Gluten-Free Brown Butter Banana Bread

Let’s make Gluten-Free Brown Butter Banana Bread! This super-moist gluten-free banana bread recipe gives you tender, delicious banana bread every time. Laced with caramel-y flavors, it’s yummy on its own, with nuts, or chocolate chips!

We’re having a bit of a moment with brown butter recipes here at Sweets & Thank You. (I hope you don’t mind!)

But brown butter is the secret ingredient you didn’t know your banana bread needed. It adds SO much flavor and imbues every bite with caramel-y, sweet, almost toffee-like flavor. Plus, you’ll get a rich, deep golden brown color and soft texture that you’ll dream about. It’s like a golden ticket for upgrading classic banana bread!

You’ll want to cut thick wedges of this gluten-free brown butter banana bread to tuck into on days when the weather turns cold, or you need to stress bake. The process of browning the butter, and the gorgeous smell that’ll waft through the house as it bakes will melt all your cares away.

(And it’ll reward you with the best gluten-free banana bread of your life! Just saying.)

Here’s what you’ll need to make it…

Gather Your Ingredients

• Ripe Bananas! You can’t make amazing, moist banana bread without spotty, ripe bananas. They’ll taste sweeter and have better banana flavor than underripe.
• Butter. Obviously. But it’s not *just* butter. We’re going to make brown butter. It only takes a few minutes, but I pinky promise it’s worth every one of those minutes. Because the banana + toffee combination is SO dreamy!
• Brown Sugar. If you can, I recommend dark brown sugar for this gluten-free banana bread. It’s got a little extra molasses which means a richer brown sugar flavor AND extra moisture, which means you’ll end up with tender, light banana bread. Regular brown sugar will give you excellent results, too! Just a slightly softer flavor.
• Eggs. For binding and puff. Easy enough!
• Vanilla & Salt. Adding vanilla extract really plays up the toffee notes in the brown butter and brown sugar. Kosher salt keeps the flavor perfectly balanced. Don’t skip it!
• Baking Soda. To help this banana bread rise and stay light and tender.
• Gluten-Free Measure-For-Measure Flour. We highly recommend King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free Flour for brown butter banana bread. It’s got a great blend of grains and starches to give you a lovely texture and its neutral flavor means the banana, vanilla, brown butter, and brown sugar will all shine through.

WE ♥

Psst! Here’s How To Make Brown Butter

I’ve given quick directions in the recipe below, but this brown butter tutorial will walk you through the process in easy step-by-step detail (with a video to boot). If you’re nervous, the tutorial will make it feel easy for you!

GET THE BROWN BUTTER TUTORIAL

How To Make Gluten-Free Brown Butter Banana Bread, Step By Step

As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.

1. Preheat & Prep. To start, preheat the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×5″ bread pan with parchment paper (I like to have the parchment hang over the long sides like handles so I can easily lift the bread out when it’s done cooking)
2. Brown the butter. In a light-colored saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the butter starts to bubble and foam, pay close attention and watch for it to brown. When the butter under the foam is golden and honey-colored and smells sweet, remove the pan from the heat and pour into a stand mixer or large mixing bowl to cool slightly. (I’d recommend giving it 15-20 minutes to cool!) Make sure to include all the lovely brown bits from the bottom of the pan!
3. Mix Wet Ingredients. Add brown sugar to the brown butter and stir until the mixture looks like wet sand. Mix in the mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla.
4. Add Dry Ingredients. Then add gluten-free flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine until no lumps of flour remain. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts, if using. 
5. Bake Banana Bread. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, or until the top is a deep golden color. To be extra sure the bread is done, an instant-read thermometer should register 200 degrees F. when inserted into the center of the loaf. If you find the top is browning too quickly, you can lightly cover the loaf pan with foil.
6. Cool. Allow the bread to cool 5 minutes in the loaf pan before transferring to a wire rack. Allow the bread to cool at least 20 minutes before you slice it for best results.
7. Serve & Store. Enjoy cooled banana bread right away, or store in an airtight container at room temperature 2-4 days. Or, freeze up to 2 months. 

Mix It Up! (Variations To Try)

We LOVE this moist brown butter banana bread recipe exactly as written, but here are some of our favorite variations when you want a little something extra…

• ADD NUTS. Chopped walnuts or pecans are delicious if you like a little crunch. Both kinds of nuts pair beautifully with the brown butter flavor.
• TRY IT WITH CHOCOLATE! Or, if you’re a chocolate-chips-in-your-banana-bread kind of person (like me!), swirl in some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. I like semi-sweet chocolate in our gluten-free brown butter banana bread.
• ADD CINNAMON OR SPICES. You can absolutely add cinnamon and nutmeg here if you like them in your banana bread. 1/2-1 tsp. of cinnamon is a good place to start, with just 1/8-1/4 tsp. of nutmeg.
• ADD A SLICED BANANA ON TOP. For a more pretty/dramatic presentation, halve a ripe banana lengthwise (the long way) and add it on top of the batter before adding to the oven to bake. I love doing this when I have one more banana to use up.