This Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread is 100% amazing. It's easy to make in one bowl, rich, chocolatey, fudgy, and super indulgent!
💌 SAVE THIS RECIPE!
Enter your email and I'll send it straight to your inbox.
Watch out for more tasty treats coming your way! Unsubscribe at any time.
Spotty bananas at the ready because we're making rich, fudgy, and delicious Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread!
It can be breakfast (starting the day with chocolate is always a good idea!), a snack, or a dessert. Enjoy it as it is or spread it with vegan butter, nut butter, tahini, or date caramel.
It's also rich and fudgy enough to be dessert. Try warming a slice gently and topping it with caramelized bananas and a dollop of dairy-free vanilla ice cream!
Love banana bread? Be sure to try my Tahini Banana Bread, Spelt Banana Bread, Choc Nut Banana Bread, and Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread too!
Mel x
Ingredients
Here is what you need at a glance, along with some important ingredient notes & substitution ideas:
- Overripe bananas - The spottier the better!
- Flour - All-purpose, spelt, wholewheat, or gluten-free all-purpose are all fine to use.
- Maple syrup - For extra fudginess. You can use sugar instead but it will change the texture of the cake and it won't be as moist or fudgy.
- Nut/seed butter or oil - I prefer making this with nut butter as the fat because it adds more flavour but any liquid oil is fine to use instead.
- Baking powder and baking soda - When you don't use eggs you need to make up for the leavening they would otherwise provide by adding both of these. The baking soda reacts with an acid (in this case cocoa) and creates extra lift to make up for the no-egg situation.
You'll also need a loaf pan to cook it in. No loaf pan? Make my Vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins instead.
Success Tips
- Use a scale to weigh the ingredients. Precision is key to excellent results when baking, and cup measurements are not accurate enough for optimum and consistent results. This kitchen scale is cheap and works brilliantly.
- Use really ripe spotty bananas
- Don't over-mix the batter.
- Be sure you don't over-bake this banana bread. It's beauty is the fudginess and we don't want to lose it! It's better to very slightly under-bake it than it is to go over.
- Add some extra chocolate chips to the top before baking to make it look extra pretty (or as an excuse to eat more chocolate).
Variations
I recommend following the basic recipe as closely as possible for best results, but it is perfectly ok to make it your own by adding some mix-ins. How about:
- Chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans would be great).
- Dried fruit (tart cherries would be lovely! )
- Shredded coconut
- Chopped dates for extra fudginess
Recipe FAQs
If none of your bananas are super ripe and spotty, simply place 3 of them on a baking tray with their skins still intact (i.e. not peeled) and bake them at 350°F (175°C) for 8 minutes. Remove them from the oven. They will be black. Allow them to cool before scraping the mushy banana out and going ahead with the recipe.
Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 3 medium 7 - 8 inch long ripe & spotty bananas , (weighing approx 375 grams or 13 oz in total when peeled)
- 6 tablespoons natural nut/seed butter or oil of choice
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ packed cup (115 grams) sugar , any type (white, cane, coconut, brown)
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- 1¾ cup (215 grams) flour , spelt, all-purpose flour (plain flour in the UK), wholewheat or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda , (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
- ½ cup (50 grams) cocoa powder
- ½ cup (85 grams) dairy-free chocolate chips plus a few more for sprinkling on top
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and line a 9 x 5 or 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with a strip of parchment paper down the middle with some extra overhanging at each end to act as handles for lifting the cooked cake out.
- Puree the bananas until smooth. You can do this by hand with a fork or in a mixer.
- Add the nut/seed butter or oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, sugar and salt to the bananas and beat until smooth and light and fluffy.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder and mix gently until everything is just combined. Do not over mix because it will affect the texture and rise.
- Then add the chocolate chips and stir just enough to distribute evenly.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, even out the top and sprinkle with an extra handful of chocolate chips.
- Bake for around 45 - 50 minutes until the loaf is coming away from the sides of the pan and is firm with a bit of bounce when you poke the centre of it. This bread is best when very slightly under-cooked as it has maximum fudginess then. If you insert a toothpick, instead of it coming out clean like with most cakes, you want a bit of fudgy cake clinging to it. If it feels liquidy put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes then check again.
- Remove from the tin immediately once done using the parchment paper as handles and place on a cooling rack. Be sure to remove the strip of paper from it's bottom by gently turning it on its side and peeling it away.
NOTES
💌 SAVE THIS RECIPE!
Enter your email and I'll send it straight to your inbox.
Watch out for more tasty treats coming your way! Unsubscribe at any time.
Michelle says
Thank you for providing weights as well as cup measurements. - old school expat here. This came out so well and was delicious. I made two smaller loaves (1lb tins) and shared the second with my daughter who agreed it was fantastic!
Linda says
Hi, I did not have spelt, so used a combo of a little teff and sorghum. It tested baked but the middle sank some after removal from the oven. My son has had two pieces, I have not tried it yet. Do you think this was too big of a substitute?
