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!
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.
Try it today for an easy-to-make loaf of delicious warm banana bread.
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🍯 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.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
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 the 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.
Leavening agents- You will need some baking soda and baking powder to help leaven the bread and get it to rise as it bakes.
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 specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
🍌 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!
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2: Grease and lightly flour your bread pan and then set it aside.
Step 3: Peel your bananas and add them to a large mixing bowl.
Step 4: Mash with a fork until no large clumps remain.
Step 5: Add in the applesauce, vanilla, and milk.
Step 6: Mix again to combine.
Step 7: Add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Step 8: Mix well to combine.
Step 9: Pour into your prepared bread loaf pan.
If desired, top with sliced bananas (for appearances).
Step 10: Bake for 50 min-1 hour or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out clean.
Step 11: 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.
👩🏻🍳 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
Absolutely! Frozen bananas work great in this recipe! Just make sure to have them thaw completely before using them. 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!
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.
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.
❤️ More Delicious Vegan Recipes
If you tried this Vegan Banana Bread with Applesauce, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Banana Bread with Applesauce
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Mashed bananas (about 2-3 ripe) ($0.75)
- ⅓ cup Applesauce ($0.15)
- ¼ cup Dairy free milk ($0.05)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract ($0.02)
- 1 ¾ cup All-purpose flour ($0.14)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt ($0.02)
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder ($0.04)
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda ($0.02)
- ⅓ cup Granulated sugar ($0.07)
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.
- Add in the applesauce, vanilla, and milk. Mix again to combine.
- Add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix well to combine.
- Pour into your prepared bread loaf pan.
- If desired, top with sliced bananas (for appearances).
- Bake for 50 min-1 hour or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and comes out clean.
- 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!
Jane says
i made this today and it was fantastic! i added a splash of soy milk because my mixture was a bit dry, but otherwise delicious!
NicoleDurham says
I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing!
Claudia Harbourt says
Can I substitute additional applesauce or blueberry jam for the vegan milk?
Nicole says
I believe you could, but i have not personally tried, so I'm not 100% sure
george j grossi says
Can anything be substituted to reduce the sugar? thanks
Nicole Durham says
You can try using monk fruit or coconut sugar at a 1:1 ratio or follow the conversion guide on a pack of Stevia. Otherwise my option would be to omit the sugar completely and just use really ripe bananas for natural sweetness. The texture and end result may vary slightly.