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Chocolate Marble Swirl Banana Bread

CHOCOLATE MARBLE SWIRL BANANA BREAD - Ribbons of dark chocolate swirled into light banana bread… There’s a reason it’s a reader favorite recipe! Make it here: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2014/01/20/chocolate-marble-swirl-banana-bread/

This is banana bread for chocoholics.

With thick ribbons of chocolate swirled into every bite, you’ll never look at banana bread the same way again!

Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

Chocolate Marble Swirl Banana Bread

  • 2 cups over-ripe banana, mashed well (480g)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (8g)
  • 2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (10g)
  • 2 tbsp milk of choice (30g)
  • 1/4 cup oil or more milk of choice (oil version will be richer and better-textured; milk version will be lower-calorie… so it depends on what you’re going for and to whom you are serving the bread)
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, agave, or honey (honey is not for strict vegans)
  • 2 cups spelt, all-purpose, or Bob’s gf flour (240g)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp pure stevia or 1/4 cup sugar of choice
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder (15g)

Bring one cup or so of water to a boil. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F, grease a 9×5 loaf pan, and set aside. Get out three large bowls and a small bowl. In one of the large bowls, whisk together all liquid ingredients. In a separate large bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients except the cocoa powder. Measure the cocoa powder into the empty small bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup of the boiling water (discard remaining water). Now combine the contents of the two large bowls until just evenly mixed, then divide the batter in half so there’s an equal amount of batter in each of the two large bowls. Pour all of the cocoa mixture into only one of the banana bread batters. So now you should have one chocolate and one non-chocolate batter. Scoop a thin layer of plain batter into the prepared loaf pan, followed by a layer of chocolate. Repeat until all batter is used up, then take a spoon and swirl the batters together—for just a few seconds so there are still two distinct colors present. Bake 50 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave the loaf in the oven 20 more minutes if it still needs to firm up. For best freshness, leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Click for: Banana Bread Nutrition Facts

Marbled Banana Bread

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15 Secretly Healthy Banana Recipes

Published on January 20, 2014

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ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

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176 Comments

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  1. Caroline says

    Katie you are the best!
    Love your recipes.
    Promised my twin niece and nephew to bake them each a banana cake and a chocolate cake. This is just the perfect compromise. Couldn’t have come up with this at a better time. Will try with a GF flour (and perhaps add xanthan gum to it) and will report back.

    Thanks again!

  2. Emilylovesraisins says

    Whoa.
    That was literally what I said when I opened this page! (*Drools*)
    I’ve never tried anything swirled before, but now it’s on my to-do list!! 🙂

  3. Alexis says

    Mmmm! This looks so good! I might try using pumpkin since that’s what I have at home 🙂 Would whole wheat flour work for this, or oat flour?
    Thanks for the amazing recipes!

    • becauseHeloves! says

      White-whole-wheat flour works for her other banana bread recipes; that’s what I used. Haven’t tried it on this one though.

    • Amanda says

      I made this using 1 1/2 cups WW flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose. It tastes very good, but is a little dense. I think thats why CCK doesn’t recommend WW in the ingredients. 🙂

  4. GDO says

    Instead of the all-purpose flour, could whole wheat flour or a mixture of oat flour and whole wheat flour be substituted?

  5. Kira - Healthable Old Soul says

    Banana Bread is always a hit in our house! Chocolate Marble Swirl will make this bread the star of the show!

  6. Jessica says

    This looks delicious!! I just used up all my extra-ripe bananas yesterday but I’m sure there will be more coming soon.
    Just one question about the directions — wouldn’t the batter be more consistent if you mixed all the liquid & solid ingredients together (except the cocoa/water) and THEN divided the batter in two and added cocoa to one? I’d be worried that I wouldn’t guesstimate half of the liquids properly and then the two batters wouldn’t be the same texture. Whereas if you divide the batter after mixing, it doesn’t really matter if you have slightly more or less of the cocoa-flavored batter vs. the regular batter. I hope that makes sense! 🙂

  7. Jan says

    This looks and sounds delicious! What do you do with the remaining 3/4 cup of boiling water? Does that go with the liquid ingredients?

    • Michelle says

      As Jessica said below to someone asking the same question: “I think Katie had you boil ‘around a cup of water’ because if you tried to boil only 1/4 cup of water, it would all evaporate by the time by the time it reached the boiling point. So you have to boil a bunch of water, then measure out 1/4 cup from what you boiled. You only should have added 1/4 cup water total.”

      Hopefully Katie will update the instructions to make them clearer since multiple people are struggling to understand the current directions. It would help if the 1/4 cup of boiling water was listed in the directions.

