A delicious twist on an old favorite – this chocolate banana bread is gluten free and refined sugar free! This rich chocolate loaf is easy to make, and it’s a dessert that everyone loves.
Banana bread is one of our favorite things to bake at our house. It’s simple to make, most people love it, and it’s easy to make it gluten free or vegan. If we’re travelling, I’ll often bake banana muffins or banana bread to take along with us – it makes a great breakfast or snack for the road!
This is a fun variation on the normal recipe, because it combines two delicious flavors – bananas and chocolate. You maybe surprised at how easy this chocolate banana bread is to make.
Top Tip
Another thing that helps this loaf turn out well is using a glass loaf pan lined with parchment paper. You won’t have trouble with this bread sticking if you use parchment paper.
Ingredient Notes
- Bananas – One of the secrets to this recipe is to use very ripe bananas – I’m talking over ripe bananas that have been stashed in the freezer and are now extra sweet. They’ll give this bread great flavor and keep it tender and moist.
- Coconut Sugar – I used coconut sugar, since it’s an unrefined sugar, but if you don’t love coconut sugar, you can go ahead and use regular sugar or a blend of regular sugar and brown sugar.
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – Blends like Gluten Free 123 or Namaste Perfect Flour Blend should work well in this recipe. If you aren’t gluten free, this recipe should work just fine with regular flour or spelt flour. This recipe will not work with coconut flour.
Variations
- You can make muffins if you prefer, just shorten the baking time – 16-20 minutes should do it
- You can add chocolate chips or chocolate chunks if you want a little more sweetness
- You can add coconut flakes or seeds or nuts to the batter if you wish – be creative!
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Recipe
Chocolate Banana Bread (Gluten Free, Vegan, Refined Sugar Free).
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup organic coconut oil measure when solid, then melt it in the microwave
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ⅜ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper so that there is an overhang on both sides.
- Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
- Place the bananas in a separate bowl and mash with a fork. Add the melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, and water. Stir well.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool completely in the pan before using the parchment paper to remove the loaf for slicing.
Gab
Hello!
I was thinking to make this recipe for a birthday cake ^ ^ and top it with some vegan ice cream or chocolate ganache.
Would it work as a cake? Any tips for a vegan rookie? Hahahaha thanks!
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, I definitely think it would work as a cake! Depending on the size of the pan, it may take less time to bake, so just keep an eye on it.
Gab
It worked great! I did it with 4 medium small bananas, almond milk, brown sugar, chocolate chips, lemon instead of vinegar and oat flour :) it was absolutely delicious! I ended up topping it with chocolate ganache and it was an amazing birthday cake! Everyone liked it, vegans and non-vegans :)
Keren
Just wanted to thank you for this recipe. It’s my go to recipe now to cater for those that have allergies. It’s just so moist and delicious! I love it!
And yep, we always have bananas that have gone too brown. ? We keep a banana jar in the freezer and use them from there.
Kelly Roenicke
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!
Julie Sadler
Hello Kelly,
I have a K.A.F. Gluten free flour blend I’d like to use with this recipe, however, it doesn’t have any Xanthan gum in it. I’ve noticed many of these recipes don’t call for it in them. Maybe you can explain this to me.
Thanks most sincerely,
Julie
Kelly Roenicke
I have not had any issue with things holding together when using the KAF blend with no xantham gum. It seems like the gums are what make some GF goods dense and heavy. Just an observation after using that blend for a long time.
Julie Sadler
Dear Kelly,
Thanks so much for the information!
Very helpful.
Shalane Knox
Amazingly surprised at how moist and decadent this bread is! So very delicious!
Kelly Roenicke
Wonderful! Thanks for letting me know you liked it! :)
Barbara
That looks amazing! What could you use instead of the vinegar?
Kelly Roenicke
Lemon juice would work!
Yashika
Hello is it possible to use oat flour / chick pea flour instead of the gluten free flour? I dont have any gluten free flour and it’s difficult for me to purchase it on a student budget.
Kelly Roenicke
You can try it but it may be a bit denser.
Cynthia
I just made this recipe. I used 2/3 cup coconut sugar, 3 bananas, instead of water I used almond/coconut milk and added dark chocolate chips. It turned out very good and moist. Thank you for the recipe:)
Kelly Roenicke
So glad you liked it, your changes sound good!
