Gluten free chocolate banana bread, with plenty of melted chocolate and cocoa, plus sour cream and of course plenty of bananas.
An excess of ripened bananas is really never a problem. Every single week, I buy loads and loads of bananas, and I never have to throw them out.
I used to spy them out of the corner of my eye in the kitchen and invent ways to use them. Then, when I wanted to bake with bananas, I often didn’t have any. Whoever discovered that ripe bananas freeze beautifully is a genius. Full stop.
Just peel those ripe bananas, chop them into large chunks and freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Then, pile them into a zip top bag. If you don’t use them for smoothies or n’ice cream, well, you know where I’m going with this…
Gluten free chocolate banana bread, with plenty of melted chocolate and cocoa, plus sour cream and of course plenty of bananas.
Whenever I post a banana recipe, there are always a few who either can’t or won’t eat them. Sometimes, there’s a substitute (applesauce sometimes works). But this rich, moist and tender gluten free chocolate banana bread is not one of those times!
This quick bread is designed to be made with bananas, and bananas alone. The marriage of chocolate and bananas is just such a blessed union.
Gluten free chocolate banana bread, with plenty of melted chocolate and cocoa, plus sour cream and of course plenty of bananas.
To develop this recipe, I began with my recipe for one-bowl gluten free banana bread. Often, I can develop a chocolate version of something by replacing some of the butter with melted chocolate and finding a way to sneak in some cocoa powder.
Not this time! I tried a simple swap of ingredients like that, and it was a disaster. The recipe failed so badly that it simply wouldn’t bake all the way through without positively burning on the outside.
Gluten free chocolate banana bread, with plenty of melted chocolate and cocoa, plus sour cream and of course plenty of bananas.
This bread tastes richly of both chocolate and bananas, with neither taste overpowering the other. The crumb is moist and tender, and just sweet enough.
If you love chocolate and bananas, don’t just throw some chocolate chips in ‘regular’ banana bread. Go all the way with this recipe. Go big or go home!

Substitutions

With a hard-fought recipe such as this one, though, substitutions are hard for me to recommend in good conscience. But here are my best guesses:
• Since there is only one egg in the whole loaf, you can try a “chia egg,” and let us know how it goes.
• For dairy free, nondairy sour cream and butter-flavored shortening should work. But I can’t promise anything!