Date Banana Nut Bread
Hello there! Today's recipe is a wonderfully delicious and easy-to-make quick bread that only has nine ingredients.
It also has no eggs, no butter, is refined sugar-free and is coincidentally vegan too. I didn't mean to make that happen, but it did.
The resulting bread has a satisfying crispy crust that's almost toasty in flavour and a dense, yet tender inside dotted with creamy dates pieces and crunchy walnuts in a sweet (but not too sweet) banana bread.
The Medjool dates give this bread a scrumptious rich caramelized flavour that you need to try!
I hope you enjoy this recipe for Date Banana Nut Bread!
How to make this make this banana bread?
Place the Medjool dates into a food processor and blend until it forms a soft paste. Full ingredient amounts and complete instructions listed in the recipe card down below.
Stir together the date paste, mashed bananas, and hot water together until well combined. In an another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until well-distributed (not shown).
Add the banana-date mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
Tip: Whisk until just-combined (no more dry ingredients can be seen). Over-mixing may result in a tougher bread.
Fold in the walnuts and then place it in a parchment-paper lined loaf pan.
Top with extra walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-75 minutes until a wooden skewer (or cake tester) comes out clean.
Note: The bread cracks slightly on top. I covered some of it with walnuts (because I was poking that area with a skewer to test for doneness), but it looks great either way.
Looking for more desserts made in a loaf pan? Check out these two!
- Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Quick Bread: This bread is fluffy, full of lemon flavour, and loaded with delicious fresh strawberries.
- Classic Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake: A family favourite! It's full of bright, tart lemon and sweet blueberry flavour! It's also been shared on Pinterest over 54,000 times. Yay!
This Date Banana Nut Bread:
- Is delicious!
- Is easy to make: There are only nine ingredients!
- Vegan and refined sugar-free: Perfect for those with these dietary requirements.
- Is yeast free so you don't need to proof the dough: No proofing means saving time because you don't need to let the bread rise first.
- Uses ingredients that are usually easy to find at your local grocery store or are pantry staples.
- Is simple to put together: It takes around 10 minutes to put this loaf bread together. The majority of time it takes to make this banana bread is spent baking in the oven.
- Is shareable and portable: Share it with family, friends, or take it to work to share or eat as a snack.
- Is great to have for breakfast or dessert too: Serve it with a hot cup of coffee or tea or with a glass of milk.
Did you try this recipe? If you did, please leave me a rating and comment down below or tag me on any of my social media. I'm @yay_for_food on Instagram. I'd love a picture!
Date Banana Nut Bread
A delicious vegan banana bread recipe featuring a crispy crust and soft inside. This bread requires no proofing and is refined-sugar free using dates for sweetness.
Ingredients
- 1 packed cup (10 oz / 15-18) Medjool dates, pitted
- 4 ripe bananas (1 lb.), mashed
- ½ cup boiling hot water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Place the dates in a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade. Blend until the dates break up and form a soft paste.
- Place the date paste along with the mashed bananas and hot water into a medium bowl. Using a wire whisk, stir well to combine. Set aside.
- In large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well-combined.
- Add the date-banana mixture to the dry ingredients. Whisk until combined (you can no longer see the dry ingredients). Then using a spatula, fold in the chopped walnuts until distributed throughout the dough.
- Spread the dough evenly into the loaf pan and sprinkle with more walnuts on top. Bake for 60-75 minutes until a wooden skewer (or cake tester) comes out clean in the center.
- Let the bread cool slightly in the loaf pan before eating. Best enjoyed warm.
Notes
- Store cooled bread tightly wrapped with plastic wrap or place in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Nutritional information represents one slice of bread for a total of twelve slices.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 170Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 123mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 4g
A slice of this bread would be a great way to start the day! I can't wait to try this!
I hope you enjoy it!
Oh I love how clean this recipe is! I love love love banana bread but often feel like there's too much butter and sugar in the recipes I find, so thank you for our new go-to recipe!
Thanks for all the kind words Tracy! I hope you give this recipe a try!
I love banana bread, but you know what I love even more? Banana bread with nuts. Great texture and taste!
I agree! Thanks Kelly.
I love dates! This is a great recipe to try soon. Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome Suzy.
Oh my! I love dates and I bet they’re wonderful in this bread. There was a place in the desert of California where dates grew and they sold date shakes! Incredible.
Date shakes sounds so good! I like to add dates to my breakfast smoothies. It adds great natural sweetness!
Hi! Tried this and loved it. I like the chewy crust. I omitted the walnuts not my fav nuts and I didn't have any on hand. I did add some ground oats and chia seeds. Just wanted to ask for future baking, what other nuts do you think would compliment this besides walnuts?
I'm happy to hear that you loved this bread! Instead of walnuts, I think that pecans, sunflower seeds, or chopped almonds would be fine substitutes.
I just made this and it tastes as good as it looks. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe
I wish I could attach a picture
Thank you so much, Aracely! If you have an instagram, I'll be happy to share your picture on my stories.
Quick question: Can almond flour ne used instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Taffney, unfortunately I've never made a flour substitution in this recipe so I can't try you for certain how it would turn out.
Hi... if I wanted to use ready date paste in this recipe, how much would I need?
I was initially sceptical of this recipe but, because of its high nutritive value and lack of refined sugar and fat, I gave it a try. The result is absolutely delicious! Very impressed indeed! I used organic wholemeal spelt flour and hot soya milk instead of water and just put the dates, bananas and hot milk into the food processor at once ( my dates were not very sold so the milk helped to soften them and aided mixing).
I will certainly make this again and have shared the recipe.
Huge thanks!
This is an excellent recipe. Huge thanks for sharing! I add the bananas, dates, water into processor at once to save time and ensure that the dates soften if I can’t get medjool dates. Everyone I have presented a slice to has loved it! It tastes like an indulgent cake BUT also like REAL FOOD! I intend adding some chopped 85% dark chocolate to a future bake. Once again, I am so grateful you shared this recipe! Thank you!
Thank you for the wonderful review, Lynn! I'm happy that this bread was a hit!