Gluten Free Banana Bread

... but then my body turned on me, and I had to go on a gluten-free diet.

It's always daunting to try and improve on borderline perfection, especially when doing something major - such as converting the idea to a gluten-free recipe.

It took a couple of tries, but I'm pleased to report that this gluten-free banana bread recipe is at least as good as that original recipe - more nutritious, too!

Use raisins, or don’t.

Use dried cranberries, or walnuts, or whatever else you’d like in banana bread… or just leave the extras out entirely, and enjoy it as a plain – but SO tasty! – banana bread.

Oh, and it's easy, too … you can make this in a bowl, with a wooden spoon. No electric mixer required!

Happy baking!

GF Banana Bread Ingredients

This is a super simple recipe - really not much more in the way of ingredients or technique than my original, regular flour banana bread recipe...

... but the Google Overlords apparently want 2000+ words for you to even be able to find this recipe, so I’ll use some of those (I’m not coming close to that, LOL!) to talk about the ingredients a bit!

Bananas

The key ingredient of this recipe!

You’ll want to use VERY ripe bananas - ideally overripe bananas. Like... mostly blackened, not-looking-fit-to-eat bananas.

This is important for a few reasons - it goes a lot way to ensuring the best flavour and texture in the final product: A moist banana bread that holds together and has great banana flavour.

If you have bananas that are perfectly (over!) ripe for banana bread, but need to hold off on actually making it… just toss them in the freezer.

The peel will go black, but the defrosted mashed bananas will be perfect!

As for sizing: The recipe calls for 3 large, but you can use 4 small/medium if that’s what you have.

Just eyeball it. Like many quick bread recipes involving fruit... it’s not necessarily an exact science. The recipe is very forgiving!

The Flour Mixture

Like all of my gluten free recipes - especially with gluten free baking - I don’t use any of the commercially available all purpose flour products.

Instead, I prefer to design each of my recipes from the ground up, choosing the specific flours I want, for a gluten-free flour blend specific to whatever I’m making.

I find it’s the best way to guarantee a perfect texture in the finished item... and the best taste!

When it comes to this recipe, I use a specific proportion of the following gluten free flours:

Sorghum Flour
Light Buckwheat Flour
Coconut Flour

Note: It’s no omission - this recipe does not call for Xanthan Gum! The combination of bananas and coconut flour render it unnecessary!

Sugar

While I generally use granulated sugar in this recipe, you can use that white sugar, brown sugar, or a combo of the two.

Just make sure any brown sugar you use is well packed in the measure you use.

The Other Ingredients

Rounding out the recipe, you will also need:

Melted butter
Large eggs
Baking soda
Salt

Optional Ingredients

While some may prefer a “pure” banana bread, I know most of us like STUFF in it.

Personally, I like a ton of raisins, and will usually use about 1 cup of dark raisins... 1 ½ cups if I’m feeling indulgent.

As far as nuts go, I prefer walnut, but feel free to substitute. Use ½ – 1 cup of nuts, or ½ cup each of nuts and raisins

I am NOT on “Team Chocolate Chips in Banana Bread”, but if you are, ½ - 1 cup of your favourite ones is a good amount!

Whatever you’re using - single ingredient, or a mix of 2 or all 3 - just have fun with it!

Note: Because items and amounts can vary, I’ve left the optional ingredients out of the nutritional information calculations.

How to Make the Best Gluten-Free Banana Bread

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. This is a pictorial overview, with additional information and tips!

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).

Grease 1 regular/large loaf pan, or about 3 small loaf pans.

Note: While I wouldn’t recommend it on mini loaf pans, you can optionally spray a normal sized loaf pan with pan spray, then line it with parchment paper.

This ensures you can remove the finished loaf in one piece, should that be important to you. The pan spray helps the paper stick to the pan, making it easier to fill.

In a separate bowl - a large bowl - mash the bananas together with the sugar - the sugar will help break down the bananas.

You can get it as smooth as you like - leave chunks of banana if you like that in the finished bread, mash it all the way smooth if you don’t.

Add the melted butter and eggs, mix to fully combine.

Mix just until everything is well combined - it can be somewhat lumpy.

You can serve this fresh out of the oven, warm, or room temperature. I like it warm, with a bit of butter or warmed cream cheese spread on it... maybe a drizzle of Maple Caramel Sauce!

For storage, allow the loaf to cool all the way to room temperature before wrapping in plastic wrap and transferring to an airtight container.

Best served within 2-3 days.

More Gluten-Free Breakfast & Brunch Recipes

Looking for more breakfast food recipes for the whole family? Here are some easy recipes to try:

Gluten-Free Apple Pancakes with Caramel Apple Topping
Gluten Free Bagels
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Gluten Free Banana Nutella Ebelskivers
Gluten-Free Blackberry Muffins
Gluten Free Blueberry Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
Breakfast Meatloaf
Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Bread
Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Muffins
Gluten-Free Crepes
Gluten Free French Onion Soup Tart
Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake
Gluten-Free Lemon Mascarpone Ebelskivers
Gluten Free Mushroom Soup & Eggs on Toast
Gluten-Free Paska [Easter Bread]
Gluten Free Pop-Tarts
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread
Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
Gluten Free Sourdough Waffles
Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread