Banana Bread, Gluten-Free

Recipe from Audrey Roberts



This is the perfect solution to "I have too many bananas, and they're getting soft." Audrey's recipe is an elegantly simple one, requiring only one mixing bowl.

Banana Bread, Gluten-Free

Yields:

8 servings

Time Required:

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Spray a 4" x 8" (10 cm x 20 cm) loaf pan with cooking spray.4

In mixing bowl, mash ripe bananas until smooth. Add baking soda to mashed bananas. Melt butter, then mix into mashed bananas. Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix in flour and xanthan gum (if needed). Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake on center rack for 50 mins. to 1 hr., or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Watch your banana bread, as ovens differ.

Cool completely, before slicing. Enjoy!

Author's Notes:

Bananas: Should be overly ripe, to add the strongest, sweetest banana flavour. Three mashed bananas equal 1 cup (235 mL).

Gluten-Free Flour with Xanthan Gum: Not all gluten-free flours are created equal. You may experience different baking outcomes depending on gluten-free flour blend. I like Pillsbury Gluten Free.

The best way to measure gluten-free flour is the “spoon & level"5 method. Using a spoon, scoop flour into measuring cup, then use back of a knife, to level off. Friends, please don't scoop out flour with your measuring cup.

Baking Soda: Helps bread rise.

Unsalted Butter: Makes this bread rich and tender. For a dairy-free option, use Smart Balance Buttery Spread, or coconut oil.

Sugar: Sweetens bread.

Salt: Enhances banana flavour.

Eggs: Adds moistness and richness; helps bind bread together.

Vanilla Extract: Enhances bread's sweetness.

You can also mix it up a little, by adding mini chocolate chips, blueberries, nuts, or raisins.

Always bake with ingredients at room temperature. Cold ones don't mix as well.

Cook's Notes:

Equipment needed: Mixing bowl, mashing tool, loaf pan.


1 Cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and fl. oz. are as defined in US Customary Units, not to be confused with differing British imperial, "legal", "coffee", Commonwealth of Nations, Canadian, Latin American, Japanese, Russian, or Dutch definitions — further proof that everyone needs the metric system.

2 This insistence on "large" eggs in recipes is usually silly, and is here, too. If you have medium eggs, fine.

3 Xanthan gum is a thickener that's particularly handy in gluten-free cooking, where a small amount both thickens and add structure, much as wheat does. It's created by fermenting glucose using Xanthomonas campestris bacteria. In sauces and other liquids, one uses a ratio of xanthan to liquid of only about 0.1% to 0.3%.

Author specified "all-purpose" for the flour, but I deemed that implied. For the record, I mostly use King Arthur Baking's Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour, with excellent results. Also for the record, I strongly endorse King Arthur's recommendation to measure out dry ingredients (especially flour) by weight, using a digital scale, yielding much more consistent results than if measuring by volume.

4 Or just wipe the pan with a thin coating of vegetable oil, as I do. (Who needs "spray" format? I already keep quality olive and avocado oil in stock. They work fine. Don't fix what isn't broken.)

5 "Spoon & level" was the former recommendation from experts at King Arthur Baking. More recently, if measuring flour by volume using measuring cups, they recommend a "fluff, sprinkle, and scrape" variation: Fluff up flour within its container, using a spoon or scoop. Spoon the fluffed flour into one's measuring spoon until overflowing, then scrape it level using a straight edge. (However, they stress that measuring by weight, via digital scale, is better.).

Taken from: https://www.mamaknowsglutenfree.com/easy-gluten-free-banana-bread/, as Audrey Roberts's recipe. Thank you!

Collected and re-published at http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/recipes/banana-bread-gluten-free.html by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> on Sept. 6, 2026. Individual recipes are free from copyright. Share and enjoy!

(If I have any copyright title in my own very minor contributions to this page — not my intention — they were created in 2026 by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> and licensed for use under CC0. The image file (photograph) was taken on Sept. 7, 2026, also by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> and licensed for use under CC0. I have thereby waived all copyright, compilation copyright, and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published from: United States of America.)