The Upgraded Banana Bread

Vegan, Refined Sugar Free, and Gluten Free Friendly

Originally published: March 11, 2020

Banana bread is a classic that you can’t help but love. It’s warm, inviting, and makes your home feel that much cozier. I wanted to take this classic and alter it so it could be enjoyed by more people, including myself! I took out the dairy, refined sugar, gluten, and I think I can officially say, this is one of my absolute favorite banana breads I’ve had to date. Nothing will compare to my mom’s but that’s a different story. Enjoy this lovely little loaf and please tag me with your remakes, I absolutely love seeing them.

Sliced banana bread on a white plate with tahini, honey, and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Wet Ingredients

1 3/4 cup gluten free flour (I used Trader Joe’s)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Dry Ingredients

3 very ripe medium bananas (makes a little over 1 cup of mashed banana)

2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax mixed with 5 tbsp water)

1/3 cup avocado oil, or other neutral oil

1/4 cup honey (use maple if you don’t consume honey)

1 tbsp of maple syrup

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla extract

Toppings

1 banana cut in half, vertically sliced

cinnamon

maple syrup or honey drizzled on top

Method

Preheat oven to 330 degrees fahrenheit and place parchment paper in a 9x5 loaf pan, or grease your pan.

In a medium bowl, mash your bananas with a fork. Set aside.

In a small bowl, make the flax eggs and set aside until it gels (5-7 minutes).

In a large bowl, whisk the oil, honey, and maple syrup together. Then incorporate the flax eggs. Once fully incorporated, add the mashed bananas and water. Combine again until it reaches a batter-like consistency.

Slowly start to incorporate the flour, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.

Transfer batter to the loaf pan and top with the vertically sliced banana, cinnamon, and some maple syrup or honey.

Bake for 50-65 minutes. Because all ovens are different, I encourage you to stick a butter knife in the center around the 50 minute mark to see if anything sticks to it. Once it’s done, let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

Once sliced, top with nut/seed butter (I’ve been using tahini), more honey, and cinnamon.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week, or you can slice and freeze this loaf!