Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

This cinnamon swirl banana bread is naturally dairy free—and it's incredibly moist and tender. The cinnamon-sugar just seals the deal. It's going to become your new favorite way to save those dying bananas!

Why you'll love this cinnamon swirl banana bread recipe

My one bowl gluten free banana bread recipe is easily one of my favorite recipes in the history of ever. Whenever we talk about it on Facebook, so many of you say (sometimes as a sort of confession, but there's no shame needed here!) that you make that banana bread once a week—at least!

We eat a lot of bananas in my house. Well, with 3 teenagers, we eat a lot of everything in my house!

But about a year ago, I finally got a little hook that sticks on to the underside of a kitchen cabinet to hold bananas, so they don't ripen unevenly. It even folds up and out of sight when it's not in use.

I don't care for those enormous “banana trees.” I can't dedicate that sort of counter real estate to one fruit. But this hook is awesome. And my ripening bananas are always front and center!

Another match made in heaven is cinnamon-sugar and bananas. The cinnamon swirl flavors every bite, but of course is concentrated on the top and toward the center, as that's where we put the swirl mixture.

Every single crumb of the banana bread itself is fork-squish tender (that's a thing, right?), but the swirl itself is just on another level entirely. But somehow it doesn't make the slices delicate or prone to falling apart.

There are so many textures in this banana bread, which come together to make it feel extra special: the soft and springy cake texture with a super moist crumb, with the crispy, crunchy top. “Regular” banana bread really just can't compare.

Cinnamon swirl banana bread ingredients notes

• Flour – As always, choose carefully and measure by weight. I like Better Batter classic blend gluten free flour here, but Cup4Cup works, too. Since it's a starchier gluten free flour blend, it makes a lighter banana bread and even browns a bit less. If you're not gluten free, try using whole wheat pastry flour in its place.
• Salt – Salt balances the sweetness and brightens the rich banana bread flavor. I always cook and bake with kosher salt or lightly flaked sea salt because it's much harder to overmeasure than fine table salt.
• Baking powder and baking soda – A combination of baking powder and baking soda provides much of the rise of this banana bread. The baking powder does most of the leavening in the oven, since it's “double acting.”
• Sugar – We use only granulated sugar here, since brown sugar adds additional moisture which makes the bread too heavy. Sugar isn't just a sweetener; it's also a tenderizer so if you are inclined to reduce the amount, your bread won't be as tender.
• Coconut oil – I use triple filtered virgin coconut oil, which I get at Trader Joe's. It has no coconut flavor at all. Be sure to use the kind of coconut oil that's solid, not liquid, at cool room temperature.
• Eggs – Eggs bind the batter together and help with rise in the oven. Large eggs usually weigh about 50 grams each, out of the shell, but I provide the weight measurement for anyone who uses farm-fresh eggs.
• Vanilla extract – Most of the alcohol in vanilla extract evaporates in the oven, leaving behind a rich vanilla flavor without additional liquid.
• Thick, non-dairy plain yogurt – Since there's no butter in this recipe, it only made sense to keep the yogurt nondairy, but be sure it's about the consistency of Greek-style yogurt or it will add too much moisture. If you can have dairy, feel free to use plain Greek-style yogurt.
• Very ripe bananas – If you don't have very spotty bananas in your kitchen, you want to wait until your bananas are ready before baking with them or your bread. Softening them in the microwave won't develop the sugars like natural ripening does, so patience is key here! You can always peel, chop, and freeze your very ripe bananas and defrost them gently when it's time to bake with them. Just don't discard the liquid they produce as they defrost, since it's part of the banana!
• Cinnamon – The cinnamon swirl in the center of this banana bread is what makes it so special.

Tools you'll need to make cinnamon swirl banana bread

There aren't any fancy tools needed to make this bread. You'll need to gather just the basics, including:

• A standard 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan (I like cast aluminum best for baking since it bakes evenly and doesn't heat up too fast)
• A simple digital kitchen scale for measuring your ingredients, especially the gf flour blend, with precision
• A large mixing bowl for the banana bread batter
• A whisk for combining the dry ingredients fully
• A large mixing spoon
• A small mixing bowl with spoon for combining the cinnamon swirl ingredients
• A spatula for transferring the batters to the loaf pan
• A butter knife or small offset spatula for swirling the batter together

Tips for making the best cinnamon swirl banana bread

Use very ripe bananas for ultimate sweetness

Bananas that are good for baking are almost a completely different fruit to the onese that are right for baking. As a banana ripens fully, the starches in the fruit turn to sugar and the inside sweetens. (Science source.)

