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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’ve now made this recipe FOUR times this holiday season and it’s amazing. This most recent time, I accidentally forgot to add the flax egg and I think it turned out even better! Baked for 50 minutes and it was super moist with even better banana flavor than before. And it held up just fine! highly recommend that tweak.
Interesting! Thanks for the feedback Janelle 🙂
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Hey!! I wanna make this for my roommate but she is allergic to nuts…is there another nut-free substitute for the almond butter?
You can use Tahini or Sunflower Seed Butter!
so. freaking. good. this is the very first “healthy” banana bread i’ve made that has actually worked!! and WELL!! i’m a recently diagnosed celiac and i was really getting frustrated with all the nasty, gummy banana bread, haha… i used 1 cup of oat flour and 1 cup of almond flour and it worked beautifully… i am also ovo-vegetarian as i am allergic to milk and don’t eat meat for ethical reasons, so i used two eggs from our neighbor’s backyard chickens… it was nice and fluffy- in the future i will try flax as well and see how that does!! next time i’d also add walnuts. thanks caitlin- you’re the best!!
Great to know that Almond Flour works too!
Hello Caitlin,
I found your blog today when looking for a gluten-free, vegan banana bread to make to use up some over-ripe bananas. I was happy to see I had everything on hand! I followed your exact recipe, except I used steel cut Irish oats (the 5-minute kind, as that was what I had) and I added a tsp of cinnamon. The steel cut oats took longer to blend into four, but the result was a really beautiful hearty bread – I was impressed! It was more bread-like and less quickbread-cake-like as the banana bread I am used to, but it was a delightfully unexpected change! The outside had a perfect crust and the inside was indeed fluffy with good crumb. It was not mushy or dry in any way. My bread only had a slight banana taste and was only slightly sweet, making it a great base for toppings that I wouldn’t normally put on banana bread, such as jam. I will definitely make this again and try it with regular rolled oats to see if there is a difference. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Danielle!
Hello! I don’t have any oats currently, so I substituted it with a gluten-free flour mix. The bread was a little dense but other than that, I loved it! Great job with this recipe! Hard to believe its gluten-free and vegan!
Thanks, Marina!
Hi, today I made this awesome banana bread. I used frozen bananas and no sugar. Instead I took some raisins. Peanut butter was the only nut butter I had…homemade and not runny – I thought that the result would be ok for me (no guests 😉 ) but it turned out fluffy and delicious. The bananas are sweet enough and next time I will use some cinnamon too. Thanks for this easy and surprisingly alternative-friendly recipe!
Best wishes from Germany 🙂
Great recipe! I’ve made it a few times now. I just made a loaf and added a 90% dark chocolate bar chopped roughly….so good!!!
That sounds delicious, Christine!
I used 2 cups Trader Joes Gluten free flour and about 1/4cup rolled oats in mine and it worked out great! Justs thought you’d like to know 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I’m so happy I found a delicious, fluffy gluten free vegan banana bread!! I actually made these into muffins instead of a loaf, baking just about 25 minutes at 350 and they were perfect. So moist, fluffy and DELICIOUSSS!! Can’t wait to make these over and over for a quick and easy breakfast, snack or dessert! Thanks for sharing the recipe! 😀
Yay! Glad to hear you enjoyed them, Vanessa!
I don’t think my other question posted so I’m asking again (just in case). I noticed some people were curious about doubling the recipe. I, on the other hand, want to halve it. What size baking pan would you recommend for half of the amount, and how long do you think it would take to bake? Also, I really want to add walnuts to the recipe – I was thinking 2 or 3 tablespoons of chopped walnuts. Do you think that would work? I apologize for all the questions. I don’t bake often but my husband really loves banana bread and I want to surprise him with this one. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. It honestly looks divine!
Hi Celeste! Sorry for the delay – I think if you are halving the recipe you can use a mini loaf pan, but it would probably be best to make muffins using the batter instead. Check for doneness around 30 or so minutes and go from there! Walnuts would be a great addition too 🙂
Would gluten free rolled oats work the same?
yes!
Sounds so good. I’d like to make these into muffins – should I just bake for about 25 – 30 min instead?
Yes, I would start with 25 minutes and go from there – just make sure a toothpick comes out cleanly!
I’ve had this recipe in my bookmarks for ages and finally got around to make it ! I had tried different vegan banana bread recipes before without being completely satisfied but this was perfect ! Followed the recipe without substitutions (except that I divided all ingredients by 2 for a smaller pan) and it came out great, cooked within 30 min because the pan was smaller. I tried it when it was still hot and it felt too sweet and a bit too wet but it was perfect the next day after being completely cooled down. This will become my nex go-to recipe 🙂 thanks !
I’ve had this recipe in my bookmarks for ages and finally got around to make it ! I had tried different vegan banana bread recipes before without being completely satisfied but this was perfect ! Followed the recipe without substitutions (except that I divided all ingredients by 2 for a smaller pan) and it came out great, cooked within 30 min because the pan was smaller. I tried it when it was still hot and it felt too sweet and a bit too wet but it was perfect the next day after being completely cooled down. This will become my nex go-to recipe 🙂 thanks !
My family LOVED this recipe!! I made some subs according to other reviewers. I only had 2 ripe bananas, which only equated to 1 cup, so I used 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce. I used the flax meal for my “egg”, cashew butter in place of almond, and raw turbinado sugar in place of coconut. My batter was a little thick so I added 1 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk. Mine only took about 45-50 minutes to cook. It’s amazing! Thank you!!
This was delicious! The last banana bread recipe I tried was so gummy and wet (regardless of how long i cooked it for). Not only does this taste better but it’s healthier too. I’ll definitely make this many times again
Wow!! I just made this recipe and it is absolutely delicious!! At first I was skeptical because I have made other banana bread recipes before and they have failed epically. I thought I’d give it go with some old and half rotten bananas. I have to say that I will never ever make any other banana bread recipe. Only this one!! Thanks so much Caitlin!! You rock ????
Yay! So glad you liked it Hannah!
If I didn’t want whole oats in my bread, could I replace that just with another 1/2 cup of oat flour? Or what do you think would work best?
Hi Jennifer! I would replace with 1/3 cup of Oat Flour 🙂
Quick question – do you recommend 9×5 loaf pan or 8×4. I want to make sure I get the texture right.
I use a 9×5″ pan!