Easy Vegan Banana Bread
A moist, tender loaf made in one bowl with very ripe bananas, brown sugar, oil and plant milk, no eggs or dairy. Weighed flour and a little vinegar with the baking soda give a good rise and a domed, crackled top.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 350 g (12 oz) peeled, very ripe bananas (3 large or 4 medium), about 1 ½ cups mashed
- 110 g (½ cup, packed) light brown sugar
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) neutral oil or melted coconut oil
- 60 ml (¼ cup) unsweetened plant milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients
- 1 tsp (5 g) baking soda
- 1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
- ½ tsp (3 g) fine sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 250 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, spooned and levelled
Optional extras
- 75 g (⅔ cup) chopped walnuts or dairy-free dark chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp (12 g) demerara or turbinado sugar, for the top
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F), or 160°C (325°F) fan. Grease and line a 23 × 13 cm (9 × 5 in) loaf tin with a parchment sling.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl until mostly smooth, with a few pea-sized lumps.
- Whisk in the sugar, oil, plant milk, vinegar and vanilla for about 30 seconds until smooth and glossy.
- Sprinkle over the baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and whisk 15–20 seconds to distribute.
- Fold in the flour just until no dry pockets remain. The batter should be thick and fall from the spatula in heavy blobs. Fold in any nuts or chocolate.
- Scrape into the tin (no more than three-quarters full), level, and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
- Bake 55–65 minutes, covering loosely with foil if very dark by 40 minutes, until the top springs back, the centre crack looks dry and a skewer comes out with moist crumbs but no wet batter (93–96°C / 200–205°F inside).
- Cool 15 minutes in the tin, lift out and cool completely on a rack, at least 1 hour, before slicing.
Notes
- Weigh the flour: scooping the cup straight into the bag can add up to 50 g and make a dense loaf.
- Tin sizes: 21 × 11 cm (8 ½ × 4 ½ in) tin 65–75 minutes, foil after 40 minutes; 20 cm (8 in) square tin 30–35 minutes; 12 muffins at 190°C (375°F) 18–22 minutes. Glass or ceramic: lower to 165°C (325°F) and add about 10 minutes. Dark metal: check 5–10 minutes early.
- Gluten-free: use 250 g 1:1 gluten-free baking flour with xanthan gum and rest the batter 15 minutes before baking.
- Sugar can go down to 80 g with very ripe bananas.
- Storage: wrapped, 3 days at room temperature or up to 1 week in the fridge; sliced and frozen up to 3 months.