Adapted from my lovely neighbour Heather. I love this bread served as a cake for afternoon tea with some double cream. It’s also lovely toasted for breakfast smeared with butter or ricotta. But I do want to manage your expectations – it is more of a simple ‘bready’ loaf rather than the sugary concoctions you often see in cafes.
You need super ripe bananas to get enough sweetness. If your bananas aren’t starting to blacken, see the sweeter variation below.
Remember bananas are pretty carby so go easy if you’re watching your blood sugar.
Stupidly Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 bananas super ripe
- 100 g coconut oil melted
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 220 g almond meal (almond flour)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C (350F). Line a loaf pan 24cm x 12cm (approx 9in x 5in) with baking paper.
- Mash bananas until smoothish or use your stick blender if they aren't ripe enough. Then add coconut oil, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon (if using) and almond meal. Mix thoroughly.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the loaf is golden and feels springy when you touch it.
- Cool in the pan, then slice and serve.
Variations
sweeter – Add in 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia powder or a few tablespoons maple syrup, honey or sugar. Essential if your bananas aren’t on the blackened / over-ripe stage.
different spices – Heather uses a combo of nutmeg and cinnamon but I didn’t have any nutmeg so skipped it. Ginger or mixed spice would also be lovely. I’ve recently started adding 1/2 teaspoon all spice which I love.
no coconut oil – just use melted unsalted butter. Or Heather says she sometimes skips the oil.
less oil – Heather uses 35g (1.25oz) coconut oil but I prefer more to make it super moist and help lower the GI.
coconut oil too hard – just pop your jar in the oven while it preheats. Be careful not to forget about it!
nut-free – you could try replacing the almond meal with plain all-purpose flour, I’d probably increase the oil as well.
no fan assist on your oven? – increase the set temp to 200C (400F).
no banana – use mashed roast sweet potato or pumpkin puree (with a little extra sweetener) or roasted pears.
short on time – serve fresh bananas + cream or coconut cream.
chocolate! – do as my recipe tester did and stir in a handful of your favourite chocolate chips or chunks.
crunchy – add a few handfuls chopped nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans.
Shelf Life / Storage
Best on the day of baking. Can be kept for a week or two in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps for months in the freezer – I slice it first so I can quickly defrost in the toaster.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
bananas – use for another meal or you can freeze them.
coconut oil / baking powder / cinnamon / almond meal – keep them in the pantry.
eggs – will keep in the fridge for a month or so. Or use for another meal.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
I tried this because I had two ripe bananas in the freezer and about 140g of almond meal left, so made a 2/3 batch. I was pleasantly surprised how easily the defrosted bananas separated from their peels. Not bad, but as usual the almond meal gave the bread a gritty texture that I don’t find entirely pleasant in a sweet dish.
I’m glad you’ve finished off the last of your almond meal Mark 🙂
I only have 1 banana and not sure I have almond meal, so I’m going to try fine corn meal and see what happens.
How did it go Colleen? Am worried the corn meal would be very very dry!
SO good .. wanted to take it with me on a mountain hike, so decided to try and make it in my muffin tin, lined with muffin paper cups 😀 worked great!
Excellent Sandra!
Love this so much
Made It today with 125g butter, 2t cinnamon, 1/4t allspice and 2T ground linseeds.
And mashed the banana with my stick blender because they weren’t super ripe.
Made this today. Was a smash hit with my sugar loving husband. Although not exactly low carb, it’s a great compromise.
Awesome Samantha! My boys love it too! xx
Note to self: 220g of almond meal is just over 2 cups.
Thanks Marina!