Vegan Pumpkin Banana Bread

This quick and easy vegan pumpkin banana bread is the perfect autumn or holiday season breakfast! You’ll only need a few simple ingredients and a couple of minutes to make this yummy deliciousness.

You can even make this banana bread with a gluten-free flour blend if needed! The texture is simply stunning, but see for yourself how incredibly fluffy it is!

This healthy vegan fall recipe is full of pumpkin flavour and a great way to embrace the holiday season! It's the easiest and best vegan pumpkin bread you'll ever make!

Contents

• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Storage
• Top Tip
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Here at Donut Follow the Crowd, I like to do things a little differently than the crowd (hence the name). Therefore, my recipes focus on simplicity without losing the perfect texture or flavour!

Vegan recipes often concentrate on replacing ingredients, whereas we often don't need to do that. In this recipe, for example, we don't have to replace eggs with flax eggs. We've got bananas for that!

Ingredients

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• ripe to overripe bananas
• pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
• vegetable oil (such as olive oil or coconut oil)
• maple syrup or coconut sugar (optional)
• all-purpose flour (gluten-free if needed)
• baking powder
• pumpkin spice (cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, salt)
• pumpkin seeds (topping, optional)
• dark vegan chocolate chips (optional)

(see quantities in recipe card)

Bananas: choose ripe to overripe bananas because they are easier to mash and have a higher sugar content, hence more flavour. Bananas are a natural binder which is why we don't need flax eggs in this recipe.

Pumpkin Purée: If you live in the US, you can obviously use canned pumpkin purée. Just make sure, there aren't any additives in it. Alternatively, make it yourself! Even if I was able to buy it canned, I would ALWAYS make it myself!

It's super easy and made fresh (more nutritional value!), and I will explain how (2 different methods with detailed instructions) in a bit!

Vegetable Oil: I always make sure to use cold-pressed virgin oils. Except for sunflower seed oil, where the 'processed' version might be better (but buy it organic!). Coconut oil is ok, but might weigh down the banana bread a little.

I generally don't use vegan butter because they're often highly processed and less healthy than virgin oils.

Sweetener: The bananas and pumpkin puree already sweeten this banana bread. However, if you like it sweeter, you may add some maple syrup, coconut sugar or even brown sugar (if you prefer).

Flour: Generally, I use plain spelt flour for most of my recipes. But any flour (containing gluten) will work for this vegan pumpkin banana bread recipe. For gluten-free, see 'substitutions' below.

Pumpkin spice: If you prefer, you can use a pumpkin pie spice mix. I prefer to use separate spices because a lot of blends use rice flour or other filling ingredients.

Chocolate Chips: If you like to add them, do it! Because my focus is on a healthier pumpkin bread recipe, I would suggest you choose dark chocolate chips (meaning less sugar).

Equipment

For this vegan banana pumpkin bread, you'll need a small to medium loaf pan/tin. If you choose a small tin, the loaf will be taller than in a medium loaf tin. In a larger one, the baking time may be reduced to 40-45 minutes.

If making the pumpkin puree from scratch, you'll also need a potato masher (but a fork will do too) or a hand-held blender for a more even result.

Instructions

Step One. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F fan-forced and line a loaf tin with baking paper or simply grease it, if you prefer.

Step Two. In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Add the other wet ingredients (oil, pumpkin puree and maple syrup, if using), and combine well.

Step Three. Load the flour, baking powder, and Pumpkin Pie Spice (or cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg and salt) on top. Slowly combine the dry ingredients first before mixing them in with the wet.

This way, you won’t need to use two bowls like many recipes instruct you to do so. That’s just how I prefer it because it simply saves you from washing up yet another bowl.

If you like to add chocolate chips, stir them in at this point.

Step Four. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with some pumpkin seeds if you like. Bake the pumpkin banana bread loaf in the centre of your oven for about 45-50 minutes. When cooked, the bread should spring back when touched.

Step Five. Let the vegan pumpkin banana bread cool down to room temperature on a cooling rack (or for at least 30 minutes). It’ll be a bit easier to cut it into individual slices once it’s cooled completely.

How to make pumpkin puree?

During pumpkin season, I like to make big batches of pumpkin puree and freeze it in portions. To make it, you don’t need any special equipment. A saucepan or oven and a fork or a potato masher will do the trick!

You start by simply cutting the pumpkin into smaller pieces and removing the skin even if it’s edible. The skin is still too tough after cooking that it leaves you with little pieces in the puree.

 I like to slice the pumpkin into 1 - 1.5-inch-thick wedges and cut them into thirds or halves, depending on the size of the pumpkin.

Quick & Easy – Stove Top

Just like boiling potatoes! Place the pumpkin pieces into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10-20 minutes, depending on the size. Keep the heat to a simmer to avoid overcooking the pumpkin.

Once cooked, drain and mash the pumpkin with a fork or using a potato masher. The puree is now ready to be used in all of your favourite recipes!

More Flavour – Oven

Coat the pumpkin pieces with some oil and add a good pinch of salt. Spread over a lined baking tray and bake at 180°C/350°F fan-forced for 20-30 minutes depending on the size.

When roasted, mash with a potato masher or even a fork. For a more even and finer result, you can use a stick blender.

Substitutions

Gluten-free: This vegan pumpkin banana bread can be made with gluten-free flour as well. I like using buckwheat flour because it gives me the best results.

Maple Syrup: I like this banana bread without any added sugar or syrup. But sometimes, it’s quite nice with it. Instead of maple syrup, feel free to use any other syrup or sweetener you like.

Coconut sugar or brown sugar (if you prefer processed sugar) are great substitutes as well. ¼ -⅓ of a cup will be plenty.

Variations

If you like traditional banana bread just as much as I do, you have a look through my other vegan banana bread recipes! They’re all as quick, simple and easy as this recipe!

• simple vegan banana bread
• vegan blueberry banana bread
• vegan chocolate banana bread
• vegan buckwheat banana bread
• vegan sugar-free banana bread

Or if you're looking for other vegan pumpkin recipes for your fall season breakfast, I've got a vegan pumpkin pancakes recipe here on my blog, too!

For the beginning of the season, around September or early October, I also have a delicious fall salad recipe with roast pumpkin and beetroot!

Storage

This vegan pumpkin banana bread can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week (or until it goes off, as I like to say!). You can also freeze it for 3 to 6 months.

Top Tip

The next day, after making this banana pumpkin loaf, toast the slices in a toaster or pan-fry them in a little bit of coconut oil or vegan butter until slightly brown. Spread vegan cream cheese, dairy-free yoghurt or almond butter on the slices.

Depending on the month, choose seasonal fruit to top with or put on the side. Drizzle with a little bit of maple or rice syrup and sprinkle with chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and maybe some chocolate chips ;)?

📖 Recipe