What to Do with (Very) Brown Bananas? Try a Delicious Vegan, Low-Waste, and Easy BANANA BREAD!

A great way to use the coop’s (half-price) ripe bananas. And you can also freeze bananas to make it later! Most ingredients available in bulk at the coop.

Recipe and photo by AmbitiousKitchen.com (Monique Volz)

Prep Time: 15min / Cook Time: 45min
Servings: 10 slices (~200 cal/slice).

  • Wet Ingredients:
  • 3 medium to large extra ripe bananas, mashed (1 to 1.5 cups) – Frozen bananas should be thawed first and drained of excess liquid.
  • 1/3 cup (75g) coconut oil
  • ½ cup (100g) brown sugar or coconut sugar
  • ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons dairy free milk (oat, soy, etc.) – Add 2 more if you use whole wheat flour
  • Dry ingredients:
  • 1 ¾ cups (210g) all-purpose flour
  • Gluten-free? Use or 1-to-1 GF flour replacement, with upcycled ingredients!
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • OPTIONAL: ½ cup chocolate chips
  • OPTIONAL: ½ cup chopped walnuts, pecans, etc.
  • Instructions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 8 ½*4 ½ inch pan. If you use a larger pan, note that your bread will be thinner and will take less time to cook.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. In another large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
  3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined: Do not overmix! Keep some lumps of bananas, etc. If you’d like, add the chocolate chips or nuts or both.
  4. Add the batter to the pan. Bake for 40-50min or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  5. Allow bread to cool in the pan for 5-10min, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  6. Serve sliced and cold. Can be served with nut butter spread on top.