Soft, rich vegan chocolate chip banana bars couldn’t be easier to throw together, but their flavor is incredible. Healthy, gluten free and naturally sweetened with only bananas!
Happy Thursday, guys! Today I’m diving right in because I’m TOO excited to share this recipe with you. Two of my most favorite foods as the star ingredients, these vegan chocolate chip banana bars NEED to happen in your kitchen, ASAP.
Have you had a chance to use PASCHA chocolate yet? I gushed about this company on multiple posts, and for good reason. I love that they make healthy, totally allergen-free chocolate products and I love baking and eating them even more. They have 100% chocolate chips that melt beautifully, and today, we’re using those cute little chips as the star of this delicious, chocolatey banana show.
I freaked out when I saw that the chips were completely unsweetened – it can be really hard to find good quality, dairy free chocolate, let alone in the form of classic little chips. They bake like typical chocolate chips and melt just as beautifully. I’m suddenly craving chocolate like crazy. Anyway, these chocolate chips could not be more perfect in these vegan chocolate chip banana bars.
These…they’re just b-a-n-a-n-a-s.
Ingredients for vegan chocolate chip banana bars
- Chickpeas: you’ll use drained and rinsed canned chickpeas for the base of the bars, which provides tons of nutrition and a super rich and gooey texture.
- Nondairy milk:Â milk brings the batter together. I use unsweetened almond milk for neutral flavor, but any nondairy milk should work.
- Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats into flour, which helps to hold the bars together.
- Banana: mashed banana gives the bars flavor and sweetness. Make sure to use super ripe, spotty bananas for optimal sweetness and flavor, since they’re the only ingredient sweetening the bars.
- Vegan chocolate chips:Â I used PASCHA unsweetened chips, but use whatever vegan chocolate chips you like
Tips for making vegan chocolate chip banana bars
- Measure out the oats first, then blend into flour. I always list the amount of oats used BEFORE they’re blended for flour. So in this case, you’ll measure out 3/4 cup of whole, rolled oats, then put that 3/4 cup into your blender to make flour.
- Use a nonstick or parchment-lined square pan. I use an 8 inch silicone pan which makes it very easy to remove the bars after baking. I highly recommend a silicone pan or lining with parchment paper so that the bars don’t stick.
- Let them cool completely. Make sure to let the bars cool in the pan for at least 1 hour after baking. They’re pretty soft, so they’ll firm up a lot as they cool. If you try to remove and cut them too soon, they may fall apart.
Oh my goodness, the flavor of these is out of this world. They totally exceeded my expectations for how much I would LOVE them. As someone who is absolutely banana bread-obsessed, I died over these because they literally are like the most perfect piece of moist, sweet banana bread in bar form. Oh, and with chocolate. Hi, I’ll inhale the whole pan in one sitting, thank you very much.
These vegan chocolate chip banana bars are perfectly ooey gooey and so sweet and flavorful from the ripe bananas and pops of chocolate chips in every bite. Definitely a new favorite bar recipe. Try these!!!
Xo,
Sara
Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup nondairy milk – I used unsweetened almond milk
- 3/4 cup rolled oats, blended into flour
- 1 cup ripe banana, mashed – I used about 3 medium size bananas to get 1 cup mashed
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Blend the chickpeas and almond milk until totally smooth.
- Combine the chickpea puree, oat flour, mashed bananas, and chocolate chips and stir until everything is combined.
- Pour the batter into a lined or nonstick square pan, and bake for 50 minutes.
- Let the bars cool for at least 1 hour in the pan before cutting into squares.
Chocolate and banana is one of my favorite combos out there! These bars look so delish!
Glad to hear somebody else shares my LOVE for chocolate + banana! Thanks so much, Kelsie!
Don’t quote me on this, but i actually think I might prefer non-chocolate bar with chocolate chips to full on chocolate bar. Much more interesting that way, because then the chocolate amount varies bite to bite. It’s like plain ice cream vs ice cream with mix-ins 🙂 Speaking of ice cream, how good would these be warm with ice cream on top? But I digress. If you had stopped at just chickpeas and almond milk then I might be weirded out, but of course you went on to add all the sweet banana + chocolate chip goodness and I am 100% convinced these are gooey chewy bar heaven! I keep hope hope hoping those chips will magically show up in my natural food store, but I think it might just be time to bite the bullet and order…because gooey melty pools of 100% chocolate <3
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I just might agree as far as chocolate chips rather than full on chocolate without! And ice cream on top of these…YES. Definitely crossing my fingers for you that the chips show up near you soon, and if not thank goodness for the internet to deliver you some melty chocolate opportunities 🙂
This looks so ooeey gooeey. I don’t have banana flour, what can I replace it with?
Hi, Kay! If you don’t have banana flour and don’t want to purchase online, I’d go with oat flour. Since it’s such a small amount in the recipe, that should work fine – but I haven’t tried this myself, so I can’t be totally sure. Let me know if you try it out and how it goes! 🙂
Sara,
I have been on a very strict diet program that has helped me lose 30 pounds in the past 3 months. While on this journey, I decided it was time to eat much healthier by preparing vegan dishes. I mentioned it to my husband and he kind of blew me off about it.
Well I made this yesterday and could not wait for him to come home to try it. He took a bite and his first response was “why is it so soft?” Then he said, “is this the all natural stuff you kept talking about?” I asked if he liked it, his response was, “I could get used to this.”
I say thank you for this receipt. I haven’t told him the ingredients used to prepare this dish yet, and probably won’t unless he asks. I personally can’t try it yet, but I am looking forward to the day I can.
My next dessert to try, your chocolate, chocolate cookies. He loves chocolate anything.
Thanks again!
Hi Tamara – that just made my day! First of all, congratulations on your huge health improvements, that’s amazing and you should be so proud! In my opinion vegan is definitely the way to go when it comes to health. I love these bars SO much too, I’m so, so happy your husband loved them! We can keep the healthy ingredients our little secret 🙂 Let me know if you try the cookies!!
Hi! What size pan do you use for this recipe?
Hi! I just used an 8×8 square pan 🙂