3-Ingredient Banana Cookies (Vegan)

These easy 3-Ingredient banana cookies are soft, chewy, easy banana drop cookies, 100% vegan, refined sugar-free, and oil-free. Bonus, these cookies made with banana are ready in less than 15 minutes, and they are perfect for a kid’s lunchbox.

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This very healthy banana cookie recipe doesn’t need butter and sugar, but only 3 simple, wholesome ingredients. It’s as simple as my 2-Ingredient Almond Flour Banana Cookies, 2-Ingredient Cookies, or Banana Bread Cookies. You’ll love them just as much as my whole family does!

What Is The Best Banana Size For Baking?

The key to making the best banana cookies is first to select the perfect banana size. These 3-ingredient banana cookies use a medium-sized banana, and it is important to weigh or measure your banana to check it’s the right size.

If your bananas are too small, the cookies will be very dry, and on the other side, a large banana will make the cookies wet and chewy. Let’s see how to select the right banana size for cookie recipes. If the recipe calls for:

• A small banana:  6-inch to 7-inch long, with a weight of about 100 grams.
• A medium banana – between 7-inch and 8-inch long, with a weight of 118 grams. This is the most frequent banana size used in banana cookie recipes. It is the average size of most bananas and what we recommend using in banana cookie recipes.
• A large banana – between 8-inch and 9-inch long, with a weight of 136 grams.
• An extra-large banana – more than 9-inch long with a weight of 152 grams or more.

How Ripe Should My Bananas Be?

This banana cookie recipe uses fresh bananas. Since the cookie dough already contains an added sweetener, we don’t recommend using a ripe or very ripe banana to avoid an overly sweet cookie – keep these for my Banana Protein Cookies. Below are some tips for selecting the perfect banana ripeness. It depends on the recipe, of course.

Some recipes like a banana bread recipe will call for a ripe banana. Use the ripening guide below to help you select bananas!

• Underripe – skin is yellow with green tips. These bananas won’t deliver flavor or sweetness in baking.
• Fresh banana – skin is entirely yellow. The flesh is firm. These bananas deliver flavor and light sweetness in banana smoothies. They are great for baking if the recipe already calls for a large amount of sugar or liquid sweetener.
• Ripe bananas – skin has lots of black-brown sport. The flesh is soft, and the banana has a strong banana flavor. This level of ripeness is the most popular in banana bread recipes.
• Very-ripe banana – skin has large black areas, and the flesh turns dark/brown. These bananas are very sweet, better baked, and not raw in a smoothie. Very ripe bananas deliver a strong banana flavor and sweetness, and they are great for banana bread recipes or banana cookies recipes that don’t use added sugar.

Ingredients and Substitutions

These are the easiest banana cookies you will ever make! All you need are the 3 simple ingredients below:

• Banana – You don’t even need ripe bananas for this recipe. Fresh bananas work well. It is actually the best option, or this banana cookie recipe can be too sweet.
• Maple Syrup or any liquid sweetener you love. If you are using ripe bananas, you can replace the maple syrup with unsweetened almond milk to make banana cookies with no sugar added. This is a great option to make baby banana cookies and introduce solid food to babies without adding sugar into the recipe. Note that the recipe won’t work with crystal sugar like brown sugar, coconut sugar, or white sugar. You must use a liquid sweetener to reach a good consistency.
• Self-Rising Flour – It’s a blend of 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder. I used to make the recipe with all-purpose, or white spelt flour, for healthy banana cookies. Spelt is higher in fiber and nutrients and a more nutritious option to bake with. Unfortunately, you can’t use oat flour or almond flour in this recipe. The required amount will be way different, and it is a new recipe. This said, if you want a banana oatmeal cookie, try my other recipe. These peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies will be perfect for you.

Banana Bread Drop Add-ons

These are soft, chewy banana bread cookies. It means that they have all the flavors of banana bread with the chew of a soft cookie. There are many ways to boost the flavors of this easy banana cookie recipe.

For example, you can add some of the ingredients below into the cookie dough to make it even more flavorsome:

• Dark chocolate chips – add 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, and use vegan chocolate chips to make vegan banana chocolate chip cookies.
• Chopped walnuts – add 1/3 cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecan nuts.
• Spices – add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of allspices, or nutmeg to boost the fall flavors of your cookies.
• Salt – add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
• Vanilla extract – add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla essence.

How To Make Easy Banana Cookies

This is an easy banana recipe with few ingredients. It’s made in under 25 minutes with just 3 pantry ingredients.

1. First, mash the banana on a flat surface like a chopping board or a plate using a fork. It is ok to keep some banana bites in the recipe.
2. Then, combine the mashed banana with maple syrup or unsweetened almond milk for kids’ finger food with no sugar added.

3. Finally, stir in the flour until you obtain a sticky batter, similar to a banana bread batter. These are banana drop cookies. It means you are dropping dollops of cookie dough on the baking sheet. Don’t try to shape or roll the dough into cookie dough balls. It is too wet and sticky to do so.

4. Place each dollop onto a cookie tray, covered with oiled parchment paper.
5. Press the cookies to flatten them into a round shape if you like. The thicker, the chewier and softer they will be.

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) before starting the recipe. Then bake them for 12 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until slightly golden on top. These are vegan banana cookies which means they don’t use eggs or butter, and therefore their color is light and white.

More Vegan Banana Recipes

I have plenty of great recipes using a banana as the main ingredient. You may want to try the recipes below!

Chocolate Banana Cookies

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Banana Strawberry Smoothie

Healthy Banana Zucchini Bread

Frozen Chocolate Banana Bites

3-Ingredient Banana Cookies

These easy, soft, chewy banana cookies are 100% egg-free, oil-free, and dairy-free and are made with few ingredients.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Total Time: 22 minutes mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 cookies

Calories: 73.2 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 2 medium Banana - (note 1)
• ▢ ¼ cup Maple Syrup - (note 2)
• ▢ 1 cup Self-Rising Flour - (note 3)

Add-ons – optional but recommended for flavors

• ▢ ⅓ cup Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and lightly oil the paper with oil. Set aside.
• In a medium-size mixing bowl, mash the banana into a puree. Measure the mashed bananas in measuring cup – you need 1 cup. It is ok if there are a few lumps.
• Stir in maple syrup, then stir in the self-rising flour until it forms a wet, sticky cookie dough, similar to banana bread dough.
• Scoop out dollops of cookie dough on the prepared tray, leaving 1 thumb of space between the cookies. The cookie won't expand in the oven.
• Slightly spread the dough with the back of a spoon into a round cookie shape if desired.
• Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until slightly golden on the top.

Notes

Note 1: Make sure you use fresh yellow bananas. If you use ripe bananas, the cookies will be much sweeter. 

Note 2: You can use any liquid sweetener you love, like agave syrup, rice syrup, or coconut nectar.

Note 3: 1 cup of self-rising flour equivalent to 1 cup all-purpose flour + 2 teaspoon baking powder. You can make the recipe without baking powder, using all-purpose flour, but the cookies are flat and chewy.

Storage: You can store the cookies in the fridge in an airtight box for up to 3 days.

Gluten-free option: use an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.

Banana size: you need 2 medium-sized bananas for this recipe. A medium-sized banana, unpeeled, weighs about  118 grams / 4.2 oz. It represents 1 cup + 1/3 cup mashed banana. 

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Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 73.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 16.6g | Protein: 1.5g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.05g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 95.9mg | Fiber: 0.8g | Sugar: 6.5g | Vitamin A: 12.8IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 9.9mg | Iron: 0.2mg | Magnesium: 9.3mg | Phosphorus: 14.4mg | Zinc: 0.2mg