Using bananas instead of oil makes this fat-free banana bread extremely moist and lightly sweet, and the blueberries add a fruity surprise to every bite.
Q: What’s black and yellow and soft all over?
A: The bananas on our kitchen counter when we got home from the beach on Sunday.
Of course, when we left on Thursday, the bananas were firm and yellow, even a little green. I’d meant to take them with me, but in the rush of packing I forgot. By the time we got home, our bananas were so overripe that I could actually smell them as we entered the door.
But you know the old saying: When life gives you mushy bananas, make banana bread! Well, I may have just made that “old saying” up.
Nevertheless, it’s true that the riper the bananas, the better the banana bread, so finding several overripe bananas on my kitchen counter was not a hardship at all but an opportunity to make a treat for the family. And since it’s blueberry season here, I saw it as a double opportunity and filled my banana bread with some of the plumpest, sweetest blueberries I’ve ever tasted.
The result was incredible: The bananas make the bread extremely moist and lightly sweet, and the blueberries add a fruity surprise to every other bite. If you like bananas and blueberries, I think you’ll love them together.
Before I hit you with the recipe, I want to let you know that the Tried & Tasted roundup has been posted over at Holy Cow. I mentioned before that people would be making recipes from this blog and then sharing them on their own blogs. Well, I’m just overwhelmed at the response: I counted 39 different entries, some of them of recipes I’d forgotten I made. It’s going to take me a while to go through them all, but I will! Please visit some of them yourself–and tell them I sent you.
Blueberry-Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 large over-ripe bananas
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup vanilla soymilk or apple sauce (80 ml)
- 1/2 cup agave nectar (120 ml) see notes below
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour (240 g)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup blueberries (240 ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray or wipe a 9×5-inch loaf pan with oil or use a silicon loaf pan.
- Mix the soymilk with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and let stand until it curdles. (If using apple sauce, skip this step and add the lemon juice to the bananas.)
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add the remaining lemon juice, soymilk, and agave nectar. Stir well to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, and stir just until the mixture is well-combined. Fold in the blueberries.
- Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into 12 slices and serving.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share!
SusanV
Hi Jill–If you look through the comments, Moonwatcher successfully made a gluten-free version of this recipe using a combination of flours along with a little zanthan gum. I haven't tried it myself, but I think her idea to look at other gluten-free banana breads is a good one.
Thanks for your feedback!
iheartcakes.wordpress.com
that bread looks so moist and flavourful! Have a bage of ver overripe bananas, so I'm on the look for different banana-recipes! And with such healthy ingredients this will be a nice breakfast!
Lauren
Susan, I really want to make a couple of loaves of this for a charity vegan bake sale this weekend! Do you mind if I print out copies of the recipe to go along with the bread (with credit to you and http://www.fatfreevegan.com, of course!)?
SusanV
Lauren, feel free to print out the recipe. I hope the bake sale goes well!
Jessica
Yummmm!
I didn't have whole wheat flower 🙁 so i used white, i only had 1/4c agave, and i added pumpkin spice.
It was great!
Jennie
Hi Susan,
I made this today! I thought it was so delicious!
Sadly, my husband didn't think it was sweet enough. It hurt my feelings, but that's probably because I have a bun in the oven and feeling more sensitive than usual.
Besides, I really made this for myself. I used apple sauce instead because I'm allergic to soy and used mostly organic ingredients.
Thanks again! 🙂
anke
i just made this with oat milk and it came out fantastic. next time i'll try it with apple sauce
Anonymous
This bread looks delicious and I'm really excited about trying it out! I do have one question … about how many cups of banana would 3 make? I ask because my bananas are pretty small and I'm not sure if I should add a banana or not – I don't want to make it too moist!
SusanV
I used large bananas, so I think if your bananas are small, you should probably add an extra one.
Anonymous
My Friend made a comment about this website on her facebook page so thought i'd have a look. This is the first recipe i've tried and it was AMAZING! I didn't have enough agave nectar so used half what was needed and the other half maple syrup. Absolutely delicious!!!
Lorraine
Hi,
I really enjoyed this recipe (as I do all your others). Next time I make it I’m going to add cinnamon and vanilla. I think a teaspoon of each would give it a little more flavor. Also, I’m going to add about 1/2 cup of walnuts. I just have to finish the loaf I have now first.
Thanks.
Rachyl
This looks amazing can’t wait to try it!!
Can i substitute the whole wheat flour for gluten free flour?
I’m trying to stay gluten free
SusanV
Rachyl, a couple of people have made gluten-free versions. If you look up in the earlier comments, Moonwatcher made one with a blend of gluten-free flours. Try it and let me know how it comes out!
Kelsey
Those pictures looked A-mazing! I was super excited to whip up some b bread this afternoon. However, I was sorely disappointed with the outcome. I followed the recipe to the T and the result was practically inedible. It was overly dense, dry & simultaneously undercooked, and tasted NOTHING like bananas. No bueno.
Chelsea
LOVED IT! I substituted Carob Chips for blueberries and added a teaspoon of vanilla and it come out beautiful. I did have to cook it for an additional ten minutes, because after the first 50 it was still fairly runny in the middle. This is now my go to bread
Amanda
Made this last night and it is so yummy!
I didn’t have any agave nectar so I used demerara sugar with some applesauce to make it more liquid-y.
Howdy
I’m not sure if someone has already asked this, but I was wondering if I put the batter in a muffin pan (12 dozen) how long will it take to bake?
