Vegan Banana Bread with Applesauce

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This vegan banana bread made with applesauce is a delicious and soft, quick bread recipe you'll want to make over and over. It's tender, moist, and just as great cold as it is fresh from the oven!

stacked slices of vegan banana bread with a banana slice runnign through it

Having a recipe on hand that is egg-free and that doesn't require butter means that I can whip up a hot loaf of banana bread whenever I want and without a trip to the store.

This moist banana bread with applesauce is so delicious that it's easy to forget it's vegan, which is perfect for sharing with friends and family without hearing complaints. My family would never notice a difference between this eggless banana bread with applesauce and one of my usual loaves.

Why This Recipe Works

Simple ingredients. We use very simple and basic pantry staple ingredients to make this recipe. This keeps our costs low and our shopping minimal.
It's easy to make. We prepare the batter in one bowl and it's easy enough to mix together with just a fork.
It's moist. There's nothing worse than dry banana bread, especially when you expect a flavorful moist loaf of banana goodness. This loaf, tastes perfect.

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🥘 Ingredients
🍽 Equipment Needed
🔪 Instructions
🍴 Recipe Tips
🍌 Add-Ins
👩🏻‍🍳 Storage
💭 FAQs
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

🥘 Ingredients

All-purpose flour- The gluten structure and base of this recipe is all purpose flour.

Applesauce- You will need some applesauce to give us added binding in the bread and to give us some added moisture too. Use plain, flavored, or even sweetened applesauce. This is a great way to use up applesauce you get from WIC benefits (if you have them).

Vegan milk- You will want to add in a little milk for added moisture. This will prevent the bread from turning out too dry.

Granulated sugar- Adding in granulated sugar will make the bread sweeter and more tender.

Leavening agents- You will need some baking soda and baking powder to help leaven the bread and get it to rise as it bakes.

Salt- This is a natural flavor enhancer.

Vanilla extract- This is a flavor enhancer.

Ripe bananas- Use ripe bananas to make this dish more moist and flavorful. You'll want to use yellow bananas with brown spots or bananas that are already blackened, as they're the best for baking!

For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.

🍽 Equipment Needed

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🔪 Instructions

Check out how to make banana bread with applesauce with these simple step-by-step instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and lightly flour your bread pan and then set it aside.

Peel your bananas and add them to a large mixing bowl.

Mash with a fork until no large clumps remain.

applesauce milk and vanilla added to mixing bowl with mashed banana inside

Add in the applesauce, vanilla, and milk.

wet ingredients needed to make banana bread with applesauce

Mix again to combine.

flour and sugar added to mixing bowl with mashed banana mixtue inside

Add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Mix well to combine.

banana bread batter in an 8x4 bread loaf pan

Pour into your prepared bread loaf pan.

half a ripe banana in the top of bread loaf pan full of banana bread batter

If desired, top with sliced bananas (for appearances).

baked banana bread in a bread loaf pan topped with half a ripe banana

Bake for 50 min-1 hour or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out clean.

baked banana bread with a ripe banana half on top

Let the bread cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing and transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Slice and serve as desired.

Enjoy!

🍴 Recipe Tips

Don't over-mix the batter, too much overmixing can result in a more "gummy" texture. Just mix enough to combine everything and you should be good.

Let the bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes after it finishes cooking, this gives it a chance to finish baking and set up. After that, you can remove it to the wire rack for cooling. Leaving it in the pan may result in overcooked bread.

🍌 Add-Ins

Absolutely! I personally think 1 teaspoon of cinnamon or a handful of chopped walnuts would be incredible with this loaf. Even some dairy-free chocolate chips would be great!

👩🏻‍🍳 Storage

Homemade banana bread lasts about 3-5 days depending on how it's kept but it always tastes better when fresher. Keep your banana bread stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

💭 FAQs

Can I use frozen bananas?

Absolutely! Frozen bananas work great in this recipe! Just make sure to have them thaw completely before using. Also, you'll notice that your frozen bananas will be sitting in several inches of liquid/juice- use it too! Just toss the bananas and the juice into the recipe and follow along as directed, and you'll be good!

Can I use green bananas to make banana bread?

While you could- you probably won't want to. Green bananas have a harder crunch and less sweet flavor to them. Ripe bananas are yellow and spotted, or even mostly black. Those are the ones so soft and sweet that they can make banana bread taste amazing.

What kind of applesauce should I use?

You can use any kind that you prefer. Personally, I like the unsweetened and unflavored applesauce when I bake because I like to taste what I'm making and because keeping that applesauce on hand means that I can have more versatility with my cooking.

sliced banana bread with a banana half in the top of the bread

Other tasty vegan-friendly recipes to try

📖 Recipe

an upclose view of baked banana bread with a banana in it

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4.50 from 6 votes