We’ve had the best ever classic vegan banana bread recipe, you’ve seen my refined-sugar-free chocolate, cherry and walnut banana loaf, and now I bring to you…vegan chocolate chip banana bread.

Ta-dah!

Regular banana bread is great, but the addition of chocolate chips in this recipe really kicks things up a notch.

There’s something about soft, fluffy banana bread scattered with tiny bites of chocolate-y goodness that just results in an absolutely heavenly taste combination.

After going a bit banana-mad last week and making these super fluffy chocolate chip banana muffins, this week I thought I’d adjust the recipe for a banana loaf – and I’m pleased to report that I nailed it. For more chocolate chip goodness, make sure you’ve tried these beautifully soft vegan chocolate chip muffins.

This vegan chocolate chip banana bread is amazing when warm (he-LLO melty chocolate chunks) but is equally as good when cold and you get little bursts of solid chocolate chunks amongst fluffy banana bread.

Making this banana bread

One of my favourite things about this vegan chocolate chip banana bread recipe is that it is relatively low in oil and refined sugar. Instead of using butter for this recipe, I use 30g of melted coconut oil.

And for sweetener, I used coconut sugar which I think gives the loaf a really lovely flavour.

To make the loaf, you’ll need to mash three very ripe bananas (the brown and spottier the better!) in a bowl, and then add coconut oil, almond (or soy or oat – whatever you have to hand) milk, coconut sugar, and aquafaba.

Aqua what now? Aquafaba. Don’t worry – you probably already have it in your kitchen.

Aquafaba is the water you get when you drain a tin of chickpeas and is an amazing egg replacement (you can even whip it to create meringues!). I’ve tried other egg alternatives in the past like flax eggs, chia seeds, and apple sauce, but in my opinion aquafaba really does give this banana bread the best texture.

Keep hold of your chickpeas and make something like this chickpea curry for dinner before digging into your banana loaf!

After combining the wet ingredients, you’ll add the dry: plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, a pinch of salt, and a little cinnamon. Stir until just combined, and then add your chocolate chips.

I like to keep hold of a good handful of chocolate chips to scatter over the top of the loaf to make it look good, but that’s up to you! Once ready, pour into your pre-lined loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes.

Leave to cool and you’re done! This recipe is so easy and produces amazing soft, fluffy, chocolate-y banana bread that you will keep going back to time after time.