Easy Gluten Free Banana Bread

Banana bread is my ideal food. It contains chocolate (well, this one does) – but it also contains fruit. There’s no added sugar in this recipe either, so it’s practically healthy. Whilst we don’t usually bake gluten free at home, my mum doesn’t eat anything that contains gluten, so it’s great to be able to bake up a healthy treat for her. And this gluten free banana bread is my go-to.

Allergies

Things to be careful of:

• This recipe uses almond flour, so it contains nuts
• Depending on the type of chocolate chips you buy, they often contain soya and / or dairy. If you can’t find chocolate chips you can eat then you can leave them out and the loaf will still be delicious.
• Eggs – you can use an egg replacement if you’re vegan or allergic to eggs
• Gluten – the flour is gluten free, as are the chocolate chips and vanilla extract that I used – but do check packaging before purchasing them

Other flavour combinations that work in gluten free banana bread

This is a really basic recipe, but like most people, I experimented with different flavours during lockdown. My favourite additions to banana bread are:

• Cinnnamon
• Mixed spice
• Nutmeg
• Brown sugar sprinkled on top

These are just a few ideas though – we all have our own take on the classic banana bread recipe. This one doesn’t use butter OR oil, which is great if you’re watching your waistline or counting calories! If you want it a little more moist, you could add either butter, dairy free spread or a little oil. If you do that, you’ll need to increase the amount of flour or decrease the banana content to make sure it doesn’t get too wet.

Gluten free banana bread recipe tips

1. You’ll notice the recipe says RIPE bananas – the riper the better! It’s a great way to use up bananas that have been forgotten and no longer look too appetising. If your bananas don’t look ripe enough, put them into a closed paper bag – they’ll ripen even quicker if you add an apple.
2. This banana bread tastes great toasted with a bit of butter on it. I particularly love cinnamon butter – this is quite pricey to buy, but you can make it by mixing butter, cinnamon and a little icing sugar in a bowl. There’s no need to heat it. You’ll find people tell you to use brown sugar – but this gives a gritty texture, whereas icing sugar makes it nice and smooth. Don’t add too much though, adding a tiny amount at a time and tasting as you go along is definitely the way to go with this.
3. I’ve written out the most basic way to make this recipe, but if you have a food processor or stand mixer, it’s loads easier to use that! You can mash the banana in it, take that out while you mix the other ingredients (see below) and then pop the banana back in, along with the chocolate chips. If you do it that way, this is going to take you a matter of minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 400 grams almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 70 grams chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 

Gluten free banana bread: Method

1. Using a fork, mash the bananas in a bowl. 
2. In a separate bowl add almond flour, eggs, baking powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix everything together
3. Combine the mixture with the mashed bananas and add the chocolate chips. 
4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees. 
5. Leave it to cool before removing from the baking tray.