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VEGAN BANANA WALNUT BREAD (so easy, so delicious)

What do you do on a sunny Sunday morning when you discover that the bananas you bought last week are fast approaching the overripe stage? Bake banana bread, that’s what! In keeping with my recent attempts to “healthify” my diet and lifestyle, this version of banana bread contains no added oils/butter/fats, no eggs and no dairy. I was able to use mostly organic ingredients and I decided to cut the sugar content significantly too. The results? One of the best banana breads I have ever tasted; moist, delicious, banana-y and with a lovely crust. I have served this bread to a few people now, none of whom are vegan, and they have all sung its praises. I myself am not vegan, but I am steadily heading towards a more plant-based diet, and yummy, super-easy recipes like this are fabulous motivation (not to mention a great treat to make in celebration of Earth Day 2013) ;).
EASY VEGAN BANANA WALNUT BREAD
MissMarzipan_vegan_banana_bread
INGREDIENTS
1.2 dl organic soy milk (almond or other non-dairy milk should work too)
1 tsp organic apple cider vinegar
4.8 dl organic pastry flour (or plain flour)
1.5 dl organic sugar
0.75 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
0.75 tsp organic vanilla powder
4 ripe organic bananas, mashed
1.5 dl organic walnuts, roughly crumbled/chopped
DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease a loaf pan or spray with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a small bowl, combine soy/non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar.
  3. Add curdled milk and vinegar combination to the dry ingredients, followed by the vanilla powder and bananas. Add walnuts. Stir until combined, but do not over mix.
  4. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for around 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 
DIRECTIONS FOR FREEZING
Allow to bread to cool completely. Place bread in a zip-lock freezer bag, label and freeze or slice loaf and place slices in an airtight container and freeze (I did the latter). Before serving simply thaw. If you have pre-cut slices, then thaw only what you need and place the rest back in the freezer. Microwave individual slices of banana bread for 20 seconds or so if you want them served warm.
*This bread freezes and defrosts beautifully!
*It is wonderful as a snack, for afternoon tea, breakfast, brunch or even dessert.
*Based upon a couple of questions I have had regarding possible ingredient swaps, I have updated the recipe.
*Recipe closely adapted from this one by Regan at Onceamonthmom.com.
 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I *was* going to make a very similar banana walnut CAKE, but this recipe leaves out the fat, so you win!! Making this into mini loaves tonight, and probably still making the brown sugar buttercream to use as spread on it. Thanks!!

    • Oh, that’s so great to hear! I can’t believe that it has no added fat, actually- it’s so moist… And sweet too, even with only half the sugar added (compared to the original recipe). This gives you the perfect excuse to add a delicious buttercream, I say :D! I hope you love it as much as I do. All the best! x

      • I certainly will! Thanks for sharing! I’m all about eating healthier, but also indulging from time to time 🙂 I’ll see what my friends think of it tomorrow!

        • Me too! I love eating healthy… but I definitely have a sweet tooth and I like my treats. I guess eating healthy most of the time allows me to get away with indulgences 😉
          I hope your friends like it!

  2. I just saw Michael Pollan interviewed on Stephen Cobert a couple of days ago. He has a new book out – Cooked. It seems that when we cook our own food, we have a much great chance of eating healthily. You exemplify excellent cuisine and inspire others to be creative in the kitchen. Thank you!!!
    . “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
    ― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

    • Ah- you are so sweet 🙂 And what a cool quote! Thanks for sharing that! And I totally agree with that philosophy… the more I cook, the more I care… and the more I care, the more inspired I am to cook :). x

    • Thanks so much, CCU! I love your last post too! I feel I should have done something ANZAC-inspired, however I just read some lovely posts about ANZAC-related reflections and treats instead. x

  4. Looks and sounds amazing. Totally trying this! Just need to get myself the right flour, i only have plain and self raising in the cupboard.
    Thanks for posting!

    • Hi there! I am pretty sure you could make this with plain flour and it would turn out fine 🙂 The only addition the plain organic flour I used is ascorbic acid. It is not technically pastry flour that I used, but here in Sweden I used what was available to me (it’s known as “special flour” here). All the best 🙂

      • Oh ok great! Ill try it with plain then 🙂
        Btw, do you know what those measurements are in English metric? I’ve only just realised they are in Swedish and i have no idea!

        • Wonderful 🙂 Measurements are exactly the same as English metric- so 1 dl (deciliter) is 100ml. All the very best… and do let me know how it turns out! I really hope the plain flour will do the trick 🙂

  6. The vinegar and soda did a wonderful job of the rising in the loaf. Bananas going ripe in my fruit bowl, watch out! Is pastry flour like cake flour, as in not strong flour/bread flour?

    • How terrible I am to be responding so late! 🙁
      I found this online…
      Here is the approximate protein content of all the common types of flour:
      Bread Flour: 14 – 16%
      All-Purpose (AP) Flour: 10 – 12%
      Pastry Flour: 9%
      Cake Flour: 7-8%
      So all-purpose flour would no doubt work fine in lieu of pastry flour being on hand 🙂
      xx

  7. That sounds really interesting but am struggling with the measurements – is it like cup measurements but where you can use a measuring jug? Would 4.8dl flour be 480ml of flour, for example? Thanks!

  8. Fabulous recipe! Exactly the type of food I adore: tasty, convenient and healthy. I am curious, have you tried it with other flours yet?

    • Hi! Thank you 🙂 I haven’t but I think I will try it with just regular plain flour as I I am almost 100% sure it would work just as well as the flour I used (which has added ascorbic acid, but is essentially just plain organic flour).

  9. Funnily enough, I was thinking about making a banana loaf today. I’m glad I waited because I’ll your recipe now. I looks really good and I bet it would work really well using spelt flour… Thank you! 🙂

  10. I love Banana bread, it’s so dangerous for me because I can never stop at one slice. But I’ll wait until we’re having company for a little treat.

  11. Banana bread is one of my favorite quick breads, and this is the first vegan version I’ve seen. Hoping to try it out with regular flour, and I think you’re right, it should come out fine. Do you have any thoughts on subbing vanilla extract or beans for the powder? I’m thinking 1 tsp. would work.

    • Hi! Yes, I think that substituting 1 tsp of extract would work perfectly… or the beans scraped from 1 vanilla pod. I hope you love it if you try it 🙂

  12. This looks beautiful as well as delicious!! I’ve never seen vinegar in banana bread! Should help the levaning rise? Glad to see you back posting. I’ve missed you!

    • Thanks so much, Rhonda 🙂
      Yes, the action of a teaspoon of vinegar and some form of non-dairy milk acts as in place of eggs in some vegan baking… the bananas help with that too, but more in terms of binding and moisture, I believe 🙂

    • Thanks Kenley! I have yet to serve it to a vegan friend, but no one I have offered it to has realised it was vegan… until I told them 🙂