I don’t follow a gluten free diet, but I have friends who do, so I’m always exploring gluten free recipes. Additionally, I’m always looking to make things more nutritious, which is why I’m super excited about this even better gluten free banana bread. I’m calling this “even better gluten free banana bread” because I do have a gluten free banana bread recipe (linked here) posted on my website. It’s good, but it’s made with quinoa flour so you can definitely taste the difference and taste the quinoa in it.
This recipe is made with a combination of oat flour and brown rice flour which makes it taste nearly identical to my regular banana bread recipe (linked here) that I use all the time. I’m completely positive that no one would have any inkling that this recipe was gluten free unless you told them.
Even Better Gluten Free Banana Bread Ingredients
- 3 medium ripe or over-ripe bananas
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (I use 2%)
- ½ stick (¼ cup) salted butter, melted
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2/3 cup brown rice flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup gluten free oat flour (ground oats)
- ½ teaspoon xantham gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix bananas until they are broken down and mashed up. Add in yogurt, butter, oil, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract, and mix to combine. Next, mix in the eggs, one at a time until everything comes together.
In a separate bowl, mix the brown rice flour, cornstarch, oat flour, xantham gum, baking soda, and baking powder. If you’re making your own oat flour like I do, just grind up 1 cup of rolled oats in a blender until they become the consistency of whole wheat flour. If you’re using this method, once you’ve ground your oats into oat flour, I recommend adding the rest of the dry ingredients to the blender and giving it a quick buzz just to make sure that everything is really well distributed and that there aren’t any big clumps of baking soda in the mixture.
***Note that not all oats are gluten free. Be sure that your oats say “gluten free” on the packaging.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until everything is just combined and the dry ingredients are moistened.
Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Add the batter to the loaf pan and smooth out the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour until the banana bread is cooked through. Test by inserting a toothpick. You might get some moist crumbs, but should not get any gooey batter when you pull it out. Let it rest in the pan until it’s cool enough to handle, then slice and serve. This makes 12-15 servings. You can always slice up this even better gluten free banana bread and freeze the slices so you can simply pop one in the toaster in the morning when you want a healthy and delicious breakfast.
Enjoy!