Paleo banana bread recipe that only requires a handful of straight-forward ingredients! This easy healthy banana bread recipe is so easy to make using your blender and turns out just like the real deal.
Made with almond flour and pure maple syrup, this comforting banana bread is grain-free, oil-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free.
If you’ve been around my site a while, you know I have a ton of recipes for banana bread. Some classic, like my The BEST Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe, some flavored with different goodies like my Paleo Carrot Cake Banana Bread.
It goes without saying that my love for banana bread runs deep.
This recipe for Paleo Banana Bread is a classic! It’s a tried and true reader favorite from October 2014, and has been made hundreds, if not thousands of times!
And for a good reason! It’s grain-free, dairy-free, oil-free, has AMAZING texture, is so moist and fluffy yet dense, loaded with natural sweetness and banana flavor.
There is just nothing cozier than a big hunk of fresh-out-of-the-oven banana bread, and healthy banana bread that tastes like the real deal? Even better!
Ingredients for Paleo Banana Bread:
Almond Flour & Tapioca Flour: The combination of almond flour and tapioca flour yield a texture that is very similar to regular all-purpose flour. It holds together well, and is nice and light and fluffy! If you don’t bake using tapioca flour, you can replace it with 1/3 cup of additional almond flour.
Ripe Bananas: The all-star here! Ripe bananas bring the sweetness and moistness to the banana bread without needing oil! They do a marvelous job of generating rich, flavorful banana bread, and we hardly need to add any additional sweetener.
Be sure to measure the mashed banana (you’re looking for about 1.5 cups) because bananas vary in size. I also recommend using regular ripe bananas at room temperature rather than thawing previously frozen banana for the best results.
Eggs: That element that helps fluff up the banana bread and hold everything together! If you can’t do eggs, check out my Chocolate Chip Paleo Vegan Banana Bread.
Pure Maple Syrup: We add just a touch of pure maple syrup to bring out more sweetness and richness, but not much is needed! If you go entirely sweetener-free, feel free to skip the pure maple syrup!
Note: if you replace the pure maple with honey, keep a very close eye on the bread while it bakes, because honey burns at a lower temperature than pure maple syrup, and your bread can turn out a little overdone.
Baking Powder and Sea Salt: Baking powder helps leaven the bread and sea salt enhances the flavor and brings out the natural sweetness. There are some folks who don’t love to bake with baking powder – if this is you, skip it and add an extra tablespoon of tapioca flour.
Optional Add Ins: Pure vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg. While these ingredients aren’t mandatory, they definitely enhance the experience!
This recipe is made super quickly and easily using a blender. You can also fashion up the bread batter in a mixing bowl, but I find just tossing the ingredients in a blender and blending until smooth is the simplest way with minimal cleanup.
Tip For The BEST Paleo Banana Bread:
The bananas. They make all the difference, since we’re using so many and they make up the majority of the volume of the bread.
The key to a stellar banana bread is using bananas that are so brown they’re practically fermenting. Overly-ripe bananas are real moist-makers.
How to Make Paleo Banana Bread:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with parchment paper.
Mash the bananas in a measuring cup to be sure they come out to about 1 1/2 cups when mashed. Adjust as needed.
Add all of the ingredients (including the mashed bananas) to a blender and blend until smooth.
Note: You can also prepare the banana bread batter in a mixing bowl.
Pour the banana bread batter into the parchment-lined loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the banana bread is firm on top and baked through.
Allow the bread to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
Recipe Tips/Troubleshooting:
When I initially posted this recipe in 2014, I would periodically get a comment or email letting me know the banana bread turned out under-baked in the center. This can happen for a number of reasons, so here are some tips to ensure your loaf turns out nice and fluffy (and baked all the way through!)
1.) Mash the bananas and measure them – Make sure your bananas are measured out to be 1 1/2 cups when mashed.
2.) Use finely ground almond flour – Bob’s Red Mill is my favorite, and is the only flour I have used to test the recipe. Other brands may be used, but other brands have different absorbencies, so you may need to make alterations to the amount of liquid if you go with a different brand.
