This Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread is a super moist chocolate banana bread with a lovely peanut butter flavor. It’s also an egg-free chocolate banana bread, 100% vegan-friendly.
We love vegan banana bread, like my easy 3-Ingredient Banana Bread, Oatmeal Banana Bread, or 4-Ingredient Banana Bread, but my kids love even more when it’s loaded in chocolate! So I had to come up with a rich, chocolate-based banana bread recipe.
I shared recently my chocolate zucchini bread that was very similar in texture but didn’t include peanut butter, and since zucchini are not available all year-round, I needed to have a recipe that we (and you!) can make any season.
Peanut butter is a great plant-based protein that is also flavorsome when combined with banana and chocolate. So let’s see how to make this vegan chocolate banana bread with peanut butter.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make this simple chocolate bread are:
- Ripe Bananas – Use ripe bananas with black spots on their skins. These are the best banana to make banana recipes of any kind because they are so much more sweet and flavorsome.
- Coconut Sugar – or any crystal sweetener you love, including white sugar or brown sugar. I personally like the flavor of coconut sugar in this chocolate bread. It has a nice earthy caramel-like flavor.
- Light Olive Oil or any oil you have at home, including canola oil or coconut oil.
- Peanut Butter – use natural peanut butter with no added oil and no added sugar for the best results.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – I prefer using unsweetened cocoa to make it easier to balance the sweetness.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk or any non-dairy milk you love. Coconut milk will give the bread a coconutty taste, but soy, cashew, or oat milk are perfect.
- All-Purpose Flour – This recipe works with any gluten-free flour blend containing gums.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – This is key to giving the bread a light texture.
- Ground Cinnamon – For flavor.
- Vanilla Extract – vanilla brings out the chocolate flavors.
How To Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
This is the easiest chocolate bread ever. Let me share with you my tips to make it moist, chocolatey, and so good! It’s in fact the chocolate version of my vegan banana bread.
- First, peel and mash the bananas with a fork until it forms a puree. Measure the amount required by the recipe filling measuring cups. It matters to measure bananas precisely to prevent your bread from being too dry or too wet.
- Stir the mashed bananas with peanut butter, vanilla extract, and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
- Then when the mixture is evenly combined, stir in almond milk and coconut sugar.
- Next, in another bowl, whisk the remaining dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to combine evenly and remove any lumps the flour or cocoa powder may have formed. Set it aside.
- Finally, combine the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until combined. Don’t over mix the batter to avoid gummy bread.
- Fold in chocolate chips at the end and stir to incorporate.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with lightly oiled parchment paper.
- Fill the loaf pan with the batter and sprinkle a few extra chocolate chips on top if desired.
- Bake the chocolate banana bread on the center rack of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until a pick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. You can tent the loaf pan with a piece of foil after 30 minutes to prevent the top from browning too fast.
- Remove the bread from the oven, and pull the bread out of the pan using the hanging pieces of parchment paper.
- Release it on a cooling rack and let it cool down for 3 hours before slicing.
Serving
I love to decorate this chocolate bread with a drizzle of fresh peanut butter, melted dark chocolate, and extra chocolate chips.
You can serve the slice of bread plain or with extra toppings like:
- Almond butter or Peanut butter
- Banana slices
- Crushed peanuts
- With a scoop of Avocado Ice Cream
- Sliced with Vegan Whipped Cream
Storage
This bread can be stored for a few days at room temperature but lasts longer if stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Slice just before serving to preserve the bread’s moist texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the bread has no eggs, and low-carb flour won’t work in this recipe.
Absolutely, you can divide the amount of sugar by half but keep in mind that this chocolate bread will be slightly bitter with less sweetener.
In fact, the chocolate flavor is added by unsweetened cocoa powder. It’s a naturally bitter ingredient that needs sweeteners to mask its bitterness.
More Vegan Banana Bread Recipes
If you like banana bread recipes, you will love these:
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Mashed Ripe Bananas - equivalent 4 large riped bananas, black spots on the skin
- ⅓ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted)
- ⅓ cup Light Olive Oil - or canola oil
- ½ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
- ½ cup Coconut Sugar - or any granulated sugar you like
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour - or white wholewheat flour
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
Optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper and pan with oil spray or coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a potato masher or a fork or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer. Mash until almost no lumps show, it must be very runny for an ultra-moist texture. Measure 1 cup + 1/2 cup of mashed bananas – if extra, freeze for later.
- Stir the peanut butter, olive oil, vanilla extract. When the mixture is consistent stir in almond milk, coconut sugar, and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, stir flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until the batter is consistent.
- Fold in chocolate chips if desired.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the center rack of the oven until a pick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean – about 50 – 55 minutes. You can add a piece of foil on top of the pan after 30 minutes to prevent the banana bread from browning too fast.
- Cool down on a wire rack for 2-3 hours before slicing.
- Decorate with a drizzle of melted dark chocolate and extra fresh peanut butter if desired.
Storage
- Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or up to 5 days in the fridge in a sealed container. It can be frozen and thaw the day before at room temperature.
Can this be made glutenfree?
Probably, I didn’t try all purpose gluten-free flour yet but it might work.
Can this be made with sorghum flour
I haven’t tried, but if you do, let me know!
Is it cocoa powder or cacao powder?
I always bake with cocoa powder, cacao powder works as well but it deliver a stronger chocolate flavor, sometimes a bit bitter.
Easy-peasy and delicious!
This was absolutely delicious! I switched the flour for gluten-free flour and cooked it for 50 minutes, it came out perfect! Will be doing it again for sure 🙂
Can you use coconut oil?
Yes you can!
I made it gluten free. I used sorghum flour plus 1 tsp of guar gum instead of regular flour. It was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!
I baked a loaf this morning and it’s almost gone. It is delicious.
I know, it never last long in our house either 🙂
Can you substitute almond milk with regular milk?
I don’t use dairy in my recipes but I am pretty sure any milk will work.
This looks so good and I need to try it. Do you think I could use oat flour instead of what it says in the recipe?
I am not sure it will hold well with oat flour, I didn’t try this option yet so I can’t recommend sorry.