This deliciously hearty yet soft and moist Paleo banana bread is made with no grains, dairy, and no added sugar. It’s gluten free, Paleo, sweetened only with bananas and perfect for breakfast or a snack with your favorite spread. Kid approved and easy to make!
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Paleo Banana Bread (Naturally Sweetened & No Added Sugar)
This super moist healthy paleo banana bread is made with almond flour and naturally sweetened with ripe bananas — no added sugar needed!
You can never have too many banana bread recipes, that’s for sure!
There’s the nut-free banana blueberry breakfast bread, almond butter chocolate chunk banana bread, zucchini banana bread, and cinnamon swirl banana bread.
BUT, for whatever reason I always just assumed that to make banana bread truly what I wanted it to be, I had to add some sort of sweetener.
The bananas couldn’t be enough, could they?
Well, as it turns out, banana-only sweetened banana bread can be just as delicious as any bread with added sweetener.
My kids actually had no idea I did anything different with this bread and the two loaves I made were gone within a couple of days.
Making the Most Simple Paleo Banana Bread
As usual, I had a few goals/rules in mind when approaching this bread.
First, no added sweetener besides the bananas. Told you that one already, I know 🙂
Second, no nut butters. I LOVE nut butter and bananas together, and nut butters works really well in paleo breads, doing the job of eggs, oil, and even leavening in my opinion.
But, sometimes we need to let our nut butters rest. Because let’s face it – using 1/2 or 3/4 cup of our precious (and pricy) nut butter on a banana bread isn’t always desirable.
Almond flour is pricy enough, adding nut butters on and the loaf starts to seem…not worth it, perhaps.
For a truly simple banana bread, I used no nut butters and no sweeteners.
Making Paleo Banana Bread with Minimal Ingredients
With this recipe the ingredients are simple.
Way overripe bananas (the softer/browner the better for this one), coconut oil (refined or unrefined) a grain free flour mixture of almond and tapioca, cinnamon, salt, leavening agent.
To get a bit of a better rise on this bread, I used a homemade paleo baking powder made of baking soda and cream of tartar.
However feel free to use regular baking powder if you aren’t concerned with keeping this paleo in the strictest sense.
Super Moist Paleo Banana Bread Without Sugar
Using super ripe bananas is essential for both natural sweetness AND moistness.
Almond flour is also partially responsible for the delicious moistness of this banana bread.
Why This Banana Bread Is So Soft and Tender
The combination of almond flour along with tapioca or arrowroot flour creates a wonderfully soft and tender texture for this bread.
Tapioca or arrowroot gives the bread slightly more elasticity than using almond flour alone. With gluten free and paleo baking, elasticity is something we’re typically missing!
No Fancy Equipment Needed for the Best Banana Bread!
On the topic of rise, make sure you don’t make this bread (or any other quick bread) in a blender or with an electric mixer.
Simply stir the dry ingredients into the wet until you get a lumpy batter with no flour spots.
No need to try to make it smooth – in fact doing so will ensure you get a flat bread.
The bread will have great texture and rise to it if you’re nice and lazy with your mixing!
Ways to Serve This Banana Bread
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toasted with a little almond butter
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as French toast
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as muffins
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with berries
Easy Add-Ins and Toppings for Your Best Paleo Banana Bread
I went totally “naked” with this bread with just the addition of a bit of cinnamon for flavor.
But, feel free to add any of your favorite mix-ins!
A handful or two of chopped nuts, chocolate chips, blueberries, cranberries, or anything else you can think of.
This is a great basic paleo banana bread recipes that’s quite forgiving, versatile, and always delicious!
It’s perfect toasted with a little butter or nut butter (oops, nut butter again) and good totally plain, too.
How to Store Paleo Banana Bread
I recommend storing it loosely covered at room temperature for the first day, and covered in the refrigerator after that.
You can also freeze the loaf and defrost in the refrigerator once reader to eat.
I hope you guys are ready to bake something super easy, tasty and satisfying! Preheat your oven and peel your bananas! Let’s go!
Healthy Paleo Banana Bread {Almond Flour, Sweetened with Bananas Only!}
Ingredients
- 4 small/med very overripe bananas or 3 larger ones, mashed well
- 4 large eggs room temp
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted and cooled to almost room temp
- 1 3/4 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder or make your own paleo baking powder*
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
Instructions
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Whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a medium loaf pan with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and mashed bananas, then vanilla and coconut oil until well combined.
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Slowly stir the dry mixture into the wet (don’t use an electric mixer - you will overmix the batter and prevent it from rising properly) just until moistened and no visible flour remains.
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Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the loaf pan resting on a wire rack, then remove using the parchment paper to help you, slice and serve. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*To make paleo-friendly (corn free) baking powder, mix 1 tsp baking soda with 2 tsp cream of tartarfollow. For this recipe, you will need just 1/2 tsp total of this mixture.
Nutrition
Want more delicious Paleo quick breads? Try One of These!
Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bread {Nut Free}
Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
Hearty Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Bread
Simple Pumpkin Breakfast Bread
Double Chocolate Tahini Banana Muffins
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It was my first time making a Paleo recipe and I’m so glad I did. It was delicious and held together quite nicely without being dry. I did add 1/2 cup of brown sugar without changing anything else because my kids are used to sweeter things. They loved it though which is a definite win. I will say it tasted slightly eggy in a couple parts, which I didn’t mind, but that could be because I should have mixed the egg better or cooked a few minutes longer although the toothpick came out clean. I will be making this one again as we eat banana bread often in our house. I also forgot to use parchment paper but greased the pan with olive oil and it worked fine.
P.S. If I wanted to add some oatmeal should I add more oil or anything? I do like oatmeal in my banana bread and am only trying to stay away from wheat but I wanted to try the recipe as is before changing anything. Thanks!
The best banana bread I’ve ever made and super easy
So happy you liked it!
I just made this tonight because it’s the holidays and, with my various dietary restrictions, I can’t partake in sweet things! I chose this recipe because I have celiac disease, am lactose intolerant, and have a huge sensitivity to soy products. My only complaint is that I wish it was sweeter. I wanted to add some granulated sugar but didn’t because I didn’t know how much to add! Any suggestions? Even without the added sugar, it’s delicious and I’ll definitely eat all of it!!! 🙂
Do you know if this recipe freezes well? I am trying to make ahead of time for our Thanksgiving trip.
This bread is awesome! I used ghee instead of coconut oil and it worked just fine! Keep the amazing recipes coming! Thank you!
I had left over VERY ripe 2 bananas and one regular and made this last night and it was DELICIOUS and perfect. I followed your recipe exactly and I truly believe parchment paper makes a huge difference. I probably cooked the bread a bit longer because when I stuck a knife in the center it wasn’t coming out clean, so therefore, I cooked it until the knife was clean. I absolutely LOVE your recipes and have started trying more of them on my healthy eating journey. Just trying to watch my protein, fats, and carbs. You have a wonderful site!!! Thanks, and I also enjoy you IG
Hi I was just wondering if you could freeze this bread.
You can freeze most things…if packaged well. It’s air around the food that gives it that “freezer burn” taste….so squish/suck the air out of your ziplock before putting it in! (Tip: super useful to use a sharpie to date/label frozen foods; also, that plastic bag is reusable!)
This was delicious! Added chopped up dates only. Yum!
Just made this morning! Turned out wonderful!!! I love how the dough filed up my whole loaf pan. Most recipes make for a shorter bread loaf. Excited to have a healthy banana snack on hand this week and to share with my family. I bet they won’t notice it’s “healthy”! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
This was so delicious!