  8. becauseHeloves! says

    This looks wonderful! I like to keep my banana bread fat free so I can put a large amount of peanut butter on it when I eat it 😀

  9. rory baxter says

    Just curious about the details of this recipe. When do you add the bananas – with wet or dry? When do you add the chocolate chips? In the instructions it says to boil 1 C of water, but only 1/4 is used with cocoa – what happens to the other 3/4 C water? We tried this for the 1st time, and ran into snags because I couldnt quite figure out specs. I did end up adding the water back in, but got a runny batter, so I am sure I ruined it. It is still in the oven, and we are hoping it might come out ok if we bake it long enough. Oh, BTW, we used unbleached almond flour as a sub for reg flour (my son has celiac).
    Really love all your amazing and creative ideas, they are helping us make this new transition into the GF world a whole lot easier!

    • Jessica says

      Hi Rory —
      I think Katie had you boil “around a cup of water” because if you tried to boil only 1/4 cup of water, it would all evaporate by the time by the time it reached the boiling point. So you have to boil a bunch of water, then measure out 1/4 cup from what you boiled. You only should have added 1/4 cup water total.
      Bananas are definitely a “wet” ingredient — notice how all the liquids are mentioned first in Katie’s recipe.
      Usually in all the banana bread recipes I’ve made, you fold in chocolate chip last, because if they’re in there it makes it harder to mix the rest of the batter. I suppose you could add them just to the chocolate batter, or the “plain” batter, or both!
      BTW, I’m sure it’s too late now, but once you added the extra water and realized it was a mistake, you could’ve turned them into banana pancakes! I just tried comparing two random recipes for banana pancakes vs. banana bread and it looks like the amount of liquid is the biggest difference.

      Hope that helps!

      • Maria says

        Jessica, I made this recipe yesterday and with the exception of the water, had the same question as Rory. I added the bananas with the dry ingredients and immediately determined that it was probably meant to be added with the liquids. That aside, the bread turned out great. I just wanted to let you know how kind I thought you were to take the time to not only respond to Rory, but to look up a use for the batter with all the water! Thoughtful indeed!

  10. EVA says

    DAMMIT why did I have to move back into my dorm TODAY with my limited supplies and bowl sizes. And if your pictures are the serving size, this is one generous recipe. Generous in size and just the idea in general was very thoughtful. Mixing bananas and chocolate into a convenient and aesthetically pleasing loaf was what everyone who reads this blog needed. No ESP needed to know that!

  11. Sara @ LovingOnTheRun says

    This looks DELICIOUS! A perfect option for when I need to use some ripe bananas so they don’t go bad since I already have a huge batch frozen in my refrigerator 🙂

  12. Suzanne says

    Wow this looks amazing! Quick question: could you do half the oil with half the milk, instead of all oil or all milk? Kind of like a compromise between calories/texture?

  13. Steph says

    Oh my, that looks so GOOD! I don’t know if there’s a better combination out there than chocolate and banana, unless its banana and peanut butter- I don’t know which one would win in a fight! But back to the point, that banana bread looks so spongy and swirly and… DELICIOUS!
    I love it when you sort out what my breakfasts are gonna be- so helpful! 🙂

  14. Melody Bold says

    This sounds absolutely yummy, and by using milk instead of oil and leaving out the chocolate chips, it is only 3 points per slice on Weight Watchers. I’m taking this to the next ladies brunch I go to!

  15. Katie says

    Bananas are great by themselves, but when you add chocolate to the mix…you have an awesome combo. I’ve made a cream cheese swirl banana bread…now I’m going to have to try this recipe (with a gf flour). Look delish!

  16. Emma says

    THANK YOU!!!! I just bought a bajillion bananas yesterday (Fair trade organic for $0.29/lb?! Yes please.) – this is their calling.

    I am making this promptly. May throw some espresso in there, too.

    Hope you’re doing well, Katie =)

  17. Liz F. says

    Thank you so much for posting this! I couldn’t make it fast enough when I found the recipe and it is so amazing!!! My hubby and 3 yr old have already finished off over half of the loaf since I cut it a few minutes ago 🙂

  18. July says

    Just wondering, if you recommend the version with the oil on all of your recipes why do you always put it as optional and list the nutritional info for the version without oil first? It seems kind of strange in my opinion

    • k says

      A lot of people don’t use oil… read the comments. Everyone is always looking for a lighter version. And who cares which is listed first?? Lol

  19. Dana says

    This was delicious! I love your other banana bread recipe, so I was really excited to try this one and it didn’t disappoint. REALLY yummy. My kids each had two slices and declared the recipe a winner. 🙂

  20. Becky says

    Just tried this recipe. IT IS FABULOUS. This was is even better the the triple chocolate. Not sure what it is about it. My options I used were five overripe bananas (as a wet ingredient), whole wheat flour, apple cider vinegar, oil/milk combo, agave, and stevia. Can’t believe how amazing it turned out — thanks Katie!!!

