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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
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
turned out great, i used the 2 tbsp applesauce but still added b1 tbsp spoon of butter and instead of the white and brown sugar i used coconut sugar. theyre very good. I will be using this recipe again.
Loved this – it was quick to whip up in between preparing supper and I stuck it in the oven while we ate. I usually have a tough time with the loaf pan (always seems to brown too quick and I undercook the center). This turned out beautiful in the loaf pan. All the kids agreed this was a winner. I use this with eggs for breakfast, so I wanted a less dessert type banana bread! I will substitute pumpkin next time for a healthier pumpkin loaf!
Hi, I’m making the healthy banana bread recipe. But want to use 3 small gift size loaf pans instead of one large loaf PAN. How do I adjust the time and temperature for
baking those? Thank you in advance.
Great idea for gifting! For 3 small gift-size loaf pans, keep the oven temperature at 350°F, but reduce the baking time to about 25–30 minutes. Start checking for doneness around the 22-minute mark—insert a toothpick into the center, and if it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs, they’re good to go!
-Stacy
Delicious! I substitute 1/3 cup of maple syrup for the white & brown sugar. My kids love it, and it makes excellent French toast too.
It’s not good at all… too much soda with salt. I’m so sorry I wasted my ingredients on this recipe. Lesson learned!
I was visiting my daughter and her family after they had their first baby and I noticed she had ripe bananas. I didn’t have my recipe with me so I googled and found this one. It was so delicious and moist so I am going to add it to my recipes. I added chocolate chips and they loved it! Thank you for a great recipe!
pretty good! not too sweet, so if you prefer sweeter then i reccomend adding an extra tbsp of brown sugar . (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ
It’s was perfect I just didn’t like the taste of baking soda
I just made this for the first time. It’s very good, and a nice switch from typical fat- and sugar-laden banana bread. (I only had two large bananas, which measured about a cup when mashed, so I just added 1/3 C of 2% Greek yogurt.) My oven is well calibrated, and this was done in 35 minutes.
My favorite banana bread recipe. I lost this one for a whole so tried a few others but kept searching. Nothing was as good. This bakes perfectly and isnt too sweet. So happy I found it again. I subbed coconut oil for butter this time and added some pumpkin spice for the season.