Vegan Banana Bread (plant-based, gluten-free, sugar-free, oil-free)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published February 21, 2023

Since I no longer cook with flour, sugar, oil, margarine, or eggs since those foods are harmful to health, I created a whole-food, healthy banana bread. This banana bread is low in fat, sweet, guilt-free, and delicious. (video demonstration at the bottom of this post)

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 T ground cinnamon
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)

Wet ingredients:

• 3 medium bananas, peeled
• 1 small apple, peeled, cored and chopped
• ½ cup pineapple chunks, diced
• 2 T lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While oven is warming up, add dry ingredients, except for the walnuts, into a medium-sized food processor and mix until it resembles flour. Pour the oat flour mixture into a large glass bowl and set aside. Add wet ingredients, except for the pineapple, to the food processor and blend until it’s smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix again until it resembles batter, about one minute. Stir diced pineapple into the batter.

Remove blade and set inside your sink to clean later. If using walnuts, pour batter into a large glass bowl, and gently stir in the walnuts with a large spoon. Pour batter into a parchment-lined glass bread baking dish and place it on the middle rack in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Insert a butter knife into the middle of the bread, about ¾ of the way through to see if the bread is cooked through. If the knife comes out clean, it’s done. If any batter sticks to the knife, put back in the oven for another five minutes, checking each time to make sure it’s completely cooked.

Remove from oven and place on a potholder. Cool on counter at least 20 minutes before slicing and eating. Use a butter knife to divide into four large slices.

To make this low in fat, don’t add the walnuts, but my husband likes the crunch from the nuts. For variations, see below:

Strawberry bread: I don’t care for strawberries in this bread because the texture is a bit mushy, but my husband loves it. Add 1 more tablespoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients before blending. Add ¾ cup of diced fresh strawberries to the batter and mix by hand.

Strawberry Oat Bread

Banana-blueberry bread: Add ½ cup of fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter and mix by hand

Apple Bread with Banana Creme: Add 1 more tablespoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients before blending. Add 1 small peeled, cored and thinly sliced apple to the batter and mix by hand. Drizzle maple syrup on top or add a dollop of the Banana Creme recipe below:.

Banana Creme

• box silken tofu, drained and cubed
• 1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
• 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 bananas

Drain the tofu, and gently spoon the tofu into a small food processor. Add bananas and cinnamon, and vanilla extract and blend until creamy. Taste the whipped tofu cream to see if it you want more cinnamon, if so, add one half to one more teaspoon of cinnamon at this time. Blend again; make sure there are no chunks, and the pudding mixture is completely smooth. Put a large dollop on a slice of apple bread.

Apple Oat Bread

Carrot bread: Add one small peeled, shredded carrot to the batter and mix by hand. I like to cut thin slices and make a sandwich with two slices. I’ll put a small smear of almond butter or peanut butter on one side and a small layer of strawberry jam on the other slice to make a PB&J sandwich.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread: Omit the pineapple and add one tablespoon of agave or maple syrup, and two tablespoons of mini chocolate chips to the batter and mix by hand. I use Enjoy Life vegan chocolate chips.

Blueberry pancakes: Blend the pineapple, and add ½ cup of fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter and mix by hand. With ¼ of a measuring cup, pour batter onto two large parchment-lined paper baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes on one side, flip and bake 5 minutes on the other side. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup, if desired. This batch makes 13 pancakes. Each pancake: 100 calories, 18 carbs, 1 gram fat

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