Melanie McDonald says
Yes definitely. Teff and sorghum are completely gluten-free and have completely different qualities to spelt. They are not interchangeable and will not work well in this recipe without some pretty major adjustments.
If you want a recipe that uses sorghum flour this is a great one: https://avirtualvegan.com/gluten-free-sweet-potato-bread/
Arya says
Amazing recipe
Yolande Labbe says
Great recipe! Very Good! Because I love nuts I add nuts to it. Best banana bread Thank You! Have a Great Day!
Karen says
Great recipe. The best vegan banana bread I've tried. Thank you!
Mary says
Delicious & easy!
Kristy says
Love this recipe. Made it in a round cake tin for daughter’s birthday. Was soo more-ish! Have since made it in a silicon loaf (didn’t read the comments until just now). Not same results. Still yummy it not the same. Next time I’m going to try subbing some sugar and the maple syrup for rice malt syrup and see what happens...thanks for sharing this awesome recipe. It’s one of many I enjoy from you ❤️
Jim says
Incredible banana bread!
Patricia says
What size of a loaf pan did you use?
A Virtual Vegan says
9 x 5 inch.
Janine Miller says
Didn't follow the recipe completely, BUT still turned out fantastic
Colleen N says
I've been wanting to make this for weeks and finally had time to do it today. Well, it was definitely worth the wait. I made a gluten-free version (using Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour) and it was excellent. Usually, GF baked goods fall just after coming out of the oven, but this was maintained a nice height. My husband, not typically a banana bread fan, ate multiple pieces and says he'll be asking me to make it again. It's a winner - thanks, Mel!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! Glad to know it worked out well with the GF flour. Thanks for stopping by to leave a review Colleen!
Mia says
Hi mine was super dry - it was only in the oven for 44 minutes
Not sure what has gone wrong
It it pretty unedible now on day 2 even with heating it up
Any advice
A Virtual Vegan says
I've never had this recipe turn out dry even when I've accidentally over-baked it. It's got so much moisture from the bananas and nut butter. It's hard to give advice without knowing your process. Did you sub any ingredients? That's almost always the reason thing don't go as planned. Did you weigh the flour? Is your oven running too hot? Did you use nut butter with load of additives in it instead of a natural one? Just some suggestions. It's impossible to say for sure without knowing exactly what you did and what ingredients you used.
Mapusa says
Can I use agave syrup instead of maple?
A Virtual Vegan says
I haven't tried it. I think it should technically work ok, but maple syrup has a much better flavour.
Mapusa says
Just an update, in case anyone had the same question as me, I tried it with agave nectar, and it tasted great.
The only question I have is that my batter wasn't like a cake batter, it was much thicker and gloopier. Is that normal? If not, how do you fix it? Thanks! Xx
A Virtual Vegan says
The cake batter is a thick one.
M says
Loved this cake bread. Again and again.
Patricia says
OMG!! The absolute BEST Banana (Chocolate) Bread I have ever had, hands down! Feel so good knowing that it turns out this amazing without eggs/milk/white sugar/white flour/oil. Totally agree with Cathy Buchman above - so moist and fudgy. This proves every dairy eatin', meat eatin' lover SOOOO wrong. Love eating Vegan. Feels so good eating this way.
Thanks so much for the recipe. Can't wait to try a whole bunch more of your recipes.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much! I'm thrilled you enjoyed it so much. Thanks too for stopping by to leave feedback. It's much appreciated!
Debbie says
Do you use vegan white sugar or brown sugar? Can something else be used in place of the sugar?
A Virtual Vegan says
Any sugar is fine in this recipe which is why it's not specified. Just use whatever you have. White, brown, coconut etc. Sugar isn't just for sweetness, it provides structure in cake/muffins etc so I wouldn't recommend omitting it. As for using something else, I assume you mean sweeteners of some kind? I don't bake with them and this recipe has not been tested with them so I don't know what results would be like. Hope that help!
Patricia says
Coconut sugar is wonderful. I was a super white sugar addict (serious one) until I started eating Vegan Sept/2019.
I absolutely love Coconut sugar for baking, coffee and anything else that requires sugar.
Mandy says
oh my goodness - this is a little piece of yummy heaven! I made this today to take to a family birthday gathering - the compliments were flying around the room! Honestly, this was so tasty, a little fudgy and oh so chocolate. Mixed opinions as to who could/could not taste the banana in it. Definitely a hit all round and a recipe to keep!
Thank you so much!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's so good to hear Mandy. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it!
Cathy Buchman says
I love this vegan chocolate banana recipe made without oil /butter! It was so moist & fudgy. Absolutely delicious!
Thank You!!!
JOSIE says
I've had this tagged for over a year & finally got round to making it. It was well worth the wait - delish! For the record I only used 50g of sugar.
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you enjoyed it Josie!
Eleni says
Really good banana bread - I’ve made the original recipe above and it was perfect! Family loved it!
Then I’ve made it again as a last minute treat to take to a friend. Used peanut butter with coconut oil instead of cashew butter and I didn’t think it was as good. But I’m not a peanut butter lover. So it may work for some.