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After I moved to San Diego, I started to stop by my grandma’s house multiple times each week. She lives in the same neighborhood, just a mile away! Â
Sometimes we watch a movie, other times we drive downtown to see a Padres baseball game, but most of the time, we just have puppy play dates. I drop my little dog off at Grandma’s to socialize with her two small terriers for a few hours during the afternoon. (As an “only child,” my dog’s social skills were almost nonexistent before we moved!)
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Grandma and I usually chat for a bit in the evenings when I pick up my pup, and she always sends me home with the newspaper crossword and puzzles section. I love working on those while winding down before bed!
With how much I bake, Grandma also hands off any overly ripe bananas sitting on her counter that she didn’t quite manage to eat along with the newspaper. When she gave me one small, very speckled banana earlier this month, I realized it wasn’t big enough for a normal loaf of banana bread…
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So I made this Healthy Small Batch Chocolate Chip Banana Bread instead! It has the same classic taste of traditional banana bread that you know and love—sweet fruit, tender texture, and plenty of chocolate!—but it yields just two small loaves… One for you and one to share!
Or to freeze for you to eat later… I won’t judge!
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To make this healthy banana bread, you just need a handful of everyday ingredients. Starting with whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, if you prefer!). As long as you use a banana with more brown spots than yellow, your quick bread will be sweet enough that you can’t detect the flavor of the flour!
So yes—I highly recommend using a very ripe, very brown banana! For the best results, your banana should be really soft on the inside. Bananas like that have more natural sweetness than their pure yellow friends, so you’ll only need to add a tiny amount of pure maple syrup (like this) to boost the sweetness.
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To keep your wholesome banana bread extremely tender, just like traditional recipes, you’ll mix in Greek yogurt instead of extra butter or oil. You know how much I ♡ Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your banana bread a protein boost, too!
Because this is a small batch recipe, you’ll divide the batter between two mini loaf pans (like these!). One big perk of that? Your banana bread bakes much faster than normal, so you get to eat it that much sooner! And of course, don’t forget to press a few mini chocolate chips into the loaves’ tops! (These are my current favorite!)
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How perfect does that look? ? Would you share? Or keep the whole recipe all to yourself? ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your banana bread and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Healthy Small Batch Chocolate Chip Banana Bread | | Print |
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ÂĽ tsp baking soda
- â…› tsp salt
- ½ tsp butter or coconut oil, melted
- 1 large egg white, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp (30g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 6 tbsp (98g) mashed banana (about 1 very small)
- 1 tbsp (15mL) pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp (45mL) nonfat milk
- 2 tbsp (28g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two mini loaf pans with foil, and lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg white, and vanilla. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the mashed banana and maple syrup. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Reserve ½ tablespoon of mini chocolate chips, and gently fold in the rest.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pans, and gently press the reserved mini chocolate chips into the top of the batter. Bake at 350°F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully lifting out the loaf by the foil and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat flour.
For best results, use the ripest, darkest, most spottiest banana you can find! The ones with more brown color than yellow are ideal. Measure your banana using measuring cups and spoons OR a kitchen scale. Not all “very small” bananas are exactly the same size!
The mashed banana and Greek yogurt combined need to measure ½ cup. If you have slightly more than 6 tablespoons mashed banana, then reduce the Greek yogurt by the same amount, and vice versa.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
The mini loaf pans should be about 5¾ X 3” in size. I use these!
This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9x5” loaf pan instead! Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until the center feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
To see how this banana bread is made, watch my video here (it’s for a similar banana bread recipe!).
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡   Healthy Strawberry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
♡   Healthy Dark Chocolate Drizzled Raspberry Banana Bread
♡   Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Brownies
♡   Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies
♡   The Ultimate Healthy Banana Nut Muffins
♡   …and the rest of Amy’s healthy banana bread recipes!
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I love the small batch recipes, Amy. When baking for myself they are the perfect size either just for me or to share. And then I can bake something else from your fun, helpful, and delicious collection!! This particular recipe is perfect size for sharing with a friend. Thank you!
You’re so sweet Susan! That means a lot to me! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear that you appreciate these small batch recipes. I’ve been thinking about doing a few more of them, so I love hearing your feedback! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread if you try it!
Hi Amy! Thanks so much for posting this. I’m just wondering how many grams ½ tsp butter equates to?
Thank you 🙂
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Ellen! With measurements less than ½ tablespoon, I actually don’t recommend measuring by grams. Most scales aren’t sensitive enough to be accurate with that small of an amount! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!
