Banana bread has been on repeat lately, I love how versatile it can be when it comes to what you mix into it and how it can come together with minimal ingredients and falls into the realm of healthy baking. I was going to do make my classic cinnamon swirl banana bread when it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have a vegan banana bread up on the blog yet. Although I am not vegan ( I do keep a vegetarian diet) I find myself drawn to lots of vegan baked goods and have baked up a lot of vegan treats, I’m just not the best at keeping track of what I do in the kitchen … well until now!

So I decided to do some experimenting and bake up a vegan banana bread and for a fun twist I wanted to add in some cranberries and pecans – perfect for the upcoming season.. F A L L – I see you around the corner. However, this can be enjoyed without the pecans/cranberries or they can be switched out for chocolate chips, walnuts, even some blueberries!

This cup calls for two cups of flour. I made this loaf with both all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I love the slight nuttiness that comes with using whole wheat flour however sometimes when using just whole wheat flour baked goods can come out too dense so I cut it half all purpose flour. You can also just use all purpose flour if you’d like. I haven’t tested out gluten free flours but will update this post once I have. Whichever flour you use, make sure to measure out your flour correctly, not doing so can drastically change your bread’s texture!

How to Measure Flour

1. Grab your measuring cup and a spoon. 
2. Gently scoop your flour with a spoon into your measuring cup. 
3. Once filled to the top, level off any excess flour over your flour bag with a flat edge like a knife.  
4. Following these steps, rather than scooping the flour out of the big directly with your measuring cup will ensure you are not over-packing your flour. Over-packing it would result in much more flour than what is needed. 

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• 4 medium bananas – super ripe
• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted 
• ¼ cup plus 1 tbsp almond milk 
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp ground flax/flax meal 

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt 

Add-ins 

• ¼ cup crushed pecans
• ¼ cup cranberries 

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. I love using this parchment paper for all my baking, Thrive Market has a great deal on it! 
2. In a mixing bowl, mash your bananas well. Then add in the following ingredients: brown sugar, coconut oil, almond milk, and vanilla. After all the ingredients are well incorporated, add in your flax meal and give it a good stir. 
3. In a separate bowl combine your dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Make sure you measure your flour correctly as outlined above!
4. Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not over mix, you just want to make sure the flour is incorporated. Your batter will likely be thicker than other banana bread batters. 
5. Fold in your cranberries and pecans. Feel free to swap them out for other nuts of chocolate chips, but again, don’t over mix!
6. Pour your batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes. After the baking time, check the loaf with a toothpick and if it comes out clean after inserting it is all done. 
7. Let your loaf cool for 15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
8. Store in an airtight container. You can also pre-slice your loaf and freeze some slices for another time! Simply defrost and warm it up in your microwave for 30 – 60 seconds.