Gluten-Free Banana Bread (Made with Almond Flour)
This gluten-free banana bread is made with almond flour and naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. It's simple to make and so delicious! Paleo, too.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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Are we still baking banana bread? Is that still a thing? Of course it is. I developed this gluten-free banana bread recipe in response to one of the most common questions on my healthy banana bread recipe: “Can I make this with almond flour?”
While my go-to banana bread recipe offers other gluten-free options within the post (including a delicious oat flour option), the almond flour answer is not as straightforward. I think it took me seven tries to get this recipe just right!
This version required several modifications, so I’m sharing it as its own recipe today. I’ll also walk you through how I modified the recipe to work with almond flour, which might be helpful if it’s your preferred flour, or you happen to have a surplus in your pantry.
This banana bread is very tender, moist and decadent. These qualities are natural by-products of using almond flour and additional eggs to hold the bread together. This “bread” almost reminds me of pound cake in texture, and it could definitely pass as banana cake—perhaps you’d like to top it with cream cheese frosting.
While it’s different in texture from my favorite banana bread, this gluten-free banana bread is awesome in its own right. Like the other recipe, it’s easy to mix together—by hand, in one bowl, no less! It’s also naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. And, I believe it qualifies as paleo as well. Ready to make some?
How to Make Almond Flour-Based Banana Bread
I basically crossed my healthy banana bread recipe with the lemony-almond blueberry cake in my cookbook, Love Real Food (page 197). Here are the changes I made, and why:
Substituted the flour by measuring equal weight (in grams), not by volume (in cups).
Almond flour is actually lighter than “regular” flour (all purpose or whole wheat) when you’re measuring them in the same fashion (stirred, spooned into cups, and leveled with a knife). One cup of regular flour weighs about 125 grams, whereas one cup of almond flour weighs about 92 grams. I’ve found that flour substitutions work out better when you keep the weight constant. For example, 1 3/4 cups (220 grams) regular flour is the equivalent of 2 1/2 cups (230 grams, close enough) almond flour.
This is also true for oat flour. Interestingly, with almond flour, I’ve found that another way to keep the weight constant is to simply pack the almond flour into the measuring cups. When fully packed, you can use the original measurement of 1 3/4 cups.
Slightly decreased the oil.
Almonds, like all nuts, naturally contain some oil. They contain more oil than the very small amount you’ll find in whole wheat flour. Fun fact: all-purpose flour has been stripped of all oils, which is why it keeps longer.
I was able to reduce the amount of oil in this recipe slightly, by dropping the oil from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup. In fact, I was able to get by with as little as 2 tablespoons oil in this recipe, but I love the rich texture produced by 1/4 cup.
Omitted the milk.
Regular flour absorbs far more moisture than almond flour, which is hardly absorptive at all. I found that I didn’t need the small amount of milk (1/4 cup) called for in the original recipe.
Added two extra eggs.
Eggs are absolutely key to achieving a proper rise for baked goods made with almond flour. Most of my baked goods made with regular flour call for two eggs, while this one requires four, or the middle will be deeply sunken in and wet. (In fact, these pictures show the bread slightly sinking in the middle, but my other batches were perfectly mounded—perhaps the eggs used for the photos were smaller than the eggs I had used in previous tests).
Why do you need more eggs? Regular flours contain gluten, which is a protein that provides structure. It essentially creates a framework that fills with air pockets and stays lofty after baking. Almond flour is gluten free, which means that we’re going to have to find structure elsewhere. Real eggs are the only solution that I know of that can provide sufficient structure. Do not try to make this bread with flax eggs instead—you’ll end up with an unappetizing pudding-like situation.
Added baking powder, and decreased the baking soda.
While my banana bread recipe rises beautifully with baking soda, this nut flour-based version needs help from both baking soda and baking powder. Baking powder is double-acting, which means that it starts producing bubbles when mixed with liquid, and produces more bubbles when it’s heated.
