Banana bread is the best. When I think back to my childhood, most of my memories are around food. Not people, not experiences, but food. And one of those food memories is a banana bread loaf (and sometimes pumpkin bread) that we would get at the local grocery store. I would eat it straight out of the tin with a fork because cutting it into slices seemed like too much work…and I didn’t understand portion control. I simply understood the dopamine dump I was getting from consuming such a lovely piece (meaning loaf) of bread. Well nowadays I prefer my dopamine dump to come from a banana bread that has no yellow #5 or canola oil or propylene glycol. Instead, I much prefer some dates, bananas, and some delicious butter…inside AND on top.
Since I’m currently in the third trimester of pregnancy, ready to pop any damn day, I’m eating a lot of dates. And if you’ve never been pregnant or never heard about what dates can do for you during pregnancy…let me give you a visual. I know that’s what you came here for when you were searching for a banana bread recipe! Starting at 36 weeks, eating dates daily can help ripen your cervix. That’s right…we’re talking about ripe bananas AND ripe cervix over here. That’s where my life is at these days. So I’m eating dates, adding them to smoothies, and consuming them in banana bread since that way is the most enjoyable way…all in hopes that labor is even just a tad smoother than it would be if I hadn’t eaten dates. I’m also do about a million other things like drinking raspberry leaf tea, taking evening primrose oil, curb walking (these sneakers and these ones, too, are majorly coming in handy since my feet are swelling and need allll the support), getting abdominal uterine massages, and about anything else they say may help induce and improve labor. Let’s gooooooo, baby girl!
I’m thinking I may whip up one last batch of this banana bread before she gets here. It’s just so damn good. It’s much more dense than the normal banana bread I make and I really dig that. You have to make sure it’s heated up and has a big ole helping of organic grass-fed butter on top. No skimping when it comes to this banana bread. Get that dopamine rush, baby! Speaking of that…maybe I’ll order some groceries today to not only load up on ingredients for this banana bread, but so I can make sure I have all the snacks for our birth center bag! Birth is a marathon and I want to be fully prepared with food that keeps me energized throughout! I’m so damn excited for birth! Kloveyoubyeeeeeee!
Date Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 12 medjool dates, pitted
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 3 brown bananas
- 1/3 cup melted butter (ghee, coconut oil, etc.)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bread pan with coconut oil spray and line with parchment paper.
- Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water then let stand and soften for 10 minutes.
- In a food processor, add dates along with the water and pulse to begin to break down the dates. Then place food processor on low and blend until the dates have completely broken down and begin to thicken up, almost like a caramel. Then add the bananas, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Once completely combined, add to a large bowl and slowly mix in the gluten free flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour mixture into greased and lined bread pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the loaf. After 30 minutes, take a piece of aluminum foil and place it lightly over the top of the banana bread to keep from browning too much. Once banana bread is cooked through, let stand for 10 minutes before removing from pan and then let cool on a rack. Serve warm with some butter and enjoy your life! Store in the fridge in a closed container.
What I Used To Make This Recipe:
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Made it already 🙂 added pecans. Tasty. Will add Hu chocolate chips next time. This is a keeper!
This recipe looks absolutely delicious and I hope I can plan to make it. In my last pregnancy, I had gestational diabetes and was terrified to eat dates and bananas and especially not the 2 of them together as labor approached. My OB GYN was very strict. Despite being diet controlled I took blood sugar readings 4x a day up until my last dinner before delivery the next morning. I suppose I could have eaten dates and bananas together with 8oz of chicken breast and a 2 mile walk afterwards to keep my sugars down.
Could you substitute deglet nour dates?
Killing it, mama! This was DELICIOUS!
I made this bread this morning and it turned out so moist and it was perfectly sweetened! I only ended up baking for 1 hour as the top looked like it was getting overdone and I was worried that it was going to be dry, however, it was perfect! Thanks for sharing this recipe! 😊
woooohoooo!! so happy to hear that!
Can you put in muffin tins to make this recipe into muffins??
definitely could!
What are your thoughts on adding chocolate chips? I’m one week behind you, and my preggo cravings are all about the chocolate, but also need to get things moving with the dates 😉
adding chocolate chips is NEVER a bad idea
Can confirm its GREAT with chocolate chips!
35 weeks pregnant over here. Made this today and it is delicious! All my kids love it. Thanks for the recipe and prayers for a good labor and delivery!
This recipe is a winner! It was so damn good. I didn’t have gluten free flour so I just used regular flour and it turned out wonderful. Definitely making it again! Thanks Juli : )
I made this bread today but unfortunately I found it to be super bland. I know that it’s supposed to be healthier but it definitely needs something else to sweeten it up. On the plus side it turned out nice and soft so next time I’ll add some sweetener.
Can this be made paleo by subbing almond flour?
haven’t tried the recipe that way so I can’t say for sure!
Hi Juli- I’m making your date banana bread, and it smells DIVINE! What’s the best way to store it? Does it need to be refrigerated? Thanks for the delicious recipe!
in the fridge! since it doesn’t have any preservatives or stabilizers in it, it will mold pretty quickly so store in the fridge! thank you for the reminder to put that in the recipe card, i’ll add that now!!
I used almond flour and it turned out great!
So glad you tried it with almond flour. Did you keep the measurement the same?
I used a paleo baking powder which is mostly almond flour. I used the same measurement, but had to cook closer to 1:10. Not sure if that’s my oven or the flour.
This is so good!! 38 weeks pregnant and have been loving having this every day. Also satisfies my sweet tooth without being overly sweet 🙂 thanks, Juli! Hope newborn life is going so well!
so happy to hear it, Maggie!
Do you know if the egg could be substituted with something else? My toddler has an egg allergy.
i haven’t tried the recipe another way, but bob’s red mill has a great egg replacer that i’ve had success with when it comes to other recipes!
My good God this date banana bread is so friggen good. I think i expected it to be too dense or mushy and its texture is just perfect. Mine only took an hour in the oven (the top looked just a tad dry so I took it out) and it was perfect. 10/10 for this recipe and I will be using it in the future!
yayyyyy! so happy to hear that you loved it!