Fluffy, moist and easy to make, this vegan gluten free banana bread is absolutely delicious and made with simple, wholesome ingredients! Load it up with chocolate chips, walnuts, or enjoy as is! This banana bread is egg free, dairy free and refined sugar free.

vegan gluten free banana bread with chocolate chips

My favorite thing about banana bread is that it passes as breakfast, a snack, and dessert! I mean, when could that ever be a bad thing? (Peep these banana bread breakfast cookies).

This vegan gluten free banana bread has no eggs, no dairy, no gluten and NO refined sugar but is 100% delicious you won’t even realize you’re missing those things. Seriously, if you’re looking for a classic chocolate chip banana bread and think a loaf made with oat flour and almond flour can’t be as good, think again! This recipe is fluffy, moist so easy to make and a truly crowd pleasing recipe.

It can be made vegan or with real eggs for extra fluff, you can use coconut sugar to keep it refined sugar free or keep it classic with brown sugar. You won’t even know the difference! Try my vegan banana cake or mini chocolate chip muffins next!

Tips before we get started!

The uglier your bananas, the better! You want the bananas to have lots of brown spots before making banana bread. This will ensure they are sweet enough and will make the bread extra moist.
This recipe originally called for almond meal from whole almonds, but I have tested it with almond flour from blanched almonds and it works either way. The color will be a bit darker if using almond meal.

How to make vegan gluten free banana bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the ground flax seeds with 2.5 tbsp of water and set aside. Skip this step if using a regular egg.

Add the bananas to a blender and puree until no lumps remain. Measure and make sure you have 1 3/4 cup worth. Add to a bowl and add in all remaining wet ingredients. Whisk together. Add in all remaining dry ingredients aside from the chocolate chips and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Fold in the chocolate chips. Add the batter to a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips and sugar if desired.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. All ovens are different, but a toothpick should come out mostly clean with a few moist specks when the bread is fully cooked.

Once done, let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then lift out onto a cooling rack and let cool for about 2 hours before slicing. If you love this recipe, try my vegan blondies next!

Showing how to make the batter in a glass bowl.

Key ingredients

BANANA PUREE. It’s more common to used mashed banana in banana bread, but I much prefer the texture with banana puree. Especially because a vegan gluten free banana bread runs the risk of getting gummy, banana puree keeps it super fluffy.

FLAX EGG. Since this recipe is vegan, well use one flax egg to help bind the ingredients together.

OIL. A bit of oil helps keep this bread extra moist. I used refined avocado oil, but any oil or even melted vegan butter will work.

MILK. I like using soy milk because the extra protein makes the banana bread a bit fluffier, but any kind of non-dairy milk will work such as oat, almond etc.

SUGAR. Light brown, coconut, or regular white sugar will all work here! I do not recommend a liquid sweetener like maple syrup.

FLOUR. We’ll use a mix of oat flour and almond flour to keep this healthy and gluten free. I do not recommend gluten free all purpose baking flour here as it absorbs wet ingredients differently.

Banana bread in a pan before going in the oven.

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How to keep it moist

Thanks to the bananas and oil in this recipe (and even the almond flour!), this bread is incredibly moist. You shouldn’t have any issues with it drying out even after a few days.

However, to make sure it stays in tip top shape, I would suggest storing it either in a sealed tupperware container, or on a plate wrapped tightly with aluminum foil. The crust is the only part that may get slightly dry, but as long as you keep it covered, you should be good to go!

Final recipe on a cooling rack with chocolate chips sprinkled.

Mashed vs. pureed bananas

Most banana bread recipes will require you to mash the bananas, but in this recipe, it’s best to puree them. This just means you need to add them to your blender and blend until they are completely pureed.

The texture is much better in my opinion and you don’t have to worry about it being gummy even though it’s gluten free! It’s much less dense when you puree the bananas, but still just as flavorful and moist.

vegan gluten free banana bread sliced on a piece of parchment paper

Substitutions & variations

Flax egg/egg: I used a flax egg in this recipe to keep it vegan, but I have tested it with a regular egg too and it works well either way! The real egg way will yield a slightly fluffier bread, but the taste will be the same.

Sugar: I used light brown sugar because I like to keep the color on the lighter side, but coconut sugar or even maple sugar (not maple syrup) works if you’re looking for a refined sugar free recipe!

Oat flour: Don’t have oat flour on hand? Make your own! Grind up some rolled or quick oats in a food processor or high speed blender until you get a very fine flour. Process for a while to ensure it’s very finely ground.

Almond flour: If you want to make this nut free, you can sub the almond flour for one cup of oat flour. The bread may not be as moist since almond flour adds a lot of fat/moisture, so try lowering the bake time by about 5 minutes if you make this change.

Spices/Nuts: This recipe calls for cinnamon, which is optional, but you can add other spices such as nutmeg or even some chopped nuts to spruce things up!

one bite taken out of the vegan gluten free banana bread

How to store and freeze

Once prepared, this vegan banana bread will keep at room temperature for about 3-5 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week.

You can also freeze it! Just let it cool completely, then slice and freeze in an air tight zip lock bag for up to 2 months. Reheat in the oven at 300 until warm through the center.

Pro tip: Make sure you let the bread cool completely before slicing. This ensures the bread will not flatten or sink in the middle and will maintain its rise when you cut into it. I suggest letting it cool for around two hours to keep the bread as fluffy as possible.

banana bread sliced with chocolate chips

Try these next!

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Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread