Healthy Banana Bread
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Published Oct 05, 2010, Updated Jun 27, 2023
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Got overripe bananas? Try this healthy banana bread with a blend of regular and whole wheat flour, yogurt and cinnamon.
Last night I baked a loaf of banana bread and Isaac said it was the BEST banana bread I’ve ever made! That’s saying something, because I’ve made quite a few loaves in our nearly 6 years together.
This one is different because it’s made with blend of regular and whole wheat flour, yogurt and cinnamon. It’s moist and absolutely delicious. I’ve made it many times and tried a bunch of different variations and mix-ins.
Here Are The Key Ingredients You Need:
- all-purpose flour and whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
- baking soda
- sea salt
- cane sugar or coconut sugar
- butter or coconut oil
- eggs
- bananas
- plain Greek yogurt
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon
Banana Bread Variations
There are so many ways to make this banana bread work for you! Try these different variations to make the best banana bread:
- Nutty: add 1 cup chopped walnuts
- Decadent: add 1 cup chocolate chips
- Summery: add 1 cup fresh blueberries
- Less sugar: cut 1 cup organic sugar down to 1/2 cup and/or use maple syrup or honey
- Whole grain: use whole wheat pastry flour
- Gluten-free: Check out my gluten-free banana bread recipe made with coconut flour and coconut oil.
More Banana Bread Inspired Recipes
- Banana Bread Oatmeal with Caramelized Bananas
- Banana Bread Overnight Oats
- Cranberry Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
- Baked Banana Bread with Oatmeal Cups
- Strawberry Banana Bread
- Tahini Banana Bread
- Zucchini Banana Bread
Be sure to check out all of the banana recipes and quick bread recipes on EBF!
The Best Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup organic cane sugar or coconut sugar*
- ¼ cup butter, softened or melted coconut oil
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/2 cups)
- ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
- Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute).
- Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended.
- Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat at low speed just until moist.
- Spoon batter into an 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.
- Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a wooden tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks so simple to make but so delicious to eat! 🙂 Love recipes like that.
Yum! I’m always in the market for a good banana bread recipe!
Yum! I need to buy more loaf pans so I can get to loaf making.
Glad you’re feeling the support. The past few days have been exemplary in displaying how tight knit the blog community is, and yet have also shown that we’re open to analysis and serious discourse about serious topics. Good stuff.
Banana bread is one of those entities that never fails to get old. Another version to try- we just dumpstered a ton of bananas from Earth Fare, so let the baking begin!
so uhhhh how about you send some of that delicious looking bread over to the short pump area… mmmmmkay? 😉
i love my breads MOIST. i know people hate that word.
haha. I’m actually one of those people. But I still use it to describe baked goods. 😉
I agree with you on both. I dislike the word, but I still find myself using it to describe cupcakes and muffins and the like.
Banana bread is the best. Truly, I bake a lot, and I think that when it comes down to a favorite for me…I would choose banana bread. Thanks for sharing sweet woman!
I love our photography! This bread looks scrumptious and you make it look even better!
And, I love how you have it printable! What a great idea! You’re so smart!
I love banana bread – and I bet the cinnamon just adds such a nice extra “zing”.
I too love how your recipes are “printable” — great idea!
Thanks! The print option is a wordpress plugin called printthis.
Just made your banana bread…. it turned out great!! I made a couple of changes- used 1 c. whole wheat flour and 1 c. white flour, increased cinnamon to 1 tablespoon, used smart balance instead of butter, and used my homemade fat free greek yogurt. I had a slice out of the oven with apple butter (your recipe) and it was perfect!
I thought about using a full cup of whole wheat flour but ran out! I’m glad to hear it still tasted delicious!
Delicious recipe!!! I made my vegan style and came out delicious 🙂 What a great fall treat…thanks for the great idea!
One of my friends brought that article to my attention as well. I really think that a lot of it was taken out of context. For your blog, especially, you serve as a healthy example of weight loss and maintaining good health! (Sorry, I am a little late with this comment!)
Meanwhile, that banana bread looks to die for! It resemebles the massive slices that they serve at Starbucks. Hope you’re having a good day!
🙂
I think I could live off of banana bread…or least make a variation of banana bread everyday!
