Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

As much as I love them now, bananas and I have had a bit of a tumultuous road in the past.

I’m sure I probably liked them as a baby… until my sister started eating solids. From there, just the thought of bananas could trigger my gag reflex as I would recall Blaire giving our Barbies deep-conditioning treatments with mashed bananas and cottage cheese. Yummy! 😉

In college, I realized bananas were the easiest, quickest breakfast I could find in the dining hall whenever I was running late (which was often… how I wish my college self could have spent one day in my mom-life shoes to learn how to speed it up). That being said, I learned to like bananas… so long as they were slightly green or perfectly yellow with zero brown spots and with no hint of mushiness.

That all changed now that I have a boy who eats two to three bananas A DAY. Bananas go quickly in our house, and so, I have to stock up… but stocking up usually means they get riper a lot quicker than I was used to.

For those really ripe bananas that I can’t bear seeing get any riper, it becomes a banana bread day. And since discovering my new favorite dark chocolate baking chips that have no added sugar, sometimes it’s a chocolate chip banana bread day. 🙂

Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients (makes one loaf):

• 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 ¾ c. gluten-free baking flour (I used Pamela’s gluten-free baking mix. Coconut flour would also work well, but I would suggest doing just 1 cup and doubling the number of eggs.)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. no-sugar-added dark chocolate chips (Lily’s baking chips are my favorite)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine the coconut oil, eggs, bananas and vanilla together in a bowl.

Add the flour and salt; stir to combine and then slowly fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased loaf pan (either 8×4 or 9×5) and bake for 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick to ensure it’s fully baked. Allow to cool and then serve (coconut milk, tea or coffee make great accompaniments 🙂 ).

If you have more ripe bananas to use up, try our clean banana muffins next! Or use the bananas as toppings for overnight oats or chocolate chia pudding.

XO,

-P