  21. Heleen says

    Hi Katie! This is the first time I comment on one of your posts! I absolutely love your recipes! This one is baking in the oven right now, the batter already tasted soooo good, I couldn’t stop eating it 😛 I’ll tell you how it’s turned out!

  22. Lori says

    Just made for breakfast for my kids on yet another snow day. They LOVED it! Thanks for great recipe! Was worried about the swirl but all went well.

  23. Alice says

    This sounds like a really good thing to take to school! 🙂
    Luckily I’ve got some extremely ripe bananas in the house that i have no use for so I’m gonna make this as soon as possible.

  24. Emma says

    Hi Katie! I just made this using almond flour, and oh my goodness! It is so light and delicious! I will definitely be making this again, thank you for the recipe x

  25. Kelly says

    This looks delicious! How do you think I could make it gluten free??

    I will probably experiment with it and see what I can do to make it gluten free! Thanks for being so creative! 🙂

    Kelly

  26. Bridget says

    I made this in a GF version last night and it was a HUGE HIT,even with my non-banana bread lover! Just used approx. 3/4C Authentic Foods white rice flour, 1/4C millet flour, 3/4C sorghum flour, 1/4C tapioca flour…to equal 2 C. Added a splash(?), maybe about 1/2tsp agar powder. We can’t use xanthum or guar gum, so I throw a little agar in to bind.

  27. Jessica says

    Hi Katie! Just letting you know I made this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and it came out delicious! Thank you for all your recipes they are marvelous!

  28. Jess says

    Looking forward to trying this! yum!

    Side note – is there a way to easily print your recipes? I know some sites have a printer friendly link or way of doing it. Thanks!

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      To print, highlight just the recipe itself and right-click “copy;” then open a new Word document and right-click “Paste.” You can give this document a name and save it in a CCK recipe folder, and print from that point.

  29. Jenn says

    I was seriously just looking for a banana bread recipe that had caloric info attached (we’re counting calories here).

    THANK YOU! this looks delicious!

  30. Katie G. says

    This was so tasty! We are out of cocoa powder, so I melted the 1/2 cup chocolate chips with the 1/4 boiling water and added that to half the batter and it was amazing. It went from bread to cake, for sure.

    If you ever want to hang out with some cool vegan preschoolers and their mom, we’re just over the river in Arlington! 😉

  31. Angela says

    I was really excited to make this, but it didn’t work 🙁 the batter still wasn’t cooked after an hour and a half, did anyone else have this problem, or can help me!!

  32. Lindsey @ DishingUpHope says

    YUM! This looks great. Thanks also for keeping up with all of us GF-ers. Looking forward to seeing if this could be made with some GF AP flour =-)

  33. Libby says

    I gave this a try with gluten free flour, and the results were delicious. I didn’t add xanthan gum. I just swapped out the 2 cups spelt or all-purpose flour for 2 cups gf flour. I also used melted coconut oil as my choice of oil. Thanks for the recipe!

  34. Heather says

    This is amazing! Made it last night. Used 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 all purpose flour and turned out great. Subbed brown sugar for honey and added a little bit extra banana to make up for the less moisture. It turned out beautiful, moist and tasty. The marbling looked amazing! The bread held together really well too. Shared it with colleagues and they were blown away, said it was some of the best banana bread they had ever had! Will definitely make again.

  35. Becky M. says

    Impeccable timing on posting this recipe–it’s been the perfect treat to get me through the recent snowstorms and frigid temps here in PA! It is easily my favorite banana bread recipe!

  36. Regan says

    Not sure what happened, but the consistency came out weird for me – kind of rubbery. Used regular flour, coconut oil, and coconut milk. Flavor is kind of off for me too. Don’t think I’d add the vinegar next time – used apple cider vinegar.

  37. Michelle says

    I made these into muffins; layered one tablespoon of the chocolate on bottom of each muffin cup followed by one tablespoon of the plain batter on top and swirled! Baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. So good! I love your blog so much!! 😀

  38. Kate says

    Tried this with GF flour – gluten free mama almond blend – cup for cup and added 3/4 t xanthum gum. It is delicious and even looks like your picture. Love love love your site and recipes!

