This healthy vegan banana bread is studded with blueberries, fluffy and tastes better than your local cafe's banana bread! It is sugar-free and can be made gluten-free!
I've refined this recipe over many years so can honestly say this is the best vegan banana bread. It is moist without dense spots and packed with bananas. Alternatively, check out my classic vegan banana bread or vegan banana muffins.
Ingredients you'll need to make vegan banana bread
This recipe uses only common ingredients including:
Notes about the ingredients
All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour or even spelt flour! I've tried all these flours and the banana bread is still delicious and fluffy. The pictures in this post show a banana bread made with whole wheat spelt flour.
Very ripe bananas. The spottier, the better! Ripe bananas are more flavourful and higher in natural sugars which is perfect for banana bread. It also means we can add less sugar/sweeteners!
Coconut sugar, regular sugar or your choice of sugar replacer. Unrefined coconut sugar adds a beautiful caramel note which complements the banana. This recipe also works well with erythritol or stevia if you want to make this banana bread sugar-free.
You can reduce the amount of sugar. However, keep in mind that sugar adds moisture to the banana bread and makes it fluffier. Reducing the sugar will make the bread denser.
To make healthy vegan banana bread, use whole wheat or spelt flour, olive oil and coconut sugar.
A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
ONE BOWL vegan banana bread
This is the best vegan banana bread because you only need one bowl! That means, less washing and more doing the things you love (like eating)! You don't have to whisk any aquafaba or prepare any egg replacers. It's a very forgiving and customizable recipe :).
Mash the banana in a bowl with a fork, potato masher or whatever you have. I personally like to mash the bananas roughly as it gives texture to the final banana bread. Then add all the wet ingredients and mix through.
Add all the dry ingredients and mix until just before it's combined. There should still be some 'pockets' of flour, oil or unmixed batter. We're not mixing the batter fully as we still need to fold through the blueberries!
Then add your blueberries and fold them into the banana bread mixture.
I'd recommend folding the blueberries into the batter as we don't want to overwork the batter. Overmixing any cake batter results in a less fluffy final cake which may even be chewy. No one wants that!
Baking the banana bread
Baking the banana bread is pretty straightforward!
However, I'd recommend checking it after 30-40 minutes. As banana bread is packed with fruit, it may brown quickly in the oven. If the outside of the bread is browning too quickly but the loaf hasn't baked through, simply:
- reduce the heat of the oven and/or
- cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil or
- cover the loaf pan with an oven-safe bowl.
Methods 2 and 3 forces the oven to cook the middle of the banana bread and will minimize the radiant heat which cooks the outside of the bread.
How to serve
This healthy vegan banana bread recipe is absolutely delicious by itself and doesn't need to be served with any toppings. However, if you still want to take the bread to the next level, you may:
- Top the banana bread with coconut yogurt and even with some blueberry compote, like below! To make a berry compote, make ½ batch of the compote from my baked vegan cheesecake recipe using only blueberries.
- Serve a warm slice of banana bread with vegan ice cream, yogurt or even vegan custard. Or spread some almond butter on it and top it with fresh berries!
- Toast a slice and marvel in its crispy exterior and soft interior. Spread some vegan butter on a slice and enjoy!
Expert Tips:
For healthier banana bread, you can use applesauce. Your banana bread will still be moist but a little denser. The original recipe is very fluffy and using applesauce shouldn't give the bread any dense spots.
For more nostalgic banana bread, you can use melted vegan butter instead of oil. However, vegan butter is more solid than oil so your banana bread may feel a little dry when it cools down. I'd recommend reheating your banana bread when you want to enjoy/serve it!
Yes, this recipe makes wonderful muffins!
Alternatively, for cafe-style muffins with high tops, check out my banana muffins recipe. Or for other delicious vegan snacks, you may like my blueberry muffins or banana bread, raspberry and white chocolate muffins.
I'd recommend checking out my other quick bread recipes including my vegan zucchini bread and vegan apple bread.
