Dairy Free Gluten & Grain Free Paleo Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Almond Butter Banana Bread with a Jam Swirl

This Paleo Banana Bread is packed with chunks of banana and creamy almond butter with a delicious swirl of jam that runs through the middle of each slice. This is a fun cross between a peanut butter and jam sandwich and banana bread. It’s grain free, gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, paleo and specific carbohydrate diet legal.

Paleo Almond Butter Banana Bread

I am always looking for fun alternatives to Banana Bread, and this one might just be my all time favourite. The bread had a delicious sweet banana flavour with a nuttiness thanks to the addition of nut butter. Things are taken one step further with a swirl of berry jam which runs through the middle of each slice and adds a wonderful fruity flavour. This isn’t your average paleo banana bread, it’s a cross between banana bread and and peanut butter and jam sandwich and it’s so so good! I love making a loaf of this on Sunday and enjoying it for a quick breakfast or snack throughout the week. I recommend storing this almond butter banana bread in the fridge where it will last for up to 5 days (as long as you have enough self control).

Tips for Making This Paleo Banana Bread

Use ripe bananas! For the best banana bread use brown mushy bananas which will give the bread a strong banana flavour. If using frozen bananas, thaw them in the microwave and drain any excess liquid before adding them to the batter. If you have bananas that are still hard, place them in the oven at 150º Celsius (300º Fahrenheit) and bake them for 15-20 minutes, this will help the bananas soften and sweeten in flavour.
Tap the loaf pan on the counter: After adding the batter + jam + batter layers to the loaf pan, give the pan a gentle tap on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles/gaps between the layers
Cover the banana bread while baking: I recommend allowing the bread to bake uncovered for about 15 minutes before placing a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil overtop to prevent the top of the bread from burning.

The Jam Swirl

You can use any flavour of jam you prefer, raspberry, strawberry, cherry or blueberry would all work well. To save time, use store bought jam, or homemade if you have some. Alternatively you can use this jam recipe which is made with honey in place of refined sugar which makes it Paleo and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal. You can replace the raspberries in the recipe with any other berry you have, or even use a combination of a few different ones.

Adding the Jam Swirl

Pour no more than 1/3 of the batter into the loaf pan before adding the jam drizzle. Adding it too close to the top of the bread may cause the slices of bread to break in half once the bread is baked and sliced.
To add the jam you can using a piping bag, or alternatively add the jam to a ziploc bag and snip off just the very tip of the corner. Squeeze the jam out through the slit in the corner and drizzle in a horizontal motion back and forth over the batter.

Ways to modify this Almond Butter Banana Bread:

Reduce the sugar: if using very ripe bananas that are brown in colour, you can reduce the amount of honey to 1 tbsp because the ripe bananas will already be very sweet or alternatively omit the honey completely.
Use any nut butter: Any nut butter would work well in this recipe. I love using almond butter but hazelnut butter, cashew butter or peanut butter would also be delicious. For a less nutty taste, tahini would be a great substitution too!
Use any jam: feel free to use any type of jam you have, or a mix of a few different types!

Here are a few more banana recipes on the site…

If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!