You can make our vegan banana bread in one bowl with one fork and eight simple pantry staples.
The bread is soft, perfectly moist, and packed with the natural flavor of ripe bananas.
If you are trying to eat less butter, eggs, and saturated fat or are just curious and want to try something new, this vegan banana bread will become a favorite!
What is vegan banana bread?
Did you know that banana bread was popularised by Chiquita (the banana company), who released a Banana’s Recipe book in the 1950s to boost banana sales in the USA?
Our vegan banana bread recipe stays faithful to the original, using only simple pantry staples.
Like our other popular quick breads, such as vegan pumpkin bread, vegan zucchini bread, and banana zucchini bread, this one does not contain flax egg, ground flaxseed, aquafaba, or other unusual ingredients.
This vegan banana bread’s texture is light. The crumb is easy to slice, moist but not excessively so, and it has a naturally delicious banana flavor.
How to make vegan banana bread
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
1. Prepare the ingredients
To make vegan banana bread, you’ll need ripe bananas, all-purpose flour, almond milk, sugar, olive oil, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt.
2. Mix the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a 9 x 5 inch (23 cm x 12 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, mash the banana with a fork or potato masher until it is pureed.
Add almond milk, olive oil, sugar, and vanilla extract to the mashed banana. Mix until well combined.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir the banana mixture until just combined.
Don’t over-mix the batter; lumps are ok. Overmixing will develop the gluten that will make your loaf gummy and heavy.
Tip: At this stage, you can fold in your favorite add-ins, such as dark chocolate chips or chopped nuts.
3. Bake
Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake immediately at 350°F or 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes.
Tip: Don’t overbake, or the loaf will dry out. Check doneness at the 40-minute mark. The vegan banana bread is ready if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. If not, keep baking in 2.5-minute increments.
Let the banana bread cool down for 15 minutes in the loaf pan, then pull it out and let it cool down completely on a cooling rack (at least 1 hour).
Slice with a bread knife and enjoy. We recommend 0.8-inch or 2-cm thick slices.
Substitutions
RIPE BANANAS: To make the best banana bread, try using ripe or overripe bananas. Pick the ones with black spots on the peel. They are sweeter and easier to mash.
If you don’t have very ripe bananas, use regular ones and add 1/4 cup of extra sugar.
FLOUR: We use all-purpose flour but you can substitute half whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour) with half all-purpose flour. For gluten-free, use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour for baking.
SUGAR: We use brown sugar, but any sugar works. White sugar, palm sugar, and coconut sugar are all good alternatives.
Remember that coconut sugar is less sweet, so you might need to add 25% more than our doses.
Feel free to add more sugar if you like sweeter banana bread; you can go up to 1.5 cups. We haven’t tried this recipe with maple syrup.
ALMOND MILK: You can substitute any other dairy-free milk. For example, we tested soy, oat, and rice milk, and they all worked great.
OLIVE OIL: Substitute avocado oil or any neutral-flavored vegetable oil. We tested canola, safflower, and sunflower oil, and they worked perfectly.
To make the recipe oil-free, you can substitute yogurt, apple sauce, or milk for oil in the same quantities.
You can also use melted vegan butter, but it produces a heavier, denser, and drier loaf. Melted coconut oil works, too.
VANILLA EXTRACT: Substitute seeds of a vanilla pod or cinnamon.
Variations
ADD-INS: We kept the recipe plain and simple, but if you like, you can customize the vegan banana bread with your favorite add-ins:
- Nuts: check out our banana nut bread recipe. You can use chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts.
- Raisins and cranberries: 1/2 cup.
- Dark chocolate chips: 1/2 cup.
- Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon.
- Grated zucchini: check out our banana zucchini bread recipe.
- Hazelnut chocolate spread: 1/2 tablespoon per slice to spread on top once baked.
BANANA MUFFINS: You can make 12 vegan banana bread muffins with the same batter. They only take 23 minutes to bake! Here’s our vegan banana muffin recipe.
BANANA NUT BREAD: Walnuts taste delicious with bananas, and we think they are the best addition to banana bread. Here’s our banana nut bread recipe.
BANANA ZUCCHINI BREAD: Did you know you can add grated zucchini to banana bread? This one’s a favorite on our Instagram. Everyone loves it! The grated zucchini adds even more moisture, and the bread stays soft for an entire week. Here’s our banana zucchini bread recipe.
Questions
If your bananas are black inside, have lost all texture, and taste funny, they are probably too ripe for banana bread. However, bananas can have completely black peels and still be perfectly fine inside.
We recommend using oil instead of butter to keep your banana bread moist. Also, don’t overbake the loaf; wrap it well in plastic once it has cooled down.
There are two ways to tell when bananas are ripe enough for banana bread:
1) visually, if they have dark spots on their peel, they are ripe enough.
2) taste them; If they are soft and sweet, you can use them for banana bread.
If you don’t have enough bananas, use apple sauce, grated apples, grated zucchini, or pumpkin puree instead in the same metric/gram quantities.
Storage
Make ahead: This vegan banana bread is an excellent recipe for meal prep because it stays moist for days and tastes better on the second day.
