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Golden brown banana bread is really a rare treat for us gluten free eaters. But not anymore! This great recipe is making a comeback in our lives, starting today. This delicious gluten free quick bread has a moist, dense texture with big banana flavor. It’s speckled with nuts and sweetened with brown sugar.
Classic Banana Bread Made Gluten Free
It’s amazing the first time, eaten warm out of the oven with its heavenly scent perfuming the kitchen. But it’s also delicious the second time, after it’s had a chance for the flavors to improve and strengthen in the fridge.
It’s the best way to use bananas that are starting to get brown speckles. And if you’ve got a lot of bananas, I’ve got some more recipes that can help you use them up. Try these:
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Ingredients
Here's a quick list of the things you need to make the best banana bread recipe:
- 2-3 medium sized bananas that are starting to get some brown spots. That means the sugars are well-developed and will make this banana bread taste amazing
- Eggs - I use large eggs in this recipe
- coconut oil - this adds such a fragrant, sweet quality! It’s a healthier option than canola oil or other vegetable oils.
- brown sugar - coconut sugar also works well here, and is unprocessed
- vanilla extract
- buttermilk (scroll down for dairy free sub)
- my gluten free All-in-One flour blend ( see recipe card Notes for more info)
- coconut flour - one of my favorite gluten free flours to use for sweet baked goods
- millet flour - if you don’t have access to millet flour, feel free to replace it with sorghum flour
- basic pantry staples: cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder
- chopped walnuts or other mix-ins (see the list below for some great suggestions)
If you'd rather watch than read👀
If you want to see me making banana bread check out the video (and support my YouTube channel) or keep scrolling for a quick overview with pics.
Make it Dairy-Free
Although gluten free recipes generally do better when they contain dairy, here’s a simple change you can make for a delicious loaf of banana bread that’s both dairy free and gluten free :
Just swap the buttermilk for a non-dairy milk of your choosing, especially one that has a creamy texture. My favorite is cashew milk. You can also try lite coconut milk. Almond milk is another dairy free milk you could try, but it's not my favorite for banana bread (don’t say I didn’t warn you).
If you want a dairy free banana bread that’s more like a dessert, I highly recommend replacing the nuts with some dairy free chocolate chips, like Enjoy Life brand.
Substitutions
If you’re not a walnut fan, try an equal portion of one of these mix-ins for some fun flavors:
- Mini chocolate chips
- White chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips
- Shredded coconut
- Chopped pecans
- Dried cranberries
If you want to swap the brown sugar with something less processed, coconut sugar tastes really good in this banana bread recipe.
FYI, try spreading a slice of banana bread with one of these:
- Butter
- Soft cream cheese
- Peanut butter (my new favorite!)
- Nutella
Pro tip: I highly recommend a slice spread with peanut butter! After a lifetime of having banana bread, when I was recipe testing for this blog post I tried it with peanut butter for the first time and nearly shouted “Where has this been my whole life?!?”
Quick Tip for Best Results
An easy way to mash up bananas is by using an immersion blender, or stick blender. It’s so much easier to clean up than the parts from a food processor, and is faster than mashing bananas by hand. Here’s the one I use:
Buy Now → Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe At a Glance
Here’s a quick overview of how to make this easy banana bread. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full info.
Step 1. Add mashed bananas, coconut oil, sugar, vanilla, and milk to your mixer and blend.
Step 2. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Step 3. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer along with nuts.
Step 4. Mix the batter for 1-2 minutes to fully hydrate the gluten-free flours.
Step 5. Let the batter rest for 20-30 minutes (more hydration) and preheat oven to 350℉.
Step 6. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper sprayed with oil. Scoop the batter into the pan.
Step 7. Bake until an internal thermometer reads 190℉ (around 50 minutes).
Step 8. Use parchment as handles to lift the loaf and lay it on its side to cool.
How to Store Leftover Banana Bread
The flavor of this gf banana bread improves the day after you bake it, so definitely wrap it up tight in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and keep it in the fridge overnight.
When you’re ready to eat some, plan on letting it sit out for a little while to come to room temperature (this helps gluten free baked goods to not be crumbly).
Cut yourself a big slice, smear it with butter, soft cream cheese, or peanut butter (!) and enjoy. If it seems a little crumbly, you can microwave individual slices for about 30 seconds and they will soften up beautifully.
For more gluten free baking tips, be sure to read "Best Beginner's Tips for Successful Gluten Free Baking"
Good news: it also freezes well! Wrap it up tight in plastic wrap, then put it inside an airtight container to keep your delicious banana bread from getting crushed in the freezer
Gluten Free Baking for Beginners
Let’s say you’ve tried gluten free banana bread, your family loved it, and now you want to know what else you can make that’s gluten free. I’ve got you covered - sign up for my FREE little PDF, Gluten Free Baking for Beginners. It will cover just the basics of what you need to know to get started baking some very simple traditional recipes - biscuits, cornbread, and flatbread (which makes an excellent and super fast pizza crust). Plus some more info in there to help you along the way. Click on the image below to go to the sign up page:
Gluten Free Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: dessert
- Method: bake
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
1 cup mashed banana ( about 2-3 medium sized bananas)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. coconut oil,( opt.)
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk
1 ⅓ cup All-in-One flour blend *see notes*
⅓ cup coconut flour
⅓ cup millet flour (you can also use sorghum flour here)
½ tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Baking powder
⅔ cup chopped walnuts, opt.
Instructions
- In an electric mixer add the mashed bananas, eggs, brown sugar (or coconut sugar), vanilla extract, and buttermilk (or a non-dairy milk you like). Mix until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flours, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk together to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Add the walnuts, if using.
- With the mixer on medium speed, mix for 1-2 minutes to fully hydrate and combine all the gluten free flours.
- Let the batter rest for about 20-30 minutes.
- During this time set the oven temperature to 350℉ and let it preheat while the batter rests.
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray or oil.
- Scoop the batter into the loaf pan.
- Bake for around 50 minutes, but use an internal thermometer for best results. The temperature should reach 190℉ in the center of the loaf - this is the best way to tell that the loaf is done.
- Remove from the oven and use the parchment paper as handles to lift the loaf from the pan. Lay it on its side to cool. This helps prevent it from collapsing or flattening out on top.
- Refrain from slicing it until it’s cool. I know it will be tempting, but if you slice it while it’s still too hot it will crumble.
Notes
All-in-One flour blend: I use my own gluten-free flour blend recipe, which you can find here. You can also use Namaste’s Perfect flour Blend, King Arthur’s Measure for Measure flour, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour. Try any flour blend that contains xanthan gum - this recipe won’t work without a binder like that.
FAQs about gluten free banana bread
Bananas, like eggs, are somewhat of a binding ingredient so adding extra banana could be an option for an egg replacer. Flax eggs (flaxseed meal combined with a little water) are also used as egg replacers. The moisture content of bananas and flax eggs will be different than what is found in eggs, so some experimenting will be needed to find the right amount. The baking time may need to be adjusted as well.
Gluten free quick breads often need to bake for a longer time than you expect so your bread might have been undercooked, causing the top to collapse. And beating the dough for a few minutes builds structure in gluten free baked goods so the loaf will rise and hold its shape as it bakes.
It was probably not baked long enough. Time isn’t the best way to tell if it’s done, temperature is much more reliable. Bake until a thermometer inserted in the center reads 190℉.
Mixing the batter for a couple of minutes, then letting the batter rest are important steps that should not be skipped. Both techniques help the gluten free flours absorb the liquids and get fully hydrated which makes the loaf rise better and have a soft, cake-like texture.
More Gluten-Free Recipes
Blog post author/Recipe creator: Kristie Winget, who loves gardening, singing, and Fair Isle knitting
Russell says
I love banana bread. This looks super delicious. If I can get my wife to make me a loaf then all the world will be wonderful. Maybe on second thought I may surprise her with a loaf that I made from your recipe, after all she's the one that's allergic to gluten. The recipe looks pretty straight forward. Thanks for all the work you do for our loved ones who can't have wheat.
russ says
This bread is delightful. Is it also caffeine free? If a woman made this for me, I would marry her in an instant, best banana bread ever. Try it with peanut butter or regular butter- you decide just scrumptious.