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
This post contains affiliate links.
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?
I was not convinced at first, but this banana bread tasted so good without being too sweet or containing loads of butter.
Hi
I am baking this banana bread and am very disappointed with the results.
I have followed everything as in the recipe and used all the same ingredients with no substitutes.
The cake was definitely not done after 45 minutes and has now been in the oven for over an hour and is still not done. The outside is burning but inside is still not fully cooked.
I do not usually have trouble with any other recipes and my oven works perfectly. Any idea why this is happening? Please let me know.
Thanks.
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the recipe. It sounds like your oven might be running a bit hot, causing the outside to cook faster than the inside. Try lowering the oven temperature by 25 degrees and baking it for a longer period. Also, you can tent the bread with foil to prevent the top from burning. I hope this helps!
I have made this multiple times and even given it as a gift. (One of the loaves was mailed to a 100-year-old aunt in California and she loved it!) I mash it using a pastry blender, it all gets mixed in one bowl, and it goes into the oven and emerges in a state of perfection.
How amazing that you shipped it in the mail! Thanks for sharing, and I’m so happy you enjoy the recipe.
Can the banana bread be made with Almond flour?
We haven’t tested it with almond flour but you can look through the comments as a couple of people have successfully! Happy baking!
I made this without the butter, delicious 🙂
DELICISIOSA’! I added a leftover 1/2 of a milk choc bar in pieces and 2, 80% chocolate squares in pieces as well and roasted almonds. Floored! Thankyou for this amazing recipe:)! A bit more guilt but not eating this all at once!
Good flavor but my bread would not cook all the way through. Gummy on the bottom even though I cooked it for over 1.5 hours.
I kept some of the bananas a bit chunky and mashed the rest, I also added 100g raisins and it was without a doubt, the best banana bread I have tasted – the family loved it too! 35 minutes was the perfect bake, between light and moist. I weighed everything and calories counted it, mine was coming it at 156 calories a slice – completely worth it!
I made this recipe with 3 large bananas, vegan butter, a smidge of ACV, and a small amount of vegan kefir. I baked for 30 minutes in an 8×8 pan. The texture is cakier than the average banana bread, which I love. I could see adding an almond butter swirl, chocolate chips, or serving with strawberry jam. Thank you for this healthier treat 🙂
For a healthy bread this was great. I made it into muffins instead. I used your trick to quickly ripen bananas. They had an amazing flavor. The bread wasn’t as soft as a full fat bread version would be but that’s to be expected. Great flavor and moist.