Since we added baking powder (which actually contains some baking soda), we’ll decrease the amount of baking soda. Another reason is that baking soda is much stronger than baking powder, and we simply need less when they’re used together.
In summary: The answer to the question, “Can I substitute almond flour?” is not so simple! The good news is that I use a similar formula for many of my quick bread recipes (like my pumpkin bread and zucchini bread) and muffins, so you can likely use this recipe as a template to adjust the others.
Watch How to Make Gluten-Free Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe Notes
Almond Flour vs. Almond Meal
I’ve used almond meal interchangeably with almond flour in the past, but I strongly recommend using almond flour (made with blanched almonds) in this recipe for the best texture and flavor. I used Bob’s Red Mill’s super-fine almond flour (affiliate link).
How to Measure Almond Flour
Some of my other recipes specify packing the almond flour into the measuring cups, whereas for this one, you’ll measure the flour as you would any other (stir, spoon into cups, and level with a knife). You can read the reasoning behind this at the beginning of the previous section.
Oil & Flour Your Loaf Pan
This is really important! Generously oil and flour your loaf pan as shown in the photo above. If it looks excessive, you’re doing it right. If you don’t sufficiently oil/flour the pan, you might have trouble removing the loaf from the pan after baking.
Let the Bread Cool at Least 30 Minutes
Almond flour baked goods, since they’re gluten free, are especially delicate when they’re warm. You’ll need to let this bread cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before you try to remove it from the pan or slice it. Trust me!
Craving more?
Here are more gluten-free, almond flour-based treats:
- Almond Cake with Berries on Top
- Apple & Carrot “Superhero” Muffins
- Blueberry Almond Crisp
- Peach Crisp
And more banana-flavored treats:
- Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Banana Coconut Muffins or Healthy Banana Muffins
- Banana Nut Scones (vegan)
- Banana Oat Pancakes (gluten free) or Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
- Banana Oat Waffles (gluten free)
Gluten-Free Banana Bread (Made with Almond Flour)
Make this almond flour-based banana bread for a gluten-free treat (it’s paleo, too). Enjoy it for breakfast or a sweet snack. It’s decadent enough to pass as banana cake, especially if you top it with cream cheese frosting. Recipe yields 1 loaf, which is about 10 slices.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil or high-quality vegetable oil
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 ½ medium or 2 large bananas)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 ½ cups almond flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Generously grease your loaf pan’s base and sides with cooking oil spray or butter, and generously flour it with almond flour. (Don’t skip this step, or your bread might stick! See photos.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and honey. Whisk until blended together. Add the eggs, and whisk until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
- Add the mashed bananas, baking powder, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and whisk to combine.
- Finally, add the almond flour. Switch to a large spoon or spatula, and stir until the flour is fully incorporated into the batter. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the center of the loaf is fairly springy to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack to cool for at least 30 minutes (this bread is delicate while warm). Use a butter knife to loosen the edges of the bread from the pan, then carefully tip it over to release. Slice and serve!
Notes
Recipe adapted from my healthy banana bread (which also offers gluten-free options for oat flour and gluten-free all-purpose flour), and the lemony-almond blueberry cake in my cookbook, Love Real Food (page 197).
Change it up: If you want to make this bread extra fruity, you could add up to 1 cup blueberries (lightly floured in almond flour so they don’t sink). Your bread may need up to 1 hour 10 minutes in the oven with this addition. Or, I suspect you could add ½ cup mix-ins like chopped walnuts, pecans or chocolate chips without needing to adjust the baking time.
Storage suggestions: This bread is quite moist and will keep at room temperature for a couple of days, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze it for up to several months (slice it first if you’d like to be able to grab a single serving).
Egg free/vegan note: I always try to offer substitution options when possible, but this recipe is highly dependent upon real eggs for structure and lift. I do not know of a workable alternative.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Easy and tasty recipe! It was still wet 55mins into baking so, I just left it for another 10-15mins and it cooked through really well. I’ve made a number of your recipes and they always turn out great. Thanks Kate! ☺️
You’re welcome, Mel!
