Gluten Free Pumpkin Banana Bread has no sugar added and is so low in calories and fat you won't believe it!
Banana bread is a traditional and much loved favorite, but throw in a little pumpkin and you've got a new fall classic recipe you'll be making often. Not only is this recipe absolutely moist and delicious, but it's made without butter, oil or sugar! If you don't have allergies to wheat or gluten you can certainly substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the gluten free I used in the recipe. Whole wheat pastry flour is a better choice for a lighter texture in baked goods than regular whole wheat flour which is more dense and heavy.
My family love bananas but often we have a 2 or 3 ripe ones left on the counter. So before my kids or hubby want to eat those really ripe bananas I hide them right in the freezer, skin and all. When I need them for a recipe I defrost them in a bowl or the microwave then make a little slice at one end and plop them right into the bowl I'm using, no mess!
I wasn't sure how the family would like a change to their banana bread but surprisingly they all loved it and it was gone within 2 days! Instead of one loaf you could make these into mini loaves and give them to neighbors during the holidays.
For only 114 calories per slice and less than 2 grams of fat, yes I did add some butter to my slice and enjoyed every bite!
adapted from Gluten Free Blueberry Banana Bread
Brenda's Notes:
- Banana's vary in size. The 2 bananas I had equaled about 1 cup mashed.
Gluten Free Pumpkin Banana Bread {No Sugar Added}
Ingredients
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk 1%
- ½ cup applesauce unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
- 2 bananas mashed
- 2 cups gluten free flour I used Bob's Red Mill
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a stand mixer place eggs, vanilla, milk, applesauce and stevia and blend on speed 4 until combined.
- Add bananas.
- In a separate bowl stir together flour, flaxseed, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, xanthum gum and pumpkin spice.
- A little a time pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and blend on all incorporated.
- Blend in the pumpkin puree.
- Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour batter into pan.
- Bake 60-70 minutes until a toothpick in center of loaf comes out clean.
- Let cool 30-60 minutes before removing from loaf pan.
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
L
The recipe looks great I can't wait to try it. I'm making it for someone who is diabetic plus I've been more interested in healthy desserts lately. I'm going to follow it but just with regular flour and maybe 1 tsp or tbs honey... I have never baked with whole wheat pastry flour before. This may seem like a silly question but if I use it in baked goods will it have a distinct wheat flavor?
Thank you
Brenda
The pumpkin and banana is what is more noticeable, I don't think you can taste the wheat flour.
Crystal
Lovely recipe Brenda! For those wondering I was successful in replacing 1/2 cup of the flour with almond flour. It rose wonderfully! *my flour blend was Cloud9 which is higher in carbs but works almost like a gluten based flour so that may be the difference. I'd include a photo but not sure how
susan davidson
Its baking right now!i cant wait to try it it smells soo good!
susan davidson
I have this bread in my oven right now.i cant wait to try it.im trying to lose weight and my husband cant have sugar.
Jennifer
I made these tonight and LOVED them!!! I'm not a huge fan of gluten free and this was DELICIOUS!!!
Brenda
Thanks for sharing!
Carey
Hi, just tried this recipe egg free. One time with chia equal to two eggs, the second time with the applesauce equivalent for one and one chia. Great flavor but no rise, like a brick. Any suggestions? I read somewhere that if you do applesauce for egg you need to add more baking powder. Kids ate it but my hubby said it wasn't good.
Brenda
I'm sorry I've not experimented with this recipe as egg free, I'm not sure how to accommodate that.
Virginia
Wonderful recipe. Thank you. I used regular Gold Medal Flour and 1/4 cup of Granulated sugar (everything else as written). Baked for 60 minutes and it was perfect.
Sarah
I made this today and followed recipe exactly and the bottom is quite mushy. After cooking for 70 minutes the knife came out clean but it looks like it's not done. Is this the way it's supposed to come out? I am new to gluten free baking.
Brenda
What kind of gluten free flour did you use? It should be moist but not mushy. Maybe place in the fridge overnight. Reheat individual pieces to toast them.
Melissa
I made this yesterday and I'm sorry to say it did not cook all of the way through. I did add honey because I don't have any stevia. After an hour and a half of cooking I gave up. I had made two loaves because I've never had a banana bread recipe fail. The chickens however thought it was swell. Oh well.