Hi Amy,
I’ve recently discovered your blog and I absolutely love it. I’ve already tried some recipes and this one is definitely next on my list. Being able to make this in smaller portions is brilliant since i’m the only one at home trying to eat this healthy (which your recipes make very easy). So I just wanted to let you know that I’m a big fan of your blog. I
Oh my goodness, you’re so sweet Cecile! I’m truly honored that you’re enjoying my recipes; that means a lot to me! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!
Hi, would almond milk (less sugar) be okay to use? Cannot wait to make this! I’m a Weight Watcher. Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! I’ve actually answered that already in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. It can be easy to miss! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!
I simply love banana bread, but somehow I’ve never added chocolate chips before. It sounds awesome!! I can’t wait to try myself =)
Thanks Isadora! I’m excited to hear what you think of this banana bread!
Hi Amy
I’ve never baked before but your blog has inspired me to! I will try the banana bread recipe but a quick question : is it 93 calories per slide or the entire loaf?
Can I replace chocolate chip with cinnamon?
Thanks
Riddhi
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Riddhi! That means so much to me that you’d choose my recipe as your first recipe to bake. What an honor! 🙂 The full nutrition info is available underneath the recipe, including that information. Do you want to replace the chocolate chips with ground cinnamon or cinnamon chips?
when i made this i used everything as directed and did the I read how to measure the flour. But for some reason when I finished cooking it , it smelled and tasted too floury. What did i do wrong?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Alaa! Unfortunately, there was probably too much flour in your banana bread… So if you don’t own a kitchen scale, here’s what I recommend doing for measuring flour (and cocoa powder, oats, etc!): use a fork to “scoop” up flour from the container, and lightly shake the fork back and forth over the top of your measuring cup to transfer the flour into it. Once there’s a small mound of flour extending past the rim of the measuring cup, then place the flat back of a knife against the top of the measuring cup, and gently scrape it across the top to get rid of the excess flour. Never “pat” the flour down with the knife or fork. This fork method acts like a sifter (without dirtying another dish!) and guarantees you’ll add less flour to the batter, so you’ll end up with moist and tender banana bread. Does that make sense? 🙂
Of all the different pots, pans, and appliances that clutter my kitchen I don’t have one mini loaf pan. So crazy! Could this batter be baked up in a mini muffin pan?
Yes, definitely!! They’ll probably only take about 10-13 minutes to bake. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Hailey!
Hi I just baked this and I doubled the measurements but unfortunately it was very thick and I am sure I used the exact measurements. The banana was 12 tbs exactly what was wrong? ??
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Suzan! When you doubled the recipe, did you use 4 mini loaf pans, a 9×5″ loaf pan, or something else? Did you make any other modifications besides doubling the recipe? We’ll get this sorted out! 🙂
Hi Amy…this is Ramhya from India…i followed ur recipie exactly but i ended up with a clay like cake….it wasnt sweet and the texture was like partially cooked lumpy dough….what might have gone wrong?…i used wheat flour ( bought whole wheat grains and had it powdered), and honey instead of maple syrup. I used beaten curd instead of the greek yougurt. Could u help me find what went wrong?…ur low fat recipies look amazing and i want to try them out
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Ramhya! Let’s get this sorted out. 🙂 How did you measure the ingredients (especially the flour and banana!) — with a kitchen scale or measuring cups? How ripe were your bananas? If you look at the banana picture in this blog post of mine, were yours more yellow than that? Before you added the batter to the pan, how thick was it? Were you able to fully incorporate all of the dry ingredients? Once I hear your answers, that will help me give you the best advice on how to fix the issues!
Hi Amy,
Thank u so much for responding…i used measuring cups to measure all my ingredients…and the bananas i used were bit more yellowish than the ones in ur given blog post…and specifically the batter did seem slightly sticky when i mixed in the last of the dry ingredients and i had to add little more milk say 1 teaspoon to it….however i did feel that the batter should have been more wet.
-Ramhya.
My pleasure Ramhya! If your bananas were more yellow, then that’s definitely why your banana bread wasn’t sweet enough! The browner a banana is, the more sweetness it gives to the batter. That’s why I recommend using bananas that are more brown than yellow — or almost entirely brown! If your bananas are pure yellow, then you can substitute 1-2 tablespoons of honey for an equal amount of milk. When you used measuring cups to measure the flour, did you follow my method that I linked to in the Ingredients list (the “like this” pink text)? 🙂