Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Although I've never published a recipe post, I'm an avid cook. As much as possible, when we aren't traveling, I try to make delicious whole food meals. Besides my other interests in travel, style, lipstick, art, and wine, I love food theory and the culture surrounding gastronomy. I read cookbooks and food writing literature in my spare time. Since I get bored with eating the same thing over and over, I am constantly experimenting. One of the great pleasure of travel is that I can also bring other people's ingredients and cooking methods to my kitchen after a visit. Like the sumac spice Gman brought home from Iraq.

I used eat vegetarian and vegan too at one point, though now I enjoy an omnivore diet. I cook with different methods to see what tastes best to me. Many of my friends have dairy or gluten intolerances too, so I like to make things they can enjoy if I am entertaining.

All that being said, I started posting my homemade meals on Instagram and received many recipe requests. So here's the first one! Let me know if you enjoy reading food posts and I'll do some more. Thanks for sticking with me!

This Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread is vegan. That means there are no animal products used in the recipe, no milk, butter, eggs, or even honey. If you have a dairy intolerance you will enjoy having a baked treat worry-free without making any adjustments to the recipe. If you have a gluten allergy, switch the rolled oats for gluten-free oats and you'll be in the clear. Having no eggs also means you can lick the bowl afterwards with reckless abandon.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread
Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

To start, heat the oven to 350 degrees F and measure 2 cups of rolled oats into a food processor and grind until oats are the consistency of cornmeal. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, smash 3 very ripe bananas until they are mostly smooth. Then add 1/3 cup of light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature so you will need to place the jar in a bowl of hot water to melt it a bit first, this takes only a few minutes. If you have never baked vegan before, you might be concerned that we aren't adding milk or eggs. Don't worry, the bananas are very moist and used in vegan baking to replace eggs used in traditional recipes. You won't miss the milk and eggs, I promise!

Add the banana mixture to the oatmeal mixture and blend with a fork. Fold in 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips, 1/4 cup coconut flakes, and 1/4 - 1/2 cup crushed walnuts, depending on your preference. You might also add a tablespoon or two of crushed flax seeds. I add them to almost everything I bake (even to salads and smoothies). They are very high in Omega 3 and Omega 6. I don't eat fish or red meat (often) so I think it helps give me those vitamins I might be missing out on.

Transfer to a non-stick bread pan and sprinkle with some brown sugar and whole rolled oats, about a tablespoon each. Bake for 45 minutes. A fork should come out clean besides melted chocolate (I recommend licking from the fork afterwords). Let the bread rest in the pan for about 15 minutes before removing and slicing. I portioned the bread into baggies for on-the-go breakfast during the week, too.

Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee and enjoy!