Our family loves banana bread so much that we sometimes leave bananas to over ripe just to bake the bread. This time I chose to bake a chocolate banana bread from here. I made a couple of changes intentionally and a big one unintentionally! Yes, I forgot to add the sugar while mixing the dry ingredients and didn't realize it until I scraped the batter into the loaf pan. I was lazy to put back the batter and mix in the sugar. Also I thought that this would lead to over mixing and will result in a tough bread. So I decided to bake it just like that. You must be wondering how it tasted?
We were pretty surprised that we liked the sugar free chocolate banana bread just as much as we like the regular banana bread. I think the bananas I used were quite sweet, so we did not miss the sugar. I'm not lying when I tell that my 5 year old son liked it too. I guess the chocolate chips did the trick for him. This is just my family's opinion but I'm aware that there are so many people out there who feel that sugar is not sweet enough (like my mother). So if you are one among them do not omit the sugar.
Another change I made was to use extra virgin coconut oil instead of butter. I have been thinking of using this for quite sometime now but was postponing because I was not sure if we would like the coconut flavor. So even while baking this chocolate banana bread, I was not daring enough to replace the entire ½ cup of butter with coconut oil. Instead I used ¼ cup of coconut oil and used applesauce for the remaining ¼ cup. While the bread was baking we were able to smell the wonderful aroma of coconut mixed with cocoa. This was something very different from the usual cocoa/vanilla aroma. I was able to feel it even while tasting the bread the next day. But after a day or two we didn't get that coconutty flavor.
Recipe
Sugar Free Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and ¾ cups All Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup (See My Notes) Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 and ¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, melted
- ½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- ¼ cup Plain Yogurt (I used non fat)
- 2-3 tablespoons or as needed Water
- 1 and ½ cups (approx. 3 bananas) Bananas ripe and mashed
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Walnuts or Pecans, toasted and chopped
- ¼ cup Mini semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Grease or line the loaf pan with parchment paper.
- While the oven is preheating toast the nuts for 8-10 minutes and chop it once it is cool.
- In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients (from flour to salt).
- In another bowl stir together the oil, applesauce, yogurt, bananas and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
- Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Do not over-mix the batter.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Mine was done after 60 minutes.
- Place the pan on a cooling rack and then remove the bread from the pan. Since I had line the pan with parchment paper I was able to remove the bread within a couple of minutes.
My Notes
- The original recipe called for ½ cup of melted butter, which I have replaced with ¼ cup of melted extra virgin coconut oil and ¼ cup applesauce. Also for the 2 eggs, I have used ¼ cup applesauce and ¼ cup yogurt and increased the quantity of baking powder by ¼ teaspoon.
- I forgot to add sugar while preparing the batter and realised it only at the end, so just proceeded with it anyway. We did like the bread even without the sugar. I think the bananas were sweet enough. So I guess even if you decide to add sugar, you may not need the entire 1 cup. Even ½ cup sugar should be fine.
- I have used ½ cup of applesauce to replace ¼ cup of melted butter and 1 egg. If I had another banana I would have used that itself instead of the applesauce. So if you have bananas you could use it; applesauce is not compulsory.
- The batter was very thick so I added a couple tablespoons of water to make it a bit spreadable.
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Lakshmi says
Would love to try this simple recipe. I don't have applesauce and you have suggested using mashed banana. Should I use total 2 cups mashed banana - 1 1/2 plus 1/2 cup more?
Madhuram says
Yes Lakshmi.
Kim says
Hi Madhu,.
Thanks for the recipe.
I tried the recipe and it turned out well.the only thing I felt could be better was less cocoa powder. Because the color of bread is very dark in compare to yours.. And in your photo the upper layer looks normal but mine looks little overdone. I wanted to send you pic but I don't have option to send..thought may be you could give some suggestion.
Thanks
Madhuram says
Sometimes the pictures we put might not replicate it exactly how it looked actually. How does the texture feel? Was it dry? In that case reduce the baking time a little bit.
Kim says
Hey yeah,
Texture was good..but little dry but I think its because I used whole wheat flour...otherwise it was good..
Can I bake mini cupcakes out of them?
Thanks
Kim
Madhuram says
Maybe you can try adding some more liquid because whole wheat flour generally take up extra moisture. I'm sure mini cupcakes should work too.
Kim says
I tried them and they turned really great.
This is our all time favourite recipe now.
Thanks for sharing these amazing vegan and eggless recipes and the hard work you are putting in 🙂
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Kim. 🙂
anitha says
wow! I used this as base recipe for my eggless chocolate fruit and nut sugarfree bread/cake. I added more ingredients like nuts/kismis and i baked it in the airfryer. The quantity was more so I had to bake it twice. Awesome cake
Madhuram says
Thanks Anitha.
linnyninja says
Just made this bread with 1 cup oat flour, 3/4 cup "All-bran flour",3/4 cup applesauce, fat free greek yogurt, 2 packets of stevia, no nuts, sugar, salt, choco chips, or oil, and some cinnamon; it baked about an hour 15 min... I am pleasantly surprised. Even though I really tweaked the recipe, it still turned out good. It is a moist, dense bread, but it tasted great:) Maybe next time I make it I will sub. some of the applesauce for pumpkin... yummy:)
Madhuram says
Thanks Linny. Your pumpkin puree suggestion is a good one.
Jyoti says
Hey can i use something else instead of Applesauce.
Madhuram says
Some more bananas maybe!
Karen says
This recipe looks really good and I love the idea of usuing less or even no sugar ! AWESOME but I was just wondering if I could subsitute the yogurt with more apple sauce, because I can't eat yogurt 🙁 let me know if you think it would work.
Madhuram says
I think you should be fine using applesauce or even more banana.
