My favorite Skinny Banana Bread recipe has no oil, is low sugar, and just over 100 calories/slice! It’s the BEST healthy banana bread recipe to still yield incredibly moist, perfectly sweet, and delicious bread!
We are preparing for an intense ICE storm in Saint Louis this weekend. Schools are closed today and my husband is working from home.
I had never experienced an ice storm until I moved to the midwest, and they are no joke! We’ve had a few in the last couple of years that kept everyone one home, like today. You’re driving in your car and the “rain” falling on your windshield immediately freezes to ice. The streets become a sheet of ice but it’s really hard to tell it’s even there, which it makes it dangerous to drive on.
It’s kind of fun having an excuse to hunker down at home with my family, though. We play games and do puzzles and pick a fun a movie to watch.
Do you want to know how to make banana bread? You are in the right place. I like to bake something warm and comforting like this Skinny Banana Bread. My kids love it and I love that it’s healthier than regular banana bread. Plus, it makes my house smell amazing.
The main reason I really love this skinny banana bread recipe (besides the obvious fact that it has way less sugar and fat than any traditional banana bread recipes) is that it has FOUR large bananas mashed into it.
Most recipes have 2 or 3, max. I love extra banana flavor it gives the bread, and it makes the bread really moist.
I like to use really, really ripe bananas. Like, so ripe that the skin is black, and my husband is begging me to remove them from our kitchen counter :-). The riper the banana, the sweeter it is, the easier it is to mash, and the more sweetness it adds to the bread.
Can you make banana bread with fresh bananas?
Yes! If you only have fresh bananas, don’t fret! One trick is to place them (peel on) on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 6-8 minutes. This is a great trick for ripening bananas quickly!
In typing the below ingredients into a nutrition calculator (judging that one loaf makes about 12 slices) this banana bread came out to be about 140 calories per slice.
So, hopefully you can feel great about indulging in one of the tastiest, and easiest quick-breads around!
LOOKING FOR MORE HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS? TRY SOME OF MY OTHER FAVORITES:
- Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins
- Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie
- No-Bake Granola Bars
- Healthy No-Bake Granola Bites
- Tomato Avocado Melt
- Citrus Fruit Salad
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This Skinny Banana Bread is so incredibly moist, perfectly sweet, and delicious -- you would never know it's "skinny"!
- 4 bananas , about 1 1/3 cups, mashed
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (white or white-whole wheat)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- Grease a standard 9x5'' loaf pan (I also like to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper to make sure the loaf doesn't stick).
Mash bananas in a mixing bowl. Add egg, vanilla, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon and stir well to combine.
In a separate small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to banana mixture and stir to combine.
Gently stir in melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 few minutes before inverting onto a wire cooling rack.
Recipe Video
If you'd like to make these into MUFFINS, find the instructions here
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Hannah Macauley says
Hi do I need to use plain flour or self raising flour?
Lauren Allen says
Regular All-purpose flour 🙂
Stephanie says
Plain flour
KWhit says
I added a couple of scoops of chocolate protein (fruit / veg mix) plus some applesauce, mini dark choc chips and my picky eater kids love it!
Lauren Allen says
Ooh I love those additions! Thanks for sharing, and I’m glad it was picky-eater approved!
Anastasia says
So delicious ! My new go to recipe for banana bread because it has about a fourth of the sugar compared to most recipes, yet is still sweet because of the additional bananas!
Jackie Kotler says
This is the BEST Banana Bread recipe ever!!!!!
Enola Paul says
This is my go to for when I make banana bread for my kids. But instead of the white sugar I do Agave nectar because it helps balance out your blood sugar and doesnt mess with it as bad. Then I add some almond extract and some molasses. My kids love it!! Sometimes if I have them I also add some apples into it as well.
Brenda Thomas says
How many slices in a loaf?
Lauren Allen says
About 10-12 slices, depending on how thick you cut them 🙂
Nancy Loera says
This recipe is delicious!!!!
