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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.
Best Banana Bread recipe I have ever made! Very moist and sweet. My husband also loved it. The only thing I changed was the amount of vanilla extract. It called for 1 tablespoon but I only used 1 teaspoon. I will definitely be making this again.
Best recipe ever! I make this weekly and it’s so simple and yummy. I love that it’s low fat with minimal sugar as I always find other banana breads are too sweet. It only takes minutes to prepare and I recommend warming it again before eating as it brings out the banana flavour.
Nice recipe. Changed up a few ingredients. I used 3/4 c ground oatmeal (made my own oat flour) and 3/4 c flour.
Also used melted coconut oil instead of butter and 1 Tbls real maple syrup (omit 1 Tbls white sugar. Added 2 Tbls
Chopped raisins and walnuts. Delightful flavors. Perfect sweetness and texture. This became a little more nutrient and
Fiber dense. Healthy alternatives!
This is a perfectly fine banana bread recipe. It’s moist, chewy, and not too sweet. The “no oil” bit is a little misleading because it does have butter, which is less healthy than oil. Additionally, it has 9g of sugar per slice, compared to other recipes that use honey and have less than 20g of sugar in an entire loaf.
For what it’s worth, butter is much healthier than oil. Just don’t want people reading this and believing outdated information.
My daughter and I just put our bread into the oven. The recipe was simple and easy to follow. We can’t wait to try it! Thank you for sharing.
Delicious!
This is absolutely hands down the best Banana Bread I’ve ever had, let alone made. So moist, so delicious. The only thing I did different was use coconut sugar instead of brown, and used Swerve (erythritol), instead of white sugar, because it’s what I had. Beautiful perfection. Better than any full fat or sugary loaves.
Just made the recipe tonight!! Turned out great! The perfect amount of sweetness and actually “tasted” like banana bread is supposed to. I find that it’s hard sometimes comparing skinny recipes with the classics- unless it’s a really good recipe. And this was a home run! New staple, next time want to try walnuts in it.
Rarely do I review a recipe, but I had to come back for this one. Tried this recipe when looking for a healthier banana bread, as I’ve tried a few but was so-so on each one. Not only we’re the others not as healthy with the extra bananas and little sugar and butter, but they had nowhere near the great texture, moistness and taste of this one. Tastes much more like authentic banana bread than the other healthy recipes have tried. I loved this banana bread and will be using this recipe from now on.
Fantastically good recipe! Other banana bread recipes have way too much sugar. This one comes out right every time, even with a few subs. I used Garbanzo bean flour once for 2/3 of the flour in the recipe and it turned out great. Maybe some gluten free bandwagonners could try all chickpea flour. I particularly enjoy a slice with my home made 1 ingredient pecan butter. Yum!
Can I use regular whole wheat flour instead of white. That’s all I have on hand right now. Really want to make this recipe because it looks simple and delicious.
Yes, that will be fine. It may just be slightly denser.