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This naturally-sweetened almond flour banana bread is the almost-too-good-to-be-nutritious banana bread recipe you’ve been searching for! It’s unbelievably moist and not at all dense, dotted with crunchy walnuts and topped with a stunning (but optional) split banana. It’s grain free, gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, and paleo-friendly… but no one would ever know!
🍞 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- When I say this paleo banana bread recipe is perfect, I mean it is PERFECT. We tested it, and retested it, and adjusted it, and tested it again… My family and I were eating banana bread for days. Zero complaints, though, because each loaf was even better than the last – and the first one was pretty delicious!
- The result of all that recipe testing, banana peeling, and bread eating? An almond flour banana bread that’s the right amount of sweet, moist but not dense, and soft without crumbling. This is definitely the best banana bread we’ve ever eaten.
- If the thought of baking banana bread (or any bread really) intimidates you, do NOT panic. This one is surprisingly easy to make, even if you’re a beginner baker. In just a few steps you’ll have an amazing almond flour banana bread that’s gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free, and paleo-friendly. Even better than that, it tastes just as good as (if not better than!) regular banana bread.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- The best bananas for making banana bread are not bright yellow! No, for the best banana bread (whether it’s almond flour banana bread or not), you want to use over-ripe bananas. Like, really over-ripe. Think bananas with black splotches on the peel. Even better, use a banana with a peel that’s entirely (or almost entirely) black.
- If your bananas are still a little too fresh, you can speed up the ripening process super easily. Just put the bananas in a brown paper bag and fold the top of the bag closed. This traps the ethylene gas in with the bananas and makes them ripen much faster than they would just sitting out on the counter. This trick still takes a couple of days, though.
- If you need to get ripe bananas fast, you can bake the bananas (unpeeled) at 300° Fahrenheit until the peels are black and the bananas are soft. Let them cool completely before using them in your bread.
🥖 Don’t Miss These Delish Dishes!
- Paleo Carrot Cake (Gluten Free)
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- Paleo Lemon Bars
- Gluten Free Cornbread with Honey
- Perfect Paleo Brownies (Fudgy, Crackly Top, Gluten Free)
- Best Chocolate Paleo Cupcakes Ever with Dark Chocolate Frosting (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
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Almond Flour Banana Bread
Equipment
- Oven
- standard metal loaf pan 8 ½ inches x 4 ½ inches
- parchment paper
- large mixing bowl
- Silicone spatula
- small mixing bowl
- Fork or whisk
- Shallow bowl optional
- toothpicks or butter knife
Ingredients
For the Almond Flour Banana Bread
- 3 medium over-ripe bananas
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ¼ cup refined coconut oil melted but not hot
- 1 cup coconut sugar see Notes
- 1 cup superfine blanched almond flour
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon fresh baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup finely chopped walnuts optional
For the Split Banana Topping (Optional)
- coconut sugar
- 1 medium banana
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Adjust oven racks as needed so bread will sit in center of oven. Line loaf pan with parchment paper, folding excess paper over edges of pan to create handles. Set pan aside.
- Peel 3 medium over-ripe bananas and place bananas in large bowl. Using silicone spatula, mash bananas into very fine, almost liquid consistency.
- Crack 3 large eggs directly into small mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously until eggs are beaten and fully combined. Pour beaten eggs into large bowl with mashed banana.
- Add ¼ cup refined coconut oil, 1 cup coconut sugar, 1 cup superfine blanched almond flour, ¾ cup coconut flour, 1 teaspoon fresh baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and ½ cup finely chopped walnuts to mixing bowl. Stir gently until ingredients are combined, but do not over-mix. Mixture does not need to be completely smooth.
- Transfer mixture into prepared loaf pan. Spread batter out evenly across pan and into each corner.
- Optional: Add layer of coconut sugar to shallow bowl. Halve 1 medium banana and place in bowl of coconut sugar. Press each banana half into coconut sugar and turn to coat all sides of banana well. Place sugared banana halves on top of bread batter and press halves gently into batter.
- Place loaf pan in preheated oven. Bake banana bread 45 minutes, then begin checking doneness with toothpick or butter knife. Insert toothpick into center of banana bread, then immediately remove toothpick from bread.
- If toothpick is covered in wet batter or many crumbs, return loaf pan to oven. Continue baking banana bread as needed, checking doneness every 5 minutes, until toothpick comes out mostly clean, with very few crumbs.
- When bread is fully baked, carefully remove loaf pan from oven. Set pan aside and allow bread to cool 5 minutes, then use excess parchment paper to gently lift bread out of pan.
- Slice loaf into desired number of slices and serve warm.
- Bananas: Use over-ripe bananas, with peels that are mostly or completely black. See post for tricks to ripen bananas quickly.
- Coconut Sugar: You can replace the coconut sugar with equal amounts of Brown Swerve or regular brown sugar.
- If the top of the bread gets too dark too quickly, cover the pan with aluminum foil to retain heat.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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This is the best gluten free banana bread recipe I’ve found. My family loved it! Thank you so much sharing!
Can I replace walnuts with almonds? Can’t have any walnuts. Or could I just skip this step?
Sure! Either option is fine.
We made it last night and the flavor is incredible but unfortunately, the Banana bread is super moist/wet. Do you have any suggestions as to why that might be? We ended up baking it for 80-90 minutes after seeing that it wasn’t done at 60. The toothpick still comes out clean which is why we’re scratching our heads. Thanks for the recipe and any thoughts you might have!
Hi, Is there anyway to make the bread a bit lower in fat? Could I just use egg whites? Could I have some applesauce for oil? Thank you!
Hi! We haven’t tried those methods, but let us know if it works for you! 🙂 We’re curious!
I am usually using recipes with gluten and just replace the wheat flour with gluten free flour. Unfortunately many times the result isn’t that great. Happy to find your blog an recipes!
I know exactly how you feel! I am so glad you found us 🙂
I only have 2 bananas!!! :(:(:(
OH! I can adjust the recipe but now my questions is, what about mini loaves? How long do I bake? Sorry! Baking is not my thing so I do not have a sense for it at all. 🙂
What I would do is start at half the time and then just start checking! The centers should not be wobbly at all, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with crumbs but otherwise clean 🙂 I hope that helps!
I have been looking for a gluten-free banana bread recipe for a while and haven’t been satisfied with any of the ones I found until now! Thank you so much for a delicious gluten-free option for one of my all time fav sweet treats, this will definitely be a staple in my house from now on. Kid approved!
Awesome! I’m so glad you and your family loved it!
I cannot BELIEVE this is gluten free! I made this banana bread for my family last night, and it’s already gone! This is definitely going in my regular rotation. I think I may bake some loaves for my housebound neighbors, too!
I’m so glad you and your family loved it!
This sounds delish. Would flaxseed or psyllium powder “eggs” work instead of regular eggs? I can’t have eggs or dairy.
In this recipe I do think they would work! The bananas are a great binder, so it should be OK. I’m not 100% sure but I would definitely love to know how it comes out if you try!