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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Recipe
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
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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
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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?
This is one of the best banana bread recipes I’ve made! I thought 4 bananas was a little much, but I think it makes the banana bread so incredibly moist and delicious. I used a glass loaf pan and covered the top of my bread so it wouldn’t burn once it began rising while the middle wasn’t done. I love that it’s so simple and the wait wasn’t long. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
How many servings to a loaf trying to figure out how many points for ww
Hi Stacey,
I would estimate between 10-12 slices/servings.
I never knew how happy banana bread could make me!!! I love this recipe, thank you so much! I made mini muffins and topped half with dark chocolate chips 🙂 Made about 32 minis. 10-12 mins at 350. No paper liners, I don’t think there is enough fat in the recipe to release from the paper (which is a GOOD thing!)
THANKS again!!
Would I be able to eliminate the butter, as I am trying to make this a weight watchers friendly recipe?
Hi Susan,
That would be fine, although I would suggest adding a scoop of applesauce or yogurt to help with the texture!
Just made this yesterday and it was delicious! You would never know that it was a “skinny” recipe and it was so moist. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you so much for sharing!
Just made it! It was yummy! And I love the amount of bananas, I’m always looking for ways to use overripe bananas. My family won’t touch them once they’ve turned even a little bit brown! I doubled it with no problem and used half white and half wheat flour.
Heather! So fun to hear from you! I hope your family is doing well! I’m so happy to hear you liked the banana bread. Thanks so much for commenting <3 <3
I just took this out of the oven and couldn’t even wait for it to cool…so good! Throwing away my old tried and true higher calorie recipe!
Thanks so much for the quick response. Lowering it to 325 and tenting with foil towards then end worked like a charm adding 4 large bananas. Took 70 minutes but came out perfect 🙂
Yay! So happy to hear it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Love this recipe! But I’m having problems with the bread rising. It comes out about 1 inch thick. Any suggestions to get it to rise more?
Hi Connie, what size pan are you using?
Maybe your baking soda is too old
We LOVE this recipe at our our, I have a 5 year old that is borderline obsessed with it :). Question though. I’ve been struggling with getting it to bake through the middle and realized when I use 4 bananas it’s way over 1 and 1/3 cups. When measuring out 1 and 1/3 cups it’s not nearly as moist but does cook through all the way. Any advice?
Hi Danica, I’m so happy to hear you like the banana bread!
A lot of things can effect baking banana bread–what type of pan you use (metal or glass), oven temp, altitude. Next time I would add a little less banana (maybe 3 smashed bananas) or measure out about 1 1/2 cups. If you want to add all 4 large bananas you could try cooking it at 325 degrees for a longer bake time and cover it with tinfoil about 2/3 way through baking, so the top doesn’t get too browned.
I’m hopeful one of these will work–let me know what you try!