  39. Kate Palmiere says

    This is a fabulous site and I love what you are doing Katie! I recently made this bread and it is the best!!! It is very satisfying without being overly sweet and it is so moist. I used spelt flour, but the next time I will try a gluten free mix just because I am challenging my baking skills. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  40. Emily says

    Made this last night and baked them as muffins. We ate the whole dozen for breakfast this morning, and I’ll probably have to make some more tonight! Thanks 🙂

  41. Gen says

    I made this last night with rice malt syrup instead of maple and omitted the sugar. It tasted great! Not too sweet and wonderfully moist. There’s only 2 slices left…guess my family liked it too!

  42. Becky says

    Hi Katie,

    I just want to let you know that my family and I adore this banana bread! I never thought that GF vegan banana bread could be so fabulous! Yes, I did GF, so I thought I would report back. I am not a fan of pre-made GF flour blends–I like to stay away from starches and gums and I like my flours freshly ground in the Blendtec. So here’s what I used to sub: 1 1/4 c. GF oat/sorghum blend (2/1 ratio), 1/4 c. sweet rice flour (Mochiko), 1/4 c. coconut flour, and 3 Tablespoons ground flax seed. It is so, so good. Thank you for the recipe!

  43. Tina says

    Another amazing recipe Katie!!! My kids actually begged me to hide it from their dad (who is notorious for finishing off treats after they go to bed! Lol!) we love your recipes, keep them coming!

  44. Sandra says

    I made the bread this weekend, using Nectresse (monk fruit sweetener) – half of the sugar measurement. It came out a delicious cake. Thanks.

  45. Gabriela says

    I added 1/2 c crushed pecans to the white batter and 1/2 c dark chocolate chips to the dark half. Lets just say that members of my family who aren’t chocolate lovers loved this recipe! Thanks 🙂

  46. Tabitha says

    Just made this and it is SO delicious! looks fantastic and tastes so moist and chocolaty and lovely, definitely going to make it again

  47. Lorraine says

    Hi Katie,
    This looks delicious! I’m going to make this tonight 😀 One question though: can I use blackstrap molasses instead of maple syrup? How does that affect the recipe, apart from taste wise?
    Thanks!
    Lorraine

  48. Chai Caramba says

    Katie, in place of “1/8 tsp pure stevia or 1/4 CUP sugar of choice,” did you mean “1/4 TSP sugar of choice”? Thanks!

    BTW, I love ALL of your recipes; they’ve changed my life!

  49. Rita says

    This Banana bread recipe is so good. It works perfect and everyone loves, no one misses the white sugar! Thank you for reminding us how sweet real food can be.

  50. Andrea Boddam says

    I’m sure others have probably reported in on this but using gluten-free flour does not kill the recipe.

    I work at a counselling office and one of the groups that the social workers run has a member with gluten and dairy intolerance’s. I’ve been baking some sort of gluten-free vegan snack for the group ever since finding out. I tried this for the group today (and added 1 gram xantham gum to act as a binder) and it got rave reviews!
    All of the group members and the social workers asked for seconds and of all of the snack foods it was the favourite!

    Thanks for the great recipe Katie!

  51. Nadia says

    Hi,
    the recipe looks great! Will be trying it soon, just one question for 1/4 of sugar of your choice does it matter if I use brown sugar or caster sugar (white sugar) ….will it change the taste? Is one better then the other? And is the nutritional information based on the use of stevia?

    Thanks
    Nadia

  52. Joy says

    Ahh I’ve had this in the over for over an hour. Came back to re-read the recipe and see where I screwed up because it’s still liquid in the middle. Turns out I missed the part where you only use 1/4 cup of the boiling water and not the whole thing. Boo 🙁 I hope it still firms up enough to be edible 🙁

    It sure smells good though and LOVE your site!

  53. David says

    Just made these and they were super tasty. I used 2 tbsp coconut oil and 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce, 206g flour and 34g cinnabun flavored protein powder, and used 1/3 cup of splenda. The non-chocolate parts were a bit dark, but the swirl was still visible. Thanks for the great recipe!

  54. Abbey says

    Hi Katie!

    I made this last night using mostly gluten free flour and a little almond meal. Worked well and everyone loves it!

    Your website is my go-to for recipes, because in my family there are 3 gluten free including me, and I also eat mostly vegan, and my sister is vegan too. Thanks for helping supply us with plenty of delicious healthy snacks! 🙂 X

  55. Charmaine Busch says

    I just made muffins with this recipe, and it came out amazing! The only thing I did differently was to add 5ml banana essence, and use xylitol instead of sugar. Awesome recipe!

