Easy Vegan Banana Bread Recipe – prepped in minutes!
Easy vegan banana bread. If you’re looking for a speedy vegan banana bread that requires minimal effort for maximum pay-out, you’ve come to the right place! Using a simple blender method for making the batter, and then it’s mix in one bowl. Ready in less than hour, this is the perfect, chilled out day baking treat.
Banana Bread has been around for years, but reached optimum popularity during the first year of lockdown (I hope one day I’ll be reading this post and thinking, gosh, lockdown seems soooo long ago now!), so that was 2020?
If you love to hide fruit and veg in delicious baked goods, try my zucchini bread here, quick and simple, and perfect for the banana-hater in your life!
I think what made it popular was that it was bread/not bread. It has the name bread in it, but it’s just a loaf cake! It does come under the guise of “quick breads”, but I don’t even think of it like that.
Banana Bread makes great use of overripe bananas, in fact, the riper the better, and you could use whole frozen bananas too.
Table of Contents
Why is this the best banana bread recipe?
Of course, we all think that our recipes are the best, but this one combines two critical criteria:
- Speed. You can whizz and stir up the ingredients and have it in the oven in less than 5 minutes
- Taste. This is full of all the good stuff: vegan chocolate chips, walnuts, brown sugar, vanilla extract. It is the only banana bread recipe that you will ever need!
Ingredients and Modifications
- Ripe bananas. A must. And the riper the better. As you can see from my picture, one of the bananas was beyond ripe!
- Brown sugar. For added sweetness and a rich caramel taste.
- Coconut oil, melted. You can use an unflavoured oil of your choice.
- Plain flour.
- Bicarbonate of Soda and Baking powder. These will help with the rise and aerating the banana bread.
- Vegan yogurt and cream. These help bind the cake (they work as egg replacement) and also ensure that you have a tender crumb.
- Walnuts and chocolate chips. Optional, of course, but make for a luxurious vegan banana loaf cake.
- Feel free to omit the nuts/chocolate chips or double them up
- Use coconut sugar instead of white sugar
- You can use canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, or melted vegan butter instead of coconut oil
- You can use non-dairy milk such as almond milk, oat milk or soy milk instead of vegan cream. Try adding a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk if you do replace it, this thickens it slightly and makes it richer.
This is ONLY a list of ingredients for the recipe; please see recipe card below for complete printable recipe.
Method
Simple! You take a whole lot of basic ingredients and mix them! Well, there’s maybe a little more to it than that, but not too much.
Sift the dry ingredients (all purpose flour (although you can use whole wheat flour) with baking soda (baking powder) and bicarbonate of soda) in a large mixing bowl.
In a blender, puree the ripe brown bananas, and the wet ingredients, the melted coconut oil or vegetable oil, white sugar, brown sugar, and dairy-free cream and yogurt.
Mix together the wet and the dry mixtures…
Mix until smooth.
Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
Pour your vegan banana bread batter into a 2lb prepared loaf pan (lined with parchment paper), and bake for about 45-50 minutes at 180c. Use the toothpick test to ensure it is cooked through.
How do you serve Banana Bread?
Banana bread is great served just cut into chunks, like any loaf cake. However, you can also spread it with a little vegan butter, or, once it goes a little stale, fry it on a little vegan butter and spread with jam or peanut butter.
Can I use unripe bananas in banana bread?
Yes, you can but I don’t recommend it for a couple of reasons. One, unripe bananas will not give you a smooth puree when you blend it, they still have a really firm texture and will produce a more nubbly texture. Two, ripe bananas are much sweeter and have much more flavour than unripe.
Note: Unlike regular banana bread, this vegan recipe does not need flax eggs or egg substitutes, and of course, it is a naturally eggless banana bread.
The resulting cake has a fluffy texture, studded with dark chocolate and nuts that punctuate the sweetness of the bananas perfectly.
Try my other delicious vegan cakes
- No-Bake Strawberry Cream Pie
- Vegan Pear and Walnut Brownies
- No Bake Key Lime Pies!
- Mango Coconut Sticky Rice
- Old-Fashioned Rhubarb Cake
- Easy Vegan Sultana Loaf
The Best Vegan Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Bananas - ripe, peeled
- 5 tbsp Coconut Oil - melted
- ½ cup Plain Yogurt - vegan
- ½ cup Cream - vegan, I used Oatly
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ cup Brown Sugar - soft
- 1¾ cup Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Walnuts - chopped
- ½ Dark Chocolate Chips - vegan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c.
- Line a loaf tin with baking paper (I used a standard 2lb tin).
- Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.
- In a blender, whizz up the bananas, coconut oil, yogurt, cream, vanilla and sugars until smooth.
- Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined and no lumps are visible.
- Gently stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into slices and enjoying!
Please note that where the recipe asks for milk, butter or yogurt, this refers to any plant-based version that you prefer.
This banana bread turned out perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
I loved how moist this banana bread was, turned out great – Thanks!
This is so yummy! Love the idea of a loaf cake instead of bread too because that’s totally what it is.
I love this banana bread! So delicious.
You weren’t wrong, this definitely is the best banana bread! The yoghurt and cream makes it so moist and I love the addition of walnuts and chocolate chips for different textures and flavours.
This banana bread looks so good! I think the row of banana slices on top is so pretty! Can’t wait to make it for my daughter! Thanks for the recipe!
This gorgeous loaf was irresistible! I baked it up yesterday and there’s barely enough left for breakfast this morning. My whole family enjoyed it and didn’t even know it was vegan.
Wow, no way is the bread vegan!! I am definitely making it. Thanks for including some modifications too, I am excited to try those versions as well 😉
So delicious! Love all the flavours and just how easy it is to make. Thanks for another kickass recipe.
True that everyone learnt to bake one in pandemic:)) I love your vegan version of the recipe!
I’m not vegan, but I have to try these banana bread asap! I love the way you decorated it with the banana slices on top. It looks so delicious and moist.
This banana bread looks so delicious and I have ripe bananas that I need to use today. I’m looking forward to this and I know it will be a new favorite! Thank you!
This banana bread is so good! Can’t believe it’s actually vegan
Such an awesome banana bread! You definitely cannot tell it is vegan. So delicious!
I am not a vegan, but I love this recipe. It’s delicious, easy, and healthy!
This banana bread is outrageous. It turns out moist and flavorful. I love it.
I agree with the title recipe and I highly recommend everyone trying it. I baked it and came out excellent as expected.
This banana bread looks amazing. My mouth is watering just from looking at it.
We absolutely love banana bread but I don’t think we ever tried a vegan recipe! Thanks for sharing, I cannot wait to see how this turns!
Loving this Vegan Banana Bread recipe! So easy to make and delicious! Loved it!
I always seem to have bananas lying around that are too ripe to eat so a good banana bread recipe is always so helpful. Tried yours and it was yum! Love the addition of the dark chocolate chips and walnuts. And yeah, it’s not really bread is it?? LOL
So delicious and easy to make. Thanks for another great recipe.
I love banana bread and this recipe totally hit the spot. I can’t believe how moist and delicious it was. Definitely keeping this one to make again. Thank you.
I love how you added banana slices to the top! Looks so pretty! We love banana bread at our house, so excited to give this recipe a try!