Vegan Banana Bread

5 from 30 votes

This vegan banana bread has tons of banana flavor, and it has a moist, tender, cake-like crumb that melts in the mouth. It's healthy enough for breakfast and delicious enough for dessert!

Prep Time10

Cook Time55

Total Time1 5

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: slices

Calories: 191kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

Large mixing bowl
Standard size loaf pan (8 ½-inches by 4 ½-inches)

Ingredients

1 ⅓ cups flour (all purpose flour, a 50-50 mix of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour, or whole wheat pastry flour are all fine)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flax meal
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons avocado oil or any neutral oil (I use avocado oil. You can also substitute vegan butter)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¼ cup applesauce
4 very ripe bananas (mashed or blended until smooth with few or no lumps, You will need one more banana for the optional decorative top)
¾ cup walnuts (or pecans, lightly toasted, then chopped)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. Oil an 8 ½-inch by 4 ½-inch loaf pan.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and flax meal in a bowl.
Add apple cider vinegar, applesauce and mashed bananas to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined and there's no dry flour in the bowl.
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread evenly with a spoon or spatula. If using a banana to decorate the top slice it lengthwise into three slices, then halve each slice. Arrange on top of the loaf.
Bake the banana loaf about 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Place the banana bread on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, then unmold and let cool completely on the rack.

Notes

You may have less moisture in the batter if the bananas you use are not too ripe. In that case add up to a fourth of a cup of non dairy milk of your choice, a tablespoon at a time, until the batter achieves the right consistency.
Add ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips to the batter instead of the nuts for a delicious vegan chocolate chip banana bread.
Unrefined sugars like coconut sugar, turbinado, coconut palm syrup, date syrup and maple syrup add wonderful richness to banana bread. You can also add in a tablespoonful of molasses for really amazing flavor, because molasses and banana go nicely together. This bread is perfectly sweet and not cloyingly so, with rich banana flavor.
Applesauce adds delicious moisture to this bread, without bumping up the amount of oil. You can use vegan yogurt instead if you like, which will make the crumb really silky and tender.
If you want nuts in your banana bread -- I love some here -- you have a choice of walnuts or pecans. Both work really well. Toast the nuts lightly and chop them before adding them to the batter. You can also add vegan chocolate chips to the batter.
Make cleanup easier by using a blender to mix your wet ingredients. You can throw in the bananas first, blend them, then add all the other wet ingredients and blend them for a few seconds before adding to the dry ingredients.
You can refrigerate the banana bread for up to six days. To freeze the bread, wrap the loaf tightly in freezer wrap or place in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to four months. You can also freeze individual slices. Thaw before eating.

Nutrition