Easy, Spoonie-Friendly Gluten-free Banana Bread
What do you do when you love bananas—but only when there’s not a single brown spot on the skin? Buy one banana every day? Eat a week’s worth of bananas in one afternoon?
Vegan | GF | Soy-free | Nut-free | No rice
One of my favourite ways to use up my less-than-perfect bananas is to make this sweet and comforting gluten-free banana bread. I eat it for breakfast, lunch, a quick snack between meals… And it never gets boring.
Why You’ll Love This Easy Banana Bread
Soft, sweet, comforting. Neither too dense, nor too crumbly. What’s not to love about this banana bread? It’s just so good.
When you’ve had it once, you’ll never want store-bought banana bread again. Ever.
Spoonie Notes
- No stirring if you make it in the bread machine
- Use a blender to mash the banana. There’s zero shame in that.
- Forgot to whip up the flax eggs? Been there, done that. Just chuck the ingredients in with the rest. It’ll be fine.
How to Make This Gluten-Free Banana Bread
Vegan Gluten-free Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour or any GF blend you trust
- ⅔ cup sugar for best results, use raw cane sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp iodised salt
- ⅓ cup vegan butter melted (spoonie note: melt it in the microwave and pour straight in)
- 2 eggs OR
- 2 flax eggs 2 tbsp flax + 6 tbsp water, mixed and left to gel
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup mashed banana about 1–2 medium bananas
Optional, for better structure: add a binder (see Notes)
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum or
- 1 tsp psyllium husk
Optional add-ins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 handful cocoa nibs or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Mix all wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients.
- Grease a 25 cm baking tin or line it with parchment paper.
- Pour batter into baking tin.
- Bake at 170°C for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool for 15 minutes before turning out, and allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Note: I used my own rice-free, gluten-free flour blend to make this banana bread, and while I’ve also tested it (once) with a store-bought blend (I think it was Freee Plain white flour) using my homemade flour blend will get you the best results.
Make This Easy Banana Bread in the Bread Machine
- Add everything to your bread machine pan in the order your machine prefers (usually liquids first, then dry).
- Set to Quick Bread / Cake cycle (this is the non-yeast, no-rise setting on most bread makers).
- Walk away. The machine will mix, bake, and beep when done.
- Let cool for 15 minutes before turning out.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing.
How to Store and Freeze Your Healthy Banana Bread
For best texture, store your banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Alternatively, you can store it—wrapped in parchment paper and airtight container—in the fridge for up to 6 days, but be aware that this can dry out your banana bread. Zap for 10–15 seconds in the microwave or toast lightly to restore softness.
This easy banana bread freezes very well for up to 2–3 months. For best results: Slice before freezing, wrap slices individually (parchment + freezer bag), and defrost at room temperature or microwave straight from frozen.
Chef’s Tip: Adding xanthan gum or psyllium husk helps your gluten-free banana bread keep its structure and stay soft longer. And in case you were worried: xanthan gum is recognised as safe by (a.o.) the European Food Safety Authority.
Allergy Information
This banana bread recipe is naturally free from: dairy, gluten, eggs (if using flax eggs), nuts, soy, sesame.
Note: always check labels for allergens.
Disclaimer
I’m not a dietitian; this recipe and any nutritional or allergy-related notes are based on personal experience and should not replace professional advice.
More Spoonie-Friendly Gluten-Free Bakes
If you like this kind of spoonie-friendly baking, you might also enjoy my easy gluten-free apple crumble or these gluten-free chickpea-cherry brownies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, but the texture may be more crumbly. Adding either xanthan gum or psyllium husk improves structure and makes the loaf easier to slice.
For best results, use my homemade rice-free gluten-free flour blend. Otherwise, any good-quality gluten-free all-purpose blend will work. Choose one you already trust for baking, ideally one designed as a 1:1 replacement.
Absolutely. Very ripe bananas (with brown spots) are perfect. They’re sweeter, softer, and provide the best flavour and moisture.
This usually happens because of insufficient binding. Adding xanthan gum or psyllium husk helps. Also, make sure the bread cools completely before slicing.
Usual culprits are too much moisture or underbaking. To fix this, bake a little longer (cover loosely with aluminium foil if the top browns too quickly), measure bananas more precisely, and always let the bread cool completely before slicing.
Bread machines can have a hard time with moist, gluten-free batters. Your machine’s ‘Quick Bread’ cycle may run too short, or the batter may be slightly too wet. And some machines don’t distribute heat evenly.
To fix this, run an additional bake cycle, or finish the loaf in the oven at 170°C for 10–20 minutes. For future bakes, slightly reducing the banana or adding a binder (xanthan gum or psyllium husk) can help improve structure and even baking.
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i didn’t know that you could make quick breads in a bread machine. Do they really come out ok? Are there other non yeast ways it can be used. I just haven’t been able to justify the cost for something that does one thing but maybe i need to rethink that.
Most bread machines can do far more than just making bread. Mine, for instance, has settings for: basic bread, French bread, Sweet bread, Ultra-fast, Quick bread, Cake, Dessert, Rice bread, Corn bread, GLuten free, Porridge, Sticky rice, Mix, Dough, Knead, Rice Wine, Yoghurt, Jam, and Bake. So that’s quite impressive. (It’s a Princess 152008 Bread Maker, which I’ve had for over 6 years now, and even though it was a budget model, it still performs really well.)
My banana bread does, indeed, come out really well in my bread machine.