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This Vegan Banana Bread recipe is easy to make, requires simple ingredients, and it's so darn delicious! The flavor and texture will blow you away – it's soft, moist, and brimming with sweet banana flavor.
Have some overripe bananas hanging out in your kitchen? If so, don't let them go to waste – it's the perfect time to make the best Vegan Banana Bread you've ever had!
It's foolproof and a great recipe to make with the kiddos. They'll love mashing the bananas! You can serve it for dessert along with cashew milk or go all out and have a slice for breakfast with a latte.
Ingredients Needed
Making this classic dessert couldn’t be easier. Here's a quick step-by-step visual on how to do it (full printable instructions in the recipe card below):
The star ingredient is, of course, Bananas! The riper, the better! For the remaining wet ingredients, you’ll need granulated sugar, brown sugar, flavored oil, ground flaxseed, water, and vanilla extract.
For the dry ingredients, you’ll need all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
And now for the delicious mix-ins! You’ll need vegan chocolate chips or walnuts. You can also do a blend of both.
How to make Vegan Banana Bread
The steps are very easy and the batter will come together quickly. Before you start, set out two mixing bowls, one small bowl, a whisk, a spatula, and a lined loaf pan. Now you're ready!
- Combine the water and ground flaxseed in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk to combine well.
- Mash up the bananas in a large mixing bowl using a fork or potato masher.
- Add the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and flax eggs to the mashed bananas. Whisk to combine well.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and fold with a spatula until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips or nuts.
- Pour mixture into a standard loaf pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips or nuts if desired. Place on the center rack in your oven and bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 ° F (177 ° C) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the loaf cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.
Recipe FAQs
It will stay fresh for 2-3 days in an airtight container at room temperature. You can store it in the fridge for 4-6 days, but it tends to get a little dry this way.
Absolutely! Just wrap it well in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store it in your freezer for 4-5 months. You can also freeze it in slices so you can have a piece whenever a craving hits. To thaw, place it in the fridge overnight or on the counter for an hour or until it's soft. If you'd like the banana bread warm, you can cover it in a napkin and microwave for 30 seconds.
More Vegan Sweets to Enjoy
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think by leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and sharing your feedback in the comment section below. It would make my day!
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Recipe
Easy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed + 5 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ cups overripe mashed bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
- ½ cup brown sugar (*see note)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup avocado oil or any neutral-flavored oil (grapeseed, sunflower etc.)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (*see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup vegan chocolate chips or chopped walnuts + more for topping (*optional)
Recommended Equipment
- Parchment Paper
- Whisk
- 2 Mixing Bowls
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 ° F (177 ° C). Line a Standard Loaf Pan (8. 5 x 4. 5) with parchment paper or lightly grease. (9X5 will work too).
- Combine the ground flax and water in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes. It will thicken and gel up (this creates a flax egg).
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash up the bananas using a fork or potato masher. Now add the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and flax eggs. Whisk well to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and fold with a spatula until just combined. Don't overwork the batter. The batter should be very thick. Gently fold in the chocolate chips or nuts.
- Pour mixture into loaf pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips or nuts if desired. Place on the center rack in your oven. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (check in 3 places). Small crumbs are ok, just not wet batter.
- Remove from oven and let the loaf cool for 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Let the loaf completely cool before cutting. Enjoy!
Notes
- Measuring Flour: For accurate results, don’t scoop the flour with a measuring cup directly from the container/bag. Instead, Aerate the flour first, then scoop it out of your container with a spoon and then into a measuring cup. Don’t pack or tap the cup. After filling, lightly sweep a butter knife across the top to remove the excess flour.
- Flaxseed: If you only have whole flaxseed, you can grind the seeds in a coffee grinder. You can also use chia seeds instead.
- Sweetener: You can substitute the brown sugar and granulated for ½ cup maple syrup or agave (Note: liquid sweetener adds more moisture, yielding a moister consistency). If you want it sweeter, don't add more liquid sweetener, just add ¼ cup dry sweetener of choice. Coconut or date sugar will work too, but it won't taste as sweet.
- Bananas - It's important that you use overripe, spotty bananas or the loaf will not be very flavorful or sweet.
- Baking Time: Start checking your loaf around the 45-minute mark. You don't want to overbake or it will get dry. The loaf will also continue to cook when it comes out of the oven.
- Texture: This recipe yields a soft, moist, and slightly dense loaf with lots of banana flavor. I prefer it this way, but if you want a cakier texture, add ¼ cup more all-purpose flour to the recipe. Add a splash of water if the batter is too dry.
