Tender & Sweet Vegan Banana Bread
This tender and sweet vegan banana bread has to be one of the best comfort foods. I wish you guys could be here while it’s baking, because the scent of warm sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate makes you feel like swooning!
The recipe came about as I was looking at some very overripe bananas and deciding what to do with them. I was in the mood to experiment, so I changed one of my old recipes into vegan banana bread. My husband agrees that it tastes even better than the original.
The key is to cream the butter with sugar. It gives the bread a tender cake-like texture that is so delicious to bite into. Even the raw batter tastes amazing, which is another benefit of eating vegan… getting to eat raw dough and sweet batters. Yah!
I swirled chocolate hazelnut spread on top before baking, and the scent of melting chocolate and banana bread is intoxicating. You have to try this brand I found! It’s so much richer and the flavor deeper than Nutella. It’s Rigoni di Asiago Nocciolata Dairy-Free , and you can find it in some grocery stores or through Amazon.
Want more vegan banana bread recipes? This Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread is so YUM!
I couldn’t resist pulling off chunks of the chocolatey topping though. So much melty yumminess! If you do use chocolate just keep in mind that it will make the banana bread very, very tender-soft overnight. The best way to resolve that is eat the top portion off the bread the first day and then savor the rest in the following days. And I’m kind of not kidding. haha
Oh, and FYI- Banana bread always tastes better when the flavors have more time to mingle, so it’s best to wait until the next day to eat it… and yeah good luck with that!
If you love this banana bread recipe, you definitely need to make my Nutella Banana Bread Muffins.
Tender & Sweet Vegan Banana Bread
Print RecipeIngredients
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 6 tablespoons warm water
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 to 1 1/4 cups coconut sugar*
- 6 tablespoons non-dairy butter, softened but firm
- 1 1/2 cups mashed very overripe bananas
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
Instructions
To make the flax egg, stir flaxseed meal and water in a small bowl and set on counter for 15 minutes.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until combined, about 3 minutes. Beat in the bananas, milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.
Pour half the flour mixture into the batter and beat on low speed until almost combined. Beat in the remaining flour and beat just until almost mixed; fold in the walnuts.
Scrap into the prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove pan to a cooling rack for 15 minutes, before removing bread to another rack to cool completely.
Store bread in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days or in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Chocolate Hazelnut Topping: scoop out 1/4 cup into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 20 seconds. (Do this before mixing the flour into the batter.) Leave the chocolate in the microwave while mixing the batter. Once you scrap the batter into the prepared pan, drizzle the melted chocolate over top. Swirl it lightly through the top of the batter with a chopstick or knife.
If you want more chocolate taste, omit 1/4 cup of coconut sugar from the recipe and use 1/2 cup of the chocolate. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and swirl half of the melted chocolate hazelnut spread over it. Top with the remaining batter and repeat with the remaining chocolate.
The amount of sugar is going to depend on how sweet your bananas are. After mashing them taste a tiny bit. If they are super sweet, then you can use just 1 cup. Keep in mind that the flour is going to neutralize quite a bit of the sweetness factor. Vegan Products: I used Rigoni di Asiago Nocciolata Dairy-Free for the chocolate hazelnut and Earth Balance
