Gluten-Free Gingerbread Banana Bread (Vegan, Allergy-Free)

Combining soft and moist banana bread with perfectly spiced gingerbread for the ultimate baked treat! This Gluten-Free Gingerbread Banana Bread is vegan and allergy-free. Loaded with naturally sweet ripe bananas, warm gingerbread spices, and an essential dose of molasses! This easy quick bread recipe is perfect for holiday gifting or eaten as a delicious breakfast, snack, or dessert!

Who doesn't love a warm slice of freshly baked banana bread? Or a slice of rich and cozy gingerbread? What if I told you, you don't have to pick between the two and instead, you can have both! Yes, sometimes you can have everything you want in life and that starts with this moist, soft, delicious, and sweet Banana Gingerbread! This easy quick bread is gluten-free, vegan, and perfectly allergy-free. You can whip it up during the holiday season or any time of year (there's never a time limit on homemade bread!)

The Perfect Winter Quick Bread

You know how delicious banana bread smells while baking in the oven, well add to that these mouthwateringly rich aromas of gingerbread and your home will be smelling like one cozy enclave! This sweet bread is perfect for a simple festive treat that's not cookies and you can even enjoy a slice for breakfast...we won't tell! This recipe is:

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Coconut-Free, Corn-Free)
• Kid-Friendly
• Make-Ahead & Freezer-Friendly
• Breakfast, Brunch, Snack, or Dessert
• Perfect Edible Holiday & Hostess Gift

Cake or Bread?

The age-old questions of whether banana bread is really bread or is gingerbread actually cake? Honestly, banana bread is a sweet quick bread (bread made without yeast) and gingerbread loaves, while can be classified as quick breads since they don't contain yeast, are more like cakes in their healthy sugar ratio and dreamy rich density. Cakes also require creaming of butter and sugar, while a quick bread is meant to be easy and quick, mixed together in one bowl.

This banana bread recipe leans more toward standard sweet quick bread. It's gingerbread-flavored banana bread, not a banana-flavored gingerbread. There isn't enough molasses or brown sugar, nor is there any topping glaze. This recipe truly is the combining of all good things. Banana, quick breads, gingerbread, and cake!

Ingredients In Gingerbread Banana Bread

• Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: Your favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour will be the bready base for this recipe. No need to worry about a fancy blend since the taste of this quick bread will be fully banana gingerbread prominent!
• Ripe Bananas: You're going to need 3 medium-large ripe bananas. The riper the bananas are, the sweeter they are, and the easier they are to mash! The bananas act as your eggless binder, moisture, and the "cement" of the bread.
• Baking Powder + Baking Soda: Baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt will allow your bread to rise. Quick breads do not contain yeast, so they need a good leavening agent to help give the dough lift!
• Natural Oil: You can use a neutral-flavored oil here or swap in unsweetened applesauce if you're oil-free. if you use applesauce, your bread will be a bit gummier. The oil helps keep the banana bread moist (butter-based breads tend to be drier). It also helps even out the dense molasses in this gingerbread.
• Blackstrap Molasses: You can't have gingerbread without molasses! The deep, sticky, rich flavor of blackstrap molasses is the iconic note you'll always taste in old-fashioned gingerbread. It also provides the dark, browning color you see for this loaf.
• Brown Sugar Sweetener: Since this banana bread contains natural sweetness from the ripe bananas and a small dose of molasses, adding a little bit of sweet dark brown sugar sweetener helps balance out the two. You can use a sugar-free variety like Swerve to keep this bread low sugar or your favorite dark (or light) brown sugar.
• Vanilla Extract: Baking almost always requires some good pure vanilla extract!
• Gingerbread Spices: The final flavoring to this rich, robust quick bread is...the gingerbread spices! Tons of ground ginger, some cinnamon, cloves, and a small amount each of nutmeg and allspice.

How To Make Ginger Banana Bread

1. Whisk together all your dry ingredients.
2. Separately mix together the wet ingredients (this makes it easier!)
3. Add the wet to the dry.
4. Mix until thick and smooth!

1. Line an 8x4 loaf pan with parchment (or grease it well!)
2. Add the sticky thick batter evenly to the pan.
3. Bake the loaf in the oven at 350°F for 40 minutes.
4. Let the bread cool on a wire rack (no soggy bottoms here!)

Baking Tips For Success

• Mixing together the mashed bananas, molasses, oil, and brown sugar is easier to do in a small separate bowl (innovating the cake part of this recipe). If you try to mix everything together in one bowl, you'll end up overmixing the bread batter (the mashed banana and molasses are thick).
• You'll want about 1 ½ cups of mashed banana. You can keep it a bit chunky, don't worry about getting it 100% smooth.
• You can add more or less of the individual gingerbread spices to your taste preference. I didn't measure. The rule of thumb is about 3 parts ginger, 2 parts cinnamon and cloves, 1 part nutmeg and allspice. You can also opt for a premade mix!
• If you don't have parchment paper, grease your loaf pan very well so you won't have trouble popping the loaf out of the pan.
• I used an 8x4 bread pan. If you use a 9x5 bread pan, your loaf will be a bit flatter and you can reduce the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.
• When a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the loaf, take it out of the oven, let it cool slightly in the pan, before using the edges of the parchment paper to lift the loaf out, and then let it cool COMPLETELY on a wire rack. It is 1000x easier to cut quick bread when it is cold (you'll get cleaner, smoother cuts!)

How To Serve Banana Gingerbread

You can eat this banana gingerbread warm or chilled from the fridge! Serve it with a pat of vegan butter, jelly or jam, even some nut butter! You can pop a slice in a toaster oven to crisp up the edges (maybe even the air fryer!) Breakfast, Christmas brunch, midday snack, or even a dessert if you're over cookies!

How To Store and Freeze

• You can store leftover banana bread at room temperature in a closed container for 4 days. Store it longer when placed in the fridge for about 7-10 days when wrapped loosely with a paper towel and closed container or plastic bag.
• You can freeze gingerbread banana bread by first slicing the loaf, wrapping, and freezing each slice individually or together tightly with foil, and then placed in a plastic freezer bag. Defrost in the fridge overnight. Frozen quick bread will be best if used within 4-5 months.

More Delicious Gluten-Free Quick Breads:

• Blueberry Yogurt Banana Bread
• Classic Gluten-Free Banana Bread
• Peanut Butter Espresso Banana Bread
• Strawberry Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Bread
• Cranberry Sauce Quick Bread
• Gingerbread Loaf

Print

Whether it's the holidays or not, this is your excuse for making gingerbread year-round! Tell them it's just banana bread and you won't get strange looks, promise!

So tell me:

+ What's your favorite banana bread add-in? I think we need a banana chocolate chip loaf next...what do you think?

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