This looks DEE-licious! For some bizarre reason, I haven’t thought to add cinnamon to my banana bread before. I actually just saw a recipe for a banana bread on the cover of a cooking light magazine today at the stop, and I’m pretty sure it had a peanut butter glaze. May need to recreate that 🙂
Oopsies, that was supposed to be “store” –I need to start proofreading more carefully 😉
I thought I was the only one who put cinnamon in my banana bread 🙂 Thanks for the recipe! I’d never thought of adding yogurt. Usually I do the regular recipe but skip the vanilla and add the cinnamon.
That banana bread looks delicious!
Do you think sour cream would work instead of the greek yogurt? I want to make banana bread using this recipie but that’s all I have on hand.
My favorite recipe (so far) is the banana bread featured on marthastewart.com, you should try that one too 🙂
Have a good weekend!
I think sour cream would work just fine! Let me know if you try it. 😉
i definitely trust you when u say its the best, your food and baking never lets me down 😛
xoxo
LOVE this! Made it last night, sooo good. I added walnuts and it added a nice crunch! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m sure it taste great, but to think it is healthy for you would take a bit of imagination.
Last time I checked sugar, refined white flour, and butter were not exactly health food.
By the way, I love your blog and you have some great healthy ideas, this is just not one of them.
Everything in moderation is healthy in my book.
I made this bread last night exactly as reciple calls… it was DELICIOUS! Even my not so healthy eating husband thought it was awesome. Plan on making more as gifts for the family 🙂
So glad you liked it Misty!!
I love this recipe! I didn’t have whole-wheat flour or greek yogurt but rolled oats and plain unsweetened low fat yogurt both worked well as substitutes and I’m sure the oats make it more filling as a breakfast on the go! Oh and lining the tray with baking paper made for easy clean up without adding fat 🙂
Loved the addition of whole wheat flour and the substitution of yogurt for vegetable oil or sour cream. The banana flavor wasn’t quite strong enough for my taste, so next time I’ll add an extra banana. Otherwise a fantastic recipe. 🙂
Can you add soy protein powder to banana bread? I’m afraid it will make it too dense…?
I’m not 100% sure since I haven’t tried it. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
I make a similar recipe, but I replace the butter with organic coconut oil (which has a 350 smoke point, so I lower temp to 330 to play it safe), use 1/2c honey so you can cut sugar down to 1/4 c (unrefined,of course) and add a small handful each of ground flax and raw wheat germ. Yum!
I made this using whole wheat flour only and also I substituted egg whites for whole eggs. My family loved it! Which is saying a lot because they are a use a whole stick of butter for that type of family. I will definitely be using this recipe again!
Hooray. I’m so glad your family likes it! 🙂
mmmm..and I have some Bananas waiting to be used. Just gotta make it gluten free so my family and I can actually eat it. Luckily I have all the ingreditants to do just that tonight..along with the rhubarb-strawberry jam…mmm……
Excellent recipe!! Don’t expect the bread to last more than a day after it’s made. If you’d like to know how much this recipe costs you to make, a recipe cost-calculator will tell you exactly how much that teaspoon of vanilla actually costs in the recipe.
I LOVE this recipe. Lately I’ve been adding oats and chia seeds (and sometimes a little milk so it’s not too thick). It makes for a really great (hearty) breakfast muffin! Thanks for all your great recipes!
I have whole wheat flour but no white flour. Can I use coconut flour or almond flour as a substitute?
I’m sure you can use coconut flour or almond flour for this recipe, but I’m not sure the ratios or how it would turn out because I haven’t tested it. Maybe this gluten-free banana bread would be a better option because it’s made with coconut flour.
Just made this banana bread and my whole family loves it ❤️❤️ It is super moist and dense! The only changes I made were 1/3 less sugar, and some nuts to add that nice crunchy texture.
i’ve made this recipe for years since i discovered it. it’s THEE best banana bread recipe ever!! Xxx
Made this banana bread after dinner and it was delicious. I have my own recipe that is amazing as well but I enjoyed the Greek yogurt, cinnamon, and whole wheat flour. I used whole wheat for the entire recipe as I ran out of white flour and ww pastry flour. Super delicious and moist for sure! Definitely will use this recipe again and again. I’ll try 1/2 cup of sugar or maple syrup next time as I prefer less sugar. Thank you for all your recipes and tips on substitutiona.
Yay! I’m so glad that you tried and enjoyed this recipe, Connie. I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating. The ratings are super helpful to other EBF readers. 🙂
I made this with two cups of gluten free flour and a tad less sugar, but otherwise followed the recipe. It is absolutely delicous! My husband just had a piece and then said, “You aren’t putting that in the freezer are you?” He was afraid I wasn’t going to let him have anymore! 🤣 Thank you for the recipe!
