Perfect Gluten-Free Banana Bread

Say hello to this perfect gluten-free banana bread, directly inspired from my classic banana bread recipe but prepared with a 3-ingredient homemade gluten-free flour mix. The result? A perfectly moist texture, and a healthier banana bread everyone will love!

I know you guys looooove my buttermilk banana bread : so incredibly moist, and packed with flavors. It is by far one of my best recipes of all times (and we’re talking about 700 recipes on the site so far). I’ve seen created a vegan version a little while ago, and now I’m back with a gluten-free version, because I believe everyone has to be able to taste this fantastic banana bread.

Like for the vegan version, I did some adjustments to the recipe but made sure I kept it as close as possible to the original one. The idea? No one should be able to tell there is no eggs or dairy for the vegan version, no all-purpose flour for the gluten-free one. I’m so happy with the result, this banana bread turned out perfect, super moist, deliciously flavored, and a little bit addictive too!

Ingredients for this Gluten-Free Banana Bread

• 3 medium size bananas. Choose them very ripe.
• Buttermilk. You can prepare homemade buttermilk with just 2 ingredients.
• Butter. Use it unsalted and softened at room temperature.
• Sugar. Use granulated sugar in this recipe, no other kind.
• Egg. You need just one egg for the recipe; it simply helps the ingredients to bind together.
• Homemade gluten-free mix: almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour/starch.
• Other ingredients: baking powder, baking soda, salt, and a few optional ingredients (cinnamon, walnuts, oats).

How to make the perfect gluten-free flour mix (for banana bread)?

If you’re familiar with gluten-free flour mix, you know there are many different ways to make gluten-free flour mix, and the list of ingredients can vary greatly from one to another. Also, you will need a different GF flour mix, depending on the baked goods you’re making: cakes, muffins, breads, or pie crusts.

The GF banana bread challenge. My challenge with this banana bread recipe was to choose the flours I would need, and get the right ratio of the flours to recreate wheat flour and compensate the absence of gluten. It had to combine the ingredients together, absorb the humidity of the wet ingredients and still yield moist baked goods. Oh, and I wanted to keep it simple, with a maximum of 3 ingredients (so many recipes call for too many flours that you will need just this one time, it doesn’t really make sense, unless you’re into baking a lot).

A 3-ingredient gluten-free flour mix:

The recipe I used is a gluten-free flour mix prepared with only 3 ingredients:

• Almond flour
• Coconut flour
• Tapioca flour/starch

The combination of these three flours somehow recreates the effect of wheat flour, with a banana bread that rises beautifully and is not too dense, not too humid either. The crumb is fluffy and moist just the way you like it. When it comes to the flavor, it is extremely mild, and only the most picky palates would be able to detect almond flour and coconut flour (honestly, I couldn’t).

Bonus: I also use oats, pulsed into a food processor until finely ground (alternatively, you can use oat flour). Oats helps absorb the excess humidity in the recipe and brings a subtle additional nutty flavor.

Can I use gluten-free all-purpose flour instead? Yes, but keep in mind that the result may differ from this recipe in both taste and texture. If you are to use gluten-free flour mix, you will need 1 ½ cup (180g) and skip the almond flour, coconut flour and tapioca starch (+ oat flour) altogether.

How to make gluten-free banana bread?

1. Start with removing the butter from the refrigerator way in advance to ensure it is then ready to use softened at room temperature when making the recipe.
2. Prepare the gluten-free flour mix by combining together in a medium bowl almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour/starch. Add the oats (ideally ground), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the mashed bananas with the other wet ingredients, finishing with buttermilk. Note: I really recommend buttermilk (homemade is easy!), as it brings some extra moistness to the banana bread and really is the little detail that makes the whole difference.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet one, and stir until combined. You can add walnuts, chocolate chips, just what you like!
5. And now pour into a prepared loaf pan, and bake! I told you it was easy!

May I add some extra ingredients?

Sure you can, but try to keep it simple! I love chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans or any other nuts for instance. You can also add a swirl of salted caramel sauce or Dulce de Leche in the banana bread batter!

How can you store gluten-free banana bread?

I find gluten-free banana bread more sensitive to storing than their classic wheat-based counterpart. In other words, they tend to hold their shape a little less well overtime. Best way to store this gluten-free banana bread is wrapped up in foil (rather than plastic film, that keeps it a little too most), and placed at room temperature on the countertop for three days. After that, it is best to store it in the refrigerator.

Freezing instructions. My favorite way to store banana bread is however to slice it entirely and freeze slices separately wrapped in plastic film (or in an airtight bag). Being a sweet tooth, I love it when I want to indulge myself with a slice of banana bread whenever a little craving appears, simply warmed up in the microwave for a few seconds. And up in my belly!

More gluten-free desserts you’ll love:

• Sugar-Free Almond Butter Banana Muffins
• Skinny Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
• Maple Pecan Pumpkin Pie (Gluten-Free, Vegan)
• Blueberry Pie with Oat Crust (Gluten-Free)
• Fiadone-Style Cheesecake

For the banana bread lovers (not GF), try also:

• Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
• Buttermilk Banana Bread (readers’ favorite)

Perfect Gluten-Free Banana Bread

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• Author: Delphine Fortin
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Quick bread

This perfect gluten-free banana bread recipe is directly inspired from my classic banana bread recipe, but prepared with a 3-ingredient homemade gluten-free flour mix.

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup (120g) almond flour
• ⅔ cup (110g) tapioca flour
• ⅓ cup (45g) coconut flour
• ¼ cup (20g) oats or oat flour (optional)
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• ¼ cup (40g) chopped walnuts (optional)
• ¼ cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 very ripe medium-large bananas
• ½ cup (120ml) buttermilk (or 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice + ½ cup milk)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease bottom and edges of a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan with butter.
2. Mix all almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour and ground oats in a large mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Add walnuts if using (I recommend it) and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Mix in the egg. Puree the bananas with a fork and add them to the mixture. Pour in the buttermilk.
4. Add dry ingredients, alternating until incorporated. Do not over mix.
5. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before serving.

Notes

Oats are optional here but they help absorb more humidity coming from the wet ingredients in the recipe. I prefer using them ground in a food processor. Alternatively you can use oat flour if you happen to have some at home.

Walnuts. They are optional, so feel free to skip them if you are not a fan. You can also replace walnuts with pecans or other chopped nuts.

Sugar. The recipe calls for 1 cup (200g) sugar. If you want your banana bread to be a little less sweetened use only ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar (about 180g). Do not cut the sugar more than that or it will impact the final outcome of your banana bread.

Bananas. The recipe calls for 3 medium-large bananas, or about 1 ⅓ cup (320g) mashed bananas. My recommendation is to rely on whole bananas rather than measuring in cups or grams.

Buttermilk. Making your own buttermilk is very easy. Just measure one Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and cover with milk until you reach ½ cup. Stir, and let sit for 5 minutes before using.

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Did you make this recipe?

Lastly, if you make this Perfect Gluten-Free Banana Bread, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!