Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks called Delightfully Free by Tracy Hill! She has two books out full of gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free recipes for all of those traditional recipes you may miss when you get to avoid gluten and dairy.

I had a lot of fun making this recipe recently, and my husband was even more excited because I got a little heavy handed with the chocolate chips. He was absolutely thrilled. Adding the chocolate chips makes it feel more like a dessert, however feel free to skip the chocolate chips and enjoy it more like a traditional banana bread.

Step #1

Gather all of your ingredients.

• 4 large eggs (see egg substitute below if you avoid eggs)

• 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

• 3 tbsp grapeseed oil

• 2 ripe , medium bananas, about 3/4 cup, mashed

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 3/4 tsp sea salt

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 1/2 tsp aluminum-free GF baking powder

• 1/4 cup brown rice flour

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 1/4 tsp xantham gum, optional

• 1/3 cup finely chopped, DF dark chocolate chips, optional

•  2/3 cup chopped walnuts, optional

NOTE: I personally don’t use xantham gum because there was a time when it didn’t make me feel the best and I learned many gluten free recipes are fine without it. This is one of them so if you don’t have it or don’t like it, don’t worry about it.

Egg Substitute: 1 egg is equivalent to each of the following:

• 1/4 cup applesauce

• 1 tbsp ground chia OR flaxseed mixed in 3 tbsp water

• 3 tbsp nut butter of choice

Step #2

Preheat Oven to 340. Brush or spray a 9 inch loaf pan with grapeseed oil.

Step #3

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the coconut sugar and whisk again.

Step #4

Add the oil, bananas, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, and whisk again until all ingredients are blended.

I used a traditional whisk for the first part but then I used my hand mixer for the banana part. You can use any mixer you prefer for that part.

Step #5

Stir in the 2 flours and the optional xantham gum. If using nuts and/or chocolate chips, stir them in, reserving a couple of tablespoons of each to sprinkle on top, if desired.

Step #6

Pour the batter into your loaf pan and bake about 35 minutes at 340 degrees.

Option

If you want to add chocolate chips to the top, remove the loaf from the oven after 25 minutes and sprinkle them on top. Quickly return the loaf to the oven to finish baking.

Step #7

Take the baked loaf out of the oven once a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack at least 20 minutes after it’s done baking.

Tip

Run a knife around the edges of loaf and turn it out of the pan to finish cooling on the rack. Be careful not to touch the chocolate chips on top, if using them, because they won’t be hardened yet.

(We often just leave the loaf in the pan and cut out slices that way. It isn’t pretty but it is easy)

And that is our favorite Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Banana bread with chocolate chips!

Like I mentioned, you can serve it as a dessert, especially if you use chocolate chips. You could add a lot of nuts and have it as a higher protein breakfast bread. Or you can bake it plain because good ole’ banana bread is amazing too!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Happy Baking!

~ Dr. Gordon