  56. LisaQ says

    I used GF buckwheat flour and it tasted amazing. But, due to the dark nature of buckwheat, I skipped the swirl and mixed everything together. Baked a little longer on 300 and it came out perfectly moist, just dark looking like brownies. I like buckwheat and this actually concealed the “cornmeal – ish” texture of buckwheat that scares my family away. My entire family inhaled this. My 3 and 5 year old nieces thought it was a healthy brownie (because they tasted banana), therefore justified in eating half the loaf. SUCCESS.

  57. Bianca says

    I just made this, and it’s only half an hour until it comes out of the oven! I made a slight error during the dividing of the batter, so I ended up with way more chocolate batter than the non-chocolate one. Oops? So I think my bread is going to be the “Banana Marble Swirl Chocolate Bread”. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, of course. 😉

  58. BeverMac says

    Hello Katie!

    Thanks for the beautiful recipe. It’s officially become a go-to recipe. My husband purposely buys bananas to hide/ripen in desperate hopes that I’ll make this recipe. My mother is coming today and she is pretty fussy about her baking. I can’t wait for her to try this. Fingers crossed, cheers and thanks!

  59. sarika says

    Cant cant wait to try this recipe…im drooolingg. 2 quick questions- can I substitute apple sauce for the oil? and secondly can I use xylitol instead of the honey/maple syrup making it completely sugarfree?

  60. Kathryn Gordon says

    Hi Katie,
    Thank you for all of your yummy recipes! I made the Chocolate Marble Swirl Banana Bread with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I did switch out the bananas and replace them with 1 can pumpkin puree (no bananas on hand :-), but otherwise I followed your recipe to a T. It was delicious! Thank you so much for sharing all your kitchen creativity!

  61. tracy says

    I am using the gf rice flour Betty Crocker I used 1 1/2 cups gf f and 1 tsp xantham I am baking it as i writr to you 😉 thanks so much for all these yummmmmmyyy healthy treats 😉

  62. Debbie says

    OMG! OMG! This recipe was sooo good. My family and I gobbled it up within 2 days!!! The only thing I had to change was the flour. ( my brand new unopened one had those darn little bugs in it, UGH!) So I used some King Arthur premium whole wheat flour. Tasted great! Remade today again, except making a double batch!!! LOVE this site : )

  63. Aelish Donohue says

    Hi Katie!

    My friend and I just made your marble banana bread and it’s so good! The GF flour was a success! We also substituted coconut palm sugar and it made the texture a bit chalky – so I don’t think we would use that next time.

    Thanks!

    • Scinia says

      I tried it today and it was just amazing!! The earlier vegan banana bread was good, too. Katie, you are simply a genius. Thanks for sharing your recipes!!!

  64. Demi says

    I just moved into my new apartment and don’t having any baking powder, how would this affect the way the bread comes out?

  65. Sara says

    Just made this recipe, but used apple sauce in place of oil. We’ll see how that turns out. Otherwise, my little family of 3 (almost 4!) are vegan, so this was a good find. I hope it turns out as well as it smells! 🙂

  66. Jude says

    Hey Katie,
    I have no idea how I stumbled upon your blog today, but I’m very happy that I did. You sound honest, and fun. 🙂
    Usually I don’t bake very much—when I was about 12 years old, I made my first cake a “never fail cake” which, um, failed lol …..
    but I am really looking forward to receiving your recipes by email, and plan to continue visiting your blog here-all the recipes look great, and not too hard to make.
    Thanks muchly Katie! 🙂

  67. Annika says

    Hi Katie,

    I made this recipe a couple of times using oats that I turned into flour and the bread tasted yummy and turned out pretty good ! 🙂

  68. WhatWordsCannotExpress says

    Psssssssssst, Katie! I know you’re busy ;), but looking through the comments, it looks like it’s time to update this recipe to include that GF flour blends do work okay & add your GF tag to it. This is a selfish request as that will make it easier for me to find when looking for GF treats, lol, but I’m sure it will benefit others as well!! Thank you so much for providing all these great recipes to us for free. I am looking forward to seeing your cookbook for sale so I can buy several copies! 😀

  69. Rosie says

    I made this last night and it turned out delicious and so moist! I used 4 bananas (less than 2 cups), almond milk, and low fat milk in place of the oil; instead of the honey, I subbed in about 4-5 tablespoons of brown sugar and used 4 packets of NuNaturals stevia instead of the sugar 🙂 I also used King Arthur’s whole wheat flour and expected it to be a bit dry but not at all! The crust does taste like what fat-free cupcakes would be, but I didn’t mind since the inside was so moist. In my next attempt, I would definitely use only about 2 packets of stevia, a bit of sugar, and lower the amount of brown sugar since it was sweeter than I expected.

