Healthy Strawberry Oat Banana Bread {vegan + gluten free}

This seriously moist & delicious banana bread features fresh strawberries & an oat flour! 

After I went strawberry picking a couple weeks ago, I had all of these strawberry recipe ideas swirling around in my head. And so, today we’re talking about strawberry recipe #2 of this season!

{Recipe #1 was these dairy free baked strawberry donuts with strawberry cream cheese frosting.}

Since we had picked a big bucket of berries, I thought that they’d be around for awhile, and that I’d get to test out at least a couple of recipes. But that was not the case!

Less than a week after my husband and I went strawberry picking, we had eaten the entire bucket. What can I say, we both are big strawberry fans (I mean who doesn’t like strawberries?!). Luckily, I did have the chance to create today’s recipe with some of our local berries… and it’s a good one!

Banana bread is one of my favorite things to bake, and I know that I’m not alone in that sentiment. There’s just something about baking ripe bananas into a dessert-y kind of bread that is so damn good. A couple of my favorite variations are pumpkin banana bread, chocolate chip banana bread & this apple pie banana bread.

I decided to use oats for this banana bread base because I love how hearty they are. I use oats all the time in recipes, from pancake batters and smoothies to banana bread and muffins.

A few other healthy substitutes that I used in this recipe include apple sauce and coconut oil in place of butter and vegetable oil.

A lot of banana breads call for tons of sugar, but personally, I like to let the fruit shine more by using a bit less sweetener. Less sugar also means a lighter, less caloric banana bread.

For this recipe, I used a bit of brown sugar + some monk fruit instead of cane sugar – though you can easily just use cane sugar if you don’t have monk fruit on hand.

One slice of this banana bread comes in at 230 calories – which I happen to think is the perfect portion for a snack or dessert. A serving also contains 5 grams of fiber and 45% of the daily recommended Vitamin C intake (not too shabby!).

As strawberries become in-season near you, I hope that you give this delicious banana bread a try!

Healthy Strawberry Oat Banana Bread {vegan + gluten free}

Foodie Loves Fitness

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 15 mins

Servings 7 -9

Calories 230 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 cups dry oats or oat flour
• 3-4 ripe bananas mashed, depending on how banana-y you like your banana bread (I tend to like mine packed with banana, so I use 4!)
• 1 cup strawberries finely diced
• 2 TBSP ground flaxseed meal
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup monk fruit sweetener or can sub in cane sugar & use 1/3-1/2 cup
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 TBSP coconut oil melted
• 1/2 TBSP vanilla extract
• 1 TSP baking powder
• 1/2 TSP salt

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
• Make the flax egg by combining the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Stir and let it sit.
• If using dry oats, place them in the food processor and pulse until finely ground.
• Place oat flour in a mixing bowl.
• Add in the monk fruit, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Briefly stir.
• Add in the flax egg, apple sauce, melted coconut oil, vanilla and mashed banana. Stir just until combined. Fold in the strawberries. Stir again.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out of the middle of the banana bread clean.
• Allow the bread to cool before cutting into slices. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 230kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 4gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gFiber: 5gSugar: 18g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!