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.
Jenny
My kid cannot have coconut. Do you have suggestions for substitute for coconut oil?
Kelly Roenicke
Try melted vegan buttery spread or organic canola oil!
Safina Akhtar
Hi,
The recipe looks great!
Is it possible for you to give the metric measurements so that it is in grams and milliliters? The reason I ask is that when I try to covert the ingredients into the metric system by following numerous conversion charts but no one chart seems to cover all the different food types so it all gets mis mashed and the bake never comes out quite right!
I would be very appreciative of the help.
Thanks
Safi
Kelly Roenicke
There is a button in the recipe post that you can click for metric!
Adele
Hello, I just made this recipe but with a few adjustments. I used quinoa and rice milk instead of water, and a mix of 1 cup of almond flour and 1/3 cup gluten free oat flour. The taste is very nice but the Bread totally flattened during the cooking and was not enough cooked after 45 min. Do you know why it had flattened? Thanks a lot for your help
kambria metcalfe
i like how these turned out for me. i made the recipe with 2/3 truvia, 1/3 brown sugar, bob’s 1:1 (gluten free), added walnuts, and did them as muffins (21 mins bake time). they taste delicious and my house smells amazing. thank you!
Tori
oh my god. simply DELICIOUS!!! i made mine a bit differently than the recipe and it still came out incredible. used half oat/half wheat flour, substituted half of the oil for apple sauce, and used half of the recommended sugar (i don’t particularly like too sweet of a banana bread). i also used 3 small bananas (probably around 2 1/2 large) and replaced the water for almond milk. also added in some vegan chocolate chips! i decided to make cupcakes instead of a loaf, and they took about 25 minutes to bake. they came out PERFECTLY. fluffy, moist, and so tasty. thanks so much for this recipe! i will definitely be adding it to my faves.
Alex
Exactly what i needed to read haha im looking for a recipe i can use with my organic sprouted brown rice flour!! Perfect!!
Calliyah Hamilton
I would like to try this recipe but would it work using a slow cooker to bake it in, and how long do you think it would take on low temperature?
SSMN
How long can I store this cake?
Kelly Roenicke
It should stay fresh for 3-4 days if you wrap it well.
Britt
I’ve made this for the second time and each time my bread as collapsed down the middle. The first time wasn’t terrible, but this time it was awful. I’m sure it still tastes great (it did last time), but what am I doing wrong?
Kelly Roenicke
Sounds like it needed more baking time! What size pan did you use?
Vanessa
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Kelly Roenicke
Should stay fresh for up to 4 days.
JJ
I made this last night and it was delicious! Only problem was that it took a lot longer to bake than 45 mins. I baked it over an hour…it could have gone longer since it still dropped in the middle…but, I’ll be making this again. I give it 10 stars!
Nzdream
Hi there,
My dough was very dry, despite sticking to the recipe.
Probably my bananas might have been a bit too small.
Which is why I added an extra one and a dash of water. I pray it still raises nicely and turns out great!
Rhea
I have made this recipe several times, and I absolutely love it. Thank you so much.
Monica
Made this and it turned out awesome. I substituted apple sauce for the oil and used 3 bananas as I wanted to use them up. Because of that it was a bit moist so I added more flour and to make it extra good I put in walnuts and chocolate chips. We all loved it. Excellent recipe thank you!
Kelly Roenicke
Thank you for letting me know you liked it! :)
Mariana
This recipe looks delicious! Is it possible to make the batter at night and bake the bread in the morning?
Kelly Roenicke
I don’t know, I haven’t tried that!
Whitney
Are those the calories for one slice of bread?
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, for 1/8 of a loaf.
Manon
I love this recipe. Even though I wasn’t sure what 3/8 of a cup was and added too much, it still turned out great. I just put the oven at 375 and baked it a bit longer. I should have googled it but I thought I knew what I was doing lol. The taste would have been more chocolatey or taste more like bananasif I wouldn’t have made this mistake. But still awesome. Also I used xylitol and coconut milk. Thank you for this recipe.
Serena M Roffo
Could I use honey or agave in place of the coconut sugar? what would the measurement be?
Kesha
What is the purpose of the apple cider vinegar?
Kelly Roenicke
It makes the bread a little lighter – helps it rise. You could use lemon juice instead!
Elizabeth
Do you think I could add some frozen raspberries to this recipe? I have made this recipe before and it was wonderful.
Kelly Roenicke
Yes, I think that sounds like a nice addition!