The best banana bread ever, and it's vegan! Perfectly sweet, moist, and topped with a brown sugar crust, this delicious banana bread is super easy to make and customizable with your favorite stir-ins.
My family has the best banana bread recipe. Ever. I hate to brag, but it's true. Back when I was young and learning to cook I tried out some banana bread recipes that were decent, before my mom took me aside, handed me a recipe card and informed me that it was the only banana bread recipe I'd ever need, because it was the best!
Well, she was wrong about at least one thing, because I guess she didn't know that a time would come when a I'd need a vegan banana bread recipe. But that's not a big deal, because veganizing the old family favorite recipe was no biggie!
Oh, and well, maybe she was wrong about it being the best, because, in fact, this vegan version is actually better.
How to Make Vegan Banana Bread
The great thing about veganizing banana bread is that you don't have to fuss over figuring out the right egg substitute. Bananas do the job! I use bananas as an egg substitutes in all kinds of vegan baked goods, but when it comes to banana bread, they're already an integral part of the recipe.
Make sure your bananas are medium-sized and overripe. You want lots of brown spots! Mash them up with a fork or potato masher, and then stir in some oil, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Dry ingredients go in next: flour, baking soda, cinnamon (it works — trust me), and salt. Stir everything just until blended. Don't overdo it!
Optionally, include some stir-ins. Walnuts are my go-to, but pecans and chocolate chips are great as well. Pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan, smooth out the top, and sprinkle with brown sugar. This will give you an awesome crust on top!
Bake your loaf for 50 minutes at 350° and then let it cool for a few minutes before slicing.
This stuff is perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.
FAQ & Tips for Making Perfect Vegan Banana Bread
- Be sure to use overripe bananas for this. They should have lots of brown spots — the more the better!
- If you have overripe bananas but aren't ready to make banana bread, just freeze them! Peel them, seal them up in freezer bags, then thaw when you're ready to bake.
- Whatever you do, don't overmix the batter! You want to stir just until the wet and dry ingredients are mixed, and no more. Mixing too much will overdevelop the gluten, making your bread tough.
- HELP! My bread didn't rise! Usually old baking soda is the culprit. Test yours by sprinkling it in some vinegar. It should fizz. If not, toss and replace it.
- Can this bread be made gluten-free? I'm not sure! I think your best bet would be to replace the flour with an all-purpose gluten-free blend.
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The Best Vegan Banana Bread
The best banana bread ever and it's vegan! Perfectly sweet, moist, and topped with a brown sugar crust, this delicious banana bread is super easy to make and customizable with your favorite stir-ins.
Ingredients
- 3 medium overripe bananas
- ⅓ cup organic granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup organic brown sugar
- ⅓ cup canola oil (or your favorite baking oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans, vegan chocolate chips, or your favorite banana bread stir-in)
For Topping
- ¼ cup organic brown sugar
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°.
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Lightly oil a 9-inch loaf pan and arrange a strip of parchment paper width-wise along the center, with just a bit hanging out over each side.
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Peel the bananas and place them into a large mixing bowl. Mash them well with a fork or potato masher.
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Add sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla to the bowl. Stir until well-mixed.
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Add the flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, cinnamon and salt on top of the flour.
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Stir everything together just until mixed. Don't overmix. The batter will be thick.
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Fold in the walnuts.
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Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.
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Sprinkle the top with brown sugar.
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Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
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Remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack. Allow the loaf to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.
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Slice and serve.
I made it yesterday and turned out delicious! Thak you for the recipe!
I've made this recipe about 5 times now, each time tweaking the recipe slightly and using different add ins.This recipe is amazing with desiccated coconut and chocolate chips. Added about 1/2 a cup of each. I love it, and so does the family!
So good! I made it this morning and my house smells amazing. I missed the brown sugar in the batter/dough step, but it’s plenty sweet without it. Also, I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour with good results.
Can’t wait to make this!! Unfortunately I have only one banana, will it work if I just add extra applesauce?
I'm afraid I'm not sure, as I haven't tried it myself.
Can I freeze after baking!
Absolutely! Seal it tightly and it should be good for about 3 months.
I made it today -and it is delicious!! Thank you very much for sharing :) Have a wonderfully magical New Year! 🎊
My first vegan banana bread - it's delicious!
Thanks very much for the recipe, Alissa.
Huge success! Thanks so much for this detailed recipe. Your recipe has been amazing. Thank you again 🙂
Amazing recipe and tastes even better on the third day, like the ones you get at a coffee shop :)
The brown sugar topping makes it for me
Can this recipe be doubled? If so, what changes, if any, need to be made to baking time?
