Paleo Banana Bread
Posted Jan 04, 2018, Updated Jun 17, 2024
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This is the best Paleo Banana Bread recipe! It’s easy to make, moist with a beautiful crumb and tastes like it’s from a bakery but it’s grain-free & dairy-free, with no refined sugar.
Banana bread is always in season! And this bakery-quality paleo banana bread recipe is the best you’ll ever try!
It truly is the best grain-free banana bread I have ever eaten. Here are a few reasons why I love this recipe, and you will too:
- It’s so moist with a beautiful crumb.
- The ingredient list is short, and consists of items you probably always have on hand (including overripe bananas – which, let’s face it, we all usually have sitting on our counter or in our freezer)!
- It’s a healthy and nutritious treat that doesn’t taste like it – it’s truly decadent and delicious.
Paleo Banana Bread: Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are a few potential substitutions that can be made in this recipe. I do not recommend altering the amount or type of flour at all. Paleo baking is truly a science, and the ratios & kinds of flours used in this recipe were carefully tested and chosen.
- Coconut oil. Grass-fed butter or ghee are good substitutes.
- Almond butter. Cashew butter is the best substitution, but any nut or seed butter can be used in this recipe.
- Maple Syrup. Honey is a great substitute.
- Mix-ins. These are optional but recommended. You can use baking chips, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, shredded coconut, etc.
Paleo Chocolate Chips & Bars
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out which chocolate chips are Paleo, so here are some of my favorite healthier chocolate options.
- Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems. This is my favorite paleo chocolate. These gems are delicious and easy to toss into cookies (no bar chopping required).
- Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Bars. You can also buy dark chocolate bars and chop them up to toss into these paleo chocolate chip cookies.
- Lily’s Dark Chocolate. They make chips and bars that are stevia sweetened, low carb, keto, etc.
- Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Chips are a good option that are vegan, dairy-free but not fully paleo.
How to Make Paleo Banana Bread
Let’s walk through how to make paleo banana bread step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video for additional guidance.
Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Then, line an 8×4” loaf pan with parchment paper and grease. Set aside.
Note on pan size
I prefer an 8×4″ loaf pan, however, you can use a 9×5” pan but your loaf will be thinner. You will also need to decrease the baking time by 5 minutes.
Then, combine coconut flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl and set it aside.
Then, in a large, glass mixing bowl melt together coconut oil and almond butter (for about 1 minute on high), stir until combined.
Next add the mashed banana, maple syrup and vanilla extract stir until combined. I like to add these ingredients before the egg to make sure the mixture is cool and the egg doesn’t get cooked when added!
Then, stir in the egg until the mixture is smooth.
Next, add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until completely combined. Let it sit for 2-5 minutes to thicken slightly.
Once the paleo banana bread batter has thickened, stir in your desired mix ins ( we always choose chocolate chips). Here are some suggestions:
- Chocolate Chips (milk, dark, light, etc.)
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Cinnamon chips
- White chocolate chips
- Blueberries
- Dried fruit (cranberries, rasins, etc.)
- Swirl of peanut butter or Nutella
- Unsweetened coconut
Then, evenly spread the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the paleo banana bread cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before gently removing the loaf from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting and serving.
Serve
Serve this bread warm with a slather of grass-fed butter (or cinnamon honey butter), almond butter (homemade vanilla almond butter), or peanut butter.
Store
Store this paleo banana bread recipe in an airtight container or plastic bag to ensure it does not dry out. If you plan on eating the entire loaf in a day or two, you can store it at room temperature. If it will take longer, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator.
Freeze
This paleo banana bread freezes very well. I recommend freezing it in slices in an airtight container. That way you can pull out a slice at a time to enjoy.
Paleo Banana Bread Recipe FAQs
Make sure you use overripe, brown bananas. They have the best flavor, maximum sweetness, and are the easiest to mash! They should be very dark brown or almost black and soft to the touch.
Yes, you can double this recipe and bake it in two loaf pans.
Yes, fill the wells of a standard muffin tin with 1/4 cup of batter and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
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Best Paleo Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large overripe bananas (1 cup, mashed)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup creamy almond butter
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×4” baking pan (you can use a 9×5” pan but your loaf will be thinner and baking time will be less) with parchment paper and grease. Set aside.
