Flourless Chocolate Banana Bread made with NO flour, butter, or oil, but so soft, tender, and chocolatey that you’d never be able to tell! It’s gluten-free, low in refined sugar, and whipped up in the blender in 5 minutes flat!
My blender is one of three things that has permanent real estate on my kitchen counter, with the other two being my Keurig and my fruit bowl. Everything else gets hidden away in the cupboards and taken out when it’s needed, mostly because clutter stresses me out big time.
No, really. It does.
Like… even when I’m in the kitchen cooking or working on a recipe? I won’t set everything out on the counter before I start because it just feels too… cramped. And then it kind of weighs on me knowing I have such a big mess to clean up. Instead, I’ll grab one ingredient, use it, and put it back before taking the next thing I need. Does that sound crazy? Because I know it’s not exactly the most efficient way to do things, but it makes the whole baking process feel a lot more relaxing. And that’s what we’re going for.
Well, relaxing and delicious…
Back to the blender, though!
That used to be something that I’d hide away in the cupboards too, but it secured a permanent counter spot when I realized just how much I use it for (and just how much I didn’t like taking it out and putting it away 3 times a day).
Smoothies, sauces, banana ice cream, muffins, pancakes, energy bites, brownies, bars… I literally use that thing for everything. Which is actually why I’m talking about blenders in a post about banana bread — because this particular flourless chocolate banana bread just so happens to come out of a blender too…
It doesn’t have to, though!
If you don’t have a powerful blender, or you just prefer mixing things by hand so that you don’t have to clean aforementioned blender, you can totally sub out the oats in this recipe for 1/2 cup of pre-ground oat flour and come out with pretty much the same results.
No matter which way you do it, you’ll end up with a super moist chocolate banana bread that’s made with NO flour, oil, butter, or refined sugar, but so soft and tender that you’d never guess. And I feel like I use that line with all of my flourless recipes, but it really is hard to tell that they’re missing a certain flour-y ingredient unless someone tells you. I mean… just look at that texture.
Happy eating! And Happy Valentine’s Day!
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Flourless Chocolate Banana Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 loaf, 12 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (60 g) oats, gluten-free if needed
- 1/2 cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 medium-size ripe bananas (200 g or 1 cup mashed)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (64 g) nut butter*
- 6 tbsp (120 g) honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (40 g) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF (176ºC), and lightly grease a 9 x 5 (23cm x 13cm) bread pan or line it with a sheet or parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang for easy removal. Set aside.
- Add the oats to the bowl of a high-speed blender and process on high until they’ve broken down into a fine powder. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the chocolate chips and continue processing until the batter is smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the blender as necessary.** Stir in the chocolate chips by hand, or save them to sprinkle on top.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan, spreading it out evenly and sprinkling the chocolate chips on top
- Bake for 50 – 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
* Feel free to sub this with any nut butter you have on hand, or use a soy nut butter to make it nut-free. ** If you don’t own a high-speed blender or food processor, you can mix this by hand by subbing the rolled oats with a heaping 1/2 cup (60 g) of oat flour.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
Looking for more flourless chocolate recipes? Try one of these!
Flourless Sweet Potato Brownies
Flourless Double Chocolate Brownies
Fudgy Two Minute Mug Brownie
Flourless Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
No Bake Brownie Batter Truffles
*Disclosure: Some of the links included in this post may be affiliate links, meaning I’ll earn a small commission if you purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and believe will add value to my readers. Thank you so much for helping support Spoons!
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One of my very favorite recipes! I have made it several times and it’s one of my go-to recipes to make for friends after they give birth when I want to bring them some delicious, nutritious food to make their lives easier. 🙂
I am really impressed with this recipe. I followed it exactly except I had to substitute bananas ( I usually have them in house but I guess they were already eaten) for 1 cup of applesauce.
I used Nutella for the nut butter. This recipe was utterly delicious. I topped it with Nutella in the center and chocolate chips.Will tuck this recipe away in my cookbook for my kids…. definitely try it.
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This was wonderful! I used Nutella as my nut butter, subbed maple syrup for the honey, reduced the sweetener accordingly. It was a beautifully springy, soft bread and baked perfectly in a 8×8 pan rather than a loaf pan. I omitted the chips because I was worried it would make the bread too sweet but will add them back next time. And there will be a next time! Thanks for the great recipe!
