5 large ripe bananas (must be ripe because ripe bananas are sweeter than unripe bananas. Ripe bananas have small brown speckles on the banana peel.)
1 2/3 cups roughly chopped carrots (peeled)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup dates
1/2 cup chia seeds (can substitute flax seeds instead, but chia seeds will leave better flavor) (you must use chia or flax in this recipe because they are necessary for this recipe to stick together) (do not omit)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnam
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt
Reserve: 1 cup raisins
Reserve: 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or chopped walnuts)
Reserve: 1/4 cup sesame seeds
Directions
1. Get out a large mixing bowl. Place raisins, pecans and sesame seeds in bowl. Set aside for later.
2. Place water, peeled bananas, vanilla, cinnamon and sea salt into your high speed blender. Once blending, add chopped carrots and dates. Mixture will be pretty thick. Try to avoid adding any extra water (besides the initial quarter cup). Blend until nicely combined and smooth, like a smoothie.
3. Try to do this step quickly: Add chia seeds to blender mixture and blend well. Since the mixture is already quite thick, your chia seeds might get stuck at the top of the mixture. If so, turn blender off and create an air pocket down the side of the mixture. Also, use your Vitamix tamper (big tool for mixing, like a big spoon) if you have one. Start blender on low again and increase speed. (Remember that chia seeds will thicken the mixture even more so work fast!)
3. Once your mixture seems as smooth as you can get it, find the mixing bowl that you set aside in step 1. Now, pour/spoon blender mixture on top of rasins, pecans and sesame seeds. Mix with a spoon. This should now resemble regular, Standard American Diet (SAD) banana bread batter.
4. Line two dehydrator trays with parchment paper or teflex sheets. (Do not use wax paper! It'll stick and be a disaster!)
5. Pour half of raw banana bread batter onto each tray. Smooth batter out with the back of a spoon (or with a palette knife/cracker spreader). Batter should be a 1/4 of an inch thick or a bit less. The thinner the batter is the better it will dehydrate, although you don't want it too thin because you want some moistness in the middle like "raw banana bread slices" not like dried out "banana crackers or cookies" if you know what I mean!
6. Dehydrate on high for 1.5 hours. Reduce temperature to 105 degrees and dehydrate your banana bread for another couple of hours. Once it seems to be holding together and drying out, score lines into the crackers with a knife so that you can more easily break them up later.
7. Keep dehydrating. At some point once they appear to be holding together very well you’ll want to remove the parchment paper, flip them over and finish dehydrating them. (You want to remove the parchment paper so that the air can flow around better without being blocked by the parchment paper.)
8. One you've flipped over your banana bread slices, keep monitoring based on how dry/moist you want your banana bread slices to be. Dehydrator times and temperatures can vary greatly so I urge you to check this raw banana bread recipe quite frequently. Don't be afraid to taste test, especially if you are new to dehydrating.
9. Once your banana bread is done, remove from dehydrator. Eat some right away, and let the others cool. If you want some extra excitement for your banana bread, you can top it with a cream-cheese like spread made from cashews. Enjoy this raw banana bread recipe!
The Rawtarian's Thoughts
Raw banana bread recipes are comfort food for me. I was raised on banana bread, carrot cake and zucchini bread, and I love all those tastes. So I've been enjoying recreating my favorite childhood flavors, starting with this raw banana bread recipe.
This is basically an easy raw banana bread recipe in terms of procedure--just blend everything together, add the "mix-ins" (raisins, etc) and then dehydrate. However, timing is very important because this raw banana bread blender mixture is pretty thick, and when you add the chia seeds the mixture will thicken even more, so you have to work fast to make this work. Don't be intimidated, it's very easy. You just have to be aware that you need to work a bit faster than normal when making this raw banana bread recipe, for example, have all your ingredients out on the counter and don't clean up until everything is in the dehydrator.
You can certainly serve this banana bread recipe on its own, or topped with almond butter or honey, or even topped with a delicious raw white icing that resembles cream cheese icing.
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Comments
Gayla
Sep 12, 2011
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Well, I bought a bunch of bananas the other day, and hubby went to the store later and bought more, having not noticed the bunch I had gotten. So, needless to say, I need to get busy and make good use of them. This sounds perfect! Thanks, Laura Jane!
The Rawtarian
Sep 12, 2011
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Definitely a great way to use up nicely ripe bananas :)
Good for your hubby, though, for bringing home bananas for you. :) Shows thoughtfulness, regardless of the fact that you already had some on hand.
Jen
Oct 11, 2011
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Hi LJ,
Do the chia seeds need to be sprouted or soaked first??
The Rawtarian
Oct 11, 2011
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No!! :)
Lynn
Nov 03, 2011
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Can I used milled chia seeds instead of chia seeds? That is what I have right now.
The Rawtarian
Nov 03, 2011
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Yeah sure! For this recipe either will work.
