Makes 12 slices
I was sooo totally kidding when I tweeted that I was working on a book called “Vegan Loafs Gone Wild”, and yet here I am with another lower-fat loaf! I don’t know, something about the ease of the loaf pan, the leisurely cooking time, and just the absolute loafiness of it.
Here we’ve got something that reminds me of pressing my face against the glass dessert case at my neighborhood Jewish bakery. Marbled treats were a childhood fascination and they still hold some of that “How did you do that?” wonder. What can I say, swirls of cocoa are an impressive feat!
It takes a little extra work, and a few extra mixing bowl, but isn’t it worth it to awaken that childhood intrigue? This banana bread is perfectly banana-y, and not too sweet. The outside of the loaf is a little crunchy after being baked, but if you leave it in Tupperware or plastic wrap at room temp overnight, it gets very moist. It tastes great both ways!
1 cup mashed very ripe banana
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water, divided
Prepare boiling water, no need to measure yet. Also, preheat oven to 350 F.
Mash the banana in a large mixing bowl until relatively smooth. It should take 3 average sized ones, but spoon the mashed ‘nanas into a measuring cup to make sure, then return to the mixing bowl. Beat in the sugar, canola oil, milk and vanilla.
Now add the flour, baking soda and salt and gently mix just to incorporate. It’s okay if there is some flour still visible, just be careful not to overmix at this point.
Scoop one cup of the batter up and transfer it to a separate mixing bowl. Now, in a small tea cup mix the cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons boiling water and stir vigorously with a fork until the chocolate is dissolved. Add this chocolate mixture to the one cup of banana and mix until the chocolate is thoroughly smooth and incorporated.
Now back to the original plain banana batter; add 3 tablespoons of boiling water and mix the batter just until relatively smooth.
Here comes the fun part, it’s time to marble! Lightly grease an 8×4 loaf pan. Scoop alternate 1/2 cupfuls of chocolate/banana batter into the loaf pan. Nothing has to be precise here, in fact, the more random, the better. Once all of the batter is in, take a butter knife and swirl it through the batter in circular directions for about 10 seconds.
Bake for 55 minutes. Use a butter knife to test for doneness. Let cool and enjoy!
It would take a lot for me to give up my tried and true chocolate chip studded banana bread, but this recipe has now taken the #1 spot! Wow. My whole family went crazy for this bread. And, it’s gorgeous, too. Great for gifts! (I did reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup and thought it was fantastic.)
I purposely buy older bananas so I can make this at least once a month. I LOVE it! Colleagues were shocked it was vegan. You can’t go wrong with this one.
i want to double the recipe, i only have three bananas, would i be able to put one cup apple sauce ? would that work?
This was so fun to make it’s in the oven this very minute and it already smells divine! I can’t wait to see how it comes out! Once again thank you for another fabulous recipe I’m sure everyone will enjoy vegan and non vegans alike 😉 !
Made this last night. It was fantastic when it was still warm from the oven, and leftovers were great today too. Really tasty, and really moist. The marbling really impressed my coworkers. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe. I used vanilla flavored soy milk cause its what I had on hand.
What a Beauty! Can’t wait to try it. (:
I’ve made this bread a few times already. With the weather change in Texas I’ve been all goofy with Mexican mochas. So tonight, I made the bread, and went ahead and blended in all the chocolate and added some cinnamon, some cayanne, and a dash of all spice. If I had some instant coffee that would be my next ingredient. Mexican mocha chocolate banana bread. RULES!!!
i have made this exactly as is, but the past few times i’ve used 1 1/2 cups banana & 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup walnuts, and either olive or coconut oil. sometimes i make the whole thing chocolate…always comes out great:) i love this recipe!!!
oops! make that 1/2 cup sugar & i 1/4 cup banana! sorry:p
Dude, the swirl IS an amazing feat. I totally love your (classic) banana bread recipes — a win of both my heart and the many others who’ve had the privilege of sampling “my” (i.e., your) baking. Is it possible to use spelt flour for the entire loaf?
Hi Isa!
I baked this today for the second time, this time i added some vegan dark chocolate chips just for fun, it turned out great both times!
Only problem i have is that no matter how much longer i baked the loaf, it still didn’t bake the center completely. It gets a little better overnight but still, it doesn’t feel or look like it’s properly baked.. The slices in your picturs look a whole of a lot better, mines looks wet in the middle.
Do you have any solution? I wanna keep making and eating this, but it does bpther me..
This is sooooo yummy!
Really good. One needs to be really careful not to overmix this with the various blending steps. My first batch ended up a little tough. Really rich without too much fat. I might reduce the amount of chocolate for more banana flavor.