Katie
Made the version with apple sauce and maple syrup. Note to fellow muffiners: I don’t recommend paper liners, without the oil in the recipe too much deliciousness gets wasted stuck to the paper. Bummer. But the cut time to 20 mins at 350 was perfect.
Elaine
This bread is delicious. I used applesauce instead of the soy milk. It is so moist and satisfying! Thanks for your continuous supply of marvelous recipes!
Jacqueline Oscvirk
This recipe turned out amazing! It was such a hit in my house and no one stopped to ask if it was vegan or not … it didn’t matter. It was easy and delish!
Becky
I baked this this afternoon, I was so looking forward to it but it was a disaster! The top was completely done (maybe even a little too done) but the inside of the loaf was still wet batter even with extra cooking time! What could have gone wrong? It’s only the second time I have baked anything vegan so I wonder if there is a ‘skill’ to it that I’ve not yet got 🙁
Erika
Made this last night with the intent of it being breakfast this morning. Well, it smelled and looked so good we ended up having a slice for dessert! It is wonderful, full of flavor and very moist. I used applesauce instead of the soy milk.
We did end up having a slice for breakfast as well — coffee in one hand, banana bread in the other as we strolled over to the farmer’s market. Saturday mornings do not come better. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe.
C
This is delicious! I tweeked the recipe a bit, but it still came out yummy. Thanks for sharing. ^_^
Erin
First of all i’d like to say What a great recipe! I’m definitely writing this one down!
I am a vegetarian, not not vegan, but I love baking vegan recipes because I don’t like using eggs in baking (i’m paranoid about food poisoning lol).
I also love incorporating agave nectar into my baking because of its low glycemic properties.
However, I do have a sweet tooth and needed a chocolate fix today 😛
so here’s how i made it:
I used whole wheat flour and apple sauce, and increased the baking soda and baking powder to 1 teaspoon each because for some reason whenever I bake ANYTHING it never rises enough (maybe my baking powder is too old?).
I did not have that problem this time. It rose perfectly and evenly.
Instead of blueberries i used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I know, I’m horrible!)
and I accidentally forgot to add the salt, but it seems fine without it anyways.
I think next time I may use fewer chocolate chips because it was almost too chocolatey, and i may add some raspberries for some extra “zing”.
Thanks again for the awesome recipe!
Mary
I just made this last night and it came out wondeful!! Sooo delicious and moist. I didn’t have any blueberries on hand so I substituted strawberries. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks for such a great recipe; keep em’ coming 🙂
Sunshine
Mine was a total disaster and it came out like a ton of bricks. What a waste of good ingredients. Maybe I should have added eggs to make it more cake like? Im going to try slicing and using it as french toast. My only option.
Sasha
Hi Susan,
first of all, thank you very much for your great site! It’s been a huge inspiration for me in times when I want to cook something special and when I don’t know what to cook 🙂
For my banana bread I used 4 bananas (I would say medium sized) and frozen blueberries. It turned out to be very moist inside – too moist, it doesn’t have that cake-y structure the bread on your photo has. With other ingridient I stuck to the recipe. Do you have any idea whhy it went wrong? It’s still very tasty but I know it can be much better. I would appreciate any help 🙂
SusanV
I’m not sure, Sasha. It’s a pretty moist bread, and it could be that your bananas were closer to my large ones than you thought. That little extra banana could have pushed it over the edge to make it too moist. Also, did you allow your blueberries to thaw and then measured them or did you measure them frozen? Too much blueberry juice could also increase the moisture.
Either way, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. The problem with baking is that sometimes even the moisture in the air can throw a recipe off.
Sasha
Thank you for your response Susan! My blueberries were still a little bit frozen as I put them into the batter. I Think that’s it. And an additional banana … Next time I’ll do it right! But nevertheless it’s an extremely tasty bread and so simple to make! 🙂
Star City RN
For quite a long time, just about everything I baked was undercooked, in the center. I really felt that my family–especially my younger kids–lost their frame of reference for my, formerly, good cooking and baking.
Then, one day, I read that when an oven door becomes out of alignment (more of a problem with lightweight oven doors, on lower-end model ovens), the oven door might not close, and seal, properly around the door frame anymore. This can negatively affect efficient, uniform, heating within the oven. Products that cook unevenly, most noticeably, baked products, often result.
I redeemed myself when I ditched my oven for (the most gorgeous) new one.
Eve
Hi Susan,
Just wondering if you have any ideas on what cooking time I should use if I want to make muffins with this recipe?
I have made this recipe quite a few times and it’s definitely a keeper in my home!
SusanV
I would start checking them with a toothpick at 15 minutes and then every 5 minutes after that. I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe! Good luck with the muffins!
Barbra Cooper
Hi, I don’t really cook but this recipe was delicious, simple and healthy! I added toasted walnuts on my 1st try and that was tasty. My second attempt just came out of the oven. I was out of nuts but this time I added a 1/2 cup of coconut flakes. I have not tried it although, the batter was yummy and it smells great. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Taylor
I just made this recipe as muffins, and they were excellent! Even the minimum 50 minutes was too long though, probably due to the increased surface area. 40 probably would have been enough. I replaced they agave with maple syrup, but otherwise everything stayed the same. Thanks so much! Clearly you put a lot of work into each recipe!
michelle
I just made this and it looks so beautiful and it smells good. BUT…. all I had was brown rice flour. it has a bit of a grainy texture to it. makes me feel like its not cooked but like I said it looks pretty. nice and toasty. any more in the oven and its going to burn and get hard. why do you think this is?