Just had to share that I’ve had an overabundance of pawpaws this year and used pawpaws in place of the banana. This was SOOOO good. If you ever have access to pawpaws, I highly recommend trying it out (and when the pawpaws are gone, you bet I’ll be making this with bananas)!
Great to hear, Bekah! I appreciate your review.
Delicious, moist & super easy to make, it’s going on my list of favorites, thank you Kate for another wonderful recipe
This banana bread recipe is incredible!! So light, and with the slightest satisfying crisp on top. Another winner from your website. We made these into muffins so they could be easily eaten by my young children. Adjusted the cooking time to about 38 minutes. I’ll definitely be checking out your other recipes.
Came out fluffy, sweet, and delicious! Disappeared at the brunch I brought it to.
Great to hear!
This was amazing! I added lite maple syrup, walnuts, and keto chocolate chips, turned out amazing!!
Great to hear, Jessica! I appreciate your review.
Made this bread today. It was perfection! Thank you for posting such great content.
You’re welcome, Carolyn!
This is my go to banana bread, incredibly flavoursome and very moist! I’ve made it at least 5 times and no matter the crowd, it’s always a pleaser!
Love to hear that, Bec! Thank you for your review.
I have this recipe on repeat but as muffins. I just shorten cooking time to 20 minutes and it’s perfect. My toddler loves them and I get to use leftover bananas!
This is the second time I make it, it always turns out perfect!
Wonderful, Andrea! Thank you for sharing.
I put them in donut molds they are baking now. I added extra cinnamon. The batter is so yummy. 16 minutes later— bam! I finished them off with cinnamon n good earth stevia/monkfruit packets. Healthy donuts for the week. I made your triple batch. Love love love your recipes. Mel
I made this recipe as muffins and used hazelnut flour in place of the almond (by weight it was 240 grams). I increased the cinnamon by 1/2 tsp. and added 1/2 cup of dairy free white chocolate chips. I baked them for 30 minutes at 325 degrees; they were perfect! This will definitely become part of our FODMAP rotation. Thank you, Kate!
I’ve made this twice now and both times it has turned out lovely. I chosevto use baking paper instead of the oil and flour for the tin. Came out easily. Thanks for a great recipe.
You’re welcome, Jenny!
This is a great recipe! My family is addicted!
Great to hear, Lindsay! Thank you for your review.
Sooo delicious!
We all loved it, including people who don’t always approve of my “healthy” desserts. Followed instructions and used the maple syrup option and added Lilly’s chocolate chips.
Great to hear, Leela! Thank you for your review.
I followed your recipe exactly (55 minutes) for my turn as the “tea lady” at choir. I dislike baking, am not good at it, and don’t even care for sweets, but needs must. The results were excellent. I am so grateful. Thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Linda!
Turned out perfectly.
I used almond meal and substituted 1/2 cup for hemp protein powder.
I also left out the sugar as the banana alone is sweet enough for me.
Will use this recipe often.
Delicious bread. I followed the exact recipe. Thanks
Too sweet for me. Next time I would add one more banana and cut in half the honey.
I’m obsessed with this gluten free banana bread. It is so moist and delicious. Everyone who tries it absolutely loves it. Thank you. I was curious if I should be using the bake convection feature or just the regular conventional oven? I’ve had to play around with the temp and time to get it perfect.
Great to hear, Angela! I appreciate you sharing.
This banana bread is amazing, even better than the original, whole grain flour recipe – very soft, not too sweet, with rich taste. The only downside – it’s hard to refrain yourself from having yet another slice.
Do you think this would bake well as a single layer cake? If so, how long should I bake it for, in a 9″ round cake pan? Thanks :)
I haven’t tried it, but it may work. Let me know if you try it!
This recipe was an utter disaster for me. I followed it to a tee and my batter resembled a dough. Not sure what happened but seemed like way too much flour. Very disappointed in how much money was wasted and on these ingredients.