Brigitte says
I am just done baking this bread , I use sunflower oil , no white sugar just 3 table spoon of brown sugar , I don’t like it sweet specially for breakfast. I added 1/2 clove , 1/2 ginger and 1/2 cup roasted walnuts . It’s super good finally a bread that is not too sweet low fat with a lot of bananas in it. I baked it for 33 minutes next time I will bake it 30.
Thanks
Michelle says
If you replace the egg with 1/3 c flaxseed and the oil with 1/3 c cinnamin applesauce, what would the calories be and how would the nutritional values change?
Lauren Allen says
Hi Michelle, here is a great nutritional calculator you could use to find out. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
Healthy Kitchen 101 says
Such a nice trick to ripen the bananas! I never have fresh bananas to make this bread but it’s a great tip anyways, I may need to use it oneday!
– Natalie Ellis
Lou says
This looks great! I will be trying this out next weekend! Do you think it would freeze ok? Thanks! 🙂
Lauren Allen says
Yes, it freezes very well! Enjoy 🙂
Claire Fitzgerald says
Absolutely delicious! Made two loaves tonight and my husband said it was the best banana bread that I’ve ever made! I did add dark chocolate chips and walnuts, but the bread would’ve still been great without. Thanks so much for the perfect recipe!
Ella says
Not sure what I did wrong, followed the exact receipe but turned out very gloobey and flat and raw 🙁 maybe it’s my oven
Samara says
Me and my mom think that it’s the best banana bread we have ever made
arj says
I’ve made this recipe twice now, once as a big loaf and once as mini loaves. It is now my new favorite banana bread recipe, which is saying something because my former favorite was my fave for 20 years. But when I was looking for a more heart-healthy recipe to make for someone with heart disease, I found this and decided to give it a go. My former fave used tons of butter, sour cream, and sugar, and not even as much banana. This one uses more banana and is far lower in fat and sugar. To make it even more heart healthy, I eliminated the added salt for the second batch as baking soda and powder are already high enough in sodium and noticed no taste difference. The texture of this bread is perfect every time, not too wet, not too dry.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is you can whip it up in one bowl using only a whisk or spoon, no beaters required. What a time saver! I LOVE this recipe. Thank you! (p.s. Topped ours with chopped nuts and was delish!)
Lauren Allen says
Thank you for sharing! I am so flattered that it has replaced your old, long-standing favorite! Thanks for commenting.
Jamie says
I added about a cup of toasted sliced almonds, as well as a scoop (~15g) of vegan vanilla protein powder, and this bread turned out beautifully! This will be my new go-to recipe for banana bread. It is pretty moist, my loaf definitely needed the full 45 minutes to bake and the toothpick still came out a little sticky, but it cooled into a lovely quick bread consistency.
Monique says
Anyone every try substituting pumpkin for the bananas in this recipe? I love the low sugar in this recipe and was thinking about trying the substitution.
Lauren Allen says
I bet that would work really well!
Emily L. says
I am thrilled to see the comments are recent. I feel I am always late to a party! My daughter and I are on a weight challenge and I loved seeing how this recipe could stand up to add -ins etc…So I tried replacing some of the flour with 1/2 cup oats (which was lower calorie than whole wheat flour), kefir for the butter, I only had 3 bananas, threw in the dregs of dying blueberries in the fridge (2 TBSP)and used only brown sugar b/c I like the flavor and wanted to see if it was “sweet enough” for us. My goal was to nail a not too sweet breakfast option.
I baked it 33 min, and we couldn’t wait to slice it. Perfect! Not too sweet, moist enough, and the rare blueberry was a treat of sweet. My husband wants me to do the sweeter version- but finished his piece. 😉 I think I need the 4rth banana…
Thanks so much for a fantastic recipe! We will try it with pumpkin next, until we have 4 dying bananas.
Amber says
Holy wow! I’ve been trying different recipes for banana bread for years trying to find the right one wasn’t overly sweet. This one is about as good as it gets. I switched out 1/2 cup of all purpose white flour with whole wheat. (So 1 C all purpose white, 1/2 C wheat), and it worked perfectly. The only downside: I don’t want to share it!