- 3 min read

(Vegan + Gluten Free) Easy Banana Bread

As far as quarantine baking trends go, banana bread was one of the top Google search recipes across the globe as reported here. With minimal ingredients and its ability to turn overripe produce into a star ingredient, banana bread is a wonderful kitchen staple that you can find yourself going back to time and time again. There have been countless iterations of this popular loaf – some with the addition of chocolate chips and nuts for a little indulgence and crunch, others with the omission of dairy and gluten for a guilt-free dessert. This particular recipe, as adapted from here, falls into the latter camp but is made even simpler with a few secret tricks when you have all your ingredients prepped.

Say hello to your new favorite moist banana bread that is vegan and gluten-free.

What you’ll need:

1/3 cup of organic pure cane sugar – can be substituted with 1/2 cup of finely chopped dates
1 3/4 cups of gluten-free blend of flour
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/3 cup of neutral oil – can be substituted with vegan butter, coconut oil, or even applesauce
3-4 overripe bananas that will yield to 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups when mashed
1/4 cup of almond milk to be used as needed
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Allow us to walk you through the process:

Here’s where our secret tricks and shortcuts come in. Making something as simple as banana bread may not even require the usual baking suspects of an electric mixer or even an oven. The good news is, countertop appliances can get the job done in mere minutes – with minimal cleanup as a plus. Do you make banana shakes with your ripe bananas? You can leave your blender out to use for overripe bananas as well – forgoing the need to use a bulky electric mixer. In the blender, toss in your bananas and pulse until mashed sufficiently. Add in your oil or applesauce, as well as the vanilla extract. When your wet ingredients are mixed, add the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend until just combined. The resulting batter should be thick and slightly lumpy. After assessing the mix, you can add in the almond milk to loosen it up. Now, as we said, you don’t need to switch on your oven just to make the banana bread. You can turn to your trusted rice cooker as featured in this article, which can make dozens of recipes despite its limited capacity. This humble little appliance often flies under the radar, but its compact size does not take away from its numerous functions, including baking up your banana bread. All you have to do is pour your batter in and set the timer for the white rice cycle. You can check if it’s cooked once the timer goes off, and repeat until the bread firms up and comes out clean when poked with a toothpick. This usually takes an hour, which is just enough time for you to clean up and relax a little before digging in. You may soon find that you can make this vegan + gluten-free rice cooker banana bread with your eyes closed, so when you are feeling up for a challenge, click here for other recipes that are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings.