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?
How long did you bake the muffins?
I don’t see applesauce in the ingredient list
I use this recipe every time I make banana bread. I use fresh ground dry oats for my flour substitute, 5tbls of organic maple syrup for my sugar substitute, and I mix in some dark chocolate chips at the end before I bake. It’s so delicious and moist! Thank you.
Hello,
Do you know if I used a gluten free flour if I would need to add anything else to the recipe? I’ve just started low fodmap and love raisin and banana bread so wondering if I can adapt this recipe? Thank you
Hi! I bake with gluten free flour all the time, most of them are 1:1 so Replacing regular flour with gluten free works perfect! You shouldn’t need to add anything:)
This bread is so delicious. Since finding this recipe a few months ago, I have made it several times. I use swerve sugar for both sugars and used white whole wheat flour along with apple sauce. I put in some dark chocolate chips and wow it tastes so good.
I followed the recipe as written the first time, using whole whear flour. We loved it and didn’t miss the additional oil and sugar typically in banana bread. I’ve made it again several times, reducing the sugar each time and swapping the butter with one tablespoon of coconut oil. Most recently I reduced the sugar to only 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and we thought it was delicious! My toddler asks for it for breakfast! Great low sugar, low fat recipe that you can make whole grain based on your preferences.
The best banana bread ever!
This bread is amazing…especially, since it’s healthy. I used almond and spelt flour, sugar substitute for the granulated sugar and apple sauce for the butter. I also use half vanilla extract and the other half spoon maple extract. I add sugar free chocolate chips and sprinkle brown sugar and pecans over top before baking. This doesn’t even last an hour at my house!
So glad I found this! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out delicious! I used butter instead of apple sauce, and the bread is nice and moist. I might add a little applesauce next time. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, just made this. Wonderful taste. Thank you for making it available.
As I was lacking some of the ingredients, I made a few substitutions and additions. The bread turned out very tasty. I did substitute 1Tbs mayo for the butter, 3 Tbs maple syrup for the sugars, and added 1 Tbs coconut powder, and 2 Tbs ground flax seed. Very moist. If I make this again, I’ll omit the salt as the mayo was salty enough.
I just made these but am diabetic during pregnancy. I did two T brown sugar and 1 T honey instead of the sugars listed. Still tasted great! I made them in muffins and baked super quick. Hope my kids love them too! Thanks for the recipe!
Ok making this now and I can just say that 40-45 minutes on 350 is not enough. Turned heat down to 325 and giving it another 15 minutes and hope for the best. I’ve made banana and pumpkin breads before and know at least an hour or hour and 15 minutes is the best cooking time especially with amount of wet ingredients.