Chocolate Tahini Banana Bread

NEW FAVORITE BANANA BREAD ALERT.

I’m talking: chocolate. tahini. cinnamon. vanilla. maple syrup. whole wheat flour. bananas (duh).

Does it get any better than this?

I think not.

This banana bread is super tender + moist, FULL of complex flavor from the combination of cocoa powder and tahini, perfectly sweet from overrripe bananas and maple syrup, and crowned with a heap of chocolate chips and an extra swirl of tahini for the perfect sweet, show-stopping topper.

In a word, it’s just utterly perfect.

For real though, I’ve been putting tahini on everything lately. Bananas, toast, pancakes, oatmeal, soup, brownies (!!), burrito bowls, roasted veggies: you name it, it’s getting a drizzle of tahini.

I just can’t get enough of its creamy texture and slightly bitter flavor.

So, it only felt right that I took it a step further and baked it directly into a loaf of banana bread.

Tahini is used here as both a flavor and texture element in the loaf itself, replacing much of the oil in traditional banana bread, but also as a visual element on top. When baked into banana bread, the bitter elements of tahini are all but cancelled out; all that’s left behind is a nutty, golden, toasty flavor that might just be the greatest banana bread addition, ever.

Also: can you see Peanut’s nose in half of these photos? She clearly thought this banana bread was a winner, too. She didn’t try to eat it (obv I was super vigilant bc it’s chocolate), just put her head next to it and sniffed the whole time I was photographing it. Killing me with cuteness, as usual.

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your Chocolate Tahini Banana Bread and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!

Chocolate Tahini Banana Bread

Time: 60 minutes
Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 3 large overripe bananas
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (einkorn, spelt, or all-purpose all work, too)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

topping

• 2 Tablespoons tahini
• 3 Tablespoons dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a standard loaf pan with olive oil or nonstick spray.
• Peel the bananas and place them in a large bowl with the egg, maple syrup, tahini, olive oil, and vanilla. Use a potato masher to mash the bananas and mix all the ingredients together in the bowl.
• Add all remaining ingredients and stir with a spoon until combine.
• Pour batter into prepared pan, and top with the tahini and chocolate chips. Use a knife to gently swirl both into the top.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until cooked through. Let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before removing and letting cool completely on a wire rack.
• Leftovers keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

NOTES:
Almond extract is a great addition here, if you like it. You can entirely replace the vanilla extract with it, or substitute half of the vanilla for almond extract. If for some reason you can’t have/don’t like tahini, this banana bread would still be quite tasty with any other nut/seed butter in it’s place. Just use what you love!

MAKE IT VEGAN: use a flax egg in place of the egg.

MAKE IT GLUTEN-FREE: use a gf all-purpose baking blend or oat flour in place of the whole wheat flour. I haven’t tested it, but suspect almond flour would work well here, too.

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