Hearty gluten-free banana bread sweetened only with maple syrup and overripe bananas. This loaf is both nut-free and dairy-free, and freezes well so you can have homemade banana bread on demand!
I have a thingwhere I buy a bunch of bananas every week, thinking we'll eat them all before they get brown, but we don't. We never do. So at the end of each week, I peel and stick the extras in my freezer. Repeat.
You might be asking - do we really need another banana bread recipe? I mean, there's already a killer brown sugar gluten-free banana bread recipe here on Snixy Kitchen. But yes, yes we do.
Where the former recipe is a classic banana bread, boasting all the sugar and flavor of cake, this nutritious gluten-free banana bread recipe is clean enough for school lunches while still so tender, moist, and rich in flavor.
- Refined sugar-free: That's right - this loaf is sweetened entirely with maple syrup and good ole overripe bananas.
- Incredibly tender: Thanks to oat flour and bananas, this loaf bakes up super tender and fluffy, while still incredibly moist. The perfect texture.
- Easy to freeze: This banana bread is perfect for freezing. We slice it up and separate each slice individually in an airtight bag for quick snacks and lunches.
- School lunch safe: This recipe is gluten-free, nut-free, and refined sugar-free, so it's safe and filling enough for school lunches.
Gluten-Free Flour combination for this recipe:
- Gluten-Free Oat Flour: Gives lightness and structure, with its warm and wholesome flavor.
- Millet Flour: A neutral flour that's used almost as the mediator between the oat and sweet rice flour.
- Sweet Rice Flour: The magic weapon for gluten-free baking as its stickiness helps to bind baked goods together and it lends to the chewiness of your loaf. Also called Mochiko, sweet rice flour is the same flour used to make mochi, and is distinctly different from brown rice flour or white rice flour. If it's not in the baking aisle, look in the Asian foods section of your supermarket or at an Asian supermarket.
- Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour: Adds just a little more softness and loft to the crumb.
How to Make Nutritious Gluten-Free Banana Bread
You can make this banana bread in just one bowl (save for sifting the flours), whether it's a mixing bowl or a stand mixer. I opt for a stand mixer because I'm lazy and like using it to mash my bananas, but using a potato masher or a fork to mash the bananas works just as well!
Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
Add the ripe bananas to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a medium mixing bowl with a hand mixer, masher, or fork. Mash bananas until smooth with just a few small chunks remaining.
Add the oil or butter, maple syrup, maple syrup, and vanilla to the mashed bananas and mix until well combined.
Mix in half of the dry ingredients.
Mix in the milk.
Add the remaining dry ingredients.
Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake!
Hint: Let the loaf cool for at least an hour before slicing. This allows the crumb to finish cooking and set, so the inside is not gummy when sliced.
Recipe
Oat Flour Gluten-Free Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 94 g (¾ cup + 2 tablespoons) gluten-free oat flour
- 74 g (¼ cup) millet flour
- 70 g (¼ cup + 3 tablespoons) sweet rice flour, also called "Mochiko", distinctly different from white rice or brown rice flour
- 14 g (2 tablespoons) Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 226 g (8 ounces) mashed overripe bananas, from the counter, fridge, or freezer, 2 to 2½ large bananas, about 1 cup mashed
- ½ cup (160 g) maple syrup
- ⅓ cup (75 g) vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil or butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60 g) milk, dairy or non-dairy
- ½ cup add-ins such as chocolate chips, toasted nuts, raisins, etc., optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Lightly grease an 8.5x4.5 loaf pan and line it with a sling of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- In a medium bowl, sift together oat flour, millet flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside
- Add the ripe bananas to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a medium mixing bowl with a hand mixer, masher, or fork. Use the mixer or masher to mash bananas until smooth with just a few small chunks remaining.
- Add the oil or butter, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla to the mashed bananas and mix until well-combined.
- Add the dry ingredients in two parts adding the milk in between, mixing until combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Optional: fold in any mix-ins such as chocolate chips or nuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake on the middle rack for 55-65 minutes, until the center springs back when touched and a toothpick comes out of the center clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool at least an hour before slicing.
- Slice and serve warm or room temperature. Let cool completely before storing. Store extra slices in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze it for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Gluten-Free Oat Flour: You can make your own by grinding up gluten-free rolled oats in a food processor or blender, then sifting out any big pieces. Measure by weight as homemade gluten-free oat flour is less finely ground so the volume per weight will be different. You can also sub in by weight: Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, or a combination of sorghum flour and a tad more tapioca flour (Something like 76g sorghum flour and 18g more tapioca flour).
- Millet Flour: You can sub in by weight: teff flour, brown or white rice flour, or Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. Alternatively, sub in just 16g coconut flour (coconut flour is much more absorbent, so you need less flour than millet). If you can tolerate nuts, you can also replace the millet flour with 98g super-fine blanched almond flour (almond flour is less absorbent and more moist than millet, so you need more flour than millet).
- Sweet Rice Flour: Sweet rice flour is the most difficult flour to substitute in gluten-free baking. My best recommendation is to sub in by weight with Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten-free flour blend (which also contains sweet rice flour).
- Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour: You can sub in by weight with arrowroot starch, potato starch, or equal parts more oat flour and sweet rice flour, by weight.
What kind of pan for gluten-free Banana bread?
This loaf works best in an 8.5x4.5 loaf pan, but it also bakes up well in a 9x5. If using a 9x5, start checking for doneness 10 minutes sooner, as your loaf will be much shorter and wider than pictured here and will thus bake up quicker. You can also make 1.33x the recipe and bake it in a 9x5, which I do often!
The type of pan you use for loaf bread can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. For this banana bread, I recommend using metal loaf pans and steering clear of using a glass loaf pan. Because this loaf bakes for over an hour, the more insulating glass pan is more likely to create a much crisper and darker crust, potentially to the point of burning.
Packing for School Lunch Tip
I use up my banana stash by making two loaves at a time, and then storing slices in the freezer. When I pack my kids' lunches, I toss a frozen banana bread slice into the lunchbox and it's defrosted by lunchtime!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review and rating to let me and others know how you liked it!
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