Brenda
May I ask how much honey you used in the recipe? I'm thinking the applesauce could have been removed when using honey, too much liquid.
Raven
I had the same problem. The middle was incredibly undercooked even after two hours. (I did not use honey and followed the recipe as given except I used agave powder instead of stevia.) I believe the wet-to-dry ingredient ratio is off. After comparing with several over banana-pumpkin bread recipes, the main difference is the milk, so I'm going to try again without the milk.
Brielle
Would you be able too cook this recipe in a muffin tin and make little individual ones?
Brenda
If you make it in a muffin tin I would reduce the cooking time and just try 30 minutes then check with a toothpick.
Brielle
Can you use a different type of milk for this recipe? Such as soy or almond? What would taste better?
Brenda
I'm sorry, haven't trued another milk, you can let me know if you do.
Brielle
I was going to use whole wheat flour for this recipe. I was wondering if you could use another kind of milk? Like almond milk?
And I was wondering about substituting the liquid stevia for either honey or pure maple syrup. Do you have one you'd recommend and how much you would use?
Would leaving out stevia/sweetener make it taste bad?** Trying to get as minimal calories as possible.
Tabatha
What is a serving size? How many slices do you get per loaf? Thanks!
Brenda
In the nutrition info above, it is sliced into 12 slices.
Brielle
Can you use coconut flour for this recipe?
And what ingredients can you cut out in order to make it lower calories? (Currently finishing up a diet).
Thanks!
Brenda
Coconut flour needs a lot more eggs. Subbing it would not work in this recipe sorry.Maybe look at my blueberry banana bread and adapt from that one?
Aleksandra
I have fructose malabsorbtion and was wondering if it is possible to substitute apple sauce with anything else? Thanks in advance
Brenda
maybe replace with plain greek yogurt? may need additional sweeteners as the applesauce is naturally sweet but the yogurt is tangy.
Lynn
The flavor was okay, but my loaf was the color of dirt, so not quite as appetizing as I had hoped.
Brenda
Did you change the recipe and use another type of flour?
DJ
Is ground flaxseed necessary; or, if so, is there a good substitute? Thank you.
Brenda
Just for added fiber and nutrition, you can eliminate it.
Andrea
I am just so thankful for your recipes. I get compliments on your baked oatmeal all the time, also just tried your recent granola bar recipe. Delicious! My husband and daughter are gluten free and refined sugar also really upsets their digestive system. Hard to find good , natural recipes that incorporate both. You are a blessing!! Thank you! Can't wait to try this bread!
Sandy
can Almond Flour be used?
Brenda
I'm not familiar with working with almond flour because my youngest has a tree nut allergy so honestly can't say how the texture would be with using it, sorry.
machelle
It's too bad that in order to pin this on pinterest you have to let "add this" have all of your information from pinterest and Facebook.
Brenda
Shouldn't be the case at all. Each of my picture has the pin it pop up button, not sure why you are getting that message to "add this". No one else has mentioned that is happening to them.
Rachel
Sounds yummy! If using Whole wheat flour would it be the same measurement of the 2 cups?
Brenda
Yes just eliminate the xanthum gum.
Jenn
Do you think I could make this with oat flour or whole wheat using the same measurements?
Thank you so much for all your delicious healthy recipes. I make them for my family all the time !!
Brenda
If you use whole wheat you can eliminate the xanthum gum as it wouldn't be needed. Not sure that oat flour would work as well though. Might be really dense.
Jia
I used oat flour to make banana bread before. It's slightly musher but still yummy. I'll try add xanthum gum next time since there's no gluten in oats. By the way, I really like this recipe; it looks delicious and simple( all ingredients on hand). I'll definitely give it a whirl!
Doris S T
Good morning--this sounds yummy !!! What can be substituted for the liquid stevia ??? thanks in advance
Brenda
What other sweeteners do you use? Honey? Maybe 1/2 cup.
Carrie
Anyone try it with the honey instead? Just curious if you thought 1/2 cup was OK. 🙂
Lynne
First, I love the new recipe format, its perfect for printing, with the nutrition info.
Here's my question: what is the xanthum gum for?? Can you leave it out, or is it essential?
Brenda
If you are using a gluten free flour it acts like a gluten agent found in regular flour. It helps to make the dough elastic like more doughy and gives a creamy texture to things. It's not needed if you are using any other flours.