This super healthy banana bread recipe is so moist and sweet, everyone is always shocked to find out it’s actually good for you!
Healthy banana bread for breakfast or snack
The recipe can be oil free, egg free, and dairy free, with NO refined sugar.
To lower the oil without sacrificing moisture or taste, it packs a full one and a half cups of mashed banana into the loaf, which also sweetens the banana bread recipe without all that extra sugar and empty calories.
And though I’m normally not a fan of oil-free baking, this banana bread is definitely an exception. You can easily omit the vegetable or coconut oil entirely if you prefer, and it will still turn out amazingly soft and delicious!
While many traditional banana bread recipes call for at least a cup of refined sugar and half a cup of butter or more, this lightened up healthy banana bread recipe cuts way back on the things you don’t want.
Instead, it replaces them with whole grains and good-for-you ingredients, adding extra potassium rich banana for natural sweetness.
You may also like these Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Simple whole grain banana bread
If you have overripe bananas sitting on the counter and no idea how to use them up, this low calorie healthy banana bread is the perfect solution.
The addition of yogurt to the recipe adds even more softness without weighing the bread down. And it’s sweetened with pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar.
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, Betty Crocker, and others.
If you have leftover bananas, make a Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Above, watch the step-by-step banana bread recipe video
Banana loaf ingredients
The healthy banana bread calls for basic ingredients: flour, baking soda and baking powder, salt, cinnamon, plain or nondairy yogurt, pure vanilla extract, sweetener of choice, and of course the banana.
For the flour: You can use all purpose flour, white or whole grain spelt flour, or whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat flour yields a denser loaf than I personally like, but some readers still enjoy it that way. So it’s completely your choice.
To make wheat free or gluten free banana bread, the recipe works with oat flour or certified gluten free oat flour for an oatmeal banana bread.
Multiple readers have reported success with substituting gluten free all purpose flour as well. I haven’t personally tried it yet.
If you want a grain free version or low carb recipe that is also naturally gluten free, make the almond flour banana bread recipe included in the recipe box.
Finally, you can replace up to half a cup of the flour with protein powder to turn it into a high protein snack recipe if desired.
The 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!
Or for a version made with granulated sugar, try this Vegan Banana Bread.
Optional ingredients: The classic banana bread is easy to customize. Throw in half a cup of mini chocolate chips, raisins or another chopped dried fruit, shredded coconut, or crushed walnuts or pecans. I also love adding half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
It’s good with or without the chocolate chips added to the top, although my preference is probably easy to guess!
And my personal favorite way to eat this banana bread is topped with Coconut Butter or with this Homemade Nutella Recipe.
It’s also still perfectly good plain if you want to skip the frosting altogether.
Can the healthy banana bread recipe be vegan?
As long as you use nondairy yogurt, the recipe is naturally vegan.
I often use my own vegan homemade Greek yogurt when I make this recipe, but it works fine with non-Greek plain yogurt as well.
Readers have successfully used plant based coconut milk yogurt, cashew yogurt, soy yogurt, and almondmilk yogurt. So feel free to use whatever type you wish.
You can even change up the flavor if you want. Try strawberry, peach, or even blueberry yogurt for a fun and subtle flavor twist.
Or if you don’t have yogurt or prefer not to use it, just increase the banana to two cups and omit the yogurt completely.
How to make banana bread
The banana bread is super simple to make, and leftovers can be sliced and frozen for an instant breakfast or snack any time you are craving banana bread.
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir well to evenly mix and break up any clumps of baking soda or salt.
Whisk the liquid ingredients together, pour them into the mixing bowl, and stir to form a banana bread batter.
Smooth into the prepared baking pan. Press a few chocolate chips on top if your heart desires, and place the pan on the oven’s center rack.
Bake for 40 minutes. After time has elapsed, keep the oven door closed and turn off the heat. Let the banana loaf sit in the closed oven for an additional ten minutes to continue cooking. Then remove from the oven.
The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out mostly clean. If yours is still undercooked, simply turn the oven back on and continue baking (checking every five minutes) until fluffy and golden.
Let it cool. The taste and texture are better the next day, so I like to loosely cover the banana bread and refrigerate overnight.
Refrigerate leftovers for three to four days, or slice and freeze leftover banana bread for a month or two.
Healthy Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (or try this Almond Flour Banana Bread)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- optional 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- optional 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (360g)
- 1/2 cup yogurt or additional banana
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave
- 1/3 cup oil or milk of choice
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- *Also be sure to try this recipe for Banana Muffins!Flour options I have tried successfully include white, spelt, or oat flour.To make healthy banana bread, first preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan, or line the pan with parchment paper. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour wet into dry, and stir to form a batter. Smooth into the prepared pan. If desired, press some chocolate chips into the top. Bake on the center rack 40 minutes, then do not open the oven door but turn off the heat and let sit in the closed oven 10 additional minutes. If your bread is still undercooked at this time, cover the top with foil. Turn the oven back on and continue baking, checking every 5 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Taste and texture are much better the second day if you can wait! Leftovers can be sliced and frozen for up to a month. If you try the recipe, be sure to rate it below.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Breakfast and Snack Recipes
Banana Bread Recipes
Holy moly hot diggity. I just made these, and they are SO good!
