With 5 bananas, there's certainly no mistaking this Sugar Free Banana Bread is banana bread! Good thing they are one of the cheapest fruits around, eh? This banana bread is both gluten-free and dairy-free, with no added sugar and an easy vegan option! You can also customise to your heart's content with chopped nuts or even chocolate chips.
This is a less sweet and heavy style of banana bread, but it's still rich and there's certainly no mistaking it's banana bread! I really wanted to avoid adding extra sugar. Buckwheat flour has excellent mineral and protein content and tapioca gives the bread a light spring 🙂 It's still super delicious though, because it has big banana pieces mixed through and on top of the loaf. I've also provided a nut-free option - perfect for school lunchboxes.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Easy to make
- Sugar-free! Bananas are sweet enough
- Gluten-free
- Dairy free
- Vegan option
- Nutrient dense
- Rich banana flavour with caramelized bananas on top
- Add the mix-ins of your choice
Ingredients you'll need
I don't recommend any substitutions. For example, I tested gluten-free flour blend to replace the buckwheat and tapioca flours and I wasn't impressed with the results. So, for best results, stick to the ingredient listed!
- Bananas
- Large or extra large eggs (vegan option available - see recipe notes)
- Coconut oil, avocado oil or macadamia oil
- Vanilla extract
- Light buckwheat flour or brown rice flour
- Tapioca flour
- Cooking/kosher salt
- Gluten-free baking powder
- Ground cinnamon
- Mix-ins of choice - eg. chopped nuts, chocolate chips
Before we get to the recipe
Sign up to the email list - all new recipes are sent out to the list before being promoted anywhere else!
Other sweet recipes you'll love
If you like the look of this healthy banana bread, then you'll love these tasty recipes:
- Small Batch Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Brownies
- Dark Chocolate Mochi Cupcakes
- Whole Blood Orange Cake
📋 Recipe
🌟 Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating and a comment below to let us know how it turned out. Save it for later by pinning to your favourite Pinterest board and make sure to tag us on Cinnamon In The Kitchen's Instagram to show off your cooking!
Sugar Free Banana Bread
Equipment
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- cooking knife
- Chopping board
- Optional - food processor
- Whisk
- standard bread loaf tin
- parchment/baking paper
- silicon spatula
- optional - pastry brush
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 3 large and 2 medium over-ripe bananas divided
- 4 large or extra large eggs see notes for vegan option
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil or macadamia oil melted butter or ghee can also be used if dairy is tolerated
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup light buckwheat flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon cooking/kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 cup mix-ins (eg. chopped nuts, chocolate chips)
Optional glaze:
- 1 tablespoon honey warmed
Optional extra spices:
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F (180C fan forced/convection).
Make the batter
- In a mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients (except the pecans) using a whisk. Create a space in the middle of the bowl, take 2 large and 1 ½ medium bananas - peel and mash well in the bowl. Set aside the remaining banana to use later - it's for chopping or decorating the top of the banana bread. Then add the eggs, oil and vanilla to the mashed banana. Mix wet and dry ingredients thoroughly with the whisk. If using a food processor rather than mixing by hand, blend the wet ingredients first* and then add the dry ingredients and blend for a few minutes. Scrape down the inside of the bowl and blend again for 30 seconds. Then, pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.*Use only some of the bananas for the batter as mentioned above
- Take the reserved half of the medium banana, cut into 5mm-wide semi-circles and set aside. Note, there is still a large banana remaining to be used to decorate the top of the loaf.
- Add your mix-ins to the batter along with the chopped banana semi-circles and mix well.
- Line the tin with parchment/baking paper, with enough overhang on the long sides so that you can use it after baking to lift the loaf out of the tin. I usually cut one long piece to cover the base and long sides of the pan and two smaller pieces for the shorter ends. Pro tip: If using a fan-forced oven, I suggest clipping the paper to the long sides with foldback clips, otherwise they will blow onto the bread while it bakes. Pour the batter into the prepared bread loaf tin and smooth the top with a spatula.
Decorate the top of the loaf
- Take the remaining large banana, peel and carefully cut down the centre, lengthways, so you have two long halves. It may break while cutting, don't worry too much if it does. Alternatively, slice the banana into angled slices (this is the decoration I used for the photos).
- Gently place the banana halves or angled pieces on top of the batter in the pan, pressing down gently.
Bake your banana bread
- Place the loaf in the oven. After 30 minutes, turn it 180 degrees and loosely cover with foil to prevent burning.
- Check at the 55 minute mark with a skewer - the skewer will come out with a few crumbs when ready but the centre should not be jiggly. This may take up to 60 or even 65 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove from the oven when ready.
Cool, serve and store
- Use the parchment/baking paper to carefully remove the loaf from the tin and place on a cooling rack.
- If you want to glaze the loaf, heat the honey so that it is quite runny. Use a pastry brush to brush honey on top of the bread. This creates a beautiful glaze.
- Let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting carefully with a bread knife.
- Serve with your favourite topping or spread and a hot drink. The bread is lovely when toasted.
- Store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. May also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Equipment: food processor or blender (optional), two med-large mixing bowls (if food processor/blender not used) large bread tin*, parchment/baking paper, knife, measuring cups and spoons, spatula, cutting board, pastry brush (optional)*Bread tin size that I used: 14cm (W) x 24cm (L) x 7cm (H)
- Nut free option: omit or replace with sunflower seeds or pepitas for nut-free option
- Vegan option - replace each of the eggs with 4 "flax eggs" - each flax egg uses 1 tablespoon of ground flax with 3 tablespoons of warm water.
Leave a Reply