Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies (Vegan GF)

Fluffy sweet and sticky banana bread meets delicious and creamy blondies studded with chocolate chips. These blondies are naturally vegan, gluten-free and come together in one-bowl with 10 minutes of work!

My love for banana bread, blondies and anything chocolate chip combine in these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies. They are naturally sweet, sticky and luscious with gooey chunks of banana on top and lots of melting chocolate chips and chunks throughout. Like the best banana recipes, the base for these blondies is lots of ripe and sweet banana mashed together to act as a natural sweetener and help to combine the mix together, as well as a few other ingredients.

While these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies are sticky and sweet, they are far more wholesome with fibre- and protein-packed ingredients that mean you can definitely have blondies for breakfast. Slice these bars thick for a delicious afternoon tea treat or serve warm with ice cream, or cold in the morning with extra fruit and yoghurt. You’ll be eating these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies on repeat if you’re anything like me!

I actually filmed an IG Reels recipe video for these blondies, too, which shows just how easy they are! You can see the video on my Instagram here.

So, what goes into these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies?

• Bananas: obviously! The riper the better and please make sure to weigh the bananas. There’s also an extra banana to make the gooey caramelised ones on top.
• Plant-based milk: as always, any milk will do here. My favourites are almond or oat.
• Coconut sugar: this keeps the base recipe refined sugar free and I love the natural caramel-like colour and flavour it lends to the bake. But you could also use vegan golden caster sugar or light brown sugar.
• Cashew or almond butter: or tahini for a nut-free option. Just make sure the butter is smooth and quite runny. It can help to pop the jar in the microwave for 10-20 second intervals to soften it up.
• Chia seeds: I always grind my chia seeds at home in the blender as they work much better in baking – the mix is much smoother. You could also use ground/milled flaxseed.
• Vanilla: for flavour. if you don’t have any, you can skip this out.
• Ground almonds: this adds to the wonderful texture and sweet nutty taste. This also adds to the texture when using gluten-free mixes like this one. If you are nut-free, you could try subbing this for tigernut flour or a seed flour.
• Oats or oat flour: I always grind my own oats into oat flour. Make sure they are GF-certified if needed and simply add to a blender and blitz to a fine flour.
• Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: for the rise and texture.
• Cinnamon: for the sweet taste!
• Salt: to heighten and bring out all the flavours.
• Chocolate: I use chocolate chips and chunks for this recipe – the chips inside to make the bars easier to slice and eat and then the chunks on top as I love the pools of melted chocolate when you take these out of the oven. Any dairy-free chocolate will do here.

That’s all that goes into these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies. Simply stir it all together in one bowl and then pour into a lined dish and bake until golden and the banans on top have caramelised. The trick is to add a small amount of sugar over the bananas, so they turn gooey and golden rather than dry out.

These Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies are great with a cup of tea or coffee mid-morning or for dessert or breakfast! It’s like the best of both worlds: banana bread, blondies and chocolate chips. They are light and fluffy with a sturdy texture that means they also travel well (when we can go out of the house, that is!). They are also really versatile, so play around with the recipe and swap the chocolate chips for chopped nuts, dried fruits or a combination of all three!

If you are looking for more simple bakes, how about my:

• Vegan Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
• Snickers Banana Bread
• Dirty Chai Raisin Cupcakes
• Vegan Chocolate Star Bread
• Chocolate Orange Cookie Cups

Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies (Vegan GF)

• Servings: 9-12
• Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Fluffy sweet and sticky banana bread meets delicious and creamy blondies studded with chocolate chips. These blondies are naturally vegan, gluten-free and come together in one-bowl with 10 minutes of work.

Ingredients

• 2-3 ripe bananas, mashed (250g)
• 1 firm banana
• 60ml plant-based milk
• 60g + 1 tsp coconut sugar
• 90g smooth cashew or almond butter
• 1 tbsp ground chia seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 100g ground almonds
• 120g oat flour (GF if needed)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch of salt
• 70g chocolate chips or chunks
To serve:
• extra melted chocolate, flaky salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line a baking dish (8-inch square or equivalent).
2. To a mixing bowl, add the mashed bananas, plant-based milk, 60g coconut sugar, nut butter, ground chia seeds and vanilla. Whisk to a smooth paste.
3. Pour in the ground almonds, oat flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and stir to a thick batter. Fold in 50g of the chocolate chips/chunks.
4. Spoon into the dish and smooth over the top. Slice the firm banana in half and then in half widthways to make 4 halves. Press each one into the top and sprinkle with the eextra sugar. Sprinkle over the remaining chocolate.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden around the edges, firm to touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for 20 minutes, remove from the tin and cool fully.
6. Drizzle with extra melted chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days.

I hope you will love these Banana Chocolate Chip Blondies as much as we do at home and please let me know in the comments below. Tag me in your bakes, too, I love seeing them! I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With banana blondie love x