Fat free banana bread that does not taste fat-free.
It is so soft and buttery.
I’m trying really hard not to say “moist” because I know everyone hates that word!
This bread actually wasn’t supposed to be fat-free. In fact, I was quite upset upon discovering—midway through preparing the recipe—only about a teaspoon’s worth of coconut oil lingered in my sad little jar. (Note to self: gather all ingredients before starting to cook a recipe. Will I ever learn?)
Since I’d already begun, I wasn’t going to put the recipe on hold; my heart stomach was set on banana bread! Option one was to use olive oil. However, I worried the oil’s strong flavor might affect the taste of my not-yet-tested banana bread recipe.
Option two was to make a Single-Serving Banana Bread.
But I really wanted a whole loaf. And I also wanted a new recipe so I could post about it, which is always more exciting than when I post about a recipe I’ve already published. Many lovely bloggers and readers assured me on twitter that fat-free would be fine. So I made a few changes and hoped for the best… I never imagined the results would be so good!
For maximum enjoyment: Eat this for breakfast, while still in your pjs!
Fat Free Banana Bread
(Makes 10-12 slices)
- 2 c spelt, white, or arrowhead mills gf flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 c milk of choice OR oil
- 1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, agave, or honey (Or, here’s a Sugar-Free Version.)
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- pinch uncut stevia OR 1 tbsp additional agave/maple syrup
- 1 and 2/3 c tightly-packed, mashed banana (measured after mashing)
- 1/3 cup berries of choice, or more banana (I actually used 1 full cup of sliced strawberries. The resulting bread was extremely gooey, but I loved it that way!)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and mix into dry. (Mix by hand, and don’t overmix.) Pour into a greased loaf pan and cook for 35-50 minutes, depending on how gooey you want it. (Tip: If the top is cooked but the inside is still gooey, put tin foil over the top and continue to cook.) After removing from the oven, let cool for ten minutes before slicing. After the first day, this bread is best stored in the fridge. Or cut into slices and freeze for later.
Nutrition Information at a Glance:
- 130 calories
- 0 grams of fat
- 0 mg cholesterol
- Fiber depends on the flour you use
Add around 20 extra calories for the Polka-Dot Banana Bread.
Question of the Day:
Do you ever lower the fat in a recipe or substitute applesauce for the oil?
I know many people are conscious of fat, so I try to offer lower-fat options whenever possible in my recipes. Yet, my own diet is actually pretty high in fat. I think “fat” has gotten a bad name. It sounds so negative, and society likens it to the devil. But, especially if you’re young and healthy, cutting out healthy fats (such as oils and nuts) can wreak havoc on your organs, skin, and hair.
As for this particular banana bread? It really does taste wonderful on its own. However, my slice didn’t stay fat-free for long. I painted that baby in a nice, thick coat of peanut butter. It was delicious!
Is the lemon juice strong in it? Because I am not a huge lemon fan. If I skipped that ingredient would it still be okay?
Not strong at all. It helps the bread rise and the texture taste less dense. You can sub vinegar if you wish.
Thanks for posting low fat recipes. We’ve been eating ‘no added fat or oil’ a la Esselstyn, McDougall, etc. It’s good for keeping cholesterol down and healthy arteries. This is how we would eat in the wild, refined oil is hard to find in nature 🙂 And it’s easy to overdo it. My skin is baby soft and we’ve lost fat, even my wife who was already under 120 lbs. I’m going to stick to this at least until I get to a low body fat 10-12%. Most fruit and veggies average around 10% fat so it’s not like there isn’t any fat in the diet.
Can we sub pumpkin puree for the banana to make it a pumpkin bread?
I’d think you would have to add some extra sugar.
I was wondering if maybe I can sub the banana for pumpkin and make a pumpkin bread! Of course I’d add pumpkin pie spice and maybe some nuts. Also wondering if I could do half whole wheat flour and half oat flour? I’m trying to use the ingredients I have in my pantry haha
I love this recipe!i make it nearly every week!but it didn’t work very well today.could it be because I subbed maple syrup for honey as if ran out?its far too gooey 🙁
What can I substitute the maple syrup / agave syrup for? Would love to use this recipe as it’s fat-free, and the sugar-free recipe linked above is not 🙂
I just made this, but substituted the flour with a cup of brown rice flour and a cup of sweet rice flour (because I didn’t have anything else), and a 1/3 cup blueberries. I cooked it 35 min, probably could have done more, but it’s gooey and delicious, and dreamy. Thanks a million for the recipe. 🙂
Just to let everyone know : Gluten free oat flour (ground in my blender) works great for this. It will seem a bit loose but bakes great. I only use oat flour for all of the recipes here since I cannot have tapioca/spelt/wheat/amaranth. Great substitute
I just made this! Super yummy, moist *cringe*, and absolutely guilt free. It is now my go to banana bread recipe. Made it for a large group of people. Used the ‘better then peanut butter’ spread to go on top, suited well, but nothing quite like the old butter spread I used. Not quite as healthy but yummo.
Hi Katie!
I tried your banana bread recipe today, and boy am I glad I stumbled upon your blog — it was great! (: However, I mixed w half wholemeal flour instead, and it turned out a little dense. I think that made a lot of difference… will try to use only white flour the next time! Was also wondering, have you ever used sour cream in muffins and bread? Some people swear that it’s the secret ingredient that makes breads really moist (my fav word!). What are your thoughts on this? (:
She has used mayonnaise. 🙂 Maybe the same general idea? https://lett-trim.today/2013/01/28/chocolate-mayonnaise-cupcakes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Katie, I used your recipe with oil last time, covered it overnight, and the next day the bread came out great!!! But this time I used milk, and it was not so hot. I also subbed in 1/2 cup of oatmeal. It was so moist, I had to bake it for many more minutes. Is this normal? Thanks 🙂
P.S. Love your blog because it is the first healthy blog recipe I tried that did not end up DISGUSTING
Unfortunately, I can only vouch for the recipe if you make it exactly as written. I’ve never subbed oatmeal for the flour so would have no clue how that would turn out 😉
Soooooo gooooood!!!! http://Www.hannahsprojectrainbow.com
Hi Katie,
Would using coconut flour or wholemeal flour be okay instead of spelt flour??
Thanks,
Emma
I’m thinking of making this on Sunday and I was wondering if I could use coconut flour or wholemeal flour?
Thanks, Emma
For the sugar-free banana bread recipe version,
Can we sub or replace the melted coconut or canola oil,
If we don’t have those ingredient?
Can we sub or replace the melted coconut or canola oil with applesauce or is there anymore opinion to sub or replace the melted coconut or canola oil with?
Also do we need to add egg in the sugar-free version?
This look so good, I just have to make it for myself
My went hard and stift?
I don’t really know why, but I use the sugar free recipe and measure everything is mL instead other.
I use 5 banana, 1 banana that I bough 2week ago and the 4 banana I bough 3 day ago, I don’t think that the 4 banana I use are ripe at all.
I sub the dates with prunes, but I
Don’t think I put half cup, maybe just one or two dates not enough, the coconut oil with 25ml of applesauce , 14ml of milk and a 12ml of Olive oil.
I also sub the floor by using 300ml of whole wheat floor from Woolworth the home brand with 100ml of self-rasing floor.
Didn’t use salt because I think it will be to salty, also I don’t really like salt but I did add the rest ingredient such as the cinnamon but use the sugar type.
The 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 2 teaspoons baking powder was add as told.
But what do you think could have cause the bread to be very hard and stift like it terrible, also very hard to slice and cut up, it has to be heat u to be a little soft or it will be rock hard.
Do you know what I did could have cause this to happen and can you please tell me what could I have added to make it very soft like your, or could you tell
Me what I could or needed to put or add in it, but maybe fat free at the same time
Are you really serious with this comment? So you went and completely changed the recipe then wondered why your results didn’t turn out well? And then you want to know what you could have done differently? At the risk of sounding obvious, what you could have done differently is to actually follow the recipe!
haha this made my day