Three bananas. One Bowl. Zero gluten. Let’s do this.
You may remember my recipe for gluten free banana bread with butternut squash. It’s one of my favorites of all time. Yes, all time. But I couldn’t help but strip it down to the absolute essentials and take it back to classic banana bread land.
Friends, behold: 1-Bowl Gluten-Free Banana Bread.
The ingredients for this scrumptious, hearty bread begin with three overripe bananas. Then come essentials you likely already have on hand, such as eggs (or chia/flax eggs), vanilla and coconut oil. To sweeten things up a bit more I relied on a mix of honey, cane and brown sugar for a variance of flavor and texture.
Then comes the gluten-free goodness: a mix of gluten free oats, almond meal and my favorite gluten-free flour blend (or sub other gluten-free blends with varied results). Check out our Guide to Gluten-Free Flours for more guidance!
And of course, if you’re not gluten free just sub whole wheat pastry or all purpose for the blend.
About 1 hour in the oven and this baby is ready for the taking.
I could hardly wait to slice in, but patience is key here. You need to wait a good hour before cutting into this baby, else it will crumble and fall apart. That’s what you don’t want.
This is what you do want. A hearty loaf that holds its shape and converts even the most suspicious of eaters into gluten-free banana bread lovers. Hubba hubba.
This bread is:
Hearty
Perfectly moist
Loaded with banana flavor
Just sweet enough
Spotted with oats and almond meal
Slightly nutty
Incredibly satisfying
& Altogether dreamy
Trust me, you’re gonna love this bread. Enjoy!
More Quick Bread Recipes
- 1-Bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- 1-Bowl Pumpkin Bread (V + GF)
- 1-Bowl Nutella Banana Bread (Vegan + GF)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Snack Bread (V + GF + 1 Bowl)
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
One Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 medium ripe bananas (3 bananas yield ~1 1/2 cups or 337 g)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg (or sub 1 chia or flax egg)*
- 3 Tbsp avocado or coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/4 cup packed organic brown sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp maple syrup (depending on ripeness of bananas // or sub honey)
- 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other dairy-free milk)
- 1 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend
- 1 1/4 cup gluten-free oats
FOR SERVING optional
- Butter
- Honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Mash banana in a large bowl. Add all ingredients through almond milk (vanilla, egg, oil, cane sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, almond milk) and whisk vigorously to combine. Last add almond meal, gluten free flour blend and oats and stir.
- Bake for 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes. When ready, it should feel firm and be crackly and golden brown on top.
- Let cool completely before cutting or it will be too tender to hold form.
- Serve with butter and honey or as is. Store leftovers in a covered container for up to a few days. Slice and freeze for longer term storage.
Video
Notes
*Adapted from my GF Banana Butternut Squash Bread, originally adapted from TakeAMegabite.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with avocado oil and with lesser amount of maple syrup.
Lanie says
I had some old bananas on the counter and wanted to make banana bread on a whim. I found this recipe and conveniently had all of the ingredients. I used almond flour instead of meal. I have two little kids that keep me busy and love that this is a one bowl and quick recipe. The flavour is amazing! The texture is a little gooey, maybe slightly undercooked? I’ll bake longer next time and try it out as muffins as well.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it overall, Lanie! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
Maria says
Thank you so much for creating this lovely amazing recipe! 💗 It’s delicious, wholesome and so moist – this is our go-to GF banana bread recipe and we love it so much. The recipe exactly as written is fantastic. Most recently, we’ve enjoyed substituting 2 Tbsp. molasses in place of the maple syrup/honey, and being really generous with the cinnamon. Even added some crushed pineapple per my partner’s request a couple times (yummy in combination with the coconut oil). When we were out of almond meal, we also substituted coconut flour with good result (per google search, used a 1:4 ratio of coconut flour to almond meal + 1 extra egg). Really excited to continue trying other mix-ins like nuts or chocolate! Because we’re unable to use our oven currently, we also tried baking this as muffins in the air fryer and this worked well, too! (we followed a chart per google search on how much to reduce the temperature and time – combined with even less time for the muffin version – they were finished baking in less than 20 minutes!) Thank you so much for this magical recipe!
Amazing! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Maria! We’re so glad it can be versatile for you!
Sherry says
This was moist and I plan on making it again as it’s tasty and I LOVE the one bowl situation. The only thing I don’t love is that it’s 17g of sugar per slice. Next time I make it (next week!), I’m going to try to halve the sugar and see if it’s still good for breakfast heated up a bit with some butter.
No matter what it’s better than eating something store bought as it’s pretty wholesome ingredients and no seed oils as I used olive oil. Thank you!
Thanks for the great review and for sharing your experience, Sherry!
Rachel Kotack says
Is this really supposed to use 3.5tsp of baking powder? I made it and it totally just tastes like baking powder. Inedible.
Hi Rachel, that’s correct! It could be that your baking powder isn’t aluminum-free, which can often contribute to that metallic taste. We use Rumford brand! Alternatively, if you used a regular egg you could use 2 next time and perhaps reduce the baking powder by 1.5 tsp? We aren’t sure but it could work. Hope this helps!
Regan says
3.5 tsp baking powder – really? Seems like a lot. Otherwise terrific recipe!!!
Adriana says
I agree that 3.5tsp was too much. I’ve never really seen a recipe with more than 2tsp? The bread is still tasty, and I added choc chips but there is definitely the baking powder tingly aftertaste.
So sorry this one didn’t work out as planned for you, Adriana! Glad you we’re still able to enjoy it with chocolate chips.
Ovi says
Can I make this without the cane sugar?
Hi Ovi, we haven’t tried it so we aren’t sure if this recipe will work well if you remove the sugar completely, but you could possibly reduce the amount or try coconut sugar instead? Let us know how it goes if you try it!
Kaz says
I have made it multiple times and it always comes out awesome 😉 today I have tried to make them as biscuits. No alterations to recipe just put a tablespoon worth of dough on a baking tray. Set the temperature to 170’C on fan and bake for 10-15 min. Came out better than I thought.
Had anyone tried making those with some apple in it or dried fruits? If so how much to put?
Jillian says
Delicious recipe. I subbed the egg with 1/4 cup of applesauce and used only 1 1/2 cups of ground oats + 1 1/2 cups of almond flour and my pantry mishap still made an amazing loaf.
Thanks for sharing your modifications, Jillian! We’re so glad you enjoyed!
Jacki says
Hello! Is there a way to make this recipe with matcha to make it a matcha banana bread? Thanks!
Hi Jacki, we’ve never tried a matcha banana bread, but matcha does lose its vibrant green color when baking. Otherwise, we don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let us know if you try it!
Pam says
Another Minimalist Baker success! I’ve made a ton of your recipes and haven’t found one I don’t like yet! I made this exactly as written choosing to use the avocado oil option. It’s perfectly moist on the inside and golden brown on the outside and not too sweet! Definitely a ‘keeper’ recipe! THANK YOU for sharing all that you do!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Pam. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo