This rich yet healthy Chocolate Caramel Paleo Banana Bread is made with coconut flour, so it’s also nut free! A sweet, creamy, dairy free caramel sauce is baked right into this extra moist chocolatey banana bread for seriously addicting flavor!
On a Saturday morning, Michele has 3 overripe bananas, a can of coconut milk and a bag of coconut palm sugar, and, as usual decides to make a loaf of Paleo banana bread (if you think this sounds like the beginning of a horrible math word problem, it’s because it is.)
She makes one 8.5 x 4.5″ loaf of chocolate caramel paleo banana bread (that was seriously dang delicious, by the way), and, there are 5 people in her family, total. About how many 3/4″ slices will Michele get to eat if the loaf is divided evenly among her family members?
Answer: I have no patience to do the actual math, but, in reality the answer is like .5, because that’s what I ate while shooting the bread, and, within an hour of announcing to everyone “dig in”, the bread was gone.
I feel like you might have seen that ending to my cheesy joke coming – tell me if I’m wrong 😉
But, anyway, the beginning scenario is what actually happened on that Saturday morning. I’ve been making TONS of banana recipes this summer for two reasons: 1.) They are easy and delicious to make and 2.) I have a constant supply of too-ripe bananas almost daily.
It’s really not a bad problem to have, because somehow I’ve consistently managed to come up with a new recipe each time, and I don’t think even one of those have let me down. So much love for bananas, for so many reasons. This chocolate caramel Paleo banana bread of course is no exception!
In my opinion, the caramel makes this more of a dessert because it adds sweetness, depth, and density, but it’s definitely still a banana “bread”, so, I think that means it counts as a snack or even breakfast, too, if you happen to be inclined.
AKA if you just feel like shoving chocolate and caramel in your face at 7am – can’t stop won’t stop – this is a good way to go. Just remember I said so 🙂
Well now, moving along, just in case you need another reason beyond 7am chocolate face to make this banana bread, I will give you one: it’s flipping EASY! Seriously, making vegan caramel out of coconut milk and coconut palm sugar is one of healthy-eating’s best kept secret, if you ask me!
After you make this caramel once, you might not want to stop. Just saying. It’s the same basic recipe I use for my caramel hot chocolate, and it’s insanely delicious and takes just 5 minutes to make!
So, I’ll let you get started now. Just remember that I’m here with a spoon if you turn your back on the caramel, so look out – it’s good stuff!
Chocolate Caramel Paleo Banana Bread {Nut Free}
Chocolate Caramel Paleo Banana Bread {Nut Free}
Ingredients
For the Caramel
- 1/2 cupfull fat coconut milk
- 3 tbsp organic coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the Banana Bread
- 3 small overripe bananas or two large
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsp organic coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 cup full fat canned coconut milk blended*
- 1/2 cup organic coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder or raw cacao
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp fine grain sea salt
Instructions
Make the Caramel First:
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the coconut milk and coconut sugar and stir continuously. Continue to stir and cook over low/med heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to very low, and continue to simmer for about 2-3 minutes until the caramel thickens and turns golden brown.
- Remove from heat, and set aside.
For the Banana Bread:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper (I used an 8.5 x 4.5" loaf pan)
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until very smooth, then whisk in the 3 eggs.
- Add the coconut sugar, and coconut milk and whisk until very smooth.
- In a separate small bowl, combine the coconut flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until blended - due to the coconut flour, the batter will be thick.
- Transfer your batter to the prepared loaf pan - but don't forget about the caramel! Carefully pour a small amount of caramel over the opt of the loaf and use a toothpick to swirl it throughout the batter. Repeat until you've used most of it (you may have a bit leftover)
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes or until the loaf has fully risen and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes before removing (with the parchment paper) to a cooling rack to fully cool. Avoid cutting into the loaf until it's fully cooled!
- Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*For a nice creamy coconut milk, I refrigerate the can overnight, open and discard half the "water", then blend the rest until creamy with my immersion blender.
What I Used to Make My Chocolate Caramel Paleo Banana Bread
Want more Paleo nut free banana bread recipes? Try one of these!
Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bread
Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Double Chocolate Cranberry Banana Bread
Give me your simple math word problem of the day!
What’s something you love to eat for breakfast that isn’t typical breakfast food? For me, that would be meatballs 🙂
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Sadly I have no leftover bananas this week. One of the problems with ordering our groceries from amazon fresh is we order bananas by the “bunch” which is usually about 5. If we get 1 bunch, we run out of them before the end of the week, and if we get 2 we have alot leftover. Then there was that time that I didn’t realize I was ordering by the bunch and bough 5 bunches of bananas…which equals about 25 bananas. Oops. I did alot of baking and freezing of bananas that week:)
I had bananas that were asking to be used for something. I frozen them because I am lazy. STUPID STUPID
I think this may be the first time in my life I have an over ripe banana in the house (and by banana I mean one…just one) 😛 I’ll think of something!
I could anything covered in caramel, banana bread especially.
Also I feel you on the ripe banana front. With this heat, they go from green to completely spotty overnight.
That caramel sauce sounds amazing and I bet it does give the bread a little extra something tasty! I need to try it!
YES! I have bananas now, and I think my family will devour this just like yours. I see some Saturday baking in order hopefully!
I’ve been curious about that caramel! I seriously need to give it a shot since a few other caramels I’ve tried have produced kind of… err… shifty results 😆 I also seriously need to go to the store because at this point I have about 3 ripe bananas to my name and that is NOWHERE near enough.
This is an amazing recipe and I can’t wait to try it! The only issue that I’d like to bring your attention to is the title; coconuts in the case of some allergy sufferers are considered tree nuts and can cause severe reactions. Perhaps removing “nut-free” from the title would be more accurate. Just some food for thought! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Ahh thanks for bringing that up! I wasn’t aware coconut fits into that category. Hope you enjoy 🙂
I think I just found my reason for having approximately 1352 bananas lounging about in my freezer. YUM!
Michelle,
This recipe is toddler and husband approved! Amazing bread that was easy to make (again I used my blender for the recipe) and wonderful for my 17month old who has a severe dairy allergy. I haven’t made a recipe of yours that wasn’t DELICIOUS! Thank you!
Yay! So thrilled it worked for you guys!
This choc caramel banana bread really hit the spot! Great combination can’t go wrong. Family love them. Thank you for sharing this great recipe. I’ll make it again!
Can maple sugar substitute for coconut sugar in any recipe?
BTW, thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
Most of the time yes!