- In a small bowl combine coconut flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large, glass mixing bowl melt together coconut oil and almond butter (for about 1 minute on high), stir until combined.
- Add mashed banana, maple syrup and vanilla extract stir until combined.
- Stir in egg.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until completely combined. Let it sit for 2-5 minutes to thicken slightly.
- Gently mix in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before gently removing the loaf from the pan to a wire rack to cool.
- Slice and serve.
Video
Notes
- Coconut oil. Grass-fed butter or ghee are good substitutes.
- Almond butter. Cashew butter is the best substitution, but any nut or seed butter can be used in this recipe.
- Maple Syrup. Honey is a great substitute.
- Mix-ins. These are optional but recommended. You can use baking chips, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, shredded coconut, etc.
- Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems. This is my favorite paleo chocolate. These gems are delicious and easy to toss into cookies (no bar chopping required).
- Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Bars. You can also buy dark chocolate bars and chop them up to toss into these paleo chocolate chip cookies.
- Lily’s Dark Chocolate. They make chips and bars that are stevia sweetened, low carb, keto, etc.
- Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Chips are a good option that are vegan, dairy-free but not fully paleo.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi there,
Love this recipe! Can it be done without the baking soda? Just wondering what would happen if you were to uses 3/4 tsp of baking powder and skip the baking soda. I don’t know the difference and would love any advice!
Thanks
Any suggestions for an egg substitute that Would work well? I really wanna try this!!!
Hey Sharon! I have not tried any egg substitutes! I’m so sorry! If you do let me know how it goes!
I only had brown rice flour and tapioca flour, but these turned out so well! I also used peanut butter- new favorite banana bread recipe! Thank you!
So glad you loved it Lydia!
I just popped two of these in the oven. I subbed the almond butter with creamy peanut butter. Other than that I followed the recipe to the T. My house smells divine with the aroma of the banana bread baking. My kids can’t wait to get their teeth into this! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Thank you Andrea! Peanut butter is a great choice! 🙂
Yum! Awesome banana bread 🤤
I didn’t have almond flour and almond butter so I used spelt flour and peanut butter and pecans instead of chocolate and it went awesome too 😍 I love it!
Btw I also made your awesome chocolate chip cookies (which I will make double today because everyone loves them! ) , Mac and cheese was fantastic and I think it became my new favorite food 😄 and paleo brownies ?Just lovely! Tomorrow I’m going to bake chickpeas blondies so I can’t wait ! Thank you so much Laura for amazing inspiration ! I’m so glad I found your websites 🙏🏻 Sending so much love to you and your family! ❤️
I have made this recipe three times so far and it seems to get better every time! I play around with adding walnuts, using different nut butters, different size chocolate chips, etc but the base batter is so amazing that you can count on it every time to give you an amazing banana bread! I looove how it uses just 2 TBSP maple syrup, half as much as typical paleo banana bread recipes use (and it’s just as sweet and decadent!). Thank you so much for this recipe– it’s become a family staple!
It makes me so happy knowing you and your family love this recipe Jillian! <3
Is it possible to make this recipe with a muffin pan? This looks amazing, I really want to try it but don’t have a bread pan available at the moment!
Yes absolutely! Just shorten the baking time to 20-25 min!
When you say 1/4 cup coconut oil do you mean melted? Thank you, can’t wait to try this!
I measure it solid and then melt it!
Delicious and easy! Also, more forgiving than I expected. I followed the base recipe exactly, just swapping peanut butter for almond butter. I did blend the banana-egg mixture with an electric beater to help the liquid disperse more evenly. Mine was almost done at 30 minutes so I turned off the oven and left it in for another 10-15, which was perfect. Now, for my tweak: I added ~3/4 cup shredded carrots + 1/2 cup diced apple instead of the chocolate chips. It turned out amazingly! SUPER moist and flavorful. Oh, and the parchment makes removing the bread a snap.
Made it today and left out the maple but used peanut butter instead of almond (because…. peanut butter 🤷♀️🥰) and it turned out awesome!!! Already had three slices so far (for dessert)…. hahaha
Thank you so much!