Haha amazing!! So glad this banana bread was a hit! Thanks for trying my recipe and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me. <3
This is AMAZING! So easy. I added chocolate chips and blueberries and it was sooooo good. Highly recommend!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Julia!! So glad you enjoyed this banana bread. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment, I so appreciate it!
Hi, I don’t have any eggs, can I use chia eggs instead?
Hey Susannah – That should work just fine! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Substituting chia eggs for normal eggs worked out just fine. A few of the chia seeds were still hard, so there’s a tiny bit of a crunch every now and again, nothing major. If I added walnuts to the mix, I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything. I was using chia seeds from Costco, but usually get them from sprouts, which are possibly slightly better in my opinion!
Thank you for sharing and letting me know, I really appreciate the feedback, Susannah!
I MADE THIS BANANA BREAD YESTERDAY FOLLOWING ALL THE INGREDIENTS AND MEASURE (FORTUNATELY ALL ARE STILL AVAILABLE IN THE PANTRY), BUT FOUND IT DIDN’T RAISE WELL.. TEMPERATURE OK, NOT OVERMIXED AS WELL. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I MADE BANANA BREAD WITH SO LITTLE BAKING POWDER (LESS THAN A TABLE SPOON), MAYBE THIS IS WHY? IDK… GONNA TRY TO PUT MORE BAKING POWDER NEXT TIME…BUT TASTE WISE IT’S GOOD, BRITTANY! 😉
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that!! That’s weird it didn’t rise very well. I haven’t heard of anyone else having issues with the amount of baking powder listed. Did you change anything else about the recipe?
Do you have the measurements in grams and ml?
Not at this time, but there is a conversion site where you can calculate the conversions. I’ve been getting asked about this more and more so I’m going to research how I could provide this information. Thanks for asking.
Literally just took this out of the oven and my 2 year old and I have finished half a loaf already. We used coconut oil instead of butter and coconut sugar. So tasty and is like the real deal! I quite sugar a year ago and am still searching for recipes and this one is staying in rotation for sure! Just in time to send to school with the other kids. 🥳
Ahh yay, that makes me so happy to hear, Michelle!! I’m so glad this banana bread recipe is a hit. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
This recipe is delicious. My husband wanted muffins so I followed recipe exactly as written and baked muffins for 18 mins at 375. They are perfect and the hubby is happy.
So glad this recipe turned out as muffins. Thanks for sharing how long you cooked them for, that’s super helpful for other readers, so I really appreciate it. <3
Made this yesterday with some bananas that had over ripened. Not only did the house smell amazing but the finished product rivaled any Banana Bread I’ve ever had. Even better on day 2! Love all your recipes, thank you!!
Ahh yay, that makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad this bread was a hit!! Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
We don’t eat yogurt. What could I use instead?
Hey Keisha – I haven’t tested this recipe with anything else besides yogurt, but possibly sour cream or cottage cheese would work or else you can use dairy-free yogurt if you’re dairy-free. I do have this coconut flour banana bread that doesn’t call for yogurt you could make instead.
Love these! I make these for my kids all the time- but I make 12 fluffy muffins instead of bread. I use 1/4 sugar and 1/2 applesauce instead of 1 cup of sugar.
Thanks for the great recipe.
So glad this recipe has been a hit!! Thanks for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
How long do you bake these as muffins? Looking to make muffins for my toddler and use only whole wheat flour – would that work?
This is going in the oven right now! So easy to make, but I didn’t read through all the directions and didn’t mix the wet and dry ingredients separate. What is the best way to freeze this? Would you do the whole loaf or slices? Thanks for your amazing recipes!
You could do either for freezing!! How did it turn out?!
It turned out great!! I’m going to try your gluten free banana bread recipe next.
Yay!! So glad it turned out for you, Elizabeth!!
I tried this recipe today and it turned out really delicious taste wise. Texture wise however, the insides came out soft and slightly lumpy (makes it hard to cut the bread without breaking it). I tried heating it a little longer to address the issue but the upper or outside layers started to get slightly harder. Taste wise however it was really good. What am I missing or may have not done accurately? I would like to try this out again to perfect it
Oh no!! Sorry to hear that, Simone. How long did you end up cooking the loaf for? Did you change anything about the recipe? It might have needed to bake for more time and you could have always covered the top with tin foil to not burn it.