    Thank you for the recipe!

  70. Corynn says

    Mine is currently in the oven. I am super duper excited to see the results! I love, love, love this website! I found it about a week ago and have probably gone through a good 15 recipes already!

  71. Kirsty says

    Hey, I tried making this today and it hasn’t worked out! It was in the oven for way over an hour plus 20 minutes with the oven switched off, and it’s still raw in the middle. I’m really disappointed! What did I do wrong?

      • Kirsty says

        Thanks 🙂 I just had a look at the FAQ – I used a silicone 9×5 loaf tin. I’m in England so I converted the temperature to about 175 C for the most part but turned it down after an hour or so so that it didn’t burn. I used plain flour (all purpose you call), with granulated sugar as that was all I had, and honey. Everything else was as you listed, but I did use cups not weighing scales.
        I ended up taking it out of the loaf tin and laying it on a baking tray to finish cooking – it is still quite mushy in places, but it is DELICIOUS! (just looks nothing like yours ha!)

  72. Hayley says

    This is my mom’s favourite banana bread! I always use the options for sugar because I love sugar. Oops guess it really is addicting isn’t it?

  73. Brenda says

    I bought almond flour for the first time to bake low carb or lower carb and I used this recipe. I halved it since I only had two large bananas and added 1 tbsp flaxseed meal to 1 cup measuring cup of almond flour so that the almond flour was actually less than 1 cup. I used honey (almost 1/4 cup) and truvia (almost 1/4 cup) – both I filled up so that there was still about a centimeter space left in the measuring cup. I chose lemon juice and almond milk. I didn’t have baking soda so I put 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/4 tsp baking powder. I used baking chocolate chunks about 65% unsweetened (1/4 cup)

    The banana bread didn’t rise but after just about 50 minutes the crust very cooked through and the middle was still very soft. The overall flavor I loved and so did my non-health food eating partner. I would definitely make it again and probably make sure the batter isn’t as liquid as it was this time (I think I added too much of the boiling water when trying to halve everything).

    Thanks for starting off my almond flour baking CCK!

  74. Bree says

    OMG This was SO good. I made a few adjustments.
    1st- I used apple sauce instead of oil.
    2nd- I used date syrup instead of the honey. I was skeptical but didn’t have any honey.
    3rd- I used 1/2 regular and 1/2 whole wheat flour.

    My husband who is NOT AT ALL into “healthy” desserts loved this. He said it’s the only way I can make banana bread. I was really surprised actually. I’ve tried other recipes from CCK and he is always like “meh”(i always love them though) but he love love loved this and had no idea it was made with dates haha. 😀 I also really enjoyed it. It took 5 bananas for me to get to 2 cups. It may have been a bit over 2 but it just makes the bread more moist. Thanks for the recipe!

  75. Jessica says

    I followed the recipe exactly, using almond milk instead of oil, all-purpose flour, honey, 1/4 c white sugar. The only thing I didn’t have was a loaf pan so I used an 8in round cake pan, meaning I wasn’t sure when it would be done baking! The recipe is more of a gooey (not crumb-y) bread, so a toothpick inserted will not come out clean! Don’t overbake this, as the outside gets tough/chewy (but doesn’t burn). It softens up after putting in the fridge though. (Tastes better cold too!)

    Questions:
    How would you test this for doneness?
    What is the texture of this bread supposed to be like? Gooey? I wonder if I did something wrong or if it is supposed to be like this. I like the choco-nana swirl flavor but miss the crumb texture you usually get with breads.

    Thanks!

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      If you don’t follow the recipe then Katie cannot vouch for the results that you get. What you made was not the recipe she posted. Please read her Recipe FAQ page at the top of the blog.

      • Jessica says

        I did follow the recipe she posted, using the alternatives she posted. Like I said, the only difference was the pan. Either way, I still feel like my questions are valid, and am curious to know if Katie or anyone else can answer them.

        • Unofficial CCK Helper says

          I would make it in the correct shape pan. Reading through the comments, it looks like the commenters above you who made it according to the instructions had success.

  76. Doris Bond says

    Sounds wonderful! Can’t wait to try. Also can I use mini baking pans & how long should they bake? I am not very schooled on the internet, so please help me be able to print the recipe.
    Many thanks,
    sassydabbr

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      It’s relatively easy to print Katie’s recipes: Highlight just the recipe itself and right-click “Copy.” Then open a new Word document and right-click “Paste.” You can name and print readily as needed.