Would you be making it as two loaves? If so, the bake time would be the same. If you're making it as one big loaf or cake the bake time will probably be longer, but I'm not sure how much. I'd check it every 5 minutes or so after the initial bake time is up.
I love this recipe! Bread turns out perfect every time, and I have gotten a handful of compliments from non-vegan taste testers- approved!! I even make it gluten free with Krusteaz Gluten-free all purpose flour.
Came out really tasty : )
I halved the recipe, used only brown sugar, replaced the AP flour for Whole Wheat Flour, and used about 2.5 g of vanilla extract. I baked it in 2 small pound cake tins and they came out amazingly caramelised all around. The top was crunchy and the inside was moist and soft. The whole wheat flour gave it a interesting quick sand/soft cookie texture but spongy when pressed. I'm going to use 50% AP flour and 50% whole wheat the next time to see if the texture becomes tastier.
I can't help but do ANOTHER rave review for this recipe. I always make the batter into muffins - baking them at 340 degrees for 25 minutes.
I have used 2 ripe bananas with no other ingredient adjustments and the recipe made fewer but still AMAZING muffins.
Super easy to make and it's THAT good that I decided to make it twice in one week! Needless to say this is by far the best vegan banana bread recipe I have ever made. My life is now complete, thank you so much!
I love this recipe! It always ends up super dry for me though and I have to add some milk. But as a disclaimer, I make mine with whole wheat flour and date sugar so I think that may be why! I also replace the oil with applesauce. But it’s so delicious - the best low fat muffins I’ve had!
I've done it today for the second time and WOW! This banana bread is incredible. I add a mixture of different dried fruits and an crushed dark chocolate and it is great.
I never know - do I dark brown or light brown sugar? I used dark brown and in the oven now!
I use light by default, but this recipe will work with either. :)
I don’t usually comment on recipes but this really came out awesome! I didn’t have brown sugar so I just used all white sugar, and even without the brown sugar on top, it was sweet and delicious. Soooo good! Thank you! I’ll make it again for sure and try some add-ins, but it doesn’t even need anything else. Excellent!
Making this one for the second time, turned out great the first time and I am sure it will this time also. Thanks for the recipe.
moist and delicious!
Excellent recipe, thank you! I used sunflower oil, dark brown & turbinado sugars, 00 flour, 2x vanilla and added some nutmeg. Came out wonderful on first attempt, definitely a keeper!
How long does it last?
If you store it at room temperature it should be good for about 4 days, as long as it's sealed well. You could also freeze it for up to 3 months.
Delicious, best hands down. I don't put the sugar on top, everything else is delicious
Any tips to avoid a gooey middle ? Baking an extra 40 mins didn’t seem to help haha.
Check your oven's temperature - that's most likely the issue. You could also try a different type of baking pan. I developed this recipe with a glass Pyrex pan. Good luck!
I’m having the same issue (going on 45 extra minutes right now), but I don’t think it’s my oven temp or my pan. I think my batter is just too wet. I had small bananas, not medium ones, so I used 4 instead of 3. And I may have over-poured the vanilla a bit. Hopefully I’ll get something edible eventually haha. It smells incredible!
I cranked the oven up just a bit to 375 for the last 15 minutes and did a total of 45 extra minutes and that did the trick. It’s absolutely delicious, but I’ll probably be more conservative on the bananas next time.
I have made this recipe 3 time’s already and it’s perfect every time! The only change I made was I added two scoops of vegan protein powder before adding flour to the measuring cup, I also used bread flour instead of all-purpose. But I cannot tell you how good this is, and how much I enjoy it! Thanks for the recipe 😉
I love this recipe! I’ve made it 5 or so times now and it turns out perfectly every time!
I made this today and wow!! The best banana bread I’ve ever tasted, I used whole wheat flour because I didn’t have all purpose flour and it still tasted amazing!! 11/10 would definitely recommend!!
This really is the best banana bread ever! I've made this about 10 times now and it's perfect every time. I now add a handful of chopped glace cherries and chopped dates and this adds another dimension. Love this recipe, thank you so much for sharing.
I love this recipe! Today I tried to make it with Almond Flour instead of all-purpose and it didn’t turn out good. Any advice on that??
Glad you like it! I typically don't recommend subbing almond flour for wheat flour in recipes - they have totally different characteristics. Were you using it as a gluten-free alternative? If that's the case I'd go with an all-purpose gluten-free blend like those made by Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur.
I did not have a bread tin, so I used a muffin tin. Excellent recipe!! Scrumptious!!! My husband is begging for these NOW, since the entire house now smells like banana bread. Thank you for sharing/creating recipe!!
Sooooo good! Thanks for this awesome recipe!! This is my second time making it in a week. Clearly my family loves it!