Name: Healthy Instant Pot Banana Bread
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cup gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour (or regular all purpose flour for non gluten-free); 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed; 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted; 1/3 cup honey; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/4 cup chopped raw walnuts (optional); 1 tablespoon organic powdered sugar (optional)

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If you don’t own an Instant Pot yet (*affiliate link), I highly recommend getting your hands on one. This small kitchen appliance makes so many different meals and snacks easy-to-make, it’s like the modern day “set-it-and-forget-it!”.

This simple recipe for instant pot banana bread shows how easy it is to use the instant pot for breads or cake-like desserts for a special occasion or just any regular day without even having to turn on the oven!

Banana bread is one of my absolute favourites and it’s such a great way to use up bananas that are past the prime eating stage (unless you like your bananas very over-ripe and spotty, hey ‘you do you’!). This bread is moist, filling, perfectly sweet, and addicting!

Instant Pot Banana Bread Ingredients

For this recipe you likely don’t need to do a big grocery shop. The ingredients are common, healthy, and most of them you likely already have in your fridge and pantry. All you need to make this tasty bread is:

Bananas
Coconut oil
Honey
Vanilla extract
Gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour (or regular all-purpose flour for non-gf)
Baking powder and baking soda
Cinnamon
Raw walnuts (optional)
Organic powdered sugar (optional, for dusting)

I love adding in the walnuts for that extra texture and crunch but you can omit them or choose different additions which I share more about below.

Cake pan sitting inside an instant pot filled with banana bread batter and a small child reaching for it — …what working from home looks like these days 🙂

How To Use An Instant Pot for Banana Bread

If you’ve never “baked” before in an instant pot, let me assure you, it’s pretty simple! To make a healthy banana bread you’ll need to follow the steps below.

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl then add in wet ingredients to make the banana bread batter.

2. Fold in the walnuts.

3. Grease a 6″ cake pan and pour in the batter, smoothing the top.

4. Cover the cake pan with tin foil, pinching the edges.

Cake pan sitting inside an instant pot filled with banana bread batter — (picture taken before covering with tinfoil)

5. Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot and place the cake pan ON TOP of the metal trivet.

6. Close the lid and set the valve to “sealing”.

7. Select the “cake” setting (or “pressure cook” setting if you do not have the cake/dessert setting) and set to HIGH pressure for 40 minutes.

8. The instant pot will automatically start and will take a few minutes to pressurize before the timer begins.

9. Once the time is up, allow the instant pot to naturally release pressure for 15 minutes, then toggle the valve to “venting”.

10. Remove the lid and allow the banana bread to cool slightly, then remove from the pan and carefully remove the banana bread by turning the pan upside down.

11. Slice and enjoy!

What is the cake setting on the instant pot?

When making a bread style dessert like banana bread or zucchini bread, or cake you can use the cake setting on the Instant Pot. This setting heats the water in the instant pot and uses the steam to cook the bread/cake.

This is why it’s vital that you do not skip adding water to the bottom of the instant pot as this water is necessary to create the steam to cook the banana bread.

What can I add to banana bread?

This banana bread recipe offers the ability to make small variations to change the flavour and texture! I chose to add walnuts to this recipe for extra crunch but if you aren’t a walnut fan you can try the variations below:

Chocolate Chip: Swap the walnuts for dark chocolate chips for a chocolaty twist. Or keep the walnuts and add in 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips for extra deliciousness.
Juicy Blueberry: Bring in pops of juicy blueberry flavour to this banana bread by folding in 1/4 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter before baking.
Nut Butter Swirl: Add a delicious creamy swirl with natural peanut butter or almond butter. Drop 2 tablespoons of either nut butter on the top of the batter and swirl with a knife before baking.

Have you ever made banana bread in an instant pot? Tell me about it in the comments and be sure to pin the photo below the recipe to save this one for later.