This nourishing banana bread features the world’s tiniest whole grain, teff. Teff is a seed with a subtly sweet, nutty flavor. Look for it in flour form, or buy the whole seeds and grind them in a blender or food processor to make nourishing gluten-free flour. 

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe bananas
  • ¼ cup unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup teff flour
  • 2 tablespoons pure cane sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon regular or sodium-free baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 pinches sea salt
  • 10 to 15 raisins, soaked and drained

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x4-inch nonstick or silicone loaf pan with parchment paper.
  • In a bowl mash bananas with a fork. Stir in milk, vinegar, and vanilla until well mixed. In another bowl stir together the next seven ingredients (through salt). Add milk mixture to flour mixture; gently fold until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle raisins on top.
  • Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let loaf cool completely before slicing.

Comments (46)

(5 from 15 votes)

Recipe Rating

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Michael

Thank you for this great recipe simple to prepare and absolutely delicious! Have made several times without salt, sugar or raisins (substituted fresh blueberries and dash of pomegranate molasses).

Laura

My daughter requires gluten free but is also allergic to bananas. Does anyone know what can be substituted for bananas? It seems that most of the no oil, low sugar recipes use bananas.

Teresa

Hi Laura. I have very successfully substituted pumpkin purée for bananas in recipes. I plan to try it with this one just for a little different flavor. Just keep in mind that pumpkin is less sweet, but it should still taste great especially with the cinnamon in the recipe already.

Michael Maguire

Is very good, just wondering if I can double the ingredients to make a larger portion? The bread only 1/2 filled the 8 x 4 loaf pan.

Courtney Davison

Hi Michael, You can try it, but with twice the batter you’ll need to increase the baking time. Start with the original baking time and test every 10 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Hope this helps; let us know how it works out! Thank you, Courtney Editor, Forks Over Knives

Andrea G.

Is the sugar really necessary? It seems the bananas would provide enough sweetness - unless sugar is necessary for baking process.

Marylynn

Does anyone know how to modify this for high altitude baking? Thanks.

Janet

What is teff flour and is there a substitute for it?

KL Porter

Grocery store. Safeway, Albertsons, Target. Bob's Red Mill Teff Flour.

Michael Maguire

I found Maskal Teff (brown teff flour) @ Whole Foods. More fiber than Bobs.

Rowyn

Great recipe! Super moist and delicious. I subbed the sugar for 3 tbs maple syrup, loved it, also doubled the cinnamon for preference. I tried using half oat flour/half teff as another comment recommended, but I found it came out a little gummy. Definitely preferred using all teff :)

Janet

Is there a substitute for teff?

Eric

What substitutions for the table sugar do y’all recommend?

Angélique Kodia

You can use mashed dates !

Megan Edwards

Hi Eric, You can use coconut sugar or date sugar to replace the cane sugar. Let us know how it goes!

Wendy Nusche

Apple sauce at a ratio of 1:1.

Carrie

Mine is gooey. I used tapioca flour couldn't find teff flour . Do you think that's why. Cooked for 42 min . Came out clean . But sank. First time trying to cook like this. Ideas !

Susan

Tapioca flour is not an appropriate substitute for teff. Tapioca is a starchy flour, like corn starch or arrowroot. It is a thickener, holds water. Teff is a replacement for whole wheat flour in gluten free baking. Buckwheat is the closest replacement for teff I can think of

Shirley

It was delicious!

Monica

I've baked gluten free for 23 years. Tapioca would not work well for this recipe. It would definitely be gummy. Whole grain sorghum flour would likely work well as a substitute for Teff. If you are not in need of gluten free, whole wheat flour would work great.

Ecaterina

My favourite GF banana bread recipe. Thank you!

Pasqualina Arnaldo

Cassava Flour would work great ! And it is gluten free.

Gloria Pleasants

I really want to make this! Recipe looks amazing! Since I live alone, and prefer to make recipes such as this in silicone mini muffin tins to have better portion control and self discipline, has anyone tried making it in bite size muffins?

Sophie

Hi Gloria. I’ve made this and sliced and frozen it then just toast the slices I want (it’s so good toasted!) from frozen or defrost them to eat untoasted.

Lisa

I would totally make it in muffin tins with silicon liners and shorten the time to about 25 to 30 minutes and then test center by the fork test in the middle. I do this all the time with these sort of loaf recipes.

Michael Ferron

Just received my Teff flour. Baked this recipe today. Excellent! Wrote it down so I will not lose it. Amazed it taste so well without oil and eggs. Keep up the great recipes.

Linda

Mine sunk, anyone have any tips for next time!

Astrid

It could need longer in the oven or maybe need a spoon more flour.

Linda

This is my new favorite bread. Stays moist and so tasty!

Shellie

Delicious recipe. Finally something to do with my teff flour.

Elke Royal

I found this recipe today while looking for something to use my old bananas for. We do not need to eat gluten-free and I was wondering if I should use self rising flour or all purpose flour, if I need to change the amount of flour and if I need to change any of the other ingredients please

Carol

Love this loaf! Can’t leave it alone once it’s ready to eat. Wondering what might happen if I added an egg or two.

Linda Darling

Can you substitute almond flour for the teff flour??

H. Cooray

I tried this with rice flour and it was delicious. Used the blender to mix the banana with a little extra milk. Thank you!

Vb

The teff does indeed make it taste and look 'chocolatey'. I also added a few choc chips on top with raisins. However don't you find just one cuo of flour makes a very small, flat loaf. Still edible but... Next tune will either use 2 cuos of teff and adjust leavening agents as well, and double the bananas or might use half teff and half oat flour and add a binder like ground chia seeds.

Lorraine

Vb i love your creativity. Adding oat flour makes good sense. Can I just put oatmeal in the blender? Then how much chia seeds?

Ralph

Vegan, gluten-free, fat-free (except for the optional nuts), and if your bananas are quite ripe you can even omit the sugar - I used half a tablespoon and it was plenty sweet: next time I’ll just add more raisins. Flavor and texture both fine.

Cynthia

I made mine with some sustitute ingredients since I want use some ripe bananas and unfortunately not really have specific the same ingredients.. I used whole wheat flour, almond extract , coconut sugar and I toss the raising in the mix ☺️

Pamela

I have made this several times and it's excellent! The teff gives it a kind of chocolatey flavor. I add the raisins to the batter rather than on top, where they fall off.

Kelley

Delicious! Is this fine to leave out on the counter?

Tracey Lewis

I made this with Sorghum flour instead of Teff. It still came out great! It is a but crumbly though. Any suggestions for binders to hold it together?

Larissa

Maybe try some flax seed meal and water. When you mix it and let it sit for a couple minutes, it creates an egg-white like texture. Curious to see how it would turn out.

Nick

I love this recipe! It came out perfect and I had trouble not eating the whole thing. Teff is awesome to work with and I love that this recipe is affordable too. The ingredients are simple and most people already have them in their house.

Jen

I just made this and its a winner! I've been asked to make another loaf soon since the first one is almost gone!

Amanda

Wondering if anyone has successfully substituted the Teff flour with another gluten free one.

Chicory

Amanda - it should work to substitute gluten-free buckwheat flour for the teff flour. They are both tiny pseudo grains and their flours have similar weight and texture. I might try it soon. If so, I will update here. :)

About the Author

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About the Author

Darshana Thacker Wendel

Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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