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Soft baked vegan chai banana bread donuts that are comforting, delectable, gluten-free, oil-free and made in a food processor!
We all know banana bread is awesome but want to know what’s even better? Eating banana bread in the form of donuts and then finishing them off with a silky rich vegan dark chocolate ganache.
If you are a chai tea lover, you are really going to enjoy these!
Super delicious and moist banana bread donuts infused with warming chai spices and topped with a vegan oil-free chocolate ganache. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Don’t tell my beloved vegan lemon blueberry donuts, but these vegan chai banana bread donuts may be my favorite donuts. EVER.
Not only are these donuts insanely tasty, but the best part is they are MADE IN A FOOD PROCESSOR and ready in about 30 minutes. And, as always, they are made with clean, wholesome ingredients like oats, almond flour and organic maple syrup. They are also gluten-free and oil-free!
How to Make
I adapted this recipe from my vegan chocolate chip banana bread muffin recipe! I was thrilled that the muffins worked perfectly in donut pans, and I’ve been wanting to do some chai spice recipes, so I got to work!
To start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare your donut pans. My pans are silicone and I add a tiny bit of coconut oil to them to make sure the donuts don’t stick.
Add your ripe spotty bananas to your food processor and pulse, slowly and only a handful of times, until your bananas reach a well mashed texture. Empty the mashed bananas out of the food processor and measure. You want 1 cup. Return the 1 cup of mashed bananas to the food processor.
Note: you can also use a high speed blender, just make sure the wet ingredients go in first and are on the bottom of the blender. You will most likely have to stop and mix up the batter a bit and continue pulsing.
Next, add the rest of the ingredients into the food processor. Pulse for about 2 minutes, stopping a couple times to scrape the batter off the sides of the food processor and down toward to blade.
Add the batter to the donut pans and fill each cavity about 3/4 of the way full. Bake on the middle rack for about 13 minutes, or when a knife inserted comes out clean. Note: My donut pans are small and yield donuts that are about 3 inches so my donuts are smaller than standard donuts. If you have standard size donut pans, you will need to bake these longer.
Cool in the donut pans for about 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
While the donuts are cooling, start your dark chocolate ganache:
Add 1/2 cup of canned full-fat unsweetened coconut milk to a saucepan on the stove and turn the heat to high. Watch this very very closely. Next, as soon as the coconut milk starts to bubble, remove from saucepan from the heat and transder the coconut milk into a bowl. Now add the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the bowl with the hot coconut milk and whisk until the chocolate chips are melted and your result is silky smooth chocolate ganache. If it’s too thick for your liking, just add an extra splash of coconut milk and whisk again.
When the donuts are cool, add the chocolate ganache and top with chocolate chips/cinnamon/whatever you please! I hope you enjoy these vegan chai banana bread donuts!
Leftovers, if you have any ;-), can be stored covered in the fridge.
If you make this recipe, don’t forget to take a photo and tag @wholesome.crumbs on Instagram!
Vegan Chai Banana Bread Donuts [GF, Oil-Free]
Equipment
- You will need: a food processor or a high speed blender and donut pans
Ingredients
Chia Banana Bread Donuts
- 2 or 3 medium spotty ripe bananas 1 cup mashed
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp plant-based milk
- 1 & 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats certified GF if needed
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp mineral salt
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp cardamom
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- 1/2 cup canned full-fat unsweetened ucoconut milk use the thick cream on top
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare your donut pans (I grease mine with a little coconut oil but you can skip if you don't need to grease yours).
- Add your ripe spotty bananas to your food processor and pulse, slowly and only a handful of times, until your bananas reach a well mashed texture. Empty the mashed bananas out of the food processor and measure. You want 1 cup. Return the 1 cup of mashed bananas to the food processor.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and pulse on high for about two minutes, until everything is well mixed. You will want to stop and scrape the batter off the sides of the food processor and down toward the blade a couple times. Note: if you are using a blender, add the wet ingredients first, then the dry ingredients. You may need to stop and stir the batter a few times then continue blending.
- Add your batter to the donut pans and fill each cavity about 3/4 of the way full. You should have 10 small donuts (my donut pan yields 3'' donuts so the amount of donuts you have will vary on the size pan you are using).
- Bake for about 13-14 minutes. Check on the donuts around the 13 minute mark. The donuts are done when a knife inserted comes out clean. If you are using standard size donut pans which yield larger donuts, you will need to bake these longer.
- Cool the donuts in the pans for about 5-10 minutes or so, and then transfer to a cooling rack. While the donuts are cooling, make your chocolate ganache.
- Add your 1/2 cup canned coconut milk (use the thick cream on top) to a saucepan on the stove and turn the heat to high. Watch this very very closely. Next, as soon as the coconut milk starts to bubble, remove from saucepan from the heat and transder the coconut milk into a bowl. Now add the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the bowl with the hot coconut milk and whisk until the chocolate chips are melted and your result is silky smooth chocolate ganache. If it's too thick for your liking, just add an extra splash of coconut milk and whisk again.
- Add the chocolate ganache to the donuts and top with chocolate chips/cinnamon/whatever you please! Enjoy!
Notes
- Depending on the size of your donut pans, your baking time will vary.
- These can also be made as muffins.
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