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🍌🍞 Moist, light, and full of sweet banana flavor, this healthy, gluten-free banana bread stands miles above the rest.
We promise, once you see how easy it is to make, you’ll never touch another box-mix! 🍌🍞
💕 Here’s Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This banana bread is made using simple ingredients which makes it wholesome and clean-eating.
- It is gluten-free, vegetarian-friendly and paleo friendly!
- You only need one bowl, one spatula, and one pan to make this recipe!
- It takes just 10 minutes to mix up (the time it takes your oven to preheat!) and 30 minutes to bake. That means you get delicious banana bread in under an hour!
- The texture is spot on! It’s light, moist with a wonderful balance of sweetness, spice, and of course banana flavor.
- It makes a great sweet treat, afternoon-pick-me-up, dessert option or even breakfast!
- You can add to this recipe by topping the batter with chopped walnuts or even mini dark chocolate chips, or by frosting your sheet pan with your favorite frosting, ganache or just a drizzle of this simple salted butterscotch sauce (or maybe top it with some ganache and finish with a drizzle of the butterscotch sauce???) Or for a healthier kick, you can try this Greek Yogurt frosting that I love using on my carrot loaf cake!
So without further ado, let me show you how insanely easy this banana bread is to make. Start your timer ⏲️ and preheat your oven to 350F!
Ingredients Needed For This Moist Banana Bread
- Almond Flour: I’m using blanched almond flour for this recipe. It is our main and only flour for this cake and it gives our banana bread a moist and tender crumb texture that you wouldn’t believe is gluten-free.
- Whole Eggs: I’m using US standard large. Eggs add moisture as well as a leavening agent in this cake. More to that, thanks to the the high protein content of the eggs’, it helps our banana bread to set and have structure. I do not recommend any replacement for eggs in this recipe.
- Bananas: Use bananas that are soft but not mushy. You want them to have brown spots and be overripe, this gives you not only the best banana flavor but also sweetness.
- Potato Starch: Since this is gluten-free baking a touch of this starch helps our bake have structure and stability.
- Raw Cane Sugar: I’m using raw cane sugar that I’ve finely blended to make incorporating it into the batter easier.
- Baking Powder: This is our main leavening agent that gives our banana bread rise.
- Baking Soda: A bit of baking soda is out
- Banana Extract: This is optional but a little goes a long way to giving your banana bread that almost iconic smell when it’s baking and helps to amplify the natural flavors of the banana in the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla and banana and the other spices in this recipe mesh together perfectly, don’t skip it! For those on the paleo diet, scrape and use a vanilla bean.
- Whole Milk: A small splash of whole milk helps our banana bread to not only remain moist and soft but it helps the top of the bread to brown nicely.
- Molasses: Opt to use unsulphured molasses instead of blackstrap for this recipe.
- Oil: I’m using an extra light olive oil, you can use any neutral flavored, clean-eating oil of your choosing.
- Salt: I’m using my favorite Himalayan Pink salt but sea salt or any salt of your choice can work as well.
- Nutmeg: A touch or this warming spice complements the banana flavor.
- Cinnamon: This sweet warming spice plays great with other flavors in this the banana bread but doesn’t stand out on it’s own. Even if cinnamon isn’t your favorite flavor, don’t skip it!
Substitutions
Here are a few substitutions you can make for some of the ingredients:
- Blanched Almond Flour >> Almond Meal – Use equal amounts of almond meal which is also known as unblanched almond flour.
- Potato Starch >> Tapioca Starch – Use double the amount of tapioca starch in place of potato starch.
- Raw Cane Sugar >> Coconut Sugar – Use equal amounts of coconut sugar for a lower GI sugar option that has a great caramel flavor. *Note: Coconut Sugar is Paleo-friendly!*
- Whole Milk >> Dairy-free Milk – Use equal amounts of any full fat, unsweetened dairy-free alternative of your choosing such as almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk or cashew milk.
Here’s How Easy it is to Make this Banana Bread
Grab a medium sized-bowl and add to it all the ingredients for your wet mix: bananas, eggs, sugar, molasses, extracts, milk, oil, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Do I Really NEED to Use Overripe Bananas?
The short answer is yes.
The longer answer as to why you really should is threefold:
- Exterior: As bananas ripen their natural starches get broken down into sugars, this not only sweetens our bread but it also helps our bread to have both a nicely browned exterior.
- Interior Texture: Since sugars are attracted to water at a molecular level, using overripe bananas ensures that your banana bread’s interior will be softer and moister with more spring to it.