  77. Nicole says

    Hey all! I tried out the recipe yesterday, using all the exact ingredients but changing the flour blend to a gluten free flour (i used the Schar Mix Patisserie). But it didn’t come at all like the beautiful cake above, but like a pudding. Can any gluten free expert help me ? Do you think the Schar Mix Patisserie flour blend is not good ? and i should be using something else ? Looking forward to your reply people.

  78. Philippa says

    Hi katie I just made this chocolate marble swirl banana bread gluten free. I replaced the flour with 1 cup of g.f. Oat flour, 1cup of buckwheat flour and used 1 flax egg in with the wet ingredients and it has turned out beautifully. It has risen well and has held together perfectly.
    Thankyou for the recipe. I love this website!
    Philippa x

  79. Sara says

    Mine is currently in the oven. I used an all purpose GF mix and the batter was a little sticky but so far in the oven it is looking pretty good!

  80. Sarah says

    I made this recipe today because I was out of eggs and wanting to make banana bread. I used all purpose flour, vegetable oil,
    honey and white sugar. Left out the chocolate chips and added a little allspice. Not the most moist banana bread I’ve ever had, but still yummy!

  81. cris_connor says

    Hello I have tried this banana bread and I have to say it is amazing! I would like to know if I can use Oat flour instead of spelt or all purpose.

    Thanks so much

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      You can always experiment as long as you are okay with the possibility it might not turn out well. Edible experiments are fun!

    • Karin says

      oh my god I have no idea what just happened but basically 9/10 of my comment just got deleted (I sent it normally but when I went to see it, it had been cut off even before my first sentence was finished omg)…Wow. Well, it took me a while to write it and I’m not going to write all that again but basically I was just exclaiming my love for your recipes and how you’re literally a lifesaver, to put it extremely simply. 😀

  82. Leah says

    Well my 2&4 year old made this today! They added the whole cup of boiling water. (Did I mention I have a boy:) we live in Hawaii so we put Macadamia Nuts on top! I used whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, coconut flakes and coconut oil. Added extra chocolate chips to their tummy too. All of our crazy oops and extra baking time and wow! Amazing! I had a banana bread guru try this and she was impressed. Next time I will make sure not to dump in the cup of water. Did I mention we didn’t swirl it either:) I wish I could show you a picture. Mahalo Nui Loa Katie. Sending you some Aloha!

  83. Lauren says

    I made this tonight to use up some extra ripe bananas, and because my hubs has been craving banana bread for a while. I used brown rice syrup instead of agave since we just ran out. I upped the sugar to 1/3 cup since BRS isn’t as sweet. I also mixed in a few tablespoons of creamy peanut butter to the regular batter, since chocolate, bananas, and PB are our favorite combo. I also made these into muffins! A heaping spatula full of each batter, one on top of the other, and swirled with a fork. Mine baked up in about 25 minutes. Great if you’re shorter on time, or if you’d rather have a grab-n-go type treat. So delicious! Thanks for the recipe, we both LOVE it. 🙂
    P.S. Dark chocolate cocoa powder does something totally swoon-worthy to this swirly banana bread!

  84. Tamara says

    I made this gluten free with 1 C all-purpose gluten free flour and 1 C oat flour (made it from gluten free oats) and it turned out INCREDIBLE!

  85. casey says

    made this today with unsweetened coconut milk, coconut oil, honey and i added chocolate chips. this was the most delicious banana bread i have ever had!!!! thanks for the recipe!

  86. T says

    Hi Katie, I’ve used a fee of your recipes now, all have been a hit so thank you!!
    Quick question about the honey, what type and brand do you normally use?

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      Highlight just the recipe, then right click with your mouse. There will be a box that pops up when you right click that says “print.”
      Let me know if this works!

  87. Sabrina says

    Hi Katie!

    First off, THANK YOU for so many wonderful recipes! Although this is my first time leaving a comment, I have been visiting your blog (and using your book- amazing!) for a few months now. I am so excited for your upcoming recipes – I´ve turned into a baking addict 😉
    Second, I wanted to let you know that I used gluten free flour and the banana bread came out delicious! The others that tried it couldn´t believe I didn´t use regular white flour.
    I will definitely be making this one again 🙂

  88. Kelly says

    This bread turned out great! I used regular all-purpose flour, 1/4 c honey and 1/4 cup agave instead of the full half cup of one or the other, and I actually forgot to add the 1/4 cup sugar. As a result, it turned out with just a hint of sweetness, and delicious. Really, between the natural sugars in the a banana and the honey and agave, there is more than enough added sugars anyway, right?

  89. Lucy says

    I will definitely try this one! Combination of bananas and chocolate must be irresistible 🙂 Thank you for the recipe Katie!

  90. Viv says

    This was really good! Like some other commenters, I used this recipe to make muffins instead of bread. Here are changes I made to the recipe:
    1.) Two tablespoons of applesauce and two tablespoons of coconut oil (instead of 1/4 cup of oil)
    2.) Xylitol in place of the liquid sweeteners and sugar (added two tablespoons of water to the batter to compensate for any liquid that would have been in honey/agave/maple syrup)
    3.) Omitted the chocolate chips
    4.) Not really a change, but my milk of choice was almond milk

    I was able to make 16 muffins using two 12 cup muffin pans. Strongly recommend trying this delicious recipe out!

  91. Gia says

    I just made this using Pamela’s GF artisan flour blend, and it came out perfect! I don’t think I’ll have much left to freeze! Thanks for the delicious recipe Katie!

  92. Jenni says

    I just wanted to mention an impromptu change I made: I had already mashed the bananas and heated the oven, when I realized I had run out of cocoa powder! I couldn’t turn back at that point, so I decided to melt about 1/4 cup chocolate chips with a tablespoon of coconut oil, then stir it into half the batter in lieu of the cocoa. The chocolate ribbons still came out fluffy and delicious! Not quite as healthy, but definitely a tasty treat. 🙂

  93. Andy S. says

    I ran into some issues 🙁 I smashed up 4 bananas measured and they made the listed 2 cups of bananas, but even after cooking this way beyond the time, my bread is still way too moist in the middle. I think next time i would only mash up 2 bananas [usually the non healthy bananas breads only use 2 bananas]. it’s more like a bread pudding in its current state. it won’t go to waste but isn’t the texture I was hoping for 🙁

    • A says

      Just cook it longer and you will be fine. As Katie mentions in her FAQ page, sometimes climate, elevation, oven calibration or lack thereof, and/or other factors can make a difference.

  94. Mary J says

    This was so dangerously tasty it was gone in one day!! I ate half of it, if not more!! It was so good I will have to make it again and exercise some temperance in the second round!! Thanks so much Katie!!

  95. Marilea Johnson says

    Has anyone had success with this using GF flour or GF flour alternatives? Im not a master GF baker curious to know if anyone had tried that yet. Its a great yummy recipe!

  96. Terry says

    Had many overripe bananas ? so I chose this recipe because I love chocolate in the mix and I had all the ingredients. I like to follow recipes exact the first time, then experiment. I like the reviews so I can see what other people added or substituted. I made as close as I could with the following tweaks based on what I had:
    Brown sugar for the 1/4 cup sugar
    1 cup Bob’s Red Mill GF flour + 1 cup banana flour
    Only had extra virgin olive oil, so used it
    Added walnuts
    I also laid a whole banana pressed in on top before baking
    Wonderful recipe. I’ve already had 2 slices. Go for it!!

  97. Jay says

    I have made this a few times over the years. It’s pretty dense, but it still tastes delicious. It’s quite simple and comes together quickly. Would definitely recommend if you’re looking for something pretty healthy. Do keep in mind though, you can kind of tell that it’s missing some fat because it doesn’t have as much depth. But if you have good quality cocoa and ripe bananas, you can look past that.

  98. Jess says

    I really want to share my experience with this. First of all, it’s delicious. Second of all, I totally improvised due to lack of ingredients.
    After reading others’ comments, I set out to make muffins. I measured and mixed all the dry ingredients. Then I realized the recipe said 2 CUPS of bananas… but I only had three bananas. Great. So I tried to make the weight by adding peanut butter. But that seemed so heavy, so I think I capped out around 390g. Then I realized my husband had just drunk the last of the milk. Great! So I took some whole milk yogurt, and diluted it with cold water to approximate a milk texture. That seemed sufficient. So I mixed and divided and added the cocoa and it all felt a little… weird. But what the heck. I baked them at 350 for 25 minutes… and they came out great! Fluffy but not wet inside, lovely, even tops.

    I’m a very novice baker, and this is my first time “winging it!” I owe it to you, Katie – your recipes are so user-friendly and flexible, so I wasn’t afraid to experiment a little. I hope this comment empowers other beginner bakers to feel like they can take risks and have fun and end up with something delish. <3

  99. Nina says

    Hi, Greetings from Lockdwn UK (3) Thanks for yet another fabulous recipe! I am planning to make this for Easter… do you add the chocolate chips to the half of the batter that has the cocoa powder added or sprinkle the chips on top of the banana bread? It’s probably me…but I can’t find a print button 🙄 I have made lots of your recipes and they always are huge hits with everyone. Please write another cookbook! Stay safe….

  100. Sabrina says

    I’ve made this banana bread so many times. It is so good any everyone I have made it for has loved it as well.

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