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that. How did you measure your flour?
Hi Kate, I used a measuring cup/jug. I am tempted to try this recipe again using measuring cups and see if that makes a difference. I have an autistic son who has a very restricted diet and I’ve changed up his safe foods for healthier versions (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free) so I’ve been trialing banana breads and I was really hoping this would be the one he would love. Would you suggest this banana bread or your other gluten free banana bread taste closer to ‘unhealthy’ banana bread because that’s what my son loves ‘sigh’
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
I’ve not yet tried to make this bread, but will in the very near future. Being gluten free, baking has not been much fun – and I used to love to bake, so I am very much looking forward to giving this and some other GF breads/muffins in the very near future.
I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Barbara
I have no problem using butter. Do you think it will taste better than olive/coconut oil?
Also I’d like to add chocolate chips in it. What do you think?
Thank you SO much! Your explanation and science experiments are gold
I prefer this recipe best as written. I like to use oil in some situations and use butter in others. You can add chocolate chips if you like. Let me know what you think!
Hi! I have tried a number of almond flour banana bread/muffin recipes and yours is by far the best! I’ve made it twice in the past two weeks, and it’s come out great. So thank you! I think it is the extra eggs and baking powder, as you described, that makes the bread less dense and gives it a finer texture. Do you have similar recipes for almond flour breads using other ingredients (like pumpkin, zucchini, etc.? Thanks again for the delicious recipe. PS…I did reduce the sweetener to 1/4 cup because the bananas are sweet enough for my taste.
I used avocado oil and doubled the amount of bananas.
Combined honey with maple syrup to 1/4 cup in total as my bananas were very ripe and sweet.
Came out absolutely delicious and so light and fluffy.
Thank you for this healthier option.
You’re welcome, Iwona!
This was absolutely delicious! Really tasty and moist. Thank you. It’s gone in my favourite recipes folder.
You’re welcome, Laura!
how much flour and how many eggs, bananas?
Hi Gerald! The recipe card with ingredients and instructions are below the blog post.
So I was a little lost with the almond meal/flour
Mine looked a little wetter than yours
I used an organic baking powder
and normal soda
My flour/meal was crumbly so I mixed/folded a little more
Probably cooked it a little more
Maybe 70 minutes not fan forced
It came out perfect
No sinking in the middle either
Anyhow, wish I could post a pic
I haven’t been able to eat banana bread for the longest time due to my gluten sensitivity. I tried making this for the first time with my daughter, replaced some almond flour with oat flour, and it turned out moist and so good. There was no way anyone would have known it was gluten free. Can you post a gluten free blueberry muffin/cake recipe? Thank you!
You’re welcome! You can use all-purpose gluten free flour in my Simple Blueberry Cake recipe.
This is one of THE best gf banana bread recipes ever. So moist. I used both honey & maple syrup (1/4 cup each), and added walnuts. Thank you so much for sharing this one!!
You’re welcome, Magda!
Out of all banana bread recipes I’ve ever made (with or without gluten), this was by FAR the best.
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Jay.
I’ve made this recipe with chocolate chips and baked in muffin cases for 35 min or so. They came out just wonderful, very tasty. Thank you Cookie and Kate!
I’m not a baker at all and this was an amazing hit! Easy directions, simple to follow. Will make again.
Great to hear, Dayn! I appreciate your review.
Fantastic recipe! Added a few teaspoons of hemp & chia seeds, along with dark chocolate chips and a mix of pecan & walnuts. Moist and delicious. Cut half into slices & froze. Thanks for such a great GF recipe!
You’re welcome, Lau!
I never thought I’d find a gluten free option that WORKS.
WOW, wow just wow.
Try it everyone.
It’s awesome.
Thank you to Cookie and Kate.
I am now addicted to your page.
55 mins it’s still wet so I added another 15 mins, PERFECT.
Added walnuts and choc chips too. Mmmm, so yum.
Great to hear, Amanda!