Perfectly soft and tender with natural wholesome sweetness and studded with chocolate, this healthy Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana bread will make everyone happy! It’s grain free, dairy free, Paleo, oil free and nut free! Healthy enough for breakfast and delicious enough for dessert.
Making banana recipes has become a thing around here on the weekend lately. It makes sense – it’s summer and bananas ripen quickly, plus Saturday is usually the time when I look around and take inventory of what we need to buy and what we need to get rid of, food wise.
The thing about bananas is that I never want to run out. They’re an easy healthy addition to breakfast and something my kids can also “prepare” for themselves without my help. Bananas are like sweet and starchy angels sent specifically down from banana heaven to moms with young kids. And to runners. We can’t forget how helpful they are for runners.
So, about those bananas, luckily they’re not hard to find and keep a huge supply ready to go at all times. The interesting part is seeing how many we actually eat by the time the weekend rolls around.
I will blame myself and my lack of banana consumption lately due to not training. To be honest, I would much rather consume my bananas in ice cream sandwiches, no-bake cookies, or in banana bread. And as of most recently, my heart belongs to this Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread that I made last weekend.
Truth be told, this recipe is adapted very closely from my Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bread, which has turned out to be a big hit all around with my family and with many of you! As far as paleo and nut free banana breads go, the basic recipe for this bread is pretty perfect.
What I did was tweak the measurements just a bit to hold all the add-ins I was craving, and because I’m a rebel and need to make changes.
Cherries and chocolate just felt so, so right! Are you getting tired of cherries yet? Well, this is good to hear, me neither! And, If you happen to be reading this in the winter, I still hope you will open your heart and mind to cherries! You can easily use thawed and drained fruit in this recipe in place of fresh. Plus, can you really every say no to the chocolate cherry combo? I say no, it’s just always a winner.
Such a winner, that you should know this bread will disappear way too soon. I know you think I say that about all my recipes, but this time I mean it. Don’t be surprised if this bread has literally vanished within 2 hours of coming out of the oven. Don’t believe me? I dare you to make it and find out. Report back to me with your findings 🙂
Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread {Paleo & Nut Free}
Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread {Paleo & Nut Free}
Ingredients
- 2 small overripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup coconut milk full fat, canned
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp organic coconut flour
- 3 tbsp tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup fresh cherries pitted and roughly chopped*
- 1/4 cup Enjoy Life brand dark chocolate morsels - dairy free and soy free**
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8" x 4" loaf pan*** with parchment paper (I recommend this over greasing the pan since it's a lot less messy this way!)
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In a large bowl, mash the bananas well and whisk with the eggs, coconut milk, vanilla, and maple syrup.
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In a smaller bowl, combine the coconut flour, tapioca, baking soda and salt.
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Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet until fully combined. Coconut flour expands quite a bit and the batter will be thick.
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Finally, fold in the chopped cherries and chocolate chips. You can sprinkle a few extra chips on top before baking for a pretty finish! Transfer the entire mixture into the parchment lined loaf pan and spread it out evenly.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, until nicely golden brown. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out clean.
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Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes until transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Wait about an hour before slicing.
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Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can used frozen cherries, but make sure they're thoroughly thawed and then drained of excess water before adding to the batter
**Enjoy life chocolate chips are my favorite dairy free, soy free, nut free to bake with, feel free to use your favorite brand!
***If you use a larger loaf pan the bread may bake more quickly and the loaf will be flatter.
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
If you’re looking for more delicious Paleo banana breads, try one of these!
Chocolate Chunk Almond Butter Banana Bread
Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bread {nut free}
Chocolate Cranberry Banana Bread {nut free}
Just a little note on my blogging schedule this week – I’ll be posting a recipe Monday instead of Tuesday and will be checking in Tuesday with a special topic! After this week, I’ll likely continue to post Sunday instead of Monday for the rest of the summer.
What are your favorite banana bread add-ins?
Are you a recipe rebel or do you like to follow them to-the-T?
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This is amazing. I don’t even need to taste it to know. But now I want to taste it! ANd you know that I am a recipe rebel. I’m a cook, not a baker!
Being a recipe rebel is more fun 🙂 And you’d love this!
I remember last summer the cherries were few and far between and so expensive if they were available so I am LOVING seeing them in abundance and on sale every week at the store…I am ALWAYS stocked up on cherries <3 (bananas…not so much!)
I know, they’re seriously everywhere so I can’t resist!
I made your banana blueberry bread recipe again on Saturday but in a muffins form (I know I’m such a rebel too haha) and they were so good! I had to hide a few from my husband to bring to work this week. I’m allergic to chocolate but I bet this bread would still be very tasty with banana and cherries only. I’m planning on giving it a try next week-end!
You can totally do this in muffin form with cherries, basically the same as the blueberry!
Why have I never thought of putting cherries in banana bread before?! Holy deliciousness!
You’d love it!
I’m normally a purist when it comes to banana bread, but I’ve never tried it with cherries. That’s brilliant and I need it in my life. I love that this is nut-free!
Yes you’d love the cherries! I actually might like my nut free banana bread version better than my almond butter one 🙂
Looks amazing – always great to find a good grain free bread that’s also nut free 🙂 My banana problem is I get them with the intent of waiting for them to ripen to bake with, but then want to bake before they’re brown enough OR forget about them!
Timing can be tricky with bananas! I hate when I forget and let them get too brown.