Vegan Banana Bread

Yes, I know what you're thinking—this isn't exactly banana bread, it's more like a banana cake.

But this bread (okay, fine, cake) is very easy to make, doesn't require too many ingredients, and you don't need professional kitchen equipment.

If it sounds a bit familiar, it might be because I recently wrote about a very similar recipe: amazing protein bars. You can read about them here.

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How to eat it?

One slice of vegan banana bread about an hour and a half to two hours before a long run or a CrossFit workout should provide your body and muscles with enough energy to reach your full potential and achieve your goals.

Alternatively, it's a great snack to pack in your gym bag and eat immediately after training.

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A post shared by Haggai Leffler - Vegan Athlete (@haggai_leffler) on May 22, 2018 at 5:20am PDT

A few words about the recipe:

I used instant oats to give the bread mass, volume, and dietary fiber, keeping the glycemic index relatively low.

In plain English: the fiber in the banana and oats slows down sugar absorption into the bloodstream, providing sustained energy over time.

You can use oat flour (which is ground oats) or any flour you like: teff, whole wheat, or rice flour.

Chickpea or lentil flour won't work well here due to their dominant flavor.

Sweetener:

I used a little silan (date syrup) for sweetness.

If you don't have silan, you can use any other sweetener you like, such as maple syrup or white sugar.

You can also skip the silan entirely; it will still be sweet (though less indulgent) and save you some calories.

Peanut Butter:

The recipe contains an amount equivalent to 3 tablespoons of peanut butter.

You can use the same amount of almond butter or raw tahini.

Nutritional values by clinical dietitian and fitness coach Noam Bachar

Each slice of vegan banana bread contains:

100 kcal

2g protein

2.5g fat (0.4g saturated fat)

17.5g carbohydrates

20mg dietary fiber

Upgrade option:

One tablespoon of dark chocolate chips (10g) will add:

50 kcal, 10g carbohydrates, 1g fat

• For those who want to turn the vegan banana bread into a protein source, you can add one or two scoops of protein powder to the batter.

Print

Vegan Banana Bread

Prep time 5 minutes

Cook time 40 minutes

Total time 45 minutes

Serving size 10 slices

Ingredients

• 4 Bananas ripe (the sweeter the better)
• 1/2 cup Instant oats or oat flour, teff flour, whole wheat flour, or rice flour (chickpea or lentil flour will not work)
• 3 tablespoons Peanut butter 50g
• 1/4 cup Silan (Date syrup) can use maple syrup or white sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1 tablespoon Chocolate chips optional

Instructions

1. Using a fork, mash 3 bananas into a puree. Set one banana aside.
   
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well until a uniform batter is formed.
   
3. Pour the batter into a loaf pan (English cake pan).
4. Slice the remaining banana lengthwise into two halves. Place each half on top of the batter. Gently press each half into the batter with your hands. You can sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
   
5. Bake at medium heat (180°C) for about half an hour.
6. Increase the heat to 200°C to caramelize the bananas and bake for another 5-10 minutes (if you have the option, switch to the grill/broil setting). Keep an eye on it to ensure the bread doesn't burn.
7. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before slicing.