Hello I love the sound of this recipe- have an ingrediant question- have no ‘nut butter’ on hand EXCEPT for Tahini..which is of course sesame but consistency is quick more liquid then nut butter…do you think it would work? Or should I opt for greek yogurt 1/2 and sesame tahini1/2…than you if you can reply! My brown bananas and choc chips are hoping to make this today!
This turned out amazing! It’s more of a dark chocolate flavour which is exactly what I was looking for. I think I preheated my oven for a bit too long so it was slightly burnt from the sides but other than that this was perfect and you probably can’t even tell that it’s a healthy version when you taste it. Thank you so much!!
Love the recipe, the cake turned out delicious. Only thing my cake doesn’t rise as much. Is it supposed to?
It should be on the fluffier side, yes. Did you use large-ish bananas? Because that could cause the batter to be a little runnier and the loaf to be heavier so it won’t rise as much.
I’ve noticed some people here and on Pinterest noting that the taste is very similar to dark chocolate. Is that true?
I wouldn’t say it’s overly bitter or anything, but I guess it really depends on your taste. If you like sweeter breads, you can always add a few tablespoons of either coconut sugar or brown sugar to help!
I made this recipe before with the oat flour and it was amazing. But now I can’t get my hands on any, I do have almond flour and 1to1 gluten free flour. Would the measurement still be the same if I wanted to substitute one of those?? I hope you can help.
Oat flour is a little more absorbent than almond or GF flour, so I’m not sure it would make a good sub. Do you have oats? Because you can make your own oat flour just by grinding them down in a blender. Or I have another chocolate banana bread that doesn’t use oats – https://www.runningwithspoons.com/double-chocolate-greek-yogurt-banana-bread/
…another question… my pantry has no vanilla extract! How would using coconut extract affect the taste? It’s vanilla extract that enhances chocolate, right? Would it be okay if I just left it out? I also have a bit of maple extract, and will be using sugar free peanut butter as the nut butter, which extract would you suggest? Coconut or maple, or leave out…
Thank you
It should be fine to bake in an 8×8 baking pan, Catherine. And I would probably start watching it after about 25 minutes to make sure it’s not getting too dry. As for the extracts, I don’t feel like vanilla in particular affects the flavour too much, so you’d be totally fine leaving it out. I hope you love it!
Golly, thanks for quick reply! I’m baking this tomorrow!
…it turned out good in the 8×8! baked 25 min.
I usually follow recipes, less sugar and salt only. Out of necessity re low pantry, had to sub ingredients for this recipe, so sharing should readers have to sub.
Used quick cooking oatmeal, don’t have my blender, can’t complete move yet bc of covid
Sub 1/2 tsp maple extract for the 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topped up mashed banana w unsweetened apple sauce
Added no honey
Just a sprinkle of salt
It taste great! Moist, light. Tastes kind of like a dark choc bar!
Thanks again
Stay safe
You’re amazing with these grand recipes and ideas! Thank you. I’m self isolating, limited pantry, gluten free, scared to order too often groc delivery, re covid and time takes to wash them off. Excited to make this, might tonight bit late though. My one loaf pan has a gf lentil oatmeal “meatloaf” in it right now, can you advise me if ok to bake this in an 8×8 square pan? Watch it after 20 min? Pls reply.
Thanks
Stay safe
Looks delish! Would this work as a muffin recipe with adjusted cook time?
It should work as muffins. I would bake from 20-25 minutes. Just start watching them after 20 to make sure they don’t burn.
Hi amanda,
I need a suggestion. If i dont want to use eggs, what should be the alternate for the same.
I actually haven’t found a substitute for the eggs, Preet. I tried making this recipe with flax eggs once and it didn’t really work out. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Hi!! The recipe is simple and awesome 👏🏻 but I didn’t add but butter…as I didn’t have butter at home when I did the recipe😅 To my surprise, the cake was smooth and fluffy but the taste was very chocolatey and I was disappointed ☹️ Do you think that this is because of me not adding the nut butter!? Kindly reply☺️
No I don’t think the almond butter should affect the taste too much, Swarna. It’s a chocolate banana bread so the main flavour is going to be chocolate. I have another similar recipe that isn’t chocolate if you want to check that one out https://www.runningwithspoons.com/flourless-chocolate-chip-banana-bread/
Your recipes are very simple and basic with ingredients. I Love the way you have substitutes.
