Simple, no frills vegan banana bread – an easy to make one bowl mix full of sweet banana flavour with a moist delicate crumb. Perfect for using up ripe bananas too!

I truly believe there’s room in the world for one more banana bread recipe!  I’ve made more banana bread in my time than I care to count.  There’s something ‘ultimate comfort food’ about it.  It smells like home, like grandma, like late summer with hints of the promise of autumn.  It smells sweet, sticky, cinnamon-y and oh so very very good.

And it’s perfect for using up those blackening over-ripe bananas that clutter up our fruit bowls from time to time.  Unless you’re like me and buy extra bananas just so they go over-ripe and you have the perfect excuse to make all the things that are best with black bananas:

• Pistachio Cake with Orange Caramel Syrup – beautiful light sponge studded with pistachios and drizzled with the most divine fairground toffee smelling caramel sauce.
• Rum and Raisin Ice Cream – the lightest, smoothest vegan ice cream with rich adult flavours 😉
• Chocolate Chip Muffins – bakery style muffins with full flavour and natural sweetness.
• Easy Vegan Pancakes – blended and sizzled to fluffy perfection.
• Healthy Cookies – breakfast, sweet treat or a perfectly healthy lunch box or after school snack.
• Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Baked Oats – an absolute breakfast staple for us.  Make a couple of trays and keep ’em in the freezer for those inevitable rushed mornings!

This recipe was borne out of running out of vegan chocolate chips.  Can you imagine the drama?!  I could have just made this chocolate banana bread without the chocolate chips but if you’re going to have something chocolate it should damn well be CHOCOLATE right?

What I did have was walnuts.  I debated putting them IN the cake mix but wanted them to be an option and not upset the balance of the recipe in case anyone doesn’t like walnuts or has a nut allergy.  So a light sprinkle across the top it was.

We ended up loving this version so much though, I thought it deserved its own post and recipe.  So good that we’ve been known to have this for breakfast.  Warm, spread with just a schmear of vegan butter.  Oh the joys of adulthood.

This vegan banana bread is also just as amazingly moist and ‘just baked’ fresh even from the freezer.  It loses absolutely nothing from being defrosted.  To freeze, cool the loaf completely before slicing and wrapping.  I use foil or small sandwich bags and put 2 slices together before freezing.  Defrost thoroughly – it only takes an hour or two at room temperature – before eating.

This is such a great recipe it’s easy to whip up for unexpected visitors – filling the house with with that sweet cinnamon and banana aroma.  Pure heaven friends.  Don’t forget to invite me 😉

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