The only vegan gluten free banana bread recipe you’ll ever need! Perfectly textured, moist, and packed with banana flavor.
Gluten free baking isn’t always as simple as just switching the all purpose flour for a gluten free blend. Sometimes it is, but often it isn’t.
So…while I will often advise our readers to try a gluten-free all purpose blend and see how it goes, it won’t always work that great because gluten-free baking is it’s own thing entirely.
So since we’ve done a lot of recipes for banana bread on this blog (like our classic vegan banana bread, our vegan chocolate chip banana bread and our vegan chocolate banana bread), I knew I wanted to do a gluten-free version. And at first I thought it would just be a simple switch of the flours.
But it turned out not to be ‘quite’ that simple. It was turning out too dense, and the bananas were sometimes ending up at the bottom of the loaf with a sort of gummy texture. It wasn’t great!
Turned out to be just a few simple tweaks to the recipe to create a vegan gluten free banana bread that is pure perfection, but those simple changes made the world of difference!
So this is our tried and tested recipe for the perfect vegan gluten free banana bread.
And if you love gluten free baking check out our vegan gluten free carrot cake and our vegan gluten free chocolate cake!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredient Notes
- Walnuts – chopped walnuts are optional, but recommended. Chopped pecans would be great too. Or you can switch the nuts for chocolate chips!
- Bananas – should be ripe and spotty.
- White granulated sugar and light brown sugar – a mix of the two sugars prevents this loaf from becoming too dense.
- Gluten free all purpose flour – You can use any gluten-free all purpose flour blend. This recipe has not been tested with a single type of flour like almond flour or coconut flour, so stick with a blend. The blend does not have to contain xantham gum, so long as it is an all purpose blend, it should work fine.
- Coconut oil – can be replaced with vegan butter, in the same quantity.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with almond milk if you prefer.
- Baking powder plus a baking soda/vinegar combination – gives this bread rise as well as a perfect texture. Making this bread with only baking powder created a texture that was too dense.
How To Make Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add the gluten free all purpose flour into a mixing bowl (no need to sift it) along with the white sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix together.
- Prepare a flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of hot water and letting it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Then add bananas, soy milk and coconut oil to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour this out over your dry ingredients. Add in the flax egg, vinegar (to react with the baking soda) and vanilla.
- Mix into a thick batter.
- Add chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Transfer the batter into a prepared loaf pan and sprinkle some more chopped walnuts on top.
- Bake for an hour at 350°F until browned on top and cooked through.
- Let it cool for around 10 minutes before transferring it onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
Blend the bananas, soy milk and coconut oil so you get a perfect distribution in the batter and this results in perfect texture and no gumminess.
The color of the baked banana bread is darker than banana bread made with regular flour, but I have noticed this in gluten free baking before and it’s nothing to worry about.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers covered at room temperature and enjoy within around 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or toaster if you like it served warm. It is also freezer friendly.
More Gluten-Free Vegan Desserts
- Vegan Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Gluten Free Pancakes
- Vegan Gluten Free Brownies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (272g)
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 ⅓ cups Mashed Ripe Banana (300g)
- ½ cup Soy Milk (120ml)
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil (55g)
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Chopped Walnuts (100g) plus more to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare a 9×5 loaf pan by spraying with non-stick spray and lining the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add the gluten free all purpose flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of hot water and letting it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the bananas, soy milk and coconut oil to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour out the blended banana mix over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Add the flax egg, vinegar and vanilla and mix into a thick batter.
- Add in the chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Transfer the batter into your prepared loaf pan and sprinkle more chopped walnuts on top.
- Bake for an hour until browned on top and cooked through.
- Let cool for around 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- For the most accurate results weigh your flour. I have tried this with different blends, so any gluten-free flour blend that is meant for baking should work great here.
- If you have a food scale and can weigh out the banana, then there is no need to mash it first. You can just add the peeled bananas to the blender and blend with the other ingredients. However, if you’re only using cups to measure then mash the banana to get the correct amount in cups, before adding it to your blender with the other ingredients to blend.
- The walnuts are optional. You can leave them out or use a different nut like chopped pecans or add vegan chocolate chips instead.
- This recipe was first published in July 2019. It has been updated with extra tips and photos but the recipe itself is unchanged.
