These Banana Scones are easy 3-ingredient vegan banana bread scones. They are easy to make in less than 30 minutes, oil-free, and easy to customize by adding nuts, maple glaze, or chocolate chips.
The first recipes I shared on this blog were a vegan blueberry scone recipe and a vegan chocolate chip scone recipe. I am a big fan of scones, and since my husband is vegan, creating my own vegan scone recipe – meaning scones without eggs or butter was a must!
I love scones because they are such a good mix between a bread roll and a banana muffin for breakfast. The crumb is a bit flakey and buttery but still firm and crusty, like a bread roll.
I created these banana scones to use all my ripe bananas, and I thought adding some calcium and vegan yogurt to the dough would be a good idea instead of oil or vegan butter. I had great success with plant-based yogurt and flour in my 2-ingredient donuts recipe.
That’s why I choose these 3 simple ingredients in this banana scone recipe: self-rising flour, plant-based yogurt, and mashed banana. The result is fantastic, a soft, fluffy crumb and crusty outer layer. The best banana bread scones ever and ready in 30 minutes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Self-Rising Flour – I like quick and easy baked goods, and having some homemade self-rising flour in your pantry is a must. Simply stir a cup of flour for 2 teaspoons of baking powder. You can also buy ready-made self-rising flour in the grocery store, it saves time.
- Plant-Based Vanilla Yogurt – I love my vanilla cashew Greek yogurt, but any kind of vanilla yogurt works in this recipe. You can pick a yogurt made from soy, oat, almond, or coconut. I like the sweetened vanilla flavor of the yogurt with the banana. It avoids adding vanilla extract or sugar to the dough.
- Ripe Bananas – Go for a batch of ultra-ripe bananas with dark spots on their skin. This way, the flavors of the scones will be strong and sweet. My expert tip is to mash the banana with a fork, and pack in a measuring cup to measure exactly the amount called by the recipe (full measurement below). If you measure the mashed bananas precisely, you are sure you nail the dry-to-wet ratio of ingredients.
How To Make Banana Scones
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper with a cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- Peel and mash the bananas with a fork or in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Measure the amount called in the recipe below. This matters a lot because not all bananas are of the same size and if you add too much mashed banana, the scone dough will be too sticky. On the other hand, if you add less mashed banana, the dough won’t form – it will be dry and crumbly.
- Place the mashed bananas, yogurt, and self-rising flour in a large bowl and stir with a rubber spatula. Then, flour your hands and knead to bring the ingredients together, you can also work the dough in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment – it’s less messy and faster!
- The dough is ready when soft but not too sticky – it’s always a bit crumbly, unperfect and not smooth, and that’s what you want.
- Sprinkle flour on a work surface, place the dough in front of you, sprinkle more flour on top, and press with your hands to flatten the dough into about 2 cm/0.8 inches. Of course, you can use a roller pin to spread the dough, but I like that the top of the scones are imperfect and not smooth. That’s why I work the dough with nicely floured hands and no roller pin.
- Then, use a 5cm cookie cutter, or scone cutter, and press to cut out some scones.
- Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet, and using a pastry brush, brush the top with yogurt.
- Bake the scones for 15 to 17 minutes at 390°F (200°C) until golden brown on top.
- Let them cool at room temperature for 30 minutes on a cooling rack then enjoy!
Banana Bread Scones Add-Ons
You can add some of the following ingredients in the dough, to add banana bread flavors:
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 cup of mini dark chocolate chips
- A pinch of salt
- A teaspoon of vanilla extract
Serving Scones
These scones are delicious cut in half and with some spread like:
- Vegan butter and jam
- Nut-butters – like almond butter, peanut butter, or cashew butter
- Homemade baby jam
- Date caramel
- Coconut frosting
- Vegan whipped cream and jam
- Maple glaze – whisk 1/2 cup of icing sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup and drizzle on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can spread the entire dough into a large circle onto the prepared baking sheet. The dough thickness should be the same as for cut-out scones – thickness 0.8 inch/2 cm. Then, use a long sharp knife or pastry cutter to evenly divide the dough into wedges. Bake the scones as recommended in the recipe below.
I didn’t try all-purpose self-rising gluten-free flour for this recipe, but it might work. Almond flour, oat flour, and coconut flour won’t work at all.
You can stir in up to 1/4 cup of sugar, dark brown sugar, or coconut sugar. Add at the same time you add the self-rising flour.
More Scone Recipes
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Banana Scones
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups Self-Rising Flour - + 1/4 cup to work the dough
- 1 ⅓ cup Mashed Banana - a bit less than 3 large bananas
- ⅔ cup Vanilla Plant-Based Yogurt - + a bit more to brush on top of the scones
Optional
- ½ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips - or chopped pecans, walnuts
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and slightly oil with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the banana and mash with a fork, or use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer.
- Pack the mashed bananas in a measuring cup to measure 1 cup + 1/3 cup of mashed bananas.
- Return the mashed banana to the mixing bowl, and add in yogurt and self-rising flour. If you pick some of the optional ingredients, add cinnamon and sugar now.
- Stir with a spoon at first, then flour your hands to knead the dough – or use the stand mixer's paddle attachment. The dough is sticky and crumbly. You need to squeeze and knead to form a dough. The dough will be rough, imperfect, and not smooth, and that's normal.
- If used, fold in chocolate chips or nuts now.
- Clean your hands if they are too messy, and lightly oil your hands with olive oil to prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers. I also oil the cookie cutter so it doesn't stick to the dough when I cut the scones.
- Srpinkle2 tablespoons of flour on the work surface, and place the dough on it, sprinkle a bit more flour on top and using your hands, or a roller pin, press and flatten into a 0.8-inch thickness (2cm).
- Use the cookie cutter (5 cm) to press and cut out pieces of dough.
- Place the cut-out scones on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a thumb space between each. They expand a bit in the oven, but mostly in height, not width.
- Gather the pieces of leftover dough, press them together, and roll/flatten again to cut more scones out of it.
- Use a pastry brush to brush the top of each scone with yogurt.
- Bake the scones on the center rack of the oven for 15 to 17 minutes at 390°F (200°C) until the top is golden brown.
- Cool down on a cooling rack.
great, easy, delicious recipe.