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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
This recipe is wonderful! I substituted all purpose gluten free flour and added some roasted chopped walnuts. Very moist and delicious!
Holy wow! I’ve been trying different recipes for banana bread for years trying to find the right one wasn’t overly sweet. This one is about as good as it gets. I switched out 1/2 cup of all purpose white flour with whole wheat. (So 1 C all purpose white, 1/2 C wheat), and it worked perfectly. The only downside: I don’t want to share it!
I am thrilled to see the comments are recent. I feel I am always late to a party! My daughter and I are on a weight challenge and I loved seeing how this recipe could stand up to add -ins etc…So I tried replacing some of the flour with 1/2 cup oats (which was lower calorie than whole wheat flour), kefir for the butter, I only had 3 bananas, threw in the dregs of dying blueberries in the fridge (2 TBSP)and used only brown sugar b/c I like the flavor and wanted to see if it was “sweet enough” for us. My goal was to nail a not too sweet breakfast option.
I baked it 33 min, and we couldn’t wait to slice it. Perfect! Not too sweet, moist enough, and the rare blueberry was a treat of sweet. My husband wants me to do the sweeter version- but finished his piece. 😉 I think I need the 4rth banana…
Thanks so much for a fantastic recipe! We will try it with pumpkin next, until we have 4 dying bananas.
Anyone every try substituting pumpkin for the bananas in this recipe? I love the low sugar in this recipe and was thinking about trying the substitution.
I bet that would work really well!
I just made it with 2 parts pumpkin and 1 part banana and then added another chopped banana. I also used 1 part white flour, 1 part whole wheat flour, and 1 part almond flour. It’s amazing!
I added about a cup of toasted sliced almonds, as well as a scoop (~15g) of vegan vanilla protein powder, and this bread turned out beautifully! This will be my new go-to recipe for banana bread. It is pretty moist, my loaf definitely needed the full 45 minutes to bake and the toothpick still came out a little sticky, but it cooled into a lovely quick bread consistency.
I’ve made this recipe twice now, once as a big loaf and once as mini loaves. It is now my new favorite banana bread recipe, which is saying something because my former favorite was my fave for 20 years. But when I was looking for a more heart-healthy recipe to make for someone with heart disease, I found this and decided to give it a go. My former fave used tons of butter, sour cream, and sugar, and not even as much banana. This one uses more banana and is far lower in fat and sugar. To make it even more heart healthy, I eliminated the added salt for the second batch as baking soda and powder are already high enough in sodium and noticed no taste difference. The texture of this bread is perfect every time, not too wet, not too dry.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is you can whip it up in one bowl using only a whisk or spoon, no beaters required. What a time saver! I LOVE this recipe. Thank you! (p.s. Topped ours with chopped nuts and was delish!)
Thank you for sharing! I am so flattered that it has replaced your old, long-standing favorite! Thanks for commenting.
Me and my mom think that it’s the best banana bread we have ever made
Not sure what I did wrong, followed the exact receipe but turned out very gloobey and flat and raw 🙁 maybe it’s my oven
Absolutely delicious! Made two loaves tonight and my husband said it was the best banana bread that I’ve ever made! I did add dark chocolate chips and walnuts, but the bread would’ve still been great without. Thanks so much for the perfect recipe!
This looks great! I will be trying this out next weekend! Do you think it would freeze ok? Thanks! 🙂
Yes, it freezes very well! Enjoy 🙂
You can also freeze ripe bananas if no time for baking… ; )