Vegan Banana Bread with Walnuts
AmericanBakingwhole grainnuttychocolatecomfort food
Recipe by Nikoleta · @surovadcerka
The riper the bananas the better, and past the point most people would throw them away. Black-spotted, soft, almost unpleasant to look at — that's when the starch has turned to sugar and the flavour is actually there. Underripe bananas give you a pale, faintly sweet loaf and there's no fixing it later.
Mash them properly. You want them slimy and releasing juice, not lumpy; a stick blender is fine if the fork isn't getting there.
The flour is half wholegrain spelt, which keeps it from being purely a cake, and the plant milk gets soured with vinegar to help the rise. Walnuts and dark chocolate go in at the end. An hour, ten slices, and it's better on day two.
Ingredients
batter
- 60 ml Plant-based milk
- 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
- 330 g Ripe bananas, peeled
- 1 tsp Vanilla paste or ground vanilla
- 90 g Rapeseed oil (or neutral vegetable oil)
- 130 g Spelt whole grain flour
- 130 g All-purpose wheat flour
- 130 g Granulated sugar
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 pinch Salt
- 100 g Walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 50 g Dark chocolate, chopped or chips
Contains: gluten, nuts
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Mix plant milk with apple cider vinegar - you can also use other vinegar or lemon juice, though vinegar tends to work more reliably.
- In a bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork into the smoothest puree possible. The bananas must release their juice and become "slimy" - an immersion blender works well too. The riper your bananas, the easier this becomes.
- Add vanilla paste (or ground vanilla or vanilla sugar if you don't have paste), oil, and the milk-vinegar mixture to the banana puree.
- In a larger bowl, combine spelt flour, wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix everything well, then stir the mashed banana mixture into the dry ingredients.
- Mix the batter only until everything comes together and no flour lumps remain. Avoid overmixing to keep the texture tender.
- Fold in coarsely chopped nuts or chocolate - unless you're saving the chocolate for sprinkling. Work the nuts in by folding the batter from the sides to the center.
- Choose a banana bread pan measuring about 25x11x7cm in height. You can also use a bundt pan or muffin tins. Grease the pan with butter and dust with flour.
- Pour the batter into the tin, level it out, and sprinkle with chocolate. Make a cut down the center with a knife dipped in melted plant-based butter or oil so the loaf doesn’t crack where you don’t want it to, but instead has space to expand during baking.
- Bake the banana bread for 45-50 minutes at 180°C without convection. After 15-20 minutes, I remove the bread and make a cut down the center so it doesn't crack randomly - this cut gives it room to rise beautifully during baking.
- Before removing from the oven, test the bread with a toothpick - when you pull it from the center and it comes out dry, the bread is done. Every oven bakes differently, so you may need a full hour. If so, cover with aluminum foil to prevent the top from burning.
- After baking, let the vegan banana bread cool for at least an hour before slicing.
Nutrition
350Calories
5 gProtein
43 gCarbs
18 gFat
4 gFiber
per serving
