Grain-free    &&    Very Low Fat

I developed this recipe to be grain-free, almost-non-fat (the only fat comes from the natural fat in the chickpea flour), and only lightly sweetened, in order to be compatible with my many dietary restrictions. The challenge, after taking grains, fat, and most of the sugar out of a baked good, is ending up with something that doesn’t taste like cardboard.

One (perhaps surprising) trick I learned through trial and error when baking with chickpea flour is that including some roasted mashed sweet potato helps keep the final product moist (though too much and it can become stodgy), while tempering the beany flavor that can sometimes come through with chickpea flour. The second trick I learned is specific to banana bread (thanks to the Banana Bread recipe on Serious Eats, which I recommend for humans with fewer dietary restrictions!): a banana’s characteristic flavor comes from a chemical compound called eugenol, which is also found in clove and nutmeg. So including those spices in banana bread actually amps up the banana flavor and the flavor of the spices themselves conveniently fade in into the background!

The result is, at least to me, a surprisingly tasty, moist and crumbly, satisfying substitute for a traditional banana bread. If you can handle it, I’m sure it’d be even better with lightly toasted pecans and/or chocolate chips mixed it. Otherwise, this is probably the healthiest banana bread you’ll actually enjoy eating!

(Helpful tip, if you don’t already know: If those bananas sitting on your kitchen counter start to get riper than you like to eat fresh, throw them straight into the freezer! They’ll keep just fine, frozen in the peel, until you’re ready to thaw them out and use them to make this banana bread!)

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Makes one 9″x5″ loaf

Prep time: 30 minutes, Bake time: 1 hour

Bits:

– Dry:

• 1 1/4 cups (172 g) chickpea flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cinnamon)
• 1/4 tsp cloves

– Wet

• 12 oz (340 g) peeled VERY ripe bananas (about 4 medium; from frozen is fine)
• 2 Tbsp (41 g) roasted mashed garnet yam
• 2 Tbsp (30 g) egg whites
• 1/4 cup (75 g) nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp (20 g) date syrup (I use The Date Lady‘s)
• 1 Tbsp (17 g) lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Algorithm:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9”x5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
• Sift chickpea flour into a large mixing bowl (don’t skip the sifting, chickpea flour tends to clump!). Add remaining dry ingredients and stir to combine.
• Measure out and mash ripe bananas in a medium mixing bowl. Mash in the yam, stir until mostly homogeneous.
• Combine wet ingredients except the yam and banana in small mixing bowl and stir with a hand mixer or whisk until pretty much smooth. Add the mashed banana and yam and stir to combine.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Fold/stir until combined.
• Bake ~60 minutes. A wood skewer / toothpick inserted into the bread where it splits WILL NOT come out clean; it should have some wet crumbs stuck to it. Check after 20 minutes and put a foil hat over the top of the loaf if the top is starting to develop dark spots.
• Remove from oven and let cool fully in loaf pan. Remove and slice only when cool!