And your explanation of the whole process is very lively and simple to follow.
My first try of the flourless oatmeal banana bread was a success. Even my hubby who just lives Black forest cake gobbled it up!!!!
Many thanks.
Sent my sister your link and she is really enjoying too.
Many thanks for the healthy recipes.
Catherine
Kenya
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely review, Catherine! I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Yummy recipe!! Is it possible to replace honey with maple syrup?
I think that should be fine, Leoni!
Amazing recipe – so moist, no too sweet or heavy, and the perfect mix of banana and chocolate!
This is my favourite banana bread recipe ever! I’m gluten free and finding something with great texture that doesn’t fall apart is so difficult. This is everything I want!! My friends love it too
I’m so glad you and your friends like it, Char! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂
I tried this recipe it came out delicious!! Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I have one ISSUE the bread was nice and fluffy at the beginning but it sinked down after a while. Please let me know what am I doing wrong.
Hmmm, I’m honestly not sure Shilpa! Have you checked your baking powder + soda to make sure they’re not expired? That could cause banana bread to sink. It’s also important to make sure that the center of the bread cooks well, and because ovens/elevations vary, you might need to adjust how long you leave it in the oven for. Maybe try cooking it for a little while longer?
Thank you 😍
This was AMAZING bread. Exactly what I was looking for–real, rich chocolate flavor, just the right amount of sweet but not too sweet, healthy staple ingredients, easy to whirl in the blender… I love it! I have always wanted to make a really chocolatey bread, so this will be my go-to from now on! Thank you for the great recipe!
I made it and I liked it. But it was a little bit dry. Any advice to male it moister?
I like to make sure my bananas are -really- ripe when making banana bread – the more brown spots the better! And if that doesn’t do it, then adding a few spoonfuls of applesauce to the batter will help as well. I’d do 2 or 3 spoonfuls, depending on how dry it was.
How you manage to stay so thin Amanda. I would be eating this every day!
I made this yesterday and it came out great. It tastes delicious and my husband likes it a lot. He loves healthy eating and seriously the oats do not alter the taste. I didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup instead. Looking forward to trying more of your other healthy recipes as well.
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Love this recipe hope you get back to posting new recipes again
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I’ve made this several times and it is fabulous. You would never guess it’s flourless. Texture is amazing and flavour so chocolatey. I love it. And it’s guilt free!
Thank you for this dear i love this.
This is the best flourless cake I ever had! Texture was amazing and very chocolatey! Loved it and will make again.
What a great recipe!! Delicious and easy! The granbabies loved it also. I made it in small loaf pans, was afraid I’d eat it all in first sitting:) Thanks
can you add spinach to get veggies in?
I made this recipe today and it turned out great. My husband and kids loved it. Good to know you can still have dessert and know that it’s not loaded with a bunch of unhealthy junk. Thanks for the great recipe we will definitely be making it again soon.
I’m so glad you and your family liked it, Jenny! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Hi, Long time reader ,first time commenting. This was awesome. I halved it and baked a small 6″ round cake. Both my hubby and daughter didnt let me keep it for the next day. I was skeptical as it was oats, but this was real good. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Looks delicious and I relate regarding the clutter!
You legit make the best looking and sounding quick breads. Every time you post one I’m like, “Yep, pinned for later!” I’m all out of bananas sadly but next time I get a batch of brown ones you’d better believe that this beautiful creation is getting baked! I bet my hubby would love a thick slice of this for dessert every night!
Ok, so I thought this was cool; the other day I was at a family from church’s house, and I discovered that they have your muffin book and they LOVE IT! Every week when I go over, the kids make a huge batch of one of your muffin recipes.
And I LOVE the blender for making batter. It’s especially nice for grinding up grains and then adding the other ingredients.
Oh my goodness, this looks so delicious and I will definitely be trying it gluten free! YUM! I love the way that the chocolate is really strong in flourless recipes and by the look of it this is going to be a winner. Thanks for sharing!
Can you sub almond flout or coconut flour for the oat flour……and if so, what amounts?
I will say, I like flourless cakes and breads because I feel like they are more dense and chocolatey. This looks good!