This chocolate banana bread has a soft, cake-like texture and deep cocoa flavor in every bite. It's a simple, plant-based recipe that makes the most of overripe bananas. No fancy ingredients required.
Moist, rich, and loaded with chocolate flavor, this Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread is everything you love about banana bread, with a fudgy twist.
If you're skeptical that something this indulgent could be made with ripe bananas, you're not alone. But one bite of this soft, chocolatey loaf, and you'll be hooked.
It's perfect for breakfast, dessert, or a not-so-guilty afternoon snack.
Based on our most-loved banana bread recipe, this version adds cocoa powder and chocolate chips for an irresistibly decadent upgrade that's completely dairy-free and egg-free.
Choosing the Right Bananas
Spotty, overripe bananas are ideal for making vegan chocolate banana bread. The spottier the better. They should look similar to the image above.
Not sure if yours are ripe enough? Give one a taste. If it's sweet and strong banana flavor, it's ready to use. If it tastes green or bland, the banana flavor in your bread may be mild, but the loaf will still turn out tasty. Otherwise, let them ripen for another day or two.
I use 15-16 ounces of mashed bananas (about 5 regular-sized). This amount gives a subtle banana flavor without overpowering the chocolate. For best results, weigh the banana for a consistent texture.
If your bananas are lacking in sweetness, add 2-3 extra tablespoons of sugar.
Additional mix-ins
Feel free to customize your vegan chocolate banana bread by adding any of this mix-ins:
- chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans
- shredded coconut
- dried fruit such as raisins, dates, or cranberries
- extra chocolate chips
We'd love to hear from you!
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Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
Dry
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup chocolate chips, plus extra for topping
Wet
- 5 ripe bananas, about 15-ounces peeled
- ¾ cup coconut sugar, or brown sugar
- ¼ cup melted refined coconut oil, or neutral oil of choice
- 2 Tablespoons non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease an 8x4-inch loaf pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips, mix to combine, then set aside.1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour,1 ½ teaspoon baking powder,½ teaspoon baking soda,½ cup cocoa powder
- In a larger bowl, mash the bananas making sure not to leave any big chunks. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until well blended.5 ripe bananas,¾ cup coconut sugar,¼ cup melted refined coconut oil,2 Tablespoons non-dairy milk,1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and top with more chocolate chips.
- Bake at 350ºF for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If needed, continue baking in 5- to 8-minute intervals until done.
Notes
- For best results, I recommend weighing the bananas.
- When measuring the flour and cocoa powder, use the spoon-and-level method: spoon them into the measuring cup, then level off the excess with the flat edge of a butter knife.
- Store the bread in an airtight container. It will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, or up to a week in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
**Nutritional info is provided as an estimate based on the ingredients I used and for convenience and as a courtesy only.**
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Mirella
I love this recipe and make it all the time, sometimes as a loaf and sometimes as muffins. I have used frozen bananas as well, they work great if you blend them frozen into a smoothie with the other wet ingredients and then mix in the dry ones!
Marlena Luna
Thank you, Mirella, for your wonderful feedback and the great tip for frozen bananas!
Lydia F
I do not usually leave comments but had to because I'm so happy with how this turned out. I don't have a loaf pan so I baked it in my brownie pan for 50 min and it came out perfect. Also used 6 bananas so it was approx 18oz instead of only 15-16oz but it still turned out great! Threw in some pieces of pecans and walnuts too. Chocolatey but not too sweet. Thank you for this amazing recipe - will definitely be making again!!
Where you get your protein
Thank you for the wonderful comment Lydia! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!!
Brenda
I love this recipe. I only have 2 ripped bananas, so I cut all of the ingredients to have. I only had like 6oz of bananas, so I completed 8oz using unsweetened apple sauce, and the result was delicious. I also cut the baking time to around 20-25 minutes. First time I feel satisfied with a banana bread. Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe!
Marlena Luna
Glad you were able to make the recipe work!
Carina
I calculated the recipe in a nutrition calculator and one serving has more than 196 calories. What do you use to calculate the nutrition facts of your recipes?
Where you get your protein
They are calculated by Nutritionix as an estimate. The actual brand of ingredients used may vary the nutrition facts.
Stella
I made this in muffin form and they’re soooo good! replaced the oil with apple sauce and omitted the sugar and they were still delicious, moist, and rich! :)
Where you get your protein
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Stella!
Julie
I found this recipe and thought I would give it a go.
I am not much of a sweet tooth so I only used 1/3cup of brown sugar and omitted the chocolate chips.
Also to answer your question above about almond flour, I used 1cup almond flour and 1/4cup coconut flour. As expected it is more dense though still great flavour and a great alternative to make it GF.
Great recipe thank you!
Marlena Luna
That's great to hear! I'm glad the bread was tasty with the GF flour substitutes! Thank you for your reply.
SJ
Greetings of the Season!
Over the holidays I have company coming and would prefer to use Almond Flour instead of wheat, will the measure remain the same?
Thank you,
SJ
Where you get your protein
I don’t think almond flour alone will work for this recipe. For a gluten free version use a 1:1 ratio of gluten free flour blend in place of the all purpose flour.
Joanne Johnson
Could I swap some of the flour for protein powder?
Where you get your protein
I think it should be fine. I’d suggest replacing only 1/4 cup flour with the protein powder. Let me know how it comes out! Enjoy, Joanne!
Ivy
Yum!!! Moist and banana-y. I was being lazy so I threw all the wet ingredients in my vitamix then poured that into the dry. My loaf pan disappeared so I used a 9-inch cake pan and baked for 30 minutes. Delish!
Where you get your protein!
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe Ivy!
Sarah
Recently vegan but experienced baker I am wondering if you've made this with frozen and then thawed bananas? What was the outcome? I'm leaning toward adding more flour. Thansk
Where you get your protein!
Hi Sarah! I have only made this using fresh bananas, but thawed can be used. If they are a bit wet from being thawed you can place them in a strainer to remove the excess moisture. Or lay them on a kitchen towel or paper towels and pat them dry to absorb the moisture. At that point I don't think you will need to add extra flour. Enjoy! :)