I needed a GF non dairy recipe for a company event I was catering and this turned out great! I used applesauce (1/4c) as the egg and 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and I only had an 8 inch loaf pan. It rose perfectly with a beautiful crack on top. I left it in the oven an extra 10 minutes due to the smaller size pan. This will be my go-to for GF vegan option for breakfast events. Thank you!
So happy it was a success! Thanks for the great review Anne!
Love the gluten free recipe, thank you for this! I too tried to sub out the regular flour for GF flour for your original vegan banana bread recipe, but it wasn’t quite right…these adjustments made it perfect!!
So happy to hear that Julie! Thanks for sharing!
Hi!
This recipe is looking so nice and simple. Can you suggest how to convert this recipe for a 7×4 loaf pan?
Hi Richa, hmmm, I’m not sure. You could try halving the recipe and just see how that goes.
I was impressed at how good this came out.
I used a flour blend without xanthan gum and weighed the bananas. It came out moist but not dense or gummy. I did cut the sugar in half and it was plenty sweet.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Teresa!
I made the this recipe with a few minor changes – omitted the nutmeg and walnuts, substituted unsweetened almond milk for the soy milk, and substituted lemon juice for the apple cider vinegar. It turned out amazing and I will definitely make it again!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Wendy!
I followed this recipe exactly and after cooking for almost 2 hours the center was still completely raw. So sad !
Hi Dana, I would check your oven temp with an oven thermometer because that’s not something that should ever happen.
Hi Alison,
I actually have a thermometer in my oven. I remade it with 2 small bananas and that held up better. Thanks.
Hi Dana, oh I see, yes using the right amount of banana is crucial. I have made a small update to the recipe card which will hopefully help with that in future.
Thank you for this. Very delicious!
I substituted the ‘vegan egg’ with store-bought vegan butter and it worked out pretty good too!
Awesome, thanks for sharing Andy!
I just made this and it’s really yummy. Thanks so much. I forgot to buy soya milk so used oat milk and it worked just fine. I also didn’t have enough cinnamon so used all spice. Took about 55mins to cook in an old school non-fan oven. Well, an hour but I took it out of the oven about three times during that to see if it was done!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Can I use apple sauce instead of the flax egg? If so how much?
3 Tbsp applesauce to replace a flax egg.
Hi Alison – unfortunately my banana bread was a little gummy. After cooling for 15 minutes, I cut an end piece and found the bread was halfway gummy. I put it back at 400°C for an additional 15 minutes. This helped a bit but it was still a bit gummy. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour. And blended the banana mix in a Vitamix blender per your instructions. The taste is great despite the gumminess. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for my next attempt.
Hi Joni, was it still gummy once it had cooled? Otherwise most common reason would usually be a bit too much banana.
Hi Alison, I tried it again with smaller bananas and it worked! Also baked it in Silpat mini loaf mold which cut the baking time in half.Thank you for this Vegan delicious recipe!
Awesome! Thanks Joni!
Hi Alison,
Can I substitute the flax eggs? Any recommendation will be appreciated
Hi Sylvia, you can probably just use an extra 3 Tbsp of mashed banana in place of the flax egg. 🙂
Hi! Excited to make this with choc chips for my mom tomorrow for Mother’s Day, I don’t have brown sugar, can I use maple syrup?
Hi Jessie, unfortunately maple syrup isn’t a good substitute for brown sugar here.
Outstanding. Best banana bread I’ve ever had, gluten status OR vegan status notwithstanding. The crumb is perfect, the rise was very respectable, and the taste is like being transported to grandma’s kitchen. The “heel” will go down as my favourite piece, crunchy with a softer interior. I added about 2/3 cup of chocolate chips because I’m a child.
So happy to hear that Ashley! Thanks so much! 🙂
Awesome recipe! The best one I have found by far since needing to check the boxes of both vegan and gluten free! I reduce the sugar by half and have substituted half the flour with chickpea flour for a healthy punch of protein, fibre, and iron and have still had great results! Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Sherry!
I never used to like banana bread, but had a few overripe bananas and decided to try your recipe.
I only used 100g of brown sugar and added a small roasted sweet potato that was leftover in the fridge to replace some of the banana weight. I also added raisins. The cake turned out very nice and you definitely changed my opinion about banana cake. I will make it again. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks so much Veronica!