This cozy Vegan Gingerbread Loaf is light and fluffy, packed with spice, and the perfect holiday treat! It’s also gluten-free and nut-free, so everyone can enjoy.
If you like gingerbread and/or holiday spice, you’re going to love this Vegan Gingerbread Loaf! Not only is it tender, delicious, fragrant, and cozy, it’s also gluten-free and nut-free! This fuss-free recipe is a perfect homemade copycat to the popular Trader Joe’s and Starbucks recipes…but with a plant-based twist 🙂
INGREDIENTS FOR GINGERBREAD LOAF
This Vegan Gingerbread Loaf is made with a longer list of ingredients, but each one serves a key role:
- Oat Flour: I like to use oat flour as the base of my gluten-free recipes because it’s cost-effective, easy to make, and has a subtle nutty flavor!
- Coconut Sugar: adds a caramel-flavor and yummy sweetness! If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can also use brown sugar.
- Molasses: helps to create that classic gingerbread flavor, while also giving some subtle sweetness
- Gingerbread Spices: warming ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg make this bread so dang cozy
- Applesauce & Oil: help to add moisture to the bread and give it a tender crumb
- Flax Egg: helps to bind the dough together, and also adds some fiber and healthy fats!
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GINGERBREAD LOAF
This recipe is so light and fluffy, you could basically consider a fun-sized vegan gingerbread cake 😉 This Gingerbread Loaf comes together in only 4 simple steps:
- Whisk the dry ingredients together,
- Mix the wet ingredients together, then add them to the dry
- Bake until fluffy and golden, then
- Serve and enjoy!
This recipes goes from tasty to decadent with two simple steps — topping the batter with turbinado sugar before baking, and a drizzle of icing sugar (or melted coconut butter) after! You could also top it with some classic frosting for an even sweeter treat.
The added crunch and sweetness from the sugar complements the texture of the bread perfectly, while the icing sugar makes things fun and festive.
You can enjoy this Gingerbread Loaf as a post-dinner treat, but it’s also especially delicious for breakfast next to a cup of hot, strong, coffee. I also think this would be a great DIY holiday gift to share with family and friends! The loaf will stay fresh at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to 5 days.
If you’re looking for more vegan gingerbread recipes, you’ll also love these Crunchy Gingerbread Cookies, these Vegan Gingerbread Pancakes, or these Vegan Ginger Molasses Cookies! Or check out this Cranberry Orange Bread for a different festive flavor variation.
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
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Vegan Gingerbread Loaf
Prep Time: 15 Minutes- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8-10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
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This cozy Vegan Gingerbread Loaf is light and fluffy, packed with spice, and the perfect holiday treat! It’s also gluten-free and nut-free, so everyone can enjoy.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups (250 g) oats, blended into a fine flour*
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 flax “eggs” (2 tablespoons ground flax + 5 tablespoons water)
- 1/2 cup (80 g) + 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup (85 g) molasses
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) avocado oil*
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Toppings: (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons turbinado or raw cane sugar
- Melted coconut butter or icing sugar, to drizzle on top
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 8×3″ baking pan with parchment paper. Prepare the flax eggs and let sit for at least 5 minutes, to thicken.
- Dry Ingredients: in a large bowl, whisk the oat flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until evenly distributed.
- Wet Ingredients: in a separate bowl, mix the thickened flax, coconut sugar, applesauce, molasses, oil, and vinegar together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well, until no dry clumps of oat flour remain.
- Bake: pour the batter into the loaf pan, then top with turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 35-37 minutes, or until the top is risen and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out only with crumbs. Remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to let cool completely.
- Serve: Drizzle with melted coconut butter or icing sugar, then slice and serve. Store leftovers at room temperature, in a container with a loose-fitting lid, for up to 5 days. Pre-sliced pieces of the loaf can also be frozen for up to 2 months and reheated as necessary.
Notes
- Oat Flour: to make oat flour, add quick-cooking or rolled oats to a high-speed blender and process for 30-60 seconds, until a fine and fluffy flour forms.
- Substitutions: Avocado oil can be replaced with another neutral liquid oil, or melted coconut oil. All of the spices can be replaced with 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons of a gingerbread spice mix, if you have one on hand. Coconut sugar can be replaced with brown sugar or white sugar. There is no substitute for molasses. If you’d like to use pumpkin puree instead of apple puree, add an additional 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar and 2 tablespoons of water to the wet ingredients.
- Oil-Free: to make this recipe oil free, replace the oil with 1/3 cup of a drippy nut or seed butter of your choosing.
21 comments
Hi, you may not know, but if I were to use date paste for the coconut sugar would it still be as fluffy? Thanks!
Date paste can be a substitute for coconut sugar.
Just wondering how much commercial oat flour to substitute rather than making the oats into flour? 2.5 cups of oats would weigh 250 g, should I just use 250 g of commercial oat flour?
Hi Mary, the weight difference shouldn’t be that far off since the recipe used oats weighed at 250g before it was blended into flour.
This is sooooo good! next time I will do an icing sugar drizzle as that would be delish but for a healthy yet indulgent snack, this is amazing! I will be working my way through all your loaf recipes!
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Thank you, Alison! 😊
Just made this, turned out very well. Love the measurement by weight, so much more accurate. Used grated gala apple in place of applesauce (used a rasp), and coconut oil. Also used grated fresh ginger in place of dried. Changed the method slightly, but still worked well, although I have nothing to compare it too! Oats, whole flax, salt, spices, baking powder and soda, altogether in the vitamix, then after mixing, let the filled tin sit for 5 minutes before baking. Used 9 X5 tin. Texture slightly crumbly, looking forward to seeing how the flavours bloom. Thank you for the recipe!
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You’re so very welcome, Cathy. Love the small alterations you made there! ♥
Can we freeze it?
Sure! Breads freeze well.
Could this be turned into muffins? I currently dont own a bread tin 😔
Converting from a loaf into muffins requires a couple of tweaks: a higher oven temperature and a much shorter cook time. Since you don’t have an exact cook time, use the toothpick test when you see the tops start to turn golden brown and keep a close eye on the muffins. If they aren’t quite done, test them again every 5 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean and then remove them from the oven to cool.
Super delicious and easy and I’ve made it 3 times already! 🙂 A new go-to favourite. Thank you so much!
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Glad they’re getting a lot of use! Thanks for making!
Super good. My oldest brother is really into it and he’s super picky- especially when it comes to vegan food. Thanks for this.
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Happy to hear it! Thanks so much!
Thanks for the recipe! My loaf seemed a bit crumbly at first, and maybe that’s because I didn’t blend my oats finely enough. But after cooling and reheating in the air fryer, it was delicious! Will definitely be eating this as a snack throughout the week!!
The oats do need to be pretty fine when you blend them, so that could be it! Glad it worked out just as well though!
Same, my oats probably weren’t fine enough (I ground it in the food processor). Might be better to use store-bought oat flour.
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Looks so delicious! And easy (love beautiful yet easy recipes ????). Gonna try it this weekend!
Thanks so much! Hope you like it!