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 desserts are totally my jam! And these oil-free banana brownies are just perfect. 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 combination 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 brownies, unless you'd like to add chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate.
At only 120 calories per brownie, these are surprisingly light, so I actually want to give you a heads up on that note...
If you're looking for a super dense, rich, fudgy brownie, these may not be the ones for you...
But if you like the sound of a delicious, 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 with a lot of dark spots. They should be 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 cocoa.
- 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 chocolate flavor. Also, a little liquid is 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.
Step By Step Instructions
- 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 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.
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!
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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 one of these healthy banana brownies straight from 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.
How to Store
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 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 instagram with @myquietkitchen.
Recipe Video
Tap to play the video and see how to make banana brownies.
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 (177C) 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 the 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.
Kathleen
I was staring at two very ripe bananas, wondering what to do with them, and came across this recipe. It could not have been easier! I didn’t want to dirty two bowls so I mixed the wet ingredients then added the dry to that. Delicious, moist and not cloyingly sweet. Perfect!
Sarah
I wanted to sweeten w fruit only as I am diabetic so I smooshed 6 medjool dates in w banana to replace maple syrup and coconut sugar as an experiment. Delish! Definitely less sweet than what most are used to but for me, so delish! So glad I stumbled upon your page! Thank you!
LisaH
I love your idea of replacing the sugar with dates. I have used date sugar in recipes, which is a bit drier, so I add an extra tablespoon of moisture (apple sauce, nondairy milk, etc). The powder form of dates is convenient when you don’t have dates on hand. Really appreciate your tip!!!
Michelle
Can’t wait to try this! What can I do if my homemade almond butter is stiff? Maybe add a tablespoon of applesauce?
Lori
Yes, applesauce sounds good! An extra tablespoon of milk would probably work, too. Hope you enjoy them!
Lynn
I just made this for lunch and I loved it! So easy to make and SO full of flavor. Thanks for the recipe.
Vivian
I made these exactly as the recipe instructed except I left out the cinnamon. They are delicious. Light. I would call them a brownie cake. You would never know they are healthy. I ate 1/16 for my serving as dessert after dinner and it was just the right size. Not too small but not giant like they sell in the store. Those store brownies really are large enough to serve two or three people.
Catherine
I altered a tiny bit because of the ingredients I had. It was a very good recipe. Baked in muffin cups snd got 12 muffins. Used regular flour. Didn’t have maple syrup so used 1/4 evaporated milk. Replaced the nut butter with 4T mashed sweet potato and 2T Hershey Spread (not syrup but Spread’. Great texture. Added coconut instead of nuts. Bananas weighed 200 grams peeled.
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.
Catherine
I’m not a fan of black beans or chickpeas either. I use cannellini beans or pinto beans or great northern beans. They are creamier and more of a blank slate to add other flavor. Use same about.
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!