More vegan banana recipes
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Banana and blueberry bread
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 x (~200g total) very ripe bananas
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk
- 3 tablespoons (45g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 tablespoon white or apple cider vinegar, optional
Dry ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose plain flour, whole wheat flour or spelt flour (note 1 for gluten free)
- ¾ cup (120g) coconut sugar, regular sugar, brown sugar or granulated sweetener of choice e.g. erythritol
- ½ cup (60g) chopped walnuts, or pecans (optional)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of any good quality salt
- ½ cup (75g) fresh or frozen blueberries, (note 2)
To decorate (optional)
- 1 (~100g) banana, sliced lengthways
- ¼ cup (40g) blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20 cm (8 inch) or longer loaf tin with baking paper. The longer your loaf tin, the shorter amount of time it'll take to bake the banana bread.
Preparing the banana bread:
- Add the bananas to a mixing bowl and mash until it forms a thick lumpy paste. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add all of the dry ingredients except the blueberries and mix until just before it's combined (there'll be a small amount of unmixed batter/flour). Add the blueberries and fold the batter until there are no more lumps of flour and the blueberries are incorporated.
- Pour the batter into your loaf tin. If desired, top with the extra sliced banana and blueberries.
Baking, serving and storing the banana bread:
- Bake the banana bread in the oven for around 1 hour or until a knife can be inserted into the centre of the banana bread and it comes out clean. If the bread is browning too quickly on the outside and still uncooked inside, reduce the heat of your oven by 10°C (50°F) and/or cover the cake tin with aluminum foil (or an oven safe bowl) and continue baking until the banana bread is cooked through.
- Allow the it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the banana bread warm by itself, toasted, with butter, dairy free yoghurt or even with ice cream! Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days, in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month (note 3). However, it usually doesn't last that long!
Notes
- To make vegan gluten-free banana bread, substitute the flour with ¾ cup (120g) gluten-free all-purpose flour and 1 ¼ cups (125g) almond flour (blanched almond meal).
- If you don't have blueberries, you can use raspberries, chopped strawberries or even vegan chocolate chips or rolled oats! Or simply enjoy the banana bread without any extras. If you don't add extra fruit, your baking time will be shorter (and your loaf will be a little smaller).
- To freeze the banana bread, I'd recommend cutting up individual slices of the bread and freezing them separately or in a large airtight container with parchment paper in between each slice.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published in July 2018 and updated in July 2021.
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Great recipe! I've tried alot of banana bread recipes and this one always turns out great, not too moist and not dense like alot of others I've made.
Perfect Sunday light breakfast. I substituted the vinegar with fresh lemon juice and added a tablespoon of flax seed. Instead of a loaf I put in a muffin pan and took them on our morning hike. Delish!
Aw that's lovely to hear! Thanks for your feedback Kelly!
This banana and blueberry bread is so easy to make - I added walnuts and blueberries! It didn’t last long as it was super delicious!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this Debbie! I also love it with walnuts! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
Delicious and moist! Pecans where lovely in this. I also used spelt flour. Will be a regular go to in our house!
So glad you enjoyed it with pecans and a more wholesome flour! Thanks so much for your feedback x
I made this bread yesterday and it was delicious! I made mine with walnuts instead of blueberries and added a dash of cardamom witht he cinnamon. I also didn't have any coconut sugar, so i used 160g of regular sugar (instead of the full cup). I didn't measure my loaf pan, but it was a bit longer and so it only took about 40 mins for it to bake. The cake puffed up nicely, although i think i overmixed a bit and could have risen even more! I didn't have any coconut yogurt, so i enjoyed a slice of cake topped with some pistachio ice cream and fig jam! wait a a minute and the ice cream deliciousness combines witht he banana bread YUM! Next time I'll add some chocolate chips!!
Oooh love the sound of cardamom! Now, I have to try that next time. And wow, ice cream and fig jam sounds incredible too! I'm so so glad you enjoyed this recipe and I'm so appreciative of your comment x
Ohh yum Anthea!! Looks amazing! I really wish I could have a slice right now!
This is so beautiful. Your photos and styling are just lovely 🙂
Aw thank you sooo much xoxo