Easy Dairy-Free Banana Bread

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Let me show you how to make this incredibly flavorful and moist dairy-free banana bread with just one bowl and simple ingredients, like white whole wheat flour and maple syrup. This will be your new 'go to' for a quick breakfast or after school snack because it's so easy and (delicious!).

One loaf of banana bread in a loaf pan. Half of the banana bread is topped with walnut pieces and chocolate chips. — Half with and half without chocolate chips and walnuts pieces!

Just like my whole wheat pumpkin bread, this pumpkin bread is made with white whole wheat flour. Sorry, not sorry;)

Am I the only one who buys way more bananas than we can eat just so I can be sure I'll have some extra ripe bananas to bake with, or freeze? If I am, then there's a tip for you!

In fact, I've heard that some people actually hide bananas in a cupboard just so they know they'll have bananas that are too ripe to eat as is. A cost saving tip here would be to check out the discount produce section in your grocery store first. Oftentimes ripe bananas are placed with outdated produce at a discounted price.

Either way, thankfully bananas are inexpensive, and there's little food waste as long as you know what to do with them once they are too ripe. I either whip up this easy banana bread recipe, make muffins (like my banana carrot muffins), or freeze over-ripe bananas so I can use them to make a smoothie with banana or a strawberry-banana smoothie bowl.

There are so many possibilities that I decided to write a post that rounds up over twenty ripe banana recipes. But I digress. Let's get to this recipe!

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredient Notes
How to Make Dairy-Free Banana Bread
Expert Tips
Dietitian Mom Tips
Questions You May Have
More Recipes That Use Overripe Bananas
Easy Dairy-Free Banana Bread

Why You'll Love This Recipe

One bowl.
Quick and easy recipe.
Dairy-Free (no milk, butter, or sour cream like many traditional recipes call for).
Easy way to use overripe bananas.
Naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and maple syrup.
High in fiber which will help you feel full longer.
Classic banana bread without refined sugar.

Ingredient Notes

Dairy-Free Banana Bread Ingredients labeled. One bunch of ripe bananas, water, maple syrup, flour, and olive oil in separate white measuring cups, vanilla in a small white prep container, baking soda and salt in a small white prep container, and two brown eggs.

This whole wheat and dairy-free banana bread is made with basic ingredients that can be found in most pantries. Here are a few notes about some of the ingredients.

Bananas Use very ripe or overripe bananas to add natural sweetness and to give the bread extra moisture.
White Whole Wheat Flour Light in texture, mild in flavor, and it has a similar nutrition profile to traditional whole wheat flour.
Maple syrup Used in place of refined sugar to give this quick bread the sweetness everyone expects from classic banana bread.

How to Make Dairy-Free Banana Bread

Collage with four process shots. Top left: mashed bananas with a food masher in a white bowl. Top right: batter all mixed together. Bottom left: banana bread batter in a loaf pan. Bottom right: Banana bread batter topped with walnut pieces and chocolate chips in a loaf pan.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium or large mixing bowl, mash the overripe banana with a fork or food masher.
Add all other ingredients to the mashed banana and mix well.
Pour batter into a lightly greased loaf pan.
Optional: top with walnut pieces and/or chocolate chips.
Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the banana bread comes out clean.

Expert Tips

Do not pack the flour into the measuring cup. Use the 'scoop and sweep' method for measuring flour. To do this, use a spoon to place flour into the measuring cup and then level it with a knife.
If you are using a convection oven, either reduce the baking time by 25% (so, check it at 42 minutes) or bake it at 300 degrees (instead of 325).
You may use milk instead of water if you really want to.
If you don't have white whole wheat flour, you can use all-purpose flour instead.
To make this a vegan recipe, just leave the egg out. The banana bread won't rise as much, but it will still form a nice loaf and taste just as good.

Dietitian Mom Tips

I'm not the only one who finds it hard to please everyone, right? Lol. And it's especially hard to keep thinking of ideas of what to keep on hand that will make a quick and nourishing breakfast or after school snack that tweens and teens will actually eat (and not complain about;).

That's where quick breads, like this banana bread, come in handy. Most quick bread recipes are low in fiber and loaded with sugar, but they don't have to be.

Using whole grain flour in place of some or all of the flour in a recipe is an easy way to increase the amount of fiber in a recipe. And using sweet and smooth fruit (like mashed bananas or applesauce) is an easy way to increase the amount of sweetness without having to add loads of sugar.

As for trying to please everyone... in our family we've got one that doesn't like "anything" in their banana bread, they just want it plain. The rest of us (yep, even me:) prefer if it has even just a hint of chocolate. Here are a few tips on how to navigate this:

If some, but not all, of your family members likes nuts and or chocolate chips in their banana bread, top half with walnut pieces and chocolate chips and leave the other half plain.
For even more chocolate chips and crunch in only half of the loaf, top a portion of the batter with nuts or chocolate chips and press them down into the batter using a knife, fork, or spoon. Then top the same portion with even more.

One loaf of banana bread with three slices to the right of the unsliced portion on a white rectangle plate. A paring knife with a blue handle is shown slicing the piece closest to the rest of the unsliced loaf.

Questions You May Have

Is this recipe vegan?

No, this recipe is not vegan as written because it contains egg. Still, I have accidentally left egg out of this and my whole wheat pumpkin bread recipe, and they both still turned out great.

Can this recipe be made with gluten-free flour?

That's a great question. I have not tried making this with a gluten-free flour. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out!

Why is my banana bread not moist?

You may have mismeasured one of the ingredients or, perhaps you packed the measuring cups with flour instead of using the 'scoop and sweep' method as described in the note section.

How do you store banana bread?

This banana bread can be stored at room temperature for up to three days or refrigerated for up to five days. It can also be stored in the freezer. Let it cool completely and place it in a freezer-safe and air-tight resealable bag before freezing.

Did you or your teenager make this recipe and love it? If so, please give this a 5-star rating and/or comment. It's the biggest compliment!

And I'd love it if you'd take a picture of your delicious banana bread and tag me on Instagram so I can see it!