(Readers: milled just means ground up finely.)
liz
Nov 23, 2011
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Hi, Do you think I could sub hemp hearts for the chia? I'm thinking part of the reason you need the chia is for the gloopy soluble fibre that it creates when moist.
The Rawtarian
Nov 24, 2011
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You are totally right Liz, need chia for the gloop! Try using ground flax instead of chia seeds
HHearts are good but won't give you the necessary gloop :)
Laurie
Dec 14, 2011
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I have recently started making raw breads but I am unsure how to store them or how long they will last. Can you please help?
Stephanie
Mar 26, 2012
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For vanilla, do you use a typical alcohol-based extract, or do you use glycerite?
The Rawtarian
Mar 27, 2012
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I am not sure what glycerite is. I typically use pure organic vanilla extract or sometimes vanilla bean (but the latter is expensive so not usually)
Aurore
Apr 11, 2012
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Hi Laura Jane and thanks for what your doing for us with your website. Since I'm going to make some banana bread today and probably some onion bread tomorrow, I was wondering how long I could keep them. I did onion bread before and stored it in a metal box but I didn't really know how long i could keep it that way.
I would also ask if I could put a translation of your banana bread recipe on my blog http://croquonscru.blogspot.fr/ with a link to your website.
Aurore
The Rawtarian
Apr 11, 2012
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Sure, go ahead and post on your blog!
You can't really keep recipes for very long unless you dehydrate ALL the moisture out of them (which would make everything really brittle and dry). So onion bread might keep for four days in a sealed container in a cupboard. I would keep banana bread in the fridge - probably for up to five days. Or you could freeze it
Jasmine
May 05, 2012
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I tried making the banana bread minus the nuts and sesame seeds yesterday. I found the chia flavor took over the whole recipe and it had a smoky woody taste. Any suggestions?
The Rawtarian
May 07, 2012
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Strange - I find chia seeds to have a bland flavor. Also, I don't recall a smokey taste.
Did you use nicely ripe bananas?
Tessa
May 28, 2012
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Are you sure you used chia seeds, and not quinoa? Quinoa do have a smoky woody taste in my opinion and looks sort of similar to chia seeds.
Kathryn
Jul 15, 2012
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In the dehydrator now. Used carrot juice pulp and enjoyed carrot kale juice while I blended. I added coconut, cacao nibs, and walnuts as mix ins. Can't wait!
gorbee
Jul 28, 2012
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we just put a batch in the dehydrator, i'll let you know what me and the kiddo think when it's done! love your site, just found it yesterday :) i like the banana bread being without 2 cups of nuts or full of oils...
Deborah Ricci
Jul 30, 2012
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thanks for such a great recipe! made it for the kids but .... hopefully they will have some left over after school as going pretty fast!! :)
janie
Oct 07, 2012
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Me and my 3 little girls are eating mostly raw now, but my 4 year old has been unhappy with most of my creations, so I've been buying organic junk food. I made this with the suggested cashew icing, and it's a hit! Thank you for this great recipe.
The Rawtarian
Oct 08, 2012
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Awesome Janie! So glad your 4yo liked :) I call that a success!
ellyn
Oct 23, 2012
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Hi, i can't eat carrots. Can you suggest an alternative for this recipe? Thanks.
The Rawtarian
Nov 02, 2012
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If you have a carrot allergy try shredded zucchinni instead of the carrots
April Lewis
Dec 17, 2012
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Just made this yesterday and it turned out AWESOME! A huge hit with the hubby and kids. Excited to try more recipes. :)
The Rawtarian
Dec 17, 2012
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Hi April, Glad you liked! Anything that is a hit with DH and the kids is a keeper in my book :)
Janae
Feb 07, 2013
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I made these the other day and love the taste but was wondering about the texture. It tastes almost like a fruit roll-up rather than "bread". Should I have dehydrated longer?
The Rawtarian
Feb 08, 2013
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Perhaps next time you could make them a bit thicker and that might do the trick Janae :)
corrina young
Feb 09, 2013
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Loved the banana bread. Had it with almond butter. Quick and easy to make!
The Rawtarian
Feb 09, 2013
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Mmm ! Yes to the almond butter on top! Yum Corrina
joeg964
Feb 11, 2013
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made this bread and had it with raw almond butter -delicious
The Rawtarian
Feb 12, 2013
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Hi Joe, you are trying lots of good stuff! I like this one too.
Definitely nice combo with the almond butter. I don't think I've combined myself, but knowing both tastes I can combine them in my head and know that they would work together - it's a special skill I have ;)
joeg964
Feb 17, 2013
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had the banana bread with almond butter. it was delicious even though I forgot to crumble the almond halts.
The thing about this raw food is that it is so satisfying that you eat less and have more energy. It's great!
The Rawtarian
Feb 17, 2013
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Hi Joe! I feel the same way. It is for this reason that over time eating healthily doesn't have to be as expensive as it seems - because the food is quite nutrient rich so less feels like more. (except when it comes to eating fresh fruit or salad - I can eat huge punchbowls of each!)
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