These healthy vegan banana brownies are a tried-and-true reader favorite! Made with oat flour, they have a light, cake-like texture, with hints of banana bread and rich chocolate flavor. They're a sweet treat you can feel 100% great about! Made without oil or refined sugar, these banana brownies are WFPB (whole-food, plant-based), gluten-free, and dare I say it, healthy enough for breakfast!
The Best Healthy Brownies
Not long ago I was working on a different brownie recipe (these fudgy almond flour brownies) and doing some research to get ideas.
I fully admit I've been living a somewhat sheltered, healthy-ish plant-based lifestyle for a long time, and I know my tastes have changed. But looking at some of the brownie recipes online kind of blew my mind!
We're talking heaps of butter, coconut oil, sugar, and flour... not to mention the chocolate! I honestly can't imagine the tummy ache I would have after eating something that intensely rich, and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Lightened-up versions of classic vegan desserts like these oil-free brownies are totally my jam! Gotta love a dessert that doesn't leave you feeling sluggish and that's healthy enough for everyday!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love Banana Brownies
One cup of mashed, overripe banana provides moisture, binding, and sweetness, which means we need less sugar. And speaking of sugar, we're not using any of the refined stuff. We're using a combo of maple syrup and coconut sugar to make these healthy brownies taste dessert-worthy.
Oat flour provides awesome texture, nut butter gives them a bit of richness, and cocoa powder brings ALL the chocolate vibes. That's right, there's no actual chocolate in these, unless you want to add chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate.
At only 120 calories per brownie, these are surprisingly light, so I wanted to be sure to give you a heads up!! If you're looking for a super dense, fudgey type of brownie, these may not be the ones for you...
But if you like the sound of a refined sugar-free, cake-like brownie married with the warm flavor of banana bread and the crunch of walnuts, you're definitely in the right place!
Ingredient Notes
- Bananas - make sure to use bananas that are very soft, sweet, fragrant, and moist. Since we're not using oil, a lot of the moisture in the brownies comes from the bananas.
- Oat flour - use fine oat flour, whether store-bought or homemade in a high speed blender.
- Cocoa powder - regular or Dutch process.
- Sweeteners - maple syrup contributes moisture and flavor, so I can't recommend a substitute. Brown sugar may be used instead of coconut sugar.
- Almond butter - I like raw, unsalted almond butter in this recipe. Use your favorite nut or seed butter. If it's salted, reduce the sea salt to ¼ teaspoon.
- Coffee - just 1 tablespoon of brewed coffee really adds to the rich flavor. A bit of liquid is also important for the overall consistency of the batter. So if you don't have coffee, use your favorite non-dairy milk instead.
- Cinnamon - adds depth and lovely banana bread vibes! But if you don't enjoy cinnamon feel free to reduce or omit it.
See recipe card below for amounts and full instructions.
Instructions
The process is really easy and goes like this:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- In a smaller bowl mash the bananas very well with a fork (or squeeze them with your clean hands).
- Stir the other wet ingredients into the banana.
- Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until well combined. Fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the brownie batter into the pan, and bake for 28 to 31 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Video
Click to play the video and see how the brownies are made.
Tips for Slicing
The only difficult thing about this recipe might be waiting while they cool! Between the bananas, cinnamon, maple, and cocoa, they smell totally irresistible.
Since these brownies are gluten-free and have a tender, cake-like texture, it's best to wait until they're completely cool before cutting into squares. I know it's tough, but I believe in you!
And hey, if the smell of chocolate banana brownies overtakes your will, and you cut into them a bit early, is a bit of crumbly, moist, chocolatey goodness really such a bad thing? I think not.
Serving Suggestions
For breakfast:
Imagine this... you wake up the next day, and while enjoying a hot cup of coffee or tea you pull a healthy banana brownie straight out of the fridge for breakfast. And maybe you even pair it with a spoonful of peanut butter to make it extra filling. There are worse ways to start the day!
After lunch or as a snack:
These are perfect on-the-go or as an afternoon snack since they're fine at room temperature all day.
For dessert:
I'm perfectly happy having one or two of these after dinner as a healthy dessert. If you want to kick up the dessert-factor, serve these with your favorite non-dairy whipped cream or ice cream plus a dash of cinnamon on top!
Banana brownies taste fantastic with a scoop of any of these vegan ice creams:
- Vanilla-Maple Oat Ice Cream (a reader favorite!)
- Pumpkin Oat Ice Cream
- Banana Nice Cream
- Butter Pecan Oat Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chickpea Ice Cream (nut-free)
Substitutions
- Almond butter - try them with tahini, sunbutter, peanut butter, or cashew butter.
- Flour - though I haven't tested the recipe yet with other whole-grain flours, I do think it will be fairly forgiving. The key is to use the same weight in grams. For example, if you wanted to use white whole-wheat flour instead of oat flour, use ¾ cup (approx. 90 grams) instead of 1 cup.
