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This EASY Healthy Banana Bread recipe is made with low sugar, no oil and is just over 100 calories per slice. It yields incredibly moist, perfectly sweet, and delicious bread!
Looking for more bread recipes? Try my Lemon Poppy Seed Bread, Artisan No Knead Bread, or Skillet Cornbread!
What I love about the recipe:
- Normal Ingredients – No artificial sweeteners or anything out of the ordinary here. I use basic pantry ingredients you already have.
- Healthy – No oil, low sugar, FOUR bananas, and around 100 calories per slice!
- Tastes Amazing – When baked goods are labeled “healthy” they often don't taste great, but I promise you no one would ever guess that this banana bread is any different! It is still just as moist, sweet, and scrumptious as traditional banana bread!
How to make Healthy Banana Bread:
Grease a standard 9×5” 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.
Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to banana mixture and stir to combine. Stir in melted butter.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5-10 few minutes before inverting onto a wire cooling rack.
Pro Tips:
- Use very ripe bananas. The riper the banana, the sweeter it is, the easier it is to mash, and the more sweetness it adds to the bread.
- Trick to ripen bananas quickly: Place the bananas (peel on) on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 6-8 minutes. until the outer peel is dark.
Storing and Freezing Instructions:
To Store: Banana bread will keep at room temperature for 3-5 days.
To Freeze: Cool completely and then store in an airtight container or freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw to room temperature before serving.
Recipe Variations:
- Healthy Banana Muffins: Follow my instructions HERE!
- Mix-Ins: Feel free to stir in ¾ cup of you favorite chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or raisins, at the end, before adding the batter to the pan.
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Healthy Banana Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 bananas, , about 1 ⅓ cups, mashed (320 g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract, (15 ml)
- 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar, (38 g)
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, (25 g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, (2.6 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, (4 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, (5 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, (2.5 g)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (white or white-whole wheat) (180 g)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, , melted (or substitute applesauce) (28 g butter or 30 g applesauce)
Instructions
- Grease a standard 9×5” 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe January 2017. Updated January 2021 and January 2022.
Process photos by Nikole from The Travel Palate
This recipe hits EVERY TIME!!! Even cooking this at high altitude and accidentally throwing the dry ingredients with the wet before mixing, still came out great. I also added in walnuts and choc chips! So yummy!!!!
Delicious!I have made it 4 times in 3 days! We just can’t get enough!!!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe!!! I make it as muffins and I add walnuts. I make this EVERY weekend so we have them for lunches for the week. My whole family LOVES them!
Hi, did you add applesauce as listed in the ingredients list?
How long did you bake the muffins?
I don’t see applesauce in the ingredient list
Applesauce listed next to the butter, can be used instead of butter.
Thank you thank you thank you! This is so healthy, low cal and delicious. I made half the recipe with 1 tbspn of sugar and 1/2 tbspn of olive oil (omitted the butter) and it still turned out great.
i made this with a few minor tweaks:
-1/2 T vanilla extract and 1/2 T almond extract, i didn’t want to use up all of my vanilla
– replaced butter with applesauce, i don’t use butter in my baking anymore and applesauce is lower calorie
overall tasted amazing and i recommend adding almond to highlight the light cinnamon flavor.
Very good recipe! What makes it moist and healthy? How did you come up with this recipe? I added 4.5 bananas, chocolate chips and walnuts! Perfect! I wondered about the applesauce in place of sugar and butter, so thanks for the feedback. Thanks for the recipe, too!!
Delicious banana bread. I only used one tbsp of sugar and no butter and it still came out great. I brought it in to work and they loved it. Best part, only two WW points.
Dear Lauren,
I just followed your recipe exactly, and the banana bread turned out well and tasty. It could be a tad more moist. So I’m wondering, what if I replace all sugar and butter with five Tbs. of apple sauce? We like to generously butter our banana bread when we eat it, so I’d like to cut the butter from the recipe, and the apple sauce would provide the sweetness and an extra bit of moisture. You think it might work?
Regards, Silke
That should be fine! Enjoy.
The recipe is perfect! I will add chopped nuts next time.
Thanks for the great feedback!
Thank you! My go-to banana bread recipe has 1 cup of sugar in it!! Admittedly it’s an awesome recipe but full of diet killers. I made your recipe last week and hubby and the kids loved it! I have two loaves in the oven now – one with chocolate chips. Thank you! I can now make guilt-free banana bread more often.
I’m so glad you love the recipe! Thanks for taking a minute to leave a comment!
Absolutely brilliant recipe ! I changed it a little bit . Used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar , added 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup oats , added almonds and walnuts and used coconut oil instead of butter and swirled some peanut butter on the top ! Turned out lovely light and soft .
I’ve made many different “healthy” banana breads and this one is my favorite so far! I did change a few things (which I always do with recipes). I added 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce and chopped up walnuts as well and just 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Came out so good! Next time, I will try it with almond flour like one commenter mentioned.
I omitted the granulated sugar, just used 3 bananas and cooked for 20 minutes at 170 degrees in a small bread pan. Perfect!