This Banana bread was amazing! I made it gluten free using a mix of sorghum/potato starch/arrowroot and xanthum. I also used coconut oil and coconut sugar and it came out perfectly. I am so impressed Thank you Isa, I adore your recipes. 🙂
I made this yesterday for family coming over. It’s the first loaf I’ve made in a while that’s actually risen and looked like the picture. It was absolutely delicious, the perfect mix of banana and chocolate, and the whole family loved loved it. There is very little left and I’m looking forward to finishing it later!
Currently in the oven! This was a breeze to make and the batter was delicious. Now I just have to wait…
I only had 2 bananas and when measured they came in just under 1 cup. So I decided to add a flax “egg” to the mashed bananas. After reading the comments about the loaf turning out flat, I measured out all of my ingredients into little bowls before I started to mix. When adding the dry ingredients, I added the baking soda last and then worked quickly and was careful not to overmix. This came out beautiful and really tasty. The texture was great and it rose like a normal loaf. YUM YUM YUM!!
Cool! I think the flatness problem with the others is that they’re not using the correct sized loaf pan.
This banana bread is great! makes you wonder why they put eggs to the “classic versions”. Clearly you don’t need any to make this look and taste like a proper one.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
this came out perfect! followed the recipe exactly, and i wouldn’t change a thing 🙂
This recipe is delicious..my girls snarfed it down!
I decided to make this into muffins, figuring 12 slices equaled 12 muffins. I used my smallest scoop to alternate plain and chocolate batters into a paper lined muffin tin and popped it into my preheated 350 degree oven. My hubby (the vegan half of the marriage, converted for health reasons) asked what was in them and as I rattled off the ingredients, I realized I’d forgotten the almond milk! (The transformation is now complete, I have officially become my mother…) They were already in the oven, there was no turning back. I baked them for about 18 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. I’m happy to say, they turned out fine without the milk. The texture was only very slightly gummy, they still puffed up quite nicely and are quite tasty. I think I’d make them the same way next time, omitting the milk. BTW, PPK and your cookbooks have really made my hubby’s transition to vegan so much easier for me. I am able to find recipes that satisfy our whole family, as the rest of us are still omnivores. Thank you!
Am late to the party, but gosh. This was amazing – perfect texture, not too sweet, super forgiving to boot. The only I *might* do next time is to add some walnuts. And will definitely try it as a muffin at some point.
This recipe is amazing. It came out beautifully. I am totally stealing it to use forever and ever! Thank you so much!
I made this recipe and mixed some ground flax seeds in and put a layer of sliced bananas in the middle and on top…it was amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
nice flavoured chocolate banana combination!! But one thing, my turned out chewy. Any idea what might be the cost of it?
Overmixing, perhaps?
This was my first attempt at vegan baking, I was browsing recipes and was delighted to find one I had everything on hand to make. Just took it out of the oven and my family is devouring it!! Thank you, I love your recipes <3
Delicious! At first I thought the loaf had trouble rising like some of the posts suggest, but then I realized that my pan had slightly larger dimensions than what the recipe called for (9×5). Next time I may double it so it fills the pan. Marbling is fun!
This is the BEST banana bread! Before this recipe my husband HATED all the vegan banana loafs I had made; the texture, taste or moistness was off to him. Now my son and husband can eat a whole loaf in one day and still want more.
Wow, thanks!
Mine is in the oven right now. But I have a question re: the use of baking soda. Doesn’t soda need some kind of acidic medium in order to provide leavening? In my regular baking, I often pair soda with buttermilk or yogurt, which provides the acid. The ingredients listed here don’t appear to offer any acidity, so I used baking powder instead of soda. Looking forward to the results!
There is acid in many of the ingredients, including the banana and chocolate. It is a perfect balance to make the bread rise just enough. The pic should be proof enough!
I made these in muffin tins because I didn’t want to wait for the 40 minutes to cook. 15-20 minutes and they were perfect. Even used GF all purpose flour and they raised properly and have a good texture. Yum!
so yummy, thanks! and yes, fun to make the swirls.
Best Banana bread I’ve ever had! I made it healthier to by using a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and out flour. I used apple sauce in place of oil and added more baking soda. I substituted all the sugar with stevia. I then added one ener g egg replacer. Moist, light and airy!
FANTASTIC, just made this used 1/2 cup coconut sugar instead of 3/4 white and it came out GREAAAT !
I had to use apple sauce for the oil and I added chia seeds for the texture. It came out perfectly.
I just doubled the batter and poured it into my larger (5″ x 13″ I think…) loaf pan. Fingers crossed that it will work out OK! The batter was AMAZING, so as long as it will rise up in that quantity, I think it will be golden 🙂
It’s almost midnight here and this is about to come out of my oven. How much do you want to bet that my roommates are up and drooling and begging in the next 8 minutes?
Dear Isa, I just wanted to say thank you very much for this wonderfully simple and delicious recipe. I’ve made it about 4 times, each with a different variation (so adaptable!), and everyone cannot believe it’s 1: vegan, 2: low fat. (:
Awesome, thanks for letting me know!