Snezana says
I just took this banana bread from the oven 10 minutes ago and couldn't wait to try it. My son is 3, he loved it, me too.
It's so soft and moist - lovely.
I've put 1 cup of light brown sugar in it and Instead of coconut oil - raw coconut butter and instead of nuts just like 3/4 of cup chocolate and butterschoch chips mixed.
This is not first time that I follow your recipe and as experience is good I like to try things you post.
Madhuram says
Thanks for trying the recipes Snezana. Also could you rate the recipe so that it will be helpful for others who want to try it?
Dee says
Hi madhu
I love ur recipe I m planning to try this but I don't have coconut oil who can I substitute with. What r my options
Thanks
Madhuram says
You could use any oil or melted butter.
priyanka says
hi, madhuram... i tried ths recipe nd it turned vry nice... evn bfr baking ths i was not sure that how will it taste...but it was vry tasty and nice...thank u soo uch for ths.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Priyanka.
Sandhya says
Thankyou for the detailed explaination..
I was just wondering about giving home made cookies to my son everyday he comes from school, home made 'coz I am big on whole grains & I hate the white fl, sugar & butter loaded cookies we get outside..I want to try yours.. & will definitely let you know
btw, just wanted to share a recipe with you
http://ourkitchensink.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/how-i-decided-to-create-granola-bars/
I tried these yesterday with some tweeks:
3 cups oats
0.5 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp flax seed pd
2 tbsp sesame seeds
0.5 cup walnuts
0.5 cup almond
5 tbsp honey
5 tbsp almond butter
0.5 cup brown sugar
0.75 cup cranberries
0.75 cup apricots
salt
cinnamon
vanilla
This was amazing.. The aroma, the fresh roasted flavor of oats & nuts.. the cinnamon, nutmeg.. uumm superb!!
Thanks for the reply that eases me to try out fresh cookies & breads...
Madhuram says
Thanks for the link and recipe Sandhya. The pictures are so damn good. I can't wait to try those bars.
Sandhya says
BTW, amazing recipe & I will try this definitely.. I love breads esp FRESH...uummm..
Sandhya says
Hi Madhuram
I have been to your site a few times & tried your Banana muffin, tofu chocolate cake, zucchini chocolate cake and carrot cake .. ALL WERE A SUPER DUPER HIT!!
Thanks for the wonderful work and its because of your easy recipes and detailed explanations I have dared to embark on a baking journey.
I have a very basic doubt in general I would be more than glad if you can help me out as I have looked for answers in the web but not satisfactory.
Q: We all know Baking Powder is bad for health, can cause serious problems if had very often.. Okay we could substitute Baking Powder with Baking Soda in all our recipes & add an acidic ingredient to compensate for the Baking powder..
Okay but Baking soda too is not a very healthy ingredient for daily use..
1. it has too much sodium that has to be avoided for people like me with hypertension
2. it inhibits vitamin absorbtion
well if we make cakes, bars and cookies there is definitely this ingredient which we cannot forget & these are items when made last for atleast a few days..
So to have these (Baking powder or Baking soda) very regularly.. I just want to know IS IT THAT SAFE? If not can we look up for any substitutes eg. yoghurt or eno maybe? I want to make your chocolate cake but will want to omit the 2 baking (powder & soda) items.. Please help me I am rigourously looking for answers & asking many.. Thanks again for the wonderful recipes
Madhuram says
Sandhya thanks for trying the recipes. Reg. baking powder and baking soda, if your concern is the sodium content, you can use sodium free baking soda and powder. I googled and found a couple of brands. To answer your question if they are healthy, you would have to consider the portion of food you are consuming which uses either or both of these. In a standard cake or cookie recipe, baking soda will be about a teaspoon or two and the baking powder will be even lesser. So unless you are going to eat the entire cake or all the cookies by yourself, I don't think you are in trouble. A normal cookie recipe would yield between 2-3 dozen cookies, so a teaspoon divided by 24 is very less. And I also assume that most of us don't bake every other day and consume all of it regularly. In that case we should be worried about the sugar, fat and the white flour we would be consuming which will have much more alarming effect on our health.
Eno is also baking soda with citric acid. I have heard that okara (remnant of tofu) can be used as a leavener but haven't tried it or seen recipes.
Gina says
We loved this recipe. I made it as you described with an extra banana, but omitted the nuts. It was really good. Then I had some strawberries that needed to be used so I made the bread using only those, but increased the cocoa and choco chips. I also sprinkled some sugar on top before baking. I thought it was sweet enough and the top had a nice crisp sugar glaze. I will definitely hold on to this recipe. We are eggless at our home and love, love, love your website. Thanks.
Madhuram says
Glad you liked it Gina. Thanks a bunch for loving the website.
Sobha Shyam says
The bread looks great..looks very yummy !! You have a wonderful collection of recipes.
Champa says
Sugar not only gives the sweetness but also the moisture for any baked good. I wonder how the texture was. Picture looks fine, but then again you can't make out all the details from the pictures.
Madhuram says
Oh! I didn't know that Champa. Actually this bread was pretty dense and quite moist. I guess because of the bananas, applesauce and yogurt.
CurryLeaf says
Great Bread Madhu.I too can go for the sugar free option. Its nice that you forgot to add it. I was actually wondering that you had added it in the ingredient list.
The applesauce also must have provided the sweetness along with the bananas.
Vidya says
Madhuram, the bread looks great and I am indeed tempted to bake it without sugar like you did! Love that you used Extra Virgin coconut oil. I have to give this a try.
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
Love the bread and how moist and rich in color it looks 🙂
Priya says
Gorgeous banana bread, simply inviting..
Kalyani says
looks yummy and tempting pictures !!