Amanda Bidwell
Hi Kelly, your chocolate banana bread is the best recipe for this combination. I did add the zest of an orange and some roasted pecans and the orange zest does kick the flavor up a notch. You might want to try it with zest the next time. Chocolate and orange is one of my favorite candies, (when I used to eat candies). Just want to say thank you for sharing. I will be making this often. Amanda
Nicole
This was scrumptious! Thank you. The only strange thing was that I doubled the recipe and that made only one loaf. Maybe the tin I used is large.
Vilma Z.Briz
Hi.Good day.Am a mother of 4y.o just a month ago when we found out thru allergic test that my daughter was allergy to wheat,milk,soya&egg white.Some fruits also if were given like mango,grapes,strawberries.We feel so much sorry to her coz all d food mostly she like before suddenly not allowed to her.Esp the milk that she used to drink before goin in bed now not allowed.We tried to give alternative like coconut with rice but it was only refreshing juice but since am here in saudi am having hard time to dind the product.Can you please help me some recipe in cake that easy to cook & ingredient that can be found in kitchen.shes goin to school soon i need it badly in preparation.Only your receipe i saw gluten,egg free.dairy free.Give me aome advise that will help.us a lot.By the way am a filipino.Your reaponse will appreciate.
Kelly Roenicke
I’m so sorry, I know how hard it is to manage multiple food allergies! This recipe is pretty easy – http://theprettybee.com/2013/10/easiest-gluten-free-vegan-chocolate-cake.html I hope that helps!
Kalli
I made this today and it is incredible! Instead of the 1 cup coconut sugar, I used 1/2 C packed brown sugar + 1 Tbsp maple sugar and it was perfectly sweet. I also added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
Jess
Can you use regular flour?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, you can!
Kaely
I just want to tell you all that I tried this banana bread tonight and it doesn’t disappoint! I made it with 4 bananas (smallish frozen ones) instead of 2 because I wanted to add some sweetness and I used oat flour instead of a GF blend and it worked great! I also baked it in a pie pan (with parchment) as I don’t own a loaf pan and it baked for about 25ish minutes and looks SO GOOD. Thanks for a great recipe!
Kelly Roenicke
So glad it worked for you! Thanks for letting me know!
Awdur
I have made this several times and I love it. I’ll admit that I did use frozen bananas, but it turned out fine. Also, for effect I used about half the cocoa and swirled it in.
Samantha
This recipe sounds divine. I just put mine in the oven in a muffin tray (don’t have a loaf tin – still building our kitchen supplies up haha). I added 1/4 cup of dairy free choc chips because I couldn’t resist a little extra decadence.
My oh my, I licked the bowl clean! The batter is so creamy it tastes like chocolate mousse to me – I wonder if it would firm up in the fridge at all… The taste is fabulous – can’t wait til they are finished baking :)
Samantha
Update – Out of the oven and cooled. Absolutely delicious, wonderful texture, would 100% make again! Thank you!!!! <3
p.s. flour I used was orgran gluten free plain flour
Kelly Roenicke
Wonderful! Thank you for letting me know!
Kelly Roenicke
You could try almond flour, but it will probably make the bread dense. Coconut flour is very hard to work with without using an egg.
Maggi
This looks so good! Just one question – do you use refined or unrefined coconut oil? Thanks!
Kelly Roenicke
You can use either based on your flavor preference! I use unrefined.
Kara Falvey
Oh man, this looked so good that I decided I had to make it. It’s in the oven now. Can’t wait to try it!
Kelly Roenicke
Hope you loved it!
Laura
I made this recipe earlier today – into muffins – and just tasted one to make sure they would be good enough to give as a birthday gift for my brother and now i can’t stop eating them! Their texture is just like that of regular muffins. They are moist and have no hint that there’s no gluten or eggs in them! I’m so glad i stumbled on this recipe after years of baking gf/df/ef, it’s nice to find a recipe that is easy and tastes delicious. thanks!
Jett Presser
Could these be made as muffins instead? Do you know how to alter the cook time?
Kelly Roenicke
I think that would work fine, just start out with about 12-15 minutes and watch them.