These easy vegan banana cookies are soft, chewy and full of delicious banana flavors! They make a great healthy snack or could be served as breakfast cookies.
If you like banana bread, then you'll also love these cookies! They are gluten-free and made without butter or eggs, making them a healthier option.
For more easy banana recipes with few ingredients see 5-Ingredient Vegan Banana Bread, Vegan Pumpkin Banana Bread or No-Butter Banana Muffins.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- These healthy banana cookies are made with olive oil instead of vegan butter.
- They include only 6 simple ingredients.
- There are no oats included!
- They are vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free.
- They are freezer-friendly!
Ingredients & Substitution Notes
- Ripe Banana: The banana gives these cookies their main flavor and acts as a sweetener and egg replacement. Make sure to choose an overripe banana with many brown spots on the skin, to ensure that it's sweet.
- Ground Almonds: These cookies call for ground almonds instead of plain flour.
- Sugar: I used coconut sugar but any granulated sweetener such as brown sugar, castor sugar or regular white sugar would work.
- Olive Oil: These vegan cookies are made with olive oil instead of butter to boost their nutritional value. Could be replaced with coconut oil but this will increase the saturated fat content.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a rising agent.
- Pinch of salt
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Vegan Banana Cookies
These gluten-free banana cookies require few ingredients and are super easy to make. All you'll need is a large mixing bowl.
STEP 1: Mash banana. Peel a very ripe banana and add it to a bowl.
Mash with a fork until you end up with a creamy, smooth texture (some smaller chunks are ok).
STEP 2: Add dry ingredients. Add ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined.
STEP 3: Add wet ingredients. Add mashed banana and olive oil.
STEP 4: Combine. With a spatula or spoon (or your hands), whisk together dry and wet ingredients until well combined.
STEP 5: Bake. Scoop out individual cookies with a cookie scoop and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each cookie with the back of a fork or your hands. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
Top Tips
- Ripe Bananas: Use overripe bananas with lots of brown spots. They are sweeter and more aromatic.
- Damp Fork: The dough will be very sticky, make sure to flatten the cookies using a damp fork or damp fingers. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the fork.
- Measure out banana: Bananas can vary quite a bit in size so for best results, I recommend measuring out your mashed banana!
Variations
- Oil-Free: To create completely oil-free banana cookies you could replace the oil with plant milk such as almond milk or oat milk. The cookies' texture will be different though.
Optional Add-Ins
- Chocolate Chips: Turn these into banana chocolate chip cookies by adding a handful of chocolate chips or cacao nibs. Make sure they are vegan if you want to keep this cookie recipe vegan.
- Chopped Nuts: Add a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts to add more texture.
- Seeds: Instead of chopped nuts you could throw in a handful of sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- Cinnamon: Add a dash of ground cinnamon to add some additional festive flavors.
- Vanilla Extract
Serving Suggestions
- Coffee: Serve these cookies with some Peanut Butter Coffee or Oat Milk Matcha Latte.
- Hot Chocolate: Or enjoy them alongside our Oat Milk Hot Chocolate.
- Tea: If you're more of a tea-person, try this Ginger Tea.
Storage
- To store: Store any leftover banana cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: Freeze in a freezer-friendly jar for up to 1 month. Let thaw on the counter overnight.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Banana Cookies (gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup (130 g) almond meal
- 3 tablespoon coconut sugar or other granulated sweetener of choice
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup (100 g) mashed banana (~1 small/medium banana)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Peel a very ripe banana and add it to a bowl. Mash with a fork until smooth (some smaller chunks are fine).
- Add almond meal, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined.
- Add mashed banana and olive oil.
- With a spatula or spoon (or your hands), whisk together dry and wet ingredients until well combined.
- Scoop out 10 individual cookies with a cookie scoop and place them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Flatten the cookie dough balls with a damp fork or your fingers.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges and top of the cookies are golden brown. 18 minutes of baking time will give you a chewy texture with a slightly crisp edge.
- Serve with some desiccated coconut sprinkled on top of each cookie (optional).
Video
Notes
- Ripe Bananas: For best results, I recommend using overripe bananas with lots of brown spots. They are sweeter and more aromatic.
- Measure out banana: Bananas can vary quite a bit in size so for best results, I recommend measuring out your mashed banana!
- Sweeter Cookies: The cookies are lightly sweetened. For sweeter cookies add a bit more sugar (1-2 tbsp).
- To store: Store any leftover banana cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: Freeze in a freezer-friendly jar for up to 1 month. Let thaw on the counter overnight.
Nutrition
FAQs
I have only tested this recipe using ground almonds which have a different texture than almond flour. I would imagine that when using almond flour, the cookies will become much more compact and not as soft and chewy.
These banana cookies can be stored at room temperature and do not need to be stored in the fridge.
This depends on the recipe. This cookie recipe is made with olive oil instead of butter or eggs. Olive oil mainly consists of monounsaturated acids and is lower in saturated fat. Olive oil is associated with the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus type 2. Bananas are a great source of potassium, fiber and vitamin b6.
Cat says
So easy and delicious!!! My mashed banana was about 3/6 cup, I used the same amount of almond flour instead of meal, 1tbsp of potato starch, 1/4 tsp of vanilla ext, black salt instead of regular, 2 tbsp of pecan butter instead of the olive oil and added a 1/4 cup each of walnuts and raisins, I'm not a fan of bananas but this was delicious, thank you!!
Katie says
Very happy to hear that you could successfully adapt the recipe to your own preferences! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a feedback! 😊