Nyssareen
I'm not vegan and have never used flax eggs before, but I wanted to make banana bread but was out of eggs and had flax seeds so I figured I'd give this recipe a try. It's great! I didn't tell my family that it was any different, just that it was a new recipe and they gobbled it up. I will definitely be trying more recipes from this site!
Melissa Huggins
This is so great to hear! Thank you for trying out the recipe and sharing wonderful feedback! 🙂
Laura
This was so easy & turned out great , delicious ! Thanks for this recipe!!
Melissa Huggins
Hi Laura, I'm so glad it was a hit! Thank you for trying it and sharing feedback. 🙂
Mark Willis
I wish you would include weights for dry ingredients, makes baking much easier.
Melissa Huggins
Hi Mark,
If you look into the recipe box, at the ingredient section, you will see there a tab for metric measurements where I wrote down the weight in grams. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Stella
This is by far my favourite banana bread recipe! It comes out lovely every time and it's both nice with and without the chocolate chips. (I leave out the cinnamon because of personal preference).
Support @ Vegan Huggs
Hi Stella! What a compliment, thank you! We are happy to hear that you loved the recipe 🙂
Sharon
My husband made this with walnuts and spectacularly overripe bananas. I'll admit I was a little worried but it turned out beautifully. It has a great flavour and texture. Definitely the best banana bread we've had. Thanks for sharing!
Support @ Vegan Huggs
Hi Sharon! What a wonderful compliment, thanks so much for trying the recipe and we are so glad you liked it 🙂
Maria
Can you make muffins instead of using the loaf pan?
Melissa Huggins
Hi Maria, I haven't tried it, but I think it should work. You'll need to reduce the cooking time but I'm not exactly sure how long. Probably 20-25 minutes. I hope this helps. I'd love to hear how they turn out if you give it a try. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Beverly
We're enjoying this very much! First time I've had (vegan) chocolate chips in banana bread, loved it ! Easy and delicious.
Support @ Vegan Huggs
Hi Beverly! We are so happy that you loved the banana bread 🙂 Thank you for stopping by!
Amy Smith-faczan
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! We have made it so many times that I have memorized it. We have tried other vegan banana breads and this one is truly the best and the easiest to whip up when you have ripe bananas. I have use part spelt flour with regular white flour and it still turns out great.
Support @ Vegan Huggs
Hi Amy! Thank you so much for the review! We are so happy that you love the banana bread 🙂
catherine portia kinchens
Will using walnuts increase calorie count.
STACY L DANIELS
Loved this recipe! The only substitutions I made were I used coconut sugar for the brown sugar and used canola instead of avocado oil. I did not use the walnuts but they would have been great also, Love the use of the vegan chocolate chips. This was so moist and had a great flavor, my new favorite recipe! Perfect amount of sweetness.
Support @ Vegan Huggs
Hi Stacy! This is such a lovely review, we are so glad to hear that you loved the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Nicole
Greetings from sunny Switzerland! I must agree with the previous commentators before me, this is a wonderful recipe. I have tried a few and none came out as lovely as your recipe. As my husband cannot tolerate gluten, I substituted normal flour with gluten free flower and to my surprise the banana bread came up lovely. I also substituted the chocolate chip with chopped walnuts and used cane sugar as a sweetener. This is now my go to recipe for banana bread, no more searching. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and am going to enjoy reading and trying more of your recipes.
Melissa Huggins
Hi Nicole, This is such a nice compliment! I'm so glad it worked out well with the GF flour. Thank you for giving it a try and sharing your feedback. 🙂
Trevor
Absolutely brill recipe! Very easy. I used 3/4 cup chopped walnuts rather than choc. The secret I think is to fold dry into wet very gently. Don't mix or stir, but gently fold. This is probably true for all recipes with baking soda.
This goes in my best vegan recipes folder.
Thanks Melissa, your recipes are the best!
Melissa Huggins
Hi Trevor, I'm so happy you liked it! The walnuts are a great choice. Yes, folding gently definitely yields a soft loaf. Thank you for making it and sharing your feedback. 🙂
kathy zingone
This banana bread is so delicious! Perfect texture!
I have tried many vegan banana bread recipes in search of the best, and I may stop my search now that I have this one. My family all agrees, this is it!
Melissa Huggins
Hi Kathy, this is the nicest compliment! I'm so happy you liked it. Thank you for giving it a try and sharing your feedback. 🙂