I baked it for almost an hour. I did add some blueberries …not sure if that changed it somewhat. I was told that I needed to maybe bake it a little more but maybe on lower temperature, on top of the aluminium foil tip.
Blueberries will definitely add moisture to the bread so you probably just needed to cook it longer. I don’t think you need to cook it at a lower temp, I would just cover it with foil so the top doesn’t burn.
Made this on a whim today so did a little improvising. I used 2 full cups of all-purpose flour and half a cup of maple syrup instead of any sugar. Also added some chocolate chips. It turned out beautifully! Really nice for a lighter version of banana bread!
Yay! I’m glad this banana bread was a hit, Kara! Thanks for trying it and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
Not too sweet or too dense. Deliciously fluffy – definitely use your hand or stand mixer. Don’t skimp and just use a wooden spoon.
100% will be making this again. Absolutely delicious… may or may not have eaten the whole loaf in 2 days.
Note: I had to bake mine an extra 10 minutes, but that may be due to my oven not being the best.
Happy to hear you enjoyed this banana bread, Lauren. Thanks for the review!
This is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever made and I love that it’s on the lighter side. It’s delicious with the right amount of sweet. I swapped the sugar for maple syrup and used only AP flour as that was all I had. I made two batches: one was banana bread and the other was 12 generous muffins (even had some batter left over after making the muffins). I added chocolate chips to the muffins. For the bread batter I just used a whisk, for the muffins I used a hand mixer (after reading in the comments not to skip that step). Both turned out really well.
Ah yay! So pumped to hear this banana bread was a hit, Kirsty. Thank you so much for trying out and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!!
Turned out great! This is light like a fluffy cake instead of a dense texture. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white AP flour and did your suggestion of a 1/2 cup of honey instead of the sugar. (Had to use what was in the pantry.)
I would happily make this again.
Woo! So glad this recipe worked out for you, Sarah. Thank you for sharing what swaps you made, using what’s in the pantry is always helpful!
Exactly what I was looking for banana bread that was fluffy, soft and lite & isn’t too sweet. I used 1/3 cup of organic maple syrup instead of 1 cup of cane sugar. I had more bananas than the recipe called for so used the extra worked perfectly. Hubby is allergic to walnuts but next time I will add walnuts because I love banana bread with walnuts. Thank you so much. Delicious!
Woo! So glad this recipe was a success for you, Connie! Thank you for sharing your review, I really appreciate it.
I made this recipe but added some chopped walnuts. I did not have plain Greek yogurt so used some no fat banana Greek yogurt. It was moist and delicious. Hubby and I loved it.
I don’t have instagram, so if you want to copy this there, go ahead.
Woo! So glad this recipe was a success for you, Francine! Thanks for sharing your swap, it sounds delicious!
I made this bread mand it was delicious!! I used organic cane sugar. I did not have plain Greek yogurt so I used non fat banana cream Greek yogurt. I also added some chopped walnuts.
I do not have instagram, so I cannot post there.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Francine! Thank you so much for sharing your swaps, I appreciate it so much 🙂
This was so delicious + moist! I substituted organic all purpose flour, 3/4 cup of organic raw sugar + organic coconut oil ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
So glad you loved this banana bread, Kat! And I’m glad it turned out with your subs. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
I used 1/2 cup chopped walnuts & 1/2 cup chocolate chips. It’s divine! Another slam dunk Brittany thank you!
Absolutely! I am pumped to hear that you are loving this recipe! Thank you so much for your review + star rating, I really appreciate it.
Wow!!! I am in love. This is the first healthier banana bread that actually does not taste any different than regular banana bread made with white sugar. This will be my go to from now on!!
WOO! I am excited to hear that you are loving this recipe, Erin. Thank you so much for sharing your review & star rating, I really appreciate it!
I have made the banana bread multiple times using all whole wheat flour and pure maple syrup a no fail recipe. It’s so delicious it does not last in our house.
Ah this is amazing, Deb! Thank you so much for your review + star rating, I truly appreciate it.
We’re having some kids over tomorrow that are allergic to nuts and happened to have 3 black bananas so I was thrilled to see this recipe on your site! I used coconut oil and raw honey instead of butter and sugar as you suggested. I sprinkled a little bit of shredded coconut over the batter before baking. Very nice banana bread!