- Taste: In addition to overripe bananas containing more natural sugars, you get more banana flavor since the potency of the banana flavor increases significantly when it becomes over ripe.
Mix it all together until it’s smooth and as lump-free as possible. You can use a fork, masher, hand mixer or even your blender or a mini food processor to make this step easier.
Now add in your dry ingredients: almond flour, potato starch and baking powder and baking soda.
Using your spatula or hand-mixer, combine your dry ingredients into the wet. Be sure to scrape the bottom of your bowl to ensure that there are no lumps of dry mix left.
With your batter mixed, we’re going to work quickly to get it into the oven. Pour it into a greased 9 x 13 sheet pan, and, using your spatula, spread it into an even layer. It’s going to look thin or like there’s not enough batter but trust me!
Why Use a Sheet Pan for this Recipe?
Gluten-free baking can be tricky, especially when it comes to baking cakes and quick breads since we’re not using the standard wheat flour which contains gluten – the protein that is responsible for allowing breads and cakes to have that bubbly interior and structure. Since this banana bread recipe has a thicker batter that needs time to both rise and cook, the shape of a sheet pan spreads the batter thin enough to allow it to rise without collapsing and cook without the middle being raw. Using a loaf pan which is the more traditional method for banana bread will run the risk of your loaf either collapsing in the middle or not cooking while the outside is overdone.
Pop your sheet pan into the oven and bake your banana bread for 25-30 minutes until the top is a lovely golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out completely clean.
Remove your pan from the oven and allow it to sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting into it.
While your banana bread is still slightly warm, cut it into as many portions as you would like. For a 9×13 sheet pan I get 18 smaller portions that are the perfect snack-size.
All that’s left to do is enjoy this easy banana bread recipe. You’ll be surprised at how moist and light and full of sweet banana flavor it is. I think it’s perfect on its own, but you can always dress it up by topping it with any frosting, ganache, sauce or even by brushing the top with a simple syrup glaze right when it comes out the oven!
And if you’re a fan of banana, you might want to peep some of our other recipes:
- Almost Instant Banana Ice Cream – less than 5 ingredients and you can have an ice cream so healthy you can have it for breakfast without any guilt!
- 6-Ingredient Neapolitan Milkshake – this layered fruity milkshake is a treat to enjoy, and one that is refreshingly healthy too.
- Healthy Banana Nut Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins – gluten-free, dairy free and containing no added sugars, these healthy muffins will blow you away.
- Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies – packed with nutrients, these deceptively delicious breakfast cookies aren’t just easy to make but they rival any chewy breakfast bar out there!
- Super Moist Banana Bundt Bread – this recipe is a great gluten-free bundt bread that is studded with bites of nuts and chocolate. The original recipe that inspired this one, it remains a clean-eating and gluten-free delight!
Gluten-Free Sheet Pan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 large overripe bananas
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup raw cane sugar finely blended
- 1 tbsp molasses unsulphured
- 2-3 tbsp Whole Milk or any dairy-free milk substitute
- 2 tbsp extra light olive oil or any mild oil of choice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp banana extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
- 3 cups blanched almond flour
- 2 tbsp potato starch or 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9"x13" pan with oil or butter (see notes)
- Mash and mix together the bananas, eggs, sugar, molasses, salt, olive oil, vanilla and banana extracts, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl until smooth. If preferred you can use a hand mixer for this step.3 large overripe bananas, 2 large eggs, 1/3 cup raw cane sugar, 1 tbsp molasses, 2-3 tbsp Whole Milk, 2 tbsp extra light olive oil, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp banana extract, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg, 1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
- Add the dry ingredients (almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, potato starch) and mix until just combined and there are no dry lumps remaining (you can also use a hand mixer if preferred for this step as well)3 cups blanched almond flour, 2 tbsp potato starch, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder
- Pour your batter into your greased pan and bake your banana bread at 350°F for 25-30 min until a toothpick inserted comes out completely clean and has no crumbs or wetness on it. If using a smaller pan, you'll need to bake it longer.
- Once done, remove your banana bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes before attempting to remove it from the pan. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
- Store leftovers in a cool, dry place in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to one week. To freeze, allow the banana bread to cool to room temperature before slicing into portions and wrapping in cling wrap or storing in ziplock bags (with the air removed) for up to four months.
Notes
- I've found this recipe works best in a sheet pan. If you'd like to use a small loaf pan you will need to bake it for longer and may need to tent the top to keep it from browning too much before the inside cooks.