Room temperature or fridge: Vegan banana bread stays on the counter for 3 – 4 days or up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Either way, wrap it in aluminum foil or plastic wrap to keep it fresh and moist.
Freezer: You can freeze banana bread for up to 3 months. Make sure it cools down completely, then wrap it in plastic and freeze. If you’d like single portions, you can cut the loaf into slices before freezing.
Thaw: Defrost in the microwave or at room temperature over several hours. Do not freeze multiple times.
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Vegan Banana Bread
Equipment
- Loaf pan 9 x 5 inch (23 cm x 12 cm)
Ingredients
WET INGREDIENTS
- 3 ripe bananas 330 grams, 12 ounces, or 1⅓ cup mashed
- ⅓ cup almond milk or another milk
- ¼ cup olive oil or another vegetable oil
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line your loaf pan with parchment paper.In a large bowl, mash 3 ripe bananas with a fork.Add ⅓ cup almond milk, ¼ cup olive oil, ¾ cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- Sift in 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 pinch salt. Stir until just combined. You can use the same fork.Don't over-mix the batter; lumps are ok.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake at 350°F or 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.Let cool down for 15 minutes in the loaf pan, pull it out, and cool down completely on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.Slice with a bread knife and enjoy. We recommend 0.8-inch or 2-cm thick slices.
Video
Notes
- Nuts: check out our banana nut bread recipe. You can use chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts.
- Raisins and cranberries: 1/2 cup.
- Dark chocolate chips: 1/2 cup.
- Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon.
- Grated zucchini: check out our banana zucchini bread recipe.
I have made this delicious vegan banana bread, really easy to follow, baked exactly as pictured.
I reduced the sugar to 80 grams as I don’t like baked goods too sweet.
I also mixed all ingredients in order as per the recipe using a food processor, pulse function.
As always, beautifully written, simple and never fail on any of your great recipes, thank you Nico and Louise.
Fantastic, Fran, I’m so happy to hear. Great idea on reducing the sugar, we tried that once while incresing the banana amount with one whole banana, and that was also wonderful ๐
Thank you for the kind words, we are very happy to have you here!
I cannot wait to try this recipe! Looks delicious and I DO have all of t he e ingredients in my pantry. Easy? Yes!
I’ve never dropped a comment here but I try a lot of your recipes guys, all of them are amazing but this one, what a nice surprise! It was super easy and the outcome was superb. I didn’t have vanilla extract but added cinnamon instead following your suggestions. Now I can’t wait to bake it again to share with my friends. Thanks a lot for your awesome ideas and huge variety of recipes.
Fantastic, Antonio, I’m delighted that you enjoyed the bread ๐
We’re so happy you are here, thanks for sharing your love of cooking with us. Kindest,
Louise
Super! Best banana bread recipe ever! Everyone raves when they eat it.
Yay, that’s wonderful to hear, Isabella ๐ค Thank you for leaving a comment here.
This is my go to banana bread recipe. So good!
Hi
Has anybody tried gluten free flour for this Vegan Banana Bread?
Well THAT was easy! Thanks – came out great! I dry-fried diced pecans in a skillet to mix in.
That sounds fantastic, Sam. Great idea with pecans, yum!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
Hello Nico!
What’s the difference between the recipes “Banana Nut Bread” and “Vegan Banana Bread”?
Except put nut inside and plant milk different. Are the other ingredients any different?
Thank you๏ผ
Hi JY,
thanks for your message ๐
The recipes are very similar, Banana Nut Bread has a little less sugar than Banana Bread and of course nuts in it.
I hope this helps.
Nico
Any tips on substituting yogurt for oil? Also, use oat or almond flour instead of all purpose flour? Thanks.
Hi Sona!
Yes, to make this banana bread oil-free, you can substitute yogurt, apple sauce, or milk for oil, use a 1:1 ratio.
As for almond and oat flour, we haven’t experimented with these just yet. These flours would change the moisture level of the cake, so it would require some testing that we haven’t had time to do yet.
I hope this clarifies the variations a little ๐ Have a great week ahead!
Kindest,
Louise
Thank you Nico, another delicious recipe from Plant Based School:)
Hi Holly, thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment – I’m delighted you liked it!! Have a great Sunday. Cheers, Nico
Dear Nico,
Thank you for taking the time to explain the recipe so clearly. I followed your exact instructions and it came out exactly as you have described it. It’s the best banana loaf I have ever tasted or made. Very tasty, quite light, sliceable, manageable, even toastable! I must admit that I added almond essence instead of vanilla, by error because I got the bottles mixed up, but it’s worth a try. The taste is really lovely.
thank you….
Hi Dipti, thank you for your kind comment. Wow, I’m so happy you like the loaf (despite the almond essence, actually quite a good idea!). Have an amazing day! Cheers, Nico
Thank you this looks amazing. Do you think applesauce would work in place of the oil?
Hi there! Yes you can. To be honest, we haven’t tried with the banana bread but with the zucchini bread and it worked very well! Cheers, Nico