This dairy free banana bread recipe is moist, tender and full of carmelly goodness. It's also so easy to make; you only need one bowl and 15 minutes of hands-on time to make a delicious vegan banana bread.
This banana bread recipe is one of my favorite vegan recipes. I frequently use it as a template recipe, adding in chocolate chips (see my popular banana bread with chocolate chips recipe), pecans, walnuts or dried fruit. However you make it, it never fails to please! And, as an added bonus, when it's baking, it fills the house with the lovely smell of cinnamon and vanilla
So, how do you get dairy free banana bread to turn out so moist and tender? Believe it or not, the bananas and a small amount of vegetable oil (or coconut oil) are all you need. Plus, if you follow my easy tips, you'll be sure to achieve banana bread perfection without any dairy products or eggs!
Ingredients
- Bananas: One of the most important steps in making banana bread is using bananas that are so ripe they are black (or almost black.) If you can't wait for your bananas to ripen, you can ripen them in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is naturally moist, so using it adds moisture and tenderness to your banana bread.
- Flour: I used plain all purpose flour, but you could also used gluten free flour too. You might need to add an extra five minutes cooking time.
- Baking Powder: Generally one teaspoon of baking powder leavens one cup of flour, but in denser recipes like banana bread this needs to be increased in order for your banana bread to rise properly.
- Vanilla: The reason you find vanilla in almost every good baking recipe is that it adds a complex depth of flavor that's really hard to replace. I always say to use the best quality vanilla you can find.
- Salt: Salt is a natural flavor enhancer.
- Oil: You should use a neutral oil for dairy free banana bread. Coconut oil (unrefined), sunflower oil and canola oil all work well.
- Cinnamon: What's banana bread without sweet and woody cinnamon?
How To Make Dairy Free Banana Bread:
How To Make Dairy Free Banana Bread
I'm repeating myself here, but you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make dairy free banana bread! Put the bananas, brown sugar, oil and vanilla into a bowl. Mash the bananas with a fork and whisk until all the wet ingredients are combined and the clumps are gone. Alternatively, you can use a hand mixer to speed things up. Just don't use an electric mixer to mix in the dry ingredients.
Now add the dry ingredients. This is important: Do not over mix the batter. Over mixing activates gluten, which can result in gummy, dense bread. The batter will be quite thick. If you think it's too thick, add a little bit of plant based milk to loosen the batter.
**If you're using cups as opposed to grams, download my easy to use cups to grams converter cheat sheet.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 40 minutes ...That's it! Be sure to take your bread out of the pan as soon as you can, or the bottom will get soggy.
ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The best place to store dairy free banana bread is not in the fridge. The cool air draws the moisture out. If you're going to eat it withing 4-5 days, wrap it in cling-film and leave it on your counter.
Of course. you can either freeze the whole loaf, or cut it into slices and freeze each slice individually. I recommend using reusable freezer bags.
Of course, just reduce your cooking time to 20-30 minutes. It will keep for 2-3 months in the freezer.
Craving More Easy Vegan Recipes?
Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
Easy Puff Pastry Cinnamon Rolls
📖 Recipe
Dairy Free Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 large bananas, very ripe
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or coconut oil
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups plain flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F (200° C). Grease a loaf tin with vegetable oil.
- In a medium size bowl, mash 3 peeled (and very ripe) bananas with a fork and add the vegetable oil, brown sugar and vanilla.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix until well combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.
Sonya
Really easy to make, I added a hand full of walnuts which gave it a bit of crunch. Took a little longer then 40 minutes to cook though.
dailydish
Hi Sonya, so glad you liked it! All ovens vary slightly, but on the whole, recipes like this should take between 40-50 minutes.