Simple Plantain Bread Recipe: Delicious Sweet Vegan Treat
Plantain bread… yep… it’s a thing!
Use overripe plantains to make this banana bread alternative.
Plantains are also sweeter than bananas so you can use less sugar.
Plus, this recipe is dairy-free, eggless, and did I mention delicious?
Plantains
Here in the Caribbean (and Latin America too), we call large, thick skinned bananas – plantains. You may know it is cooking bananas. They are the same.
Green plantains make excellent crisps and chips. And, yes, they taste better than potato crisps! Yeah I said it…
On the other hand, ripe plantains are super sweet and especially delicious when fried. Yum!
But, oily foods are not exactly healthy. Boiled ripe plantains are simple to make and healthy for you. They add a wonderful sweet element to any savory lunch.
For me though, some plantains go from ripe to overripe in the blink of an eye. And I am not a fan of wasting food (see 100 ways to reduce food waste here).
So, a good way to use brown, overripe plantains is to make this bread recipe. It’s similar to banana bread in so many ways and is just as tasty.
What You Need to Make Plantain Bread
To make plantain bread, you’ll need:
- overripe plantains
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder (get Bob’s Red Mill baking powder on Amazon)
- baking soda (get their Bob’s baking soda too)
- cinnamon powder
- sugar
- oil (I used grapeseed oil)
- vanilla extract
- chocolate chips (optional)
If you use these vegan chocolate chips, this recipe will be vegan. Get the chips on Amazon:
Here’s a look at the ingredients.

How to Make Plantain Bread
Preheat your oven to 375°F.
You’ll want your plantains to be overripe, with brown and black spots. They should still smell like plantain and not spoiled in any way. If they do have an unpleasant odor, don’t use them in this recipe.
If they are good, wash, peel and mash the plantains.

Add in oil and vanilla extract. I use grapeseed oil here but you can use olive oil, avocado oil and other dairy-free fats. Mix well. Then, incorporate the sugar. You can use either brown sugar or white sugar. I usually use brown sugar when baking; so that’s what I used for this recipe.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder. You want everything well mixed.

Work the plantain blend into the dry ingredients. It takes a little mixing and elbow grease, but everything will come together. Add in chocolate chips too.

Place in an oiled loaf pan. Sprinkle a tablespoon of brown sugar on the top for fun.

Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.
That’s it. So simple right?
Yes, you can serve this bread hot. But I prefer serving it a day later – that’s when the plantain taste isn’t as strong.
Serve with a slice of coconut sweet bread and a delicious glass of sorrel. It’ll feel like an early Christmas in the Caribbean. Ha!
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Recipe
Delicious, Vegan Plantain Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 overripe plantains
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup oil (I used grapeseed)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ cup chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Wash, peel and mash plantains.
- Mix in oil, vanilla, and sugar.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon separately.
- Add plantain blend to dry ingredients.
- Mix in chocolate chips.
- Place in an oiled loaf pan.
- Top with a sprinkle of sugar.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Hi Ros. Cant wait to try your recipe but you have 2 different temps to heat oven. You start out saying preheat oven to 350 degrees and on recipe instructions you state preheat to 375 degrees. Which is it?
Good catch Lorraine! It’s 375 degrees.