Easy Vegan Banana Bread
My new favourite vegan banana bread recipe – using simple cupboard staple ingredients, this recipe is easy to whip up and perfect for an indulgent breakfast or sweet treat anytime!
Banana Bread. It’s one of my favourite baked goods! There’s something so cosy about digging into a gooey, sweet piece of banana bread. Especially if it’s served with a cup of tea and slathered with a layer of nut butter. But finding an easy gluten-free and vegan banana bread recipe that uses simple ingredients and bakes up like a charm had been an elusive dream of mine for some time.
That is, until now!
Buy Whole Foods Online
When Buy Whole Foods Online got in touch about collaborating on a recipe, I knew I wanted to tackle a banana bread recipe. If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll have seen that Buy Whole Foods Online is my favourite place to buy ingredients in bulk to stock up my cupboard.
One of the top budget tips from my Ultimate Guide to Eating Plant-based on a Budget is buying cupboard food in bulk, and Buy Whole Foods Online have the best prices I’ve found. They offer everything from nuts and seeds, grains and dried fruits, herbs and spices, superfoods, snacks, specialty items, and so much more. I love checking out their special offers and reduced to clear options.
Plus, a top tip is to sign up for their VIP Special Offers Membership after placing your first order. I have been receiving their weekly emails for years. They offer fantastic deals on their already low prices so that you can save even more.
The Ingredients
For this banana bread recipe, I wanted to use simple ingredients that could be stored in my cupboard. That way I could whip up an easy banana bread anytime. Well, as long as I had ripe bananas on hand. The key ingredients used for this recipe are all quite simple cupboard staples of mine, full of beneficial nutrients, and are very reasonably priced to buy (even organic!) from Buy Whole Foods Online:
Oat Flour – A fantastic gluten-free alternative, providing all of the benefits of oats! It’s higher in protein and lower in carbs compared to other flours. Plus it’s naturally sweeter, so great to use for baking. You could grind up your own from regular oats (or gluten-free ones, if necessary), but buying oat flour definitely saves on time and effort.
Date Sugar – Made with 100% organic dried dates, date sugar is a great natural sugar substitute to sweeten your recipes. It has a lovely sweet flavour and is naturally high in fibre, as it keeps the fibre from the whole fruit.
Golden Linseed – Golden linseed/flaxseed is packed full of nutrients, fibre, and protein and is one of my daily staples! When you combine a tablespoon of ground linseed with three tablespoons of water, and let it sit for about 10 minutes, it also thickens up to become a fantastic egg replacement in baking. I like to buy golden linseed and grind them up myself weekly. So I always have a fresh batch in my fridge.
Apple Cider Vinegar – There are so many versatile uses for apple cider vinegar and it’s another daily staple for me! What you may not know is that it is also great in baking. It reacts with baking soda to help your baked good rise.
Ceylon Cinnamon Powder – Did you know that there are multiple types of cinnamon? Well, there are! Ceylon cinnamon is nutritionally superior compared to Cassia, the cinnamon that most supermarkets sell. It has a stronger smell and flavour, which I immediately recognised when I first tried it out. I find a little goes a long way with this cinnamon powder, and it adds a wonderful sweet and warming flavour to baking.
Fast 5 Reasons to Try: Easy Vegan Banana Bread
- Free from gluten, oil, refined sugar, and vegan of course.
- Healthy enough for a sweet breakfast but also delicious enough for dessert.
- A batter delicious enough to eat off the spoon before even baking up.
- Easy to bake using simple ingredients that can live in your cupboard.
- Who doesn’t love banana bread?!
Easy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed bananas (~3 large black bananas; have 1 extra for topping if desired)
- 1/4 cup apple sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed with 3 tbsp water)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1/4 cup date sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup dried fruit and/or nuts
Instructions
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Heat oven to 180C/375F. Prepare a flax egg by combining 1 tbsp ground flax seed with 3 tbsp water and letting it sit for ~10 minutes.
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Mash 3 large black peeled bananas with a fork in a bowl, then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients (apple sauce, apple cider vinegar, flax egg, and vanilla extract).
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In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients (oat flour, date sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg), and then add them in with the wet ingredients. Mix in the dried fruit or nuts, if desired.
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Pour the mixture in a greased or lined loaf tin. Add a banana sliced in half to the top of the loaf, or any other toppings you want for decoration. Bake for ~45 minutes until the top is golden brown.
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Check to see if a skewer comes out clean, and if not bake for another 10-15 minutes as needed.
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Take out of the oven and allow to cool before slicing. Store in the fridge for 5-6 days, or store slices in the freezer.
The next time you find bananas browning on your countertop, I hope you give this recipe a try! If you do, let me know – take a photo and tag me on Instagram @bitesbybekah. I’d love to connect with you and it always makes me so happy to see your creations!
*This is not a sponsored post, but I was kindly gifted ingredients from Buy Whole Foods Online. All opinions are my own and I only share about companies and brands that I genuinely love! I have been purchasing from Buy Whole Foods Online for years before they got in touch with me, and I really support what they do.
I ABSOLUTELY love banana bread! Going to definitely give this bad boy a try! It look delicious
Aww this makes me so happy to hear! Banana bread is one of my absolute faves – let me know if you do give this recipe a go!! Xxx
Waiting for bananas to ripen so i can make this but with chocolate chips !! Looks AMAZING 🙂
Ahhh that sounds incredible! How are your bananas doing?! I’d love to hear how you get on with the recipe if you have a chance to try it out! Xxx
This looks soooo good and not full of sugar like most recipes!! I canny wait to try this!!!
Aww thanks for this lovely, yes I love playing around with cutting down on sugar and using more natural, unrefined sources! Hope you get a chance to try it out, and let me know if you do! Xxx
This looks so yummy!!
Thank ya love, I think it’s delish myself! Hope you get a chance to try it out! Xxx
Hey Bekah.
Such a great recipe and I adore Bananas bread and it looks so easy to cook even for a beginner cook like myself. Definitely will tag you into my creations using your recipes on Instagram. Super photography as always and I must check out Wholefoods online website since I have been trying to look for a good budget online shop to get health foods from. Thanks so much for another inspirational blog post ???xxxx