Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Fluffy, moist and easy to make, this vegan chocolate chip banana bread is absolutely delicious and made with simple, wholesome ingredients! It’s vegan & gluten free, but don’t let that turn you off if you’re in neither of those dietary camps. This loaf is just as delicious as a classic.

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 chocolate chip 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!

How to make 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 (mine was 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 but 9×5 works too) lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips and coconut sugar if desired. 

Bake for about 50 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. It’s important that it’s cool or it will crumble more easily since it really takes its shape as it cools.

Keeping 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.

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!

Substitutions & variations

This vegan chocolate chip banana bread can be easily adapted to fit your needs or adjusted based on the ingredients you have on hand.

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 syrup) works if you’re looking for a healthy 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.

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!

Tips to make it perfectly

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.

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.

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.

Most banana bread recipes will require you to mash the bananas, but in this recipe, it’s best to puree them. The texture is much better, (more moist!) 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.

Love this recipe? Try these next!

• Fluffy Chocolate Chip Pancakes
• Grain Free Brownies
• Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies
• Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies
• Zucchini Bread

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