- Cocoa powder - for the best flavor I recommend regular cocoa powder instead of raw cacao powder (though you can definitely use cacao if that's what you have). And as noted in the recipe, if using Dutch process cocoa instead of regular, use baking powder instead of baking soda.
Storage
Once the brownies are cool, I like to leave them on the parchment paper and transfer them to a storage container with a tight-fitting lid. If you need to stack them to fit inside the container, place parchment between the layers to prevent sticking.
The brownies can be stored at room temperature for a day or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I actually prefer them cool straight from the fridge.
Banana brownies freeze well, too. They thaw fairly quickly, so just pull one from the freezer an hour or two before you'd like to eat.
Top Tip
Make sure to use very ripe bananas with plenty of dark spots. They should be sweet, fragrant, and moist since they provide a lot of the moisture in the brownies.
More vegan oat flour recipes:
I hope you love these deliciously healthy Vegan Banana Brownies! If you try the recipe please leave a comment below to let us know! You can also tag me on facebook or instagram with @myquietkitchen.
📖 Recipe
Healthy Vegan Banana Brownies (Oil-Free)
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup oat flour (100 g) - Use certified gluten-free oat flour if needed.
- ½ cup natural cocoa powder - If using Dutch-processed cocoa (alkalized), replace the baking soda with baking powder.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (replace with baking powder if using Dutch-processed cocoa)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup mashed overripe banana (about 2 large bananas) - Use bananas with a lot of dark spots
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut sugar - Can sub brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon brewed coffee or non-dairy milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup runny almond butter, unsalted - Or any nut/seed butter you like; will alter flavor.
Addition:
- ½ cup chopped raw walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together the oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- Place the bananas in a small bowl, and mash with a fork. It's fine to have a few larger pieces remaining. Measure to make sure you have 1 cup of mashed banana. Add the maple syrup, coconut sugar, vanilla, and almond butter, and stir vigorously until combined.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and stir to combine. Fold in the walnuts.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan, and bake for 28 to 31 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let brownies rest in the pan for 30 minutes, then lift out by parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com.
Jaime
These brownies. Oh my gosh. They are so good. And I've tried a lot of brownie recipes. I can't STAND the ones that ask you to use chickpeas or black beans because for some reason I always taste the bean. But these are AMAZING! Like no joke. I went a bit further and made a quick chocolate icing. Oh my gosh...*drooling* I'm so happy I found these. I'm gonna check out your other recipes too.
Duffer
Wow. These are great. Okay, I made a few substitutions: used a 1/3 of a cup of PBfit instead of almond butter, used a quarter cup of applesauce instead of coconut sugar, put in a tablespoon of coffee of finely ground coffee, and put in pecans instead of walnuts. I bake it in a 9 inch and it took 20 minutes. These brownies are great. Next time, I'm going to put in 3/4 cup of cacao instead of 1/2 cup. Thank you so much. Now I have an oil free terrific brownie recipe. I fed it to a picky neighbor and she said I could leave half of them with her. I didn't.
Camila
Best vegan brownies I’ve probably ever had! I didn’t have enough banana so I used apple sauce as well. I chose peanut butter for the nut butter and it was delish! Loved the touch of cinnamon too. Left them in the oven for 25 for extra fudge.
Lauren
these are the best plant based brownies I've tried so far! they were a favourite among the whole family and my boyfriend who is not a sweet tooth at all absolutely loved them, he couldn't help himself and kept going back for more. they turned out so moist and light, and use ingredients you would usually have sitting in the pantry, too easy! would recommend for anyone plant based or not as this will be my go to recipe for whenever I have some ripe bananas to use up! thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Kleep
You wouldnt believe these were dairy free if I told you! We used this recipe because we had some rotting bananas we had no idea what to do with and we were happy to find a yummy dairy free recipe! We arent even vegan! Thanks for this recipe, they came out delicious, and FYI to anyone reading this, regular flour works just fine! Tempted to try these with almond flour for something lower carb.
M
I love these brownies! They are a regular at our house. Thanks for such an amazing and simple recipe!!
Lori
That's awesome, M. Thank you for the feedback!
Aubree
These look really good, but I feel like if you're going to advertise that they're only 120 calories per brownie, you should point out that 1 brownie/serving=only 1/16 of the pan. I can't be sure how small your slices are in the photos, but they look closer to the typical 1/9 of the pan that most people would slice an 8x8in dish of brownies into (which would almost double the calories). Slicing them into 16 would be much smaller, closer to bite-sized brownies - which maybe some people are looking for, but it's not standard or expected. And yes I know you put the correct serving size in the recipe card, but in the post itself the brownies look a lot bigger than 1/16 of an 8x8in pan. It's not a big deal (just a pet peeve of mine) but it seems a bit misleading.
