Gluten free banana bread (that’s also dairy free!) will be your new favorite fall recipe. This recipe so simple to make, uses only healthy all natural ingredients, is dairy free and refined sugar free, and it’s also incredibly delicious. Gluten free banana bread made with grain free coconut flour and almond flour will also banish any fear of carbohydrates from bread and rekindle your love of bananas.
I went into making this recipe as a complete experiment and aimed for just the right amount of sweet and moist. Needless to say, while this bread was baking away in the oven, the aroma of classic fresh baked banana bread filled my entire house (who needs air freshener when there are baked goods?).
When I pulled the bread out of the oven, sliced in and took a bite – It. Was. Heaven. And let me assure you, if I can bake an amazing and delicious gluten free banana bread, you certainly can too!
You see, I’m not much of a baker. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love baked eats, but when it comes to developing baking recipes and bread from scratch (especially gluten free), that’s not my forte.
Cooking is where I find my creativity pouring out of me, it’s where I can add a little of this, a dash of that and voila, a simple masterpiece! Baking requires much more measuring and skill using the ingredients in the right proportions (I feel it’s the chemistry department of the culinary world for type A’s). I have tremendous respect for the bakers of this world, especially ones in my family and close friends (you know who you are) who have taught me the basics.
About the Ingredients
But back to the bread. You’ll find in this recipe I use a couple grain free flours of choice, coconut flour, and almond flour. What are coconut flour and almond flour and where can you find them?
Coconut flour is simply dried and ground coconut meat. It’s one of my favorite flours to use as it’s extremely versatile, nutrient dense, lightweight in texture, and has a sweet and nutty flavor. Coconut flour has a couple of unique properties compared to most other gluten-free flours.
It’s similar to a sponge as it loves to soak up the moisture around it, which is perfect for moisture retention in baking because no one wants to bite into a dry piece of banana bread.
What about almond flour? It shares a similar story since it’s highly nutritious and has a slightly sweet and nutty taste with a moist texture. Almond flour is a little more hearty than the lighter coconut flour which makes it great to use when you want to add more density to your baked goods.
You may see two different types of almond “flour” — an almond meal which is the whole almond containing the skin ground into a flour consistency — and almond flour which is blanched almonds without the skin ground into a flour consistency. Honestly, I find using both interchangeably hasn’t changed the outcome of my recipes. Since coconut flour and almond flour are naturally sweet, these both are perfect for baked goods without needing to add extra sugar.
Where can I buy coconut flour and almond flour?
You can purchase both coconut and almond flour at health food stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, local co-ops, local health food stores, and online. After the first use of these flours, I suggest storing them in a tightly closed glass or mason jar in the refrigerator or freezer to keep the natural oils from oxidizing or becoming rancid.
Typically when I hear the words grain free or gluten free with bread, I don’t think of a fluffy, moist slice of bread. This recipe is so delicious, sweet, and moist and gluten free, grain free and paleo friendly! If you know my story, you know that gluten doesn’t play well with my body. We’re just not friends. So I’m always looking for recipes that are gluten-free, and this gluten-free banana bread takes the cake!
- 4 bananas, fairly ripe
- 4 whole eggs
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons. of coconut flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of almond flour
- 4 tablespoons of cold pressed organic coconut oil (or you may use grass-fed butter), melted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon (heaping) of ground cinnamon
- Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease (with coconut oil/butter) a bread loaf pan (or you could use a tin for muffins).
- Combine all the wet ingredients (vanilla, eggs, coconut oil/butter, bananas) into a bowl with a hand mixer (or Vitamix).
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl (coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon).
- Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients.
- Mix well with a wooden spoon until the batter has come together.
- Pour the dough into your lightly greased pan.
- Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes (depending on your oven settings, mine took about 45min.). Check after 30 minutes.
- Let set and cool (this is the hard part!).
- Slice and serve with a spread of coconut oil, grass-fed butter, peanut butter, almond butter, jam… the possibilities are endless!
This recipe results in a slightly sweet, very moist gluten free bread with a hint of banana. I love how this recipe isn’t so sweet, but for those of you who would enjoy a banana bread with more sweetness or eaten as a “dessert”, feel free to add in stevia or sugar, honey, etc. (I haven’t tested this with added sugar, but you can try and let me know how it goes!).
What’s your favorite way to top banana bread? Are you a baker, a cook, or both?