I used 1/2 oat 1/2 spelt flour, coconut oil, stevia sweetened choc chips, walnuts, and greek yogurt.
I made these in normal muffin tins and cooked for about 22 mins + an extra 5 mins with the heat turned off (great tip btw).
This was my first time trying this recipe and it turned out amazing!
The combination of ingredients I used was:
I added 1/4 cup mini choco chips to batter with 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and sprinkled 1/4 cup mini choco chips on top. I also added 1/2 tspn extra imitation (didn’t have pure on hand) vanilla extract, vegetable oil, Mountain High whole milk plain yogurt, All-purpose flour, pure maple syrup, organic cane sugar, cinnamon, and followed everything else as is.
Had to cook it an additional 10 minutes after the initial baking.
Thank you so much for making it. I love your picture!
Hello, I don’t have a loaf pan? Does anyone know how long to bake in a brownie pan?
Did it exactly and came out amazing!
If we will continue to eat it throughout the week, do you recommend us still putting it back in the fridge or leave it outside Is fine ?
Thank you
Outside for a day or two should be fine, but just like any other banana bread it will be best to fridge or slice and freeze after a little while for freshness 🙂
Would it be okay to skip the honey/agave?
Amazing. Cooked for 35 minutes in a bundt pan.
Made this today! It is such an easy and delicious recipe. I doubled the amount of chocolate chips because I love things super chocolatey. I used oat flour and maple syrup. I didn’t add the extra sweetener because I didn’t think it needed extra sweetness with the banana.
The best. Anytime I’ve made another version, like different flours, oil/milk, different yogurts,it always comes out amazing. I omit the cinnamon for the most part since I don’t love that flavor in my bread. Best recipe hands down!
This banana bread was absolutely perfect. I am obsessed with the healthy ingredients and the fact that even without a ton of added oil or butter, it came out tasting just like a traditional banana bread, maybe even better. Will definitely use this recipe again! I used 150grams (5.3 ozH nonfat greek yogurt for the 1/2 cup yogurt portion and then 2 Tbsp coconut oil and 3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk where there was an option for using 1/3 cup of either milk or oil. Also I used a crushed up Hu Kitchen hazelnut filled chocolate bar for the top – highly recommend. Whole recipe came out to be 2,345 calories with the Hu chocolate bar if anyone is curious 🙂
Thank you so much for trying it!
I made this using oat flour, Lactaid milk, honey, sugar, and nonfat greek yogurt. I added a little bit of chocolate chips and then baked them as muffins. My kids and I loved them! Next time, I may try using Splenda and almond milk and almond milk yogurt just to compare the taste.
Hi!
I made this banana bread but it unfortunately came out more rubbery and not like a bread. I used oat flour, stevia, almond milk, and honey, I opted to not use oil. The rest of the ingredients I used as per the instructions. Do you know what I could have done wrong? Thanks!
A combination of oat flour (very dense) and no oil (also dense) will yield more dense baked goods in general. Many people are fine with/used to (or even like) the texture of fat free baked goods, but if you want the most tender results, using oil and a flour like spelt or all purpose will yield results closest to that.
Jason
Does anyone know how this would turn out in a breadmaker? I have a yeast free setting which works really well for a much less healthy banana bread! I’m certainly not a pro at using my bread maker yet, so any tips on why this would/wouldn’t work would be much appreciated 🙂
I made it today and really enjoyed it. I used what I had available which was Greek yoghurt, olive oil, a little milk, and half plain flour half wholemeal spelt. Baked it exactly per oven instructions and it came out beautifully!
OMGoodness! Well, to start I ate 1/3 of the bread before I saw I was suppose to wait one or two days. Heck no!!! I removed it from oven, immediately took out of the pan and sliced a huge slice, slathered butter all over that bread and ate. Then I went back and got another slice while hot and ate it.
Now I will say after starting recipe I realized I was short a banana (only had 2) so I smashed up blackberries (which added another 1/4 cup) and finished up the measuring cup with 1/4 cup applesauce. It worked!
Thank you for the recipe. I have no doubt the all banana would be delish!
I made this yesterday and enjoyed it as breakfast this morning! The result was totally spectacular, even though it was the first time I made banana bread- thanks to your easy-to-follow instruction. Moist, rich and decadent! I added raisins for additional goodness. Yum! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible recipe, I’m definitely going to dig your recipes more!!
I just made this and it’s super good! In terms of storage, do I have to refrigerate the bread after letting it sit overnight? Thanks!
Hi, store as you would a traditional banana bread :). It’s fine to leave out overnight but after that is freshest if refrigerated or sliced and frozen.
Hi would I be able to use half oat flour and half all purpose?
Yes!