3.) Line the loaf pan with parchment paper – I find my quick breads (regardless of the recipe) fall flat when I don’t line my loaf pan with parchment.
4.) Bake until the center of the bread rises up and feels firm when gently poked. Depending on the elevation at which you bake, you may need to adjust the bake time.
5.) Don’t over-mix in your blender – If you feel more comfortable using mixing bowls for preparing batter, simply beat the wet ingredients (bananas, eggs, pure maple syrup, vanilla) together in a mixing bowl, then add in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until combined.
More Delicious Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipes:
- Flourless Chickpea Banana Bread
- Flourless Oatmeal Banana Bread
- Paleo Poppy Seed Almond Banana Bread
- Flourless Chocolate Black Bean Banana Bread
- Double Chocolate Gluten-Free Banana Bread
- Paleo Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Fluffy, moist and delicious Paleo Banana Bread made with almond flour and sweetened mostly with banana. *You can also use hazelnut meal **You can also use arrowroot flour or replace the tapioca flour with 1/3 cup additional almond flour.
Paleo Banana Bread
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1
Serving Size: 1 of 10
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 192Total Fat: 12gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 38mgCarbohydrates: 18gSugar: 9gProtein: 6g
Anamaria
Monday 25th of February 2019
Do you think I could add more almond flour in place of the tapioca flour?
Julia
Tuesday 26th of February 2019
Hi Anamaria - yes, absolutely! Hope you enjoy! xo
Megan
Friday 15th of February 2019
Thanks for your reply. I did line the pan with parchment, and I let the flax eggs sit. They don't seem to get super thick, though. I have Trader Joe's flaxmeal right now. Maybe it's not so good for egg substitute? I use Costco's Kirkland superfine almond flour.
Julia
Sunday 17th of February 2019
Hi Megan,
I would say the flax eggs were the culprit then. The flax eggs do need to be the consistency of actual eggs or the bread won't fully cook through or bind together well. I've never used Kirkland almond flour, but I imagine it would work similarly...it may not have presented a problem. I would give it another try with different flax seed and be sure the flax "eggs" are nice and goopy before using them. Let me know how it turns out!! xo
Megan Espenshade Vinande
Wednesday 30th of January 2019
I made this bread and got a tasty, flat loaf that was baked on the edges but partially raw in the center. I used 2 flax eggs (1 T flax to 3 T water per egg).
I'm wondering if I over-blended the ingredients. I have a high-powered Ninja blender that has a square jar. It was tough getting all the dry stuff out of the corners and blended well. Can the recipe be made with good results by mixing/whisking by hand in a bowl? Trying to troubleshoot my banana bread woes, I read if you overmix when hand-mixing you will get a flat, dense loaf.
I used 1 tsp baking powder as per the recipe, but I read another comment that said to use 1 T baking powder. Was the 1 T before the addition of the tapioca flour? Thanks for your help; I'm newer at this type of baking and don't yet know how to troubleshoot my mishaps very well.
Julia
Wednesday 30th of January 2019
Hi Megan!
Oh no, I'm sorry it didn't turn out well! I have a few questions - did you allow the flax eggs to set up all the way (did you let them sit and thicken for 10-15 minutes) before adding them to the blender? Did you line the loaf pan with parchment paper? And what type of almond flour did you use? Based on the answers, I may be able to troubleshoot what happened :D
Jess Pearson
Wednesday 28th of November 2018
I tried this recipe and also substituted a can of pumpkin for the bananas in another. Both came out like a very dense pumpkin pie filling instead of a bread. Any suggestions??
Julia
Wednesday 28th of November 2018
Hi Jess,
I would try using less pureed pumpkin. Instead of a full can, try 2/3 cup and see where that lands you. :D
Lynda
Saturday 14th of July 2018
Absolutely love this, great texture and flavour - I omitted maple syrup and added blueberries ? thank you
Julia
Sunday 15th of July 2018
I'm so happy to hear it, Lynda! Thanks for the sweet note!