Store very ripened bananas in the freezer for later baking

The peel of a ripening banana eventually turns spotty and ultimately blackened, and the fruit inside becomes softer and softer. If you store your bananas on a hook or banana tree, once they've become quite ripe the peel begins to break down and they'll fall off the hook.

Remove them from the hook before that happens and lay them flat to finish ripening, then peel and freeze the fruit inside if you're not ready to bake with it right away. Seal it tightly in a freezer-safe container so it doesn't get freezer burn, and other foods in your freezer don't begin to smell like bananas!

How to make that cinnamon swirl

When adding a cinnamon swirl, I've found that virgin coconut oil works better than butter. Whenever you're swirling batter with a cinnamon-sugar mixture, the enemy is a too-stiff batter that doesn't want to, well, swirl. Melted virgin coconut oil is thinner than melted butter, and suddenly the entire recipe becomes easier to handle.

When you add melted coconut oil to the cinnamon sugar swirl, too, it tends to stay in place rather than melting throughout the batter like it would if we were using butter. A crumble, which has flour in it, is quite different from a swirl as a crumble has its own structure.

I'll leave it there since we're getting into the ingredient-and-recipe-development weeds, and I'm fairly certain I'm the only one still interested. Just trust me that you want to use melted coconut oil in this recipe where it's called for, even if you're not dairy free!

Let your banana bread cool completely before slicing

Since the crumb of this banana bread is so moist and tender, the bread is quite fragile before it's cool. If you attempt to slice the loaf before it's completely cool, it will collapse under the knife. Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling, then slice it thickly and serve.

How to store cinnamon swirl banana bread so it stays fresh

Leftovers can be wrapped very tightly and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, and frozen for longer storage. I prefer to slice any leftover bread and wrap the slices so it can be defrosted and enjoyed by the slice. If you prefer to freeze it whole, wrap it tightly and place it on a flat surface like a quarter baking sheet in the freezer until it's fully frozen, then defrost it fully before slicing and serving.

Be sure to layer the batter with the swirl

Resist the urge to dump the whole swirl mixture in between the layers of banana bread. There's too much of it, and it will cause the banana bread layers to separate from one another during and after baking, making the bread unstable.

Key ingredient & substitution suggestions

Dairy free

This recipe is already dairy-free, and I really recommend that you use the virgin coconut oil and not substitute it with butter. It helps keep the batter the proper consistency for swirling, and butter has more moisture which can cause the bread to sink as it cools.

If you don't have a problem with dairy, you can replace the plain yogurt with an equal amount, by weight, of sour cream or regular dairy-containing Greek-style yogurt. Don't attempt to replace the yogurt with anything thinner, like buttermilk or milk.

Egg free

Since this recipe calls for 2 eggs, you should be able to replace each of them with a “chia egg,” which is just 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds mixed with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water and allowed to gel. I haven't tried that substitution, though, so you'll have to experiment.

Sugar free

I haven't tried this recipe with a sugar alternative, but you might try replacing half of the granulated sugar with Lankato monkfruit granulated sugar alternative. Monkfruit and other substitutes can be quite drying, but if you only replace half in this otherwise very moist recipe, it should be okay.

Coconut oil alternative

Even though I believe that coconut oil is the very best fat to use in this recipe, you may not be able to use it. If you don't care for the coconut flavor in coconut oil, try “triple-filtered” coconut oil, which has absolutely not coconut aroma. My local Trader Joe's has it.

If you have to replace the coconut oil, I recommend using Spectrum brand non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. I often get a lot of push-back when I recommend using Spectrum, but it's not Crisco.

Spectrum shortening is made from sustainably produced palm oil that is free of hydrogenation and trans fats. Crisco is hydrogenated vegetable shortening, made from soybean oil and hydrogenated palm oil.

More breakfast bread recipes

If you have the time, you can always make gluten free cinnamon rolls with yeast for breakfast. But if you don't have the time, these quick breads hit the spot:

• Classic gluten free banana bread (less sweet, no swirl)
• Gluten free blueberry muffin bread (with a crumble topping, who can resist?)
• Strawberry gluten free breakfast cake (a lightly sweet cake, so not quite a bread, but perfect for a lighter breakfast)
• Gluten Free Cinnamon Bread with a swirl (a breakfasty quick bread, but without the bananas)
• Gluten Free Apple Bread (made with homemade apple butter, this fragrant bread is apple's answer to banana bread)

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