Lori
Hi Aubree, actually the brownies in the photos *are* cut into 16 squares, exactly as described in the recipe card. Here is a different angle. https://myquietkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/healthy-brownies.jpg
The photos in the post were shot fairly close up because I wanted to show the texture and yummy banana bits. I suppose they look large because of that. My goal is always to provide clear, accurate information, and that's why I mentioned that these contain 120 calories per square. The chocolate looks very rich on the screen, so I wanted to make it EXTRA clear that these are light so there's no confusion. For me a serving is more like 2 or 3 squares!! But not everyone will want the same amount.
mimi
Well.. I was expecting more..
Maybe you can call it cake, but not brownies. They were rather dry - altough I put 1 banana additionally and baked it only 30min.
too bad, my hopes were high -I usually love vegan baking
Lori
Hi Mimi, yes these are a light, oil-free, lower calorie, healthy treat which is why I made it clear in the post that the texture is more cake-like. Sorry you were disappointed! It sounds like there’s a chance your bananas weren’t ripe enough, though, because a lot of the moisture comes from the bananas. Increasing the nut butter will also add more richness. Better luck next time!
Carolyn Shipley
I just made these and am very pleased. They are delicious! I am unfamiliar with using oat flour in place of all-purpose flour. I did not have cocoa powder but did have cacao powder. I researched this and took their advice and used less cacao powder(1/3 cup) in place of the cocoa powder. I baked for 35 minutes and they turned out to have a moist and crumbly cake texture. Thank you!
Gayi
Just made them in the food processor. Super easy and super tasty. Thank you for the recipe:)
Jamie
Stellar recipe! As healthy as oatmeal bars and convincing as brownies! I prefer less sweet so I halved it (with honey 'cause it's what I've got), and they are delicious! The best part: they leave us feeling energized and well instead of heavy and lethargic like regular brownies would. Thanks, Lori!
annie
could i use almond flour instead of the oat flour?
Lori
Hi Annie, unfortunately I haven't tried that so it's difficult to say. I don't think a straight swap would work, but I do think you could incorporate almond flour along with another flour, maybe a gluten-free blend, or some tapioca to help it bind. If you give it a try definitely let us know how it turns out!
Alex
Just made these. Easy and tasty!
Bella
Made this the other day with very overripe bananas, they were delicious! Now I want more, but I have no bananas. Do you think I can substitute the banana with applesauce? Thanks!
Lori
Hi Bella, so glad you loved them! Sadly applesauce won't produce anything similar. The bananas are critical for sweetness, flavor, and binding. Maybe time to stock up and freeze some nanas for next time!
Isa
Baked this morning and used almond flour instead of oat. Works well! They are a tad too sweet for my taste so will half the sugar and maple syrup next time. Thanks for the quick and easy recipe!
Lori
Thanks for the feedback, Isa! Glad you enjoyed them.
Lora
These were quite yummy! I used a food processor for all the wet ingredients then added in the dry ones and mixed just till combined and it worked wonderfully. I used 25grams regular cocoa and 25grams dutched special dark so adjusted to 1/2 tsp b soda and 1/3 tsp b powder. and only 80grams oat flour and used peanut butter. I did forget to add the tablespoon of milk so that may be why they were a tad dry. They were still quite moist, maybe dense(in a good flavorful way) is a better way to describe. Nonetheless, they were loved by my fam, enjoyed with a glass of milk. I just wrote the recipe into my book, so it’s a keeper.:) Thank you for posting it!
Lori
So glad you and your fam enjoyed them! Thanks for the feedback, Lora.
job
Can another flour be substituted for oat flour in this recipe?
Lori
Yes, other flours could certainly work, but oat is the only one I've tested. I would stick with whole-grain, fiber-rich flours that are more on the coarse side, similar to oat flour. Lighter, more refined flours might become gummy.
ShaunD
These were very easy and delicious! I think that next time I will add some mini chocolate chips. I will also sift my dry ingreds, as I had a few lumps. These were actually better a day or 2 later. Because these reminded me of banana bread and I like to toast it, I split them, toasted them and added a little vegan butter. Ooolala!
Kim
These are super easy to make, and taste great - the cinnamon is such a nice touch! These pair really well with So Delicious' Bananas Foster cashew ice cream ? Thanks for the recipe!
Lori
That does sound like a delicious pairing! Thanks so much, Kim. I'm really happy you enjoyed them!
JoshR
After making hundreds of brownies, I was a little disappointed with these. Maybe my bananas were not sweet enough, but these brownies needed some sweetness. Next time I'd either add some sugar, maple syrup or mung fruit sweetener to balance out the slight bitterness of the cocoa powder. Otherwise a great recipe.