This gluten free blueberry banana bread is a healthy and easy to make snack recipe. It’s made with simple ingredients, dairy free optional, and loaded with delicious banana flavor and lots of juicy blueberries.
I don’t know why I’ve been sleeping on gluten free blueberry banana bread. I’ve always been a chocolate chip banana bread kind of girl, but the blueberries just felt so perfect for spring and blueberries and banana are just so good together.
This loaf is completely gluten free, dairy free friendly and much lower in sugar than traditional recipes! It’s perfect with a drizzle of honey and a bit of butter, but also delicious as is for a grab and go snack.
Not all banana bread is healthy, it really depends on the ingredients used, but this recipe can be completely refined sugar free, has lots of healthy fats and 6 grams of protein per slice. It’s so delicious with a bit of orange or lemon zest thrown in the mix!
While banana bread does take a while to cook, it only requires about 10 minutes of prep time! If you love this recipe, try my gluten free blueberry muffins next!
Key ingredients
FLOUR. Since this is a gluten free banana bread recipe, I opted for gluten free all purpose flour. You can definitely swap for regular AP flour if you are not GF!
I do not recommend oat flour, instead try my oat flour banana bread.
EGGS. This recipe calls for two eggs which adds a bit of protein and helps bind all ingredients together. Eggs also make banana bread a bit fluffier since it can be on the dense side because of the bananas.
TAPIOCA. A little bit of tapioca starch helps absorb the wet ingredients and ensures the center of the loaf isn’t too dense.
BANANA. Three ripe bananas will add a delicious natural sweetness to the loaf. I love pureeing the bananas, but you can also mash them instead.
SUGAR/HONEY. We need a combination of regular granulated sugar as well as honey to sweeten this loaf.
BUTTER. You can use either melted butter or coconut oil for a dairy free option. If you use coconut oil, be sure to use refined so you don’t get a strong coconut flavor.
YOGURT. A bit of greek yogurt adds a bit more moisture and a little protein boost!
How to make gluten free blueberry banana bread
Add your bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can just mash them, but I find the texture of the bread is much smoother when you puree them.
Measure out 1 1/4 cups and add to a mixing bowl. Whisk in all wet ingredients until smooth.
Add in the flour (making sure to spoon and level), tapioca, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk until smooth.
In a small dish, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add the berries to a bowl and fold to combine.
Transfer to your prepared loaf pan and top with additional blueberries and sprinkle of sugar if desired. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then carefully lift onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Ideally, let the bread cool for 2 hours before slicing to ensure the structure has time to set. Once cool, slice and enjoy!
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, this gluten free blueberry banana bread will keep for 3-5 days. Because of the super fresh ingredients, I do recommend storing it in the fridge.
Let it cool completely, then either store as an un-cut loaf or slice and store in a container or zip lock bag.
This loaf should freeze well! Be sure to let it cool completely, then slice and store in a ziplock bag for up to 2 months. Reheat in the oven at 300 Fahrenheit until warm though the center.
Can I make it vegan?
I have not tested this recipe without the eggs, but since there are only two it should be ok. However, keep in mind the texture will be more dense and less fluffy.
You can try adding more banana puree (about 6 extra tablespoons), use two flax eggs or a store bought egg replacer.
Fresh vs. frozen berries
I highly recommend sticking with fresh blueberries for this gluten free blueberry banana bread. Since banana bread is already a very moist recipe, frozen blueberries can lead to an extremely dense loaf because of all the extra water.
We’ll toss the berries in a bit of flour before adding to the bread to ensure it doesn’t get soggy. If you have access to fresh wild blueberries, those are my favorite to bake with!
More snacks you’ll love!
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out! As always, be sure to follow me on instagram and subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes.
Gluten Free Blueberry Banana Bread
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- 1 ¼ cups banana puree from about 3 ripe bananas
- ½ cup granulated sugar see notes
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- ¼ cup butter or coconut oil melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Dry
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose baking flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups blueberries + 1 tablespoon flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 or 9 x 5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add your bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. Alternatively, you can just mash them, but I find the texture of the bread is much smoother when you puree them.
- Measure out 1 1/4 cups and add to a mixing bowl.
- Whisk in all wet ingredients until smooth.
- Add in the flour (making sure to spoon and level), tapioca, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Whisk until smooth.
- In a small dish, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- Add the berries to a bowl and fold to combine.
- Transfer to your prepared loaf pan and top with additional blueberries and sprinkle of sugar if desired.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then carefully lift onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
- Ideally, let the bread cool for 2 hours before slicing to ensure the structure has time to set.
- Once cool, slice and enjoy!
Amy Barin says
I’ve made this bread multiple times now. I was skeptical about it because it was GF. But I was making it to share with my GF friend. My thoughts are if I can avoid gluten I will. So I made the bread. Best blueberry banana bread ever! I couldn’t stop eating it. Glad I shared with my friend otherwise I would have eaten the entire loaf within a few days. I just recently made her cinnamon swill banana bread and love that as well. So Claire really knows how to do GF and make it taste amazing. I’m looking forward to trying more of her recipes!
Claire Cary says
Yay! So glad it could change your mind about GF recipes 🙂
Colleen says
Absolutely love all of your recipes and am baking this one today. I cannot find tapioca starch at my market so only have cornstarch. Let you know how it turns out but it looks amazing. Thank you for all the recipes you send us! .
Claire Cary says
Cornstarch should be fine! Thank you for making, so glad you’re enjoying them 🙂
Janet Cresse says
This was wonderful. Of course I haven’t made anything from Eat With Clarity that wasn’t wonderful!
Claire Cary says
Thank you, Janet! Makes me so happy 🙂
Kari says
This bread turned out really good. I made it gluten free, egg free. I just omitted the eggs and added an extra 1/4 cupt of greek yogurt. Also I added lemon zest a about 1 tsp more lemon just to give it a little more lemon flavor. It tastes amazing, thank you!
Claire Cary says
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed it.