin!
Banana bread is definitely a comfort food. Thanks for the kind words!