This healthy vegan banana bread is moist, dense, and oh so delicious! And since it’s oil-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and naturally sweetened, you can eat this decadent breakfast bread guilt-free. Keep reading to see how to make banana bread the whole food, plant-based way!
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I love banana bread, so when I found Angela Liddon’s recipe for a one-bowl vegan banana bread, I immediately fell in love.
Banana bread AND less mess? Yes please!
But the problem came when I started reducing the amount of oil in my diet. See, her recipe calls for a whopping 1/3 cup of oil, which just didn’t sit well with me anymore. So I made it my goal to turn her already-delicious recipe into a whole food, plant-based superstar.
I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I think you will be too!
This healthy vegan banana bread recipe is:
- Whole food, plant-based
- Vegan
- Oil-free
- Refined sugar-free
- Naturally sweetened
- Dairy-free
- 100% delicious!
But before we get to the actual recipe, let’s go over a few lessons in plant-based baking because I know you probably have some burning questions that need answering:
How to Make Oil-Free Banana Bread
You might be wondering how to make banana bread without any oil. It’s a legitimate question, especially since adding fat is typically how you get moist and rich baked goods.
Luckily, it really isn’t that hard to remove oil from your baked goods when know the tricks of the trade. Depending on the recipe, you can swap out the oil for:
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Mashed banana
- Nut butter
Of course, it might take some trial and error to get the recipe just right, but oil-free baking is pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
For this banana bread recipe, I simply increased the amount of mashed banana to replace the oil. It just seemed appropriate since I was already working with mashed banana, but I’m sure unsweetened applesauce would have done the trick too.
How to Substitute Eggs in Banana Bread
Another big question is how to substitute eggs in banana bread.
The solution?
Yep, ground flaxseed acts as a fantastic binder, so you’ll often see it in eggless baking recipes. You can also use chia seeds for a similar effect.
For this particular banana bread recipe, you’ll just dump the ground flax in a bowl with the rest of the wet ingredients. Easy peasy!
But if you want to know how to make an official flax egg or chia egg, this article shows you what to do.
How to Make the Best Healthy Vegan Banana Bread
Moist, dense, and oh-so-delicious, this oil-free vegan banana bread makes good use of your overripe bananas. And the best part is that you can make it in one bowl without dirtying up a bunch of dishes!
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 2/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
- 2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9×5” loaf pan with nonstick spray. If you don’t want to use nonstick spray, you can line the pan with parchment paper instead, or you can use a nonstick or silicone loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until you get a pudding-like texture. Make sure you have 1 2/3 cups of mashed banana.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients (ground flaxseed, almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract) to the bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the coconut sugar, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt to the bowl and stir well to combine. Add the whole wheat flour and stir until you don’t see any flour left at the bottom of the bowl, being careful to not overmix the dough. Gently fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the banana bread dough into the loaf pan and bake 45-55 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to bake the banana bread even longer. You’ll know the bread is done when a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool in its pan for a few minutes. Turn the pan over to gently dump the banana bread onto a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing and serving.
Recipe Notes
Use bananas that are almost completely brown. The browner the better!
Be careful to not overmix the dough when you make this recipe. Overmixing will make the banana bread tough.
This banana bread will last a few days in a sealed container. I don’t refrigerate mine, but you can definitely keep yours in the refrigerator if you prefer.
You can freeze your banana bread if you can’t eat it all in a few days or if you want to batch prep several loaves at once.
More Thoughts on This Plant-Based Banana Bread
This is definitely my favorite oil-free plant-based banana bread, and I just know you’ll love it as much as I do!
When you try it, please let me know how it turned out for you by leaving a comment below!
Looking for More Healthy Plant-Based Recipes? Check These Out:
- Sweet Berry Oatmeal
- Sinfully Delicious Healthy Chocolate Banana Smoothie
- Fruit and Nut Trail Mix (Plant-Based + Vegan Recipe)
Printable Recipe for The Best Healthy Vegan Banana Bread
Here’s a printable version of the healthy banana bread recipe that you can print and keep for easy reference:
Healthy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 2/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
- 2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the dry ingredients:
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9×5” loaf pan with nonstick spray. If you don’t want to use nonstick spray, you can line the pan with parchment paper instead, or you can use a nonstick or silicone loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until you get a pudding-like texture. Make sure you have 1 2/3 cups of mashed banana.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients (ground flaxseed, almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract) to the bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the coconut sugar, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt to the bowl and stir well to combine. Add the whole wheat flour and stir until you don’t see any flour left at the bottom of the bowl, being careful to not overmix the dough. Gently fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the banana bread dough into the loaf pan and bake 45-55 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to bake the banana bread even longer. You’ll know the bread is done when a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool in its pan for a few minutes. Turn the pan over to gently dump the banana bread onto a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
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