Banana Oat Quick Bread

vegan banana bread, low sugar banana bread, banana oat bread

breakfast, snack, dessert

Yield: 1 loaf

Author: Tara Felser, MS, RDN

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Vegan Banana Oat Quick Bread

This vegan banana bread is great for using up those too-ripe bananas that are sitting on the counter. This recipe is lower in added sugar as we are using the natural sweetness from the bananas and applesauce to sweeten it up too.

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 15 M

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Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 tbsp flour to dust loaf pan
• 1- 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup rolled oats

Wet Ingredients

• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax+6 tbsp water) (see note 1)
• 3 large bananas
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional Add-Ins

• 1 cup total of chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips (or a combination of these to reach 1 cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour (with the 1 tbsp of flour) a loaf pan (see note 2).
2. Combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats) in a large bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl or cup, prepare 2 flax eggs (see note below).
4. In a separate medium-sized bowl, mash bananas using a fork or potato masher. Add flax “eggs”, oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract to bananas and stir to combine.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Don’t mix until completely smooth, you want your batter to be a little lumpy here (see note 3).
6. If adding any of the optional add-ins (e.g. nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit), gently fold them into the batter.
7. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven, cool, slice, and enjoy! :)

Notes

1. How to make a flax egg: 1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water; for this recipe, you need 2 eggs, so double this "formula" and use 2 tbsp ground flax seed + 6 tbsp water. Check out THIS POST with all of the information about flax eggs you could ever desire.
2. When you combine the dry and wet ingredients, do not over-mix. You want your batter to have some lumps in it and not be perfectly smooth. Over-mixing results in a more dense, chewy bread as you are developing the gluten structures in the bread more than necessary. Stir the mixture just to combine for the best structure and texture. If you are adding nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit to the batter, I like to do it when there are still some streaks of flour and things aren't fully combined so that I do not over-mix. If you don't do this, just very gently fold in the add-ins rather than aggressively stir them in.
3. This recipe (as with most quick breads like this) also makes excellent muffins. Instead of baking in a loaf pan, evenly divide the batter among 12 muffin cups to make banana oat muffins instead.
4. Making muffins is a great way to get multiple flavor combinations in one bake as you could make the batter up to Step 5, divide it among the muffin cups, and then sprinkle different add-ins on top of each cup of muffin batter, lightly pressing them in with a fork. This way, you could have some Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Muffins, Cranberry Banana Oat Muffins, and Banana Nut Oat Muffins all from the same pan!

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This vegan banana oat quick bread is perfect for all of those extra-ripe bananas that somehow turned far too brown, far too quickly.

In this recipe, we’ve cut the oil in half by substituting applesauce for part of it as well as replaced the eggs with a flax seed egg. See the notes below for how to make a flax egg.

Quick breads like this are great because you generally only need two bowls: one for mixing the dry ingredients and one for mixing the wet ingredients. Then you just combine those two together, and voila, you’re on your way to a nice loaf of warm, homemade bread!

Vegan Banana Oat Quick Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Time: 10-15 minutes hands-on time; 50-60 minutes bake time

Ingredients:

• Dry Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp flour to dust loaf pan

  • 1- 3/4 cup flour

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats

  Wet Ingredients

  • 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax+6 tbsp water) (see note 1)

  • 3 large bananas

  • 1/4 cup oil

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  Optional Add-Ins

  • 1 cup total of chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips (or a combination of these to reach 1 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour (with the 1 tbsp of flour) a loaf pan (see note 2).

2. Combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats) in a large bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl or cup, prepare 2 flax eggs (see note below).

4. In a separate medium-sized bowl, mash bananas using a fork or potato masher. Add flax “eggs”, oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract to bananas and stir to combine.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Don’t mix until completely smooth, you want your batter to be a little lumpy here (see note 3).

6. If adding any of the optional add-ins (e.g. nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit), gently fold them into the batter.

7. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Remove from oven, cool, slice, and enjoy! :)

Notes:

• How to make a flax egg: 1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water; for this recipe, you need 2 eggs, so double this "formula" and use 2 tbsp ground flax seed + 6 tbsp water. Check out THIS POST with all of the information about flax eggs you could ever desire.

• When you combine the dry and wet ingredients, do not over-mix. You want your batter to have some lumps in it and not be perfectly smooth. Over-mixing results in a more dense, chewy bread as you are developing the gluten structures in the bread more than necessary. Stir the mixture just to combine for the best structure and texture. If you are adding nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit to the batter, I like to do it when there are still some streaks of flour and things aren't fully combined so that I do not over-mix. If you don't do this, just very gently fold in the add-ins rather than aggressively stir them in.

• This recipe (as with most quick breads like this) also makes excellent muffins. Instead of baking in a loaf pan, evenly divide the batter among 12 muffin cups to make banana oat muffins instead.

• Making muffins is a great way to get multiple flavor combinations in one bake as you could make the batter up to Step 5, divide it among the muffin cups, and then sprinkle different add-ins on top of each cup of muffin batter, lightly pressing them in with a fork. This way, you could have some Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Muffins, Cranberry Banana Oat Muffins, and Banana Nut Oat Muffins all from the same pan!

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