Easy Vegan Banana Bread Recipe 🍌 An easy vegan recipe for making simply the most delicious and moist, eggless & dairy-free banana bread. With just a few basic ingredients, enjoy this scrumptious cake-like loaf anytime you like!
Looking for something to do with those over-ripe bananas on your kitchen counter? Make banana bread! Chances are, you likely have all the ingredients you'll need to whip up a loaf of best vegan banana bread that will be out of the oven in about an hour!
Quick breads, like this yummy easy vegan banana bread recipe, are some of my favorite baked goods to create. Sweet enough to be a dessert and light enough to enjoy for breakfast or an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee or tea, just like my simple vegan lemon blueberry bread and vegan zucchini bread.
I love making quick breads. Like the name suggests, a quick bread is just that – a leavened flour-based loaf that does not require yeast or additional time for rising/proofing in order for the bread to increase in volume. Quick breads (like my favorite vegan pumpkin bread) rise while baking, much like cakes and muffins. For this recipe, we will use baking soda as a leavening agent.
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🍌 Why you should try this recipe
- It's lightly sweet, very moist and super delicious!
- The mellow flavor of bananas shine through
- So easy to make!
- Eggless and dairy-free. Can be made gluten-free (see below)
- It's a tried and true, time-tested recipe
The credit for this recipe goes to my darling Great-Aunt Velma, who baked many loaves of this luscious banana bread for generations of our family over the years.
🍌 Ingredient Notes
- Flour - I use organic all-purpose flour. See notes below for gluten-free tips.
- Baking Soda - For best rising results, use fresh baking soda.
- Salt
- Bananas - use over-ripe bananas (they're much sweeter).
- Vegan Butter - melted
- Sugar - I use organic cane sugar. Substitute with coconut sugar or granulated sugar of your choice.
- Vanilla
- Vegan egg replacer - To make this recipe eggless, I used Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer. See FAQ's below for other options.
- Walnuts - optional. See below for more add-ins.
Add-ins
This easy recipe for making the best eggless vegan banana bread is wonderful as is, but if you would like to add some extra texture & flavors, here are some tasty ideas:
- Nuts - walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, cashews
- Chocolate chips - vegan semi-sweet or white chocolate chips
- Coconut -flaked
- Dates - chopped
- Raisins
- Cranberries
- Blueberries
- Cinnamon or nutmeg - if using, add to dry ingredients
🥕 See printable recipe card below for complete details.
🍌 Instructions
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Add egg replacer. Whisk thoroughly.
Peel bananas and break into pieces. Place in a medium size mixing bowl.
Mash bananas using a potato masher or fork.
Add mashed bananas to butter/sugar mixture.
Whisk or stir to combine.
Gradually add flour/baking soda/salt to wet ingredients.
Pour in walnuts or other optional add-ins. Using a whisk or silicone spatula, mix until just combined (don't over-stir). Batter will be thick.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or lightly grease/flour inside of pan. Spoon batter into loaf pan. Place on middle rack in oven. Bake at 350℉ for 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness at 50 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come out clean and dry when loaf is ready.
Place pan on a rack to cool for at least 20 minutes (or more) before serving.
🍌 Banana Bread Baking Tips
- Use fresh ingredients, including flour and leavening agents like baking soda. All-purpose white flour has a shelf life of about 3-8 months. Gluten-free and whole wheat flours may become stale sooner. Unless you bake a lot, it’s better to purchase flour in small quantities. Baking soda can lose its rising oomph after a few months. I like to keep an extra unopened box on hand just in case.
- Measure accurately. Baking is equal parts science and art. Unlike some cooking methods where you can guess-timate quantities by adding a handful of this or a pinch of that – too much or too little of an ingredient can mean the difference between ooh and aah or uh-oh. Pre-measuring your ingredients with everything prepped in advance can be a game-changer. A kitchen scale can be a home bakers best friend.
🍌 Equipment
These are the kitchen tools I use to make banana bread:
- Mixing bowls 2 medium, 1 large
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Oven-proof loaf pan
- Potato masher or fork
- Whisk
- Silicone spatula
- Parchment paper
- Cooling rack
Gluten-free Baking Tip
To prepare this easy vegan banana bread recipe without wheat gluten, choose a 1-1 gluten-free flour. Be sure to check the labels of the other ingredients you use to ensure they are all gluten-free.
🍌 FAQ's
Purely from habit, I always remove those annoying stringy things whenever I peel a banana. I'd never really thought about it before, just assuming they were inedible, or at least something I didn't want to eat. As it turns out, they have a name - "phloem bundles" - an essential part of the banana's vascular system that delivers nutrients throughout the fruit. If you don't mind their tough texture, you can absolutely eat them. As for me, I prefer not to have strings in my banana bread, but you sure can leave them in if you like.
Traditionally, this recipe calls for eggs, which I’ve substituted with vegan egg replacer. There are several packaged powdered egg replacers available which work well. You can also make your own by combining one tablespoon ground flax meal with three tablespoons of water (per egg). Allow it to sit 5 – 15 minutes to thicken before using. Here are some of the most popular egg substitutes to use in baking:
Yes, in fact freezing over-ripe bananas is a great way to always have bananas on hand for baking and making smoothies. Simply peel the bananas and place them in a ziplock freezer bag or air-tight container and keep frozen up to three months. When ready to use for baking, allow them to thaw for about 20 minutes before mashing.
Yes, you can replace the melted plant-based butter with applesauce for a lower-fat version of banana bread. Keep in mind that this substitution might affect the texture slightly and will likely add an apple flavor to the loaf.
You can store leftover vegan banana bread refrigerated in an airtight food container or food-safe plastic bag up to 3-4 days or frozen up to 3 months.
If you love this recipe ★★★★★ please be sure to rate it below! Sharing your experience let's me know that you enjoyed it and helps other readers decide if they should give the recipe a try too. Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
Easy Vegan Banana Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Mixing bowls 2 medium, 1 large
- Oven-proof loaf pan
- Potato masher or fork
- whisk
- silicone spatula
- Parchment paper
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 2 cups Flour All-purpose flour. See notes below for gluten-free tips.
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1½ cups Bananas Mashed - about 4 bananas (over-ripe)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter Melted
- ½ cup Sugar Granulated
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 2 eggs Vegan egg replacer Prepared equivalent of 2 eggs
- ½ cup Walnuts Optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted vegan butter, sugar, and vanilla.
- Add egg replacer. Whisk thoroughly.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash bananas using a potato masher or fork.
- Add bananas to butter/sugar mixture. Whisk to combine.
- Gradually add flour/baking soda/salt to wet ingredients.
- Stir in walnuts or other optional add-ins.
- Using a whisk or silicone spatula, mix until just combined (don’t over-stir). Batter will be thick.
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or lightly grease/flour inside of pan.
- Spoon batter into loaf pan.
- Place on middle rack in oven. Bake at 350℉ for 50-60 minutes.
- Check for doneness at 50 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come out clean and dry when loaf is ready.
- Remove from oven. Place pan on a rack to cool for at least 20 minutes (or more) before serving.
- Store leftover vegan banana bread in an airtight container or food-safe plastic bag up to 3 days.
Notes
- Nuts – walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, cashews
- Chocolate chips – vegan semi-sweet or white chocolate chips
- Coconut -flaked
- Dates – chopped
- Raisins
- Cranberries
- Blueberries
- Cinnamon or nutmeg – if using, add to dry ingredients
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Here is everything you want in a simply moist and delicious banana bread. So easy to prepare and even easier to enjoy! I hope you love it as much as I do!
melanie
What can we use and what amount, instead of egg replacer? Apple sauce? Flax eggs?
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Hi Melanie: Yes, you can use flax meal as an egg replacer. I've mentioned it in the recipe FAQ's - Combine one tablespoon ground flax meal with three tablespoons of water (per egg). Allow it to sit 5 – 15 minutes to thicken before using. Another option that I have used successfully in cakes is to simply use soda water (3-4 tablespoons per egg). I haven't tried it in this recipe but imagine it would work. Otherwise, applesauce is fine, but it can make the banana bread taste like apple (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!)