Vegan Oil Free Banana Bread

By Jennifer Provenza at Good Food From The Heart

Whole food plant based, oil free, sugar free, soy free

This vegan oil free banana bread is made with whole wheat. Warm, soft and full of delicious fresh baked goodness, it is free of added sugars and makes a perfect breakfast or afternoon snack. Healthy banana bread: what could be better?

Vacay Time

We had such a great vacation last weekend for my older daughter’s birthday! We all needed the break desperately and I honestly didn’t mind taking a few day off of cooking. (Even though cooking is my passion!) We drove down to San Luis Obispo, which was maybe a little far for a weekend trip at 4 1/2 hours. But, it was totally worth it! We stayed at the kitchy and pretty much all pink Madonna Inn, which was M’s dream come true. The best part in my opinion, though, was the pool! It was as warm as a bathtub and offered gorgeous views of the hills. Me and the kids spent one whole morning alternating between the pool, hottub, and lounge chairs where we sipped mango smoothies. So nice! We also got to spend a beautiful day at the beach and enjoy an amazing vegan breakfast at Bliss Cafe! I had a delectable cashew yogurt parfait with berries and homemade granola, topped with coconut whipped cream. Mmmm… I wish I lived closer so I could try out the amazing looking breakfast tacos my mother in law ordered.

Anyway, as soon as we got back from the vacation, I was rejuvinated and ready to get back into the kitchen. And what was I craving? Banana bread! Banana bread is a favorite with my whole family, but the way I used to make it in the past was basically cake. I’ve also tried ways to make it oil free that seemed to make it taste free too. Luckily, I had the inspired idea to try almond butter, which is my secret pie crust ingredient too. And it totally worked! This whole wheat banana bread is healthy and vegan, but tastes every bit as good as mom used to make.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: This is an absolute essential for this recipe, as regular flour will not be healthy and regular whole wheat flour will be grainy and not very tasty. White whole wheat flour will work in a pinch, however. In fact, that’s what I used as my store is still out of whole wheat pastry flour. If you need a gluten free bread, you could definitely try substituting gluten free flour, but I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t vouch for the results.

Almond Butter: Be sure to use unsweetened almond butter for this recipe. Raw or roasted will both work. Don’t skip this ingredient, as it replaces the butter in this recipe with a healthier source of fat. You could definitely replace it with another nut butter, but it might change the flavor. I think peanut butter would probably be delicious, but it would definitely add a peanut butter flavor to the banana bread. If you need a nut free option, sunflower seed butter would work too!

Banana: My kids hate finding actual pieces of banana in their banana bread (the horror!), so I like to puree the banana before adding it to the batter.

Applesauce: Be sure to use unsweetened apple sauce. You also can replace this ingredient with an additional pureed banan if you prefer.

Liquid Stevia: As usual, with a diabetic in the house I prefer to use a sugar free sweetener, but you can definitely replace this with the maple syrup option.

Dark Chocolate Chips: This recipe tastes really good with the addition of the dark chocolate chips. Try to use the lowest sugar option you can find. This ingredient is definitely optional, but if you leave out the chocolate chips, you will want to increase the sweetener to taste. I love Guittard chocolate chips, personally.

How To Make This Vegan Oil Free Banana Bread

This banana bread is very simple to make and will give you a delicious result that you can enjoy for breakfast, snacks, pack in kids’ lunches, and even bring to events. It’s that good. Start by mixing all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then, as I said before, I always like to actually puree the bananas in a food processor so my kids don’t find any dreaded pieces of banana in their banana bread. Lol! If you don’t have picky kids, feel free to just mash the bananas with a fork.

Next, mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl and add the pureed banana. Finally, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until it is well combined. At this point, you can add any additional ingredients, such as the dark chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if you would like. Again, if you choose not to add the chocolate chips, I would probably double the amount of sweetener.

Pour into a greased or non stick loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. In my oven and with my loaf pan, that took 30 minutes, but it could take longer if you have a smaller loaf pan.

This vegan oil free whole wheat banana bread tastes absolutely amazing with some coconut whipped cream on top, but it is great on its own as well. Wrap leftovers in plastic wrap or foil and it will stay good for a couple of days. We don’t usually have many leftovers in our house, though. It would be amazing with my Best Cinnamon Spice Mocha Latte!

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