Five banana breads later and I am finally happy with the results. I never thought coming up with a healthy vegan banana bread would be this difficult. Since I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to cooking, I knew I wasn’t stopping until it came out PERFECT! It’s not like I had anything to compare it with either. I’ve honestly never tried vegan banana bread and I had only my non-vegan banana bread recipes to modify. I’ve made other vegan desserts before, so I knew what I needed to replace in my original recipes. I had to adjust measurements several times until I got moist, fluffy, and most importantly, edible banana bread.
My banana bread is made with date sugar and contains no oil. It gets its sweetness mainly from the bananas and of course the date sugar. It won’t be the sweetest banana bread you will ever try, but that is what I was after. This is the healthiest version I could come up with and I am super excited about the results! So, give it a try and let me know what you think!
Healthy Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients:
3-4 over-ripe bananas (1 1/2 cups mashed)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup date sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup Walnuts (optional)
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas and stir in date sugar, vanilla, and applesauce.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine lemon juice with almond milk. Stir into banana mixture.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir to combine ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and stir until combined.
Spread the mixture evenly into a non-stick 9×5-inch pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing and serving.
Oh this looks so good! Thanks for sharing. I am really looking forward to trying this.
This is similar to the one I make. I also added 2 TBS ground flax seeds to mine.
Very yummy. I have plenty of bananas in the freezer, i may just have to make some.
A recipe with no sugar, that's right up my alley! You're not alone on feeling that vegan banana bread is a challenge.
I make a very similar recipe only I use almond flour to make it gluten free. Looks fantastic!!
Thanks for the foodie friend add on Food buzz, I'm looking forward to more of your healthy recipes!!
thanks Leanne! =) it is a challenge to not use sugar..but who doesn't love a challenge??! I want to make a gluten-free one for a friend who has an allergy…I will try it with almond flour…thanks for the info! =)
I made this bread over the weekend and absolutely loved it!!! It was moist, fluffy and delicious! I followed the recipe as listed except that I didn't have a sifter – I was happy that it still turned out great though! Yum!
This is GREAT bread. Tasty and so moist. I love this bread and it freezes very well too. Thank you for sharing your recipe. -Mike (GG)
Just finished baking… Still a little moist, gonna put it back in.
Tastes great, we took a moist slice.
I’m gonna make this for my family this week the kids love it 🙂
I am so mad at myself!!! I accidentally put in 2 cups of almond milk instead of 1/2 cup and obviously it was totally ruined. I baked it for an hour and a half and it never turned into bread. No wonder why!!!
Could someone please tell me if this recipe can be made into muffins instead of a loaf?
I’m sure this would work fine…try it and let me know =)
Jen
Google search led me to this and the recipe sounds like it is something I could feel good about serving for breakfast. Yum! Thanks for sharing.
it’s super yummy…I need to make it again!
I’m so happy I just found your site! I cannot wait to try out your recipes!! Especially this banana bread, I’ve been looking for a good vegan recipe, I’ve tried out a couple but still haven’t found that perfect one yet! This looks fantastic!
welcome!! let me know how it works out for you =)
Could I make this with “white whole wheat” flour instead of the whole wheat pastry flour? What additions or substitions would I need to make?
Also, for this recipe and in general, could I use home made date paste (1 cup dates cooked & blended in 1/2 cup water) instead of the date sugar? This would surely affect the texture so what changes do you suggest I mAke to the recipe?
so sorry for the late response, I was down with the stomach flu this week =(
I recently reworked this recipe – even though this one is really yummy – you can try this…
I increased the amount of flour to 2 cups and yes you can use white whole wheat. I removed the date sugar and used 1/4 cup almond milk (instead of 1/2 cup) and used 1/4 cup pure maple syrup…it came out perfect!
if you wanted to use date paste, I’m thinking do the same and use 1/4 cup almond milke (or dairy free milk of choice) and instead of 1/4 cup maple syrup use a 1/4 cup date paste…try it out and let me know…I will experiment too =)
I hope that helps…I will make my new version again this weekend to test it out a second time too
made this last night and had it for breakfast. excellent!! thanks for the recipe
Awesome!! I appreciate the feedback! 🙂
xoxo
Hi, I was curious if you ever got around to making this recipe gluten free? If so, what did you do and how did it turn out?
Hi Sherry, Sorry for the delay in responding, this went to my spam folder somehow and I missed it! I would just sub the reg flour for gluten free flour, I like Bob’s Red Mill Mix the best and that should do it. I have some in my pantry so i should try it out with this recipe to test it for everyone. =)
Thanks for stopping by.
Best,
Jen
VVM
Do you think using rice milk will work for this recipe?
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Michelle,
Sorry for the delay, but I was not able to access my site for a while and I just got it fixed!!! yes, rice milk will work for this recipe =)
Jen
Hi Jennifer, I need help with my bread -it came out very fruitcake like, no fluff whatsoever. I used half almond flour and half gluten free Bob’s Red Mill flour. Could this be the issue -or maybe too many bananas? I was hoping the date sugar would be a winner as I have tried several recipes with dates, but they all came out with the fruitcake texture, and I really dislike fruitcake :-(… *I did add an extra banana, but they were all pretty small, so I don’t think that was it. I noticed that you didn’t use the flax binder, maybe I missed something on the recipe???
Hi Christina! Sorry for the late response, I don’t blog anymore eek! it is fruitcake like, there is no oil in it and no real sugar, not an easy thing to make this taste like a true banana bread sorry!! this is a very old recipe of mine!