Spinach Banana Bread (Vegan)

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Spinach Banana Bread (Vegan)

A recipe for moist banana bread that is vegan and has a healthy dose of spinach for a vibrant green and healthy loaf. 

Course Brunch

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 10 slices

Ingredients

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup milk of choice
• 1/2 cup vegan butter (earth balance)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup raw spinach
• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chopped or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a loaf tin with parchment paper

2. In a blender combine vegan milk, vinegar, spinach, bananas, vanilla, and blend. Once spinach is finely broken down, pour in sugar and blend to combine further. Add 1-3 tsp more milk if needed to loosen mixture if unable to blend. 

3. Melt vegan butter and pour into blender and mix until combined, about 10 seconds. 

4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the medium bowl of dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Batter should be smooth with no flour streaks or lumps. 

6. Mix in dark chocolate and pour into loaf tin. 

7. Bake for 40-45 minutes depending on your oven, when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean remove to cool. 

8. Let cool in loaf tin for 15 minutes before flipping onto a cooling rack to cool fully before slicing to avoid crumbling. 

This recipe is the solution to all your problems.

That’s possibly an overstatement…

This recipe is the solution to your overripe banana problems.

Seriously though don’t you hate when you buy a bunch of bananas and you think you have plenty of time to eat them all before they ripen and then all of a sudden days have passed and you forgot to eat your bananas and they’re spotted all over and there’s no way you can eat four bananas in one day and you have a mini crisis in the kitchen but then remember that having more food than you need is a good problem to have and thankfully you live in the developed world with no shortage of food.

Or is that just a me thing??

Having lots of overripe bananas happens to me far more often than I’d like to admit especially considering I’m such a nutcase about food waste. My solution is usually one of two things:

a) slice the bananas and put in a bag in the freezer for using in smoothies or ‘nice cream’ at a later date

b) toss them in the freezer whole to use for vegan banana bread later

I realize as I type these two solutions out it’s basically just one solution – freeze them. The difference is that I find it easier to use chopped banana for blending and am sometimes too lazy to chop them so the whole ones get tossed in the freezer now and again. If I am going the banana bread route, I find it easiest to take the bananas out of the freezer first thing, start gathering all my ingredients together and preheating the oven etc then by the time the recipe calls for the bananas they are soft, a little warm, and ready to go into the batter.

Blending magical ingredients

As do most of my recipes, this one uses a blender to sneakily get a healthy dose of spinach in there. These could be the perfect baking project for St. Patrick’s day since the banana bread slices have a nice green hue to them! I promise you everyone will think you’ve just added food coloring you do not taste the spinach at all.

This banana bread is vegan and uses vegan butter, I love earth balance when available, but any vegan butter or vegetable oil spread will do, the butter has a certain flavor to it that adds a hint of saltiness but this will be delicious either way. You do need to melt it a bit or let it soften in order for it to mix well into the other ingredients. You’ll want to give your blender an extra good cleaning after as blending with butter can leave a little oil residue behind.

This is a great banana bread recipe and a wonderful reminder that you don’t need to use animal products to get a delicious moist dessert! Go look for some ripe bananas in your freezer and try this one out.