This whole grain healthy banana bread recipe is so moist and sweet, everyone is always shocked to find out it’s actually good for you!
What makes this the best healthy banana bread?
- You will love the soft, fluffy texture.
- The loaf packs in up to two cups of ripe banana, which is more banana than many other homemade banana bread recipes.
- It’s one of my most popular recipes, with over 300 positive reviews from readers who’ve tried it. So you know the recipe must be good!
- Oil free, egg free, refined sugar free, and dairy free options are all included.
- If you have overripe bananas sitting on the counter and no idea how to use them up, this low calorie banana bread is the perfect solution. Leftover slices freeze well, and the banana quick bread is great for breakfast meal prep.
Plus, can we talk about the taste again? You’ll think you are eating banana cake. My entire family is obsessed and asks me to make the recipe at least once a month. And it’s so easy that I’m happy to oblige.
You may also like this Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
I have tried so many different banana bread recipes before, until I found this one 5 months ago! I have never looked back! My husband loves it.
It comes out soft and moist, not dry at all & if you eat it the next day, which is a real challenge, it tastes even better! Love it!
Step by step recipe video
Above, watch the full banana bread recipe video
Banana bread health benefits
Whole grain. The quick loaf provides over 15% of the RDA for fiber per serving.
High in vitamins and antioxidants. The banana bread is high in potassium, manganese, selenium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.
Low calorie. There’s no oil required, and each slice is just 100 calories!
To lower the oil without sacrificing moisture or taste, it uses four to five whole mashed bananas, giving the banana bread recipe the perfect bakery-style texture without a ton of empty calories. Yogurt adds even more softness without weighing the bread down.
And though I’m normally not a fan of oil free baking, this bread is definitely an exception. You can easily omit the oil entirely, and it will still turn out amazingly soft and delicious.
Naturally sweetened. While many traditional banana breads contain at least a cup of refined sugar and over half a cup of butter, this lightened up healthy banana bread recipe cuts way back on the things you don’t want and relies on fruit for natural sweetness.
Thanks to the extra banana, the bread needs just half a cup of sweetener for the entire recipe. This is around half of what is called for in popular banana bread recipes from Martha Stewart, Food Network, Rachael Ray, and Betty Crocker.
Special diet friendly. The banana bread can be both vegan and gluten free. It uses no eggs and is low sodium, cholesterol free, low fat and very low in saturated fat.
Want more low calorie snacks? Make Applesauce Muffins or Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Healthy banana loaf ingredients
The recipe calls for just a few basic ingredients: bananas, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, optional yogurt, oil or milk of choice, sweetener, and pure vanilla extract.
Bananas: Choose ripe bananas for the best taste. Look for skins that are at least partially brown and spotted. Fully brown bananas are actually perfect here. Do not throw out your brown bananas! They are great for banana bread.
Flour: You can use all purpose flour, whole grain spelt flour, all purpose gluten free flour, or whole wheat pastry flour. Oat flour and whole wheat flour both yield a denser loaf than I personally prefer, but many readers have written in to say they’ve tried and love the whole wheat banana bread. So it’s completely your choice.
The recipe box below includes an almond flour option. I do not suggest coconut flour, because it will give you a dry and crumbly loaf.
Finally, you can replace up to half a cup of the flour with protein powder to turn it into a high protein snack recipe.
Milk or oil: I love the rich, buttery flavor of coconut oil. Vegetable or avocado oil work as well. Or you can make the recipe with milk instead of oil. As a vegan, I like almond milk.
Sweetener: Choose any all purpose liquid sweetener, such as pure maple syrup, agave, or honey. You only need half a cup for the whole loaf!
*If you’d like to use sugar or a granulated sugar free sweetener instead, substitute 2/3 cup of sugar for all of the liquid sweetener. Increase the milk to 3/4 cup.
Vanilla: Buy high quality pure vanilla extract, which adds warm notes of butter and caramel without the artificial aftertaste you’d get from imitation vanilla flavoring.
Optional ingredients
Yogurt: For a high protein loaf, swap half a cup of banana for Greek yogurt, plain yogurt, or even nondairy yogurt. Or try flavored yogurts, like strawberry or blueberry, to create a fun new flavor variation.
Chocolate chips: But when are chocolate chips optional, really?
Nuts: To make a homemade banana nut bread with healthy fats, I love stirring in a handful of chopped walnuts, pistachios, almonds, or pecans. These can be raw or toasted, and there’s no need to measure.
Other add-ins of choice: The bread is easy to customize by swirling in a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon or a pinch of cardamom or ginger. Or try adding half a cup of large or mini chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries or dates, or shredded coconut.
For even higher protein, try this Protein Banana Bread
How to make healthy banana bread
The banana bread is super simple to make, and leftovers can be sliced and frozen for an instant breakfast or healthy snack any time you are craving banana bread.
- Start by preheating the oven to 350° Fahrenheit or 176° Celsius. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with fat free oil spray. Alternatively, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set this pan aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed banana, yogurt, sweetener, milk or oil, and pure vanilla extract. Whisk with a fork or spatula.
- Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and optional chocolate chips and cinnamon (or other add-ins of choice) until just evenly mixed.
- Smooth the banana bread batter into your prepared baking pan. Place the pan on the center rack of the preheated oven, and bake for forty minutes.
- When time is up, allow the quick bread to sit in the turned-off oven for an additional ten minutes. This will help the recipe to firm up without burning the top.
- Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should come out mostly clean, and the loaf should appear lightly golden in color. If your recipe needs more baking time, simply turn the oven back on and continue to cook, checking every five minutes.
- Let cool. Both the taste and texture are better the next day, so I like to loosely cover the cooled banana bread and refrigerate overnight.
- Serve for breakfast, snack, or even dessert. The bread is delicious plain or topped with almond butter, cream cheese, or Homemade Nutella.
- Refrigerate leftovers for three to four days, or slice and freeze leftover banana bread for up to three months.
Katie’s tips for best results
Follow the recipe. The first time you make the banana bread, it’s important to follow the instructions and ingredient amounts to a T. This allows you to see how the recipe should turn out. Then you can make changes to subsequent batches to learn how the modifications may alter the results.
Calibrate your oven. Many ovens (including my own) are not calibrated correctly, so when the control panel shows a certain temperature, it’s not actually the true temperature. I recommend buying an inexpensive oven thermometer to ensure your banana bread does not come out undercooked and gooey in the middle.
Do not overmix the batter. Stirring the banana bread batter until just evenly mixed prevents it from developing too much gluten or pushing air out and yielding a tough, dense, or rubbery loaf.
Use gram measurements. This is my #1 baking tip if you want accurately measured, consistent baked goods every time. Food scales are available for just about ten dollars and also make recipes much easier to clean than measuring cups.
Healthy Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup mashed banana (360g)
- 1/2 cup yogurt or additional banana (120g)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey (120g)
- 1/3 cup oil or milk of choice (60g)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (10g)
- 2 cups flour (240g) (or try this Almond Flour Banana Bread)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (176° Celsius). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan, then set the pan aside.
- 2. Whisk the mashed banana, yogurt, sweetener, milk or oil, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.
- 3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and optional chocolate chips and cinnamon until just evenly mixed.
- 4. Smooth the batter into the prepared pan, and bake on the center rack of the oven for 40 minutes.
- 5. Turn off the oven and allow the healthy banana bread to sit an additional 10 minutes in the turned-off oven. This step helps the middle to firm up without browning too much on top.
- 6. Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should come out mostly clean. (If yours needs more time, simply turn the oven back on and continue cooking, checking for doneness every five minutes.)
- 7. Let cool, then slice and enjoy for breakfast or a healthy snack. Or loosely cover the cooled loaf with a towel and refrigerate overnight. If you can wait, the taste and texture are even better the next day!
- 8. For leftovers after one day, refrigerate in a covered container for up to four days or slice and freeze for up to three months.
Video
Notes
More healthy breakfast and snack recipes
This looks delicious, I NEED to try this recipe!
Rachael xx.
Very healthy recipes ??
The recipe itself is quite good but the nutritional values are calculated without the ingredients that are listed as optional so be mindful of that.
this recipe turned out great as written 🙂 :), Flavor and moistness is on point. I used oat flour. For sweetener option I added several drops of stevia liquid. Sad to see the freeze time a max. of 1 month? why is that? typically banana bread can be safely frozen(with flavor uncompromised) 3-4 mos.
We have just never tried freezing it longer so didn’t want to recommend something we haven’t tried. We would guess letting it freeze longer should be fine 🙂
This looks wonderful! Hope to try it soon (gotta get me some more bananas)!
Is this recipe in the weekly newsletter email? I didn’t get it.
Hi, her Monday recipes usually go out through email on Tuesday mornings 🙂
Oh, great! Thank you! I was concerned my email was being putsy, and I don’t want to miss any of those wonderful free recipes! 😀
Katie, I try to bake healthier desserts–less sugar and fat, whole grains, etc. It’s brilliant that so many baked goods can be made healthier with Greek yogurt. However, I also try to keep my desserts dairy-free. What is non-dairy yogurt made from, soy? If it is so processed, is it still healthy? I don’t think it is available yet where I live, but products that are popular in America tend to make it over to Israel after a few years. Do you have another suggestion of what to use in place of the vegan yogurt?
You could try applesauce, or some kind of oil. You may even be able to make buttermilk with a plant or nut-based milk with a little vinegar in it and let it sit a few minutes (I’m not sure if this process works well with plant or nut milks).
I make excellent yogurt at home with Soy milk either Eden soy or West Soy(original and unsweetened). I use the dairy free starter.(I purchase on amazon ‘Bella and Bella) It’s Very simple to makeand a no brainer.
Boil 1litre non dairy milk. Let it cool. Slowly add the the dairy free starter. Stir well. If you want it a little sour , add 2tsblespoons of lemon juice. Let it set in the oven for at least 8 to 10 hours. It’s should set well.
That looks excellent!
This is exactlyhow you make plant based butter milk. My fav is a can of coconut cram and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar!
Do you have an adaptation for this recipe to make muffins? Do you think 20 m would be good?
Hi, have you tried her “banana nutella muffins” on the blog? You can easily skip the nutella filling too!
Yes, it does! it’s just more watery than the yogurt so just reduce a bit the oil- or plant based milk
I would recommend making one of her other banana bread recipes, none of which have yogurt. The gingerbread or pumpkin banana bread are especially delicious: https://lett-trim.today/?s=banana+bread
Hi Tamara, I’m not sure where in Israel you live, but there is a great vegan yogurt place called Tamara Yogurt on Ben Yehuda street in Tel Aviv. Plus, I believe in the stores you can get Yofix yogurts which are a blend of oats, lentils, sunflower seeds, coconut and sesame seeds as a base for their yogurts and supposedly they are great!
Forgive me for being silly but what is 2tbps sweetener of choice? Can I use agave syrup or maple syrup or honey or am I getting that wrong? Can I omit this step?
You can – those are fine 🙂
I just skipped it. The half cup maple syrup made it plenty sweet.. to
I was wondering the same thing! Esp if I already used agave or maple syrup as the sweetener… do I put more???
Yes. The initial 1/2 cup must be a liquid sweeetener. The additional sweetener can be stevia, sugar, or an additional 2 tbsp of the liquid sweetener.
I’ve always considered banana bread to be somewhat mundane, and yet every time I see your recipes I can’t help wanting to try it. I see this being breakfast someday soon….
I love this idea!
This sounds so wonderful. I’m going to make it tomorrow. Excited.
Hi,
Can I use coconut flour for this?
Sorry, haven’t tried it!
I made the recipe with coconut flour and avoided the additional 2 tbsp of sweetener, because I felt the agave and chocolate chips would add enough sweetness. The result is delicious, but the coconut flour definitely made the loaf a bit crumbly. Didn’t make for solid slices, but would still recommend for the flavour and way it made my kitchen smell when cooking alone!
Hey Katie! I read your bio quite a while ago, and I remember that you said that you quit running, but I’m not sure if you’ve never turn into it? Also I was wondering if you were previously vegan or vegetarian and if so if you still are?
I do ? https://lett-trim.today/2014/09/05/running-story-part-two/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I learned to love it again when it stopped being something I “had” to do. I go out around every 2-3 days but it’s not something I plan in advance and sometimes I will go a week or even two without going out. Especially when it’s cold…
Also yes, still vegan.
Is there a substitute for the maple syrup? Stevia, or erythiol?
Is the sugar in the yogurt counted in the nutrition information? Or is it figured with unsweetened yogurt?
I love yogurt based breads. So so moist!! And banana bread is one of my faves! I want to make it w/out the chocolate chips because as much as I love chocolate AND bananas, I just don’t like them together. I’m a weirdo. But, I love all of the greek yogurt based things I have made from your site, so I am excited to make this one too:)
Katie, you KILLED IT again with this one! I actually didn’t have enough maple syrup (whoops) and only ended up using 1/3 cup – it was still sweet enough. ALSO adapted this to fit in 48 (!!) mini muffin tins (it was 1 tbsp batter/tin), and only needed 1/4 cup chocolate chips to top them with. I do WeightWatchers and for anyone interested that amounts to ONE POINT PER MINI MUFFIN. I’m pumped! Thanks again Katie for another winner!!
Hi Deena! Do you adapt the oven temp/cook time when you make this as mini muffins? Thanks!
Hi Katie!
I made this with almond flour, and on a much much tiny teeny oven. I am not sure if it was the oven or the almond flour, but my batch turned out to be more like a soft crumble with a firm top, rather than something you can slice through. I wonder if you’ve experienced similar behaviour with others and if you may recognise the issue here.
By the way, yes it wasn’t super cake-y but so damn delicious!!
xx
Almond flour is not recommended here. That would be the issue.
Wow, this looks super delicious. I had no idea you can make banana bread this way. And thanks for linking your homemade nutella recipe. Didn’t know there was such a thing. I will have to try making these stuff. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this last night (minus the “1/16 tsp uncut stevia or 2 tbsp any sweetener of choice”) and oh my goodness! It was so good. I am going to make it again right now because my husband and I ate it all. Who am I kidding? I was the one who ate 99% of it. Whoops. Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Courtney
Lucky me. This just came out of the oven and now I can enjoy it.