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A recipe for Gluten-Free and Vegan Banana Bread that tastes equally as delicious as your traditional banana bread. No one will know it is gluten and dairy-free!
I often get asked why my recipes use certain flours/starches and why some are vegan while others are not. My recipes are almost always gluten-free because I eat gluten-free (most of the time), but as I’m sure you’ve discovered I am certainly not vegan or paleo or follow any real diet for that matter. Honestly, there is no rhyme or reason to it, my recipes come out the way they do entirely based on what I have on hand.
Sure I make the occasional grocery shop, but especially when it comes to baking there’s always different combinations that can yield the same result. I’m not about to go running out to the store to buy cornstarch and buckwheat if I already have tapioca flour and brown rice flour on hand. Same goes for eggs. If I’m out but have some flaxseed in the fridge, flax egg here we come. When there’s a will there’s a way!
Of course I’m also a sucker for a good science experiment. A while ago I read that mixing applesauce and baking powder can act as a binder instead of eggs. Obviously I forgot to write down where I read it or how to do it, but I gave it a shot and the baking gods must have been on my side because it actually worked out in this recipe.
I really had no intention of posting this recipe when I was baking it because I made it last-minute for C when I visited Montreal a few weeks ago. I sneakily made it gluten-free so I could eat it too. He was shocked at how good it was despite its “healthiness” (healthy food can taste good people!!!) that I knew I had to recreate and photograph it. I then made them into muffins when I catered and fooled everyone there too. I declare myself the banana bread queen because damnnnnn this.is.good.
The Best Ever Banana Bread {Gluten-Free & Vegan}
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 slices 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Bake
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Dry:
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour*
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp gluten-free oat flour (ground rolled oats)*
- 3/4 cup potato starch*
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch*
- 1 tsp xanthan gum**
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet:
- 1/2 cup applesauce, warmed up and then mixed with ½ tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Optional: 1 cup chocolate chips or nuts (or a combination)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with coconut oil or non-stick spray (bread is big so don’t use a smaller sized pan)
- Combine all dry ingredients and set aside.
- In a separate bowl mash up bananas. Add in warm applesauce (premixed with baking powder), melted coconut oil, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.
- Add in chocolate chips or nuts if desired.
- Scoop batter into pan and bake for 55-60 mins.
- Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 mins before removing from pan and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Will keep in a sealed container on counter for up to 5 days.
*Or replace brown rice flour, oat flour, tapioca flour and potato starch with 2 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp of regular all-purpose or whole wheat flour.
**If using regular all-purpose or whole wheat omit xanthan gum
***Can also be made into 12 large muffins (bake for 25-30 mins or until top is brown and springs back)
Like this recipe? Check out some of my other baked goods!
my best ever recipe is something that i legit took from skinnytaste.com and acted like i made it up (to my family). it’s a chocolate chip banana muffin recipe. kayla calls is “mommy’s yummy muffins” and i don’t correct her. #iregretnothing
this looks so good. expect me to steal this idea too.
kathy
Vodka and Soda
Steal away but Kayla is gonna know Mommy didn’t pull this off!
Eat all the banana bread!!!! I’m waiting (impatiently) for some bananas to ripen so I can make some. PS thanks for the multiple flours explanation. I always wonder if like, tapioca flour in a recipe means that you absolutely have to use that specific flour in order to make it work.
There’s usually ways to sub around it. I’m working on a more detailed post explaining everything!
That banana bread does look SO moist (ew don’t like that word: moist). I want to try someeeee!
haha I’m okay with moist but I hate the word melon arghhhh
Oooo this looks and sounds fantastic! I’ve never used tapioca flour before, but if I ever come across it in the stores, I would totally try it out. I usually stick to recipes I know, but occasionally, I go crazy and buy new things to try new recipes, and it’s often worth it! I find new foods, tastes, and textures that I love.
Yum! That sounds wonderful! I never got to try any banana bread….but I do have some bananas that are ripening a little faster than I can eat them….Thank you for the perfect timing!
I experimented a lot while gf, and I think it is easier to get it wrong as it is so complicated with all the flours, I had quite a few mistakes, many of my pancakes came out like a blob of fried oatmeal…..not so good, but I learned that gluten free pancakes are better smaller, compared to my usual giant ones!
Thanks for the recipe, and for proving that life is for experimenting…and sometimes it even works!
I am a sucker for a good banana bread. I could start my morning off with a slice of that and a hot coffeee everyday
I adore banana bread! This looks amazing and I want to make it ASAP, but I have no ripe bananas on hand. I hate it when that happens!
I tend to experiment with vegan and GF baking too because I have a friend who is both. Also a lot of my recipes naturally come out vegan just because of the nature of the recipes.
I must make this!!! Banana bread is my fav!!!
I love to experiment. I use applesauce a lot in my recipes and find it works well. This banana bread looks great – the texture stands out to me – too bad I only have one overripe banana today. lol
Oh man, that banana bread looks so moist and delicious! I love that you included all the possible swaps in the recipe, that makes it so much easier if I don’t have all these things on hand. I’m new to baking with xantham gum, but science experiments are fun! 🙂
It’s like the secret ingredient for all gluten-free baking!
Hi
Looks AWESOME! I really want to make this but I have some questions. What kind of applesauce is it? is it just something that you can find everywhere or? and how much is 2 T gluten-free oat flour in ml or another unit? Writting all the way from Denmark…
//Jacob
oats really????