In the beginning of my senior year of high school, my mom began buying all sorts of healthy food at the grocery store. Since my brother and I both brought brown bag lunches, she wanted to ensure we had plenty of nutritious options to choose from.
Carrots, celery, bell peppers, granola bars, yogurt, whole wheat bread, lean lunch meat, cheese, apples, bananas, oranges, grapes… We loved helping her unpack the weekend grocery hauls to see what delicious foods we could eat during the upcoming week!
However, we didn’t always finish off all of the healthy items, especially the fresh fruit, often because Mom bought a few extra pieces just to be safe. That usually meant we ended up with a couple very ripe and brown bananas on the counter.
So for the first month of school, I baked a fresh loaf of banana bread every week! I followed the recipe in one of our well-worn cookbooks from around the time my parents got married (it may have even been a wedding gift!), which meant that it called for plenty of oil and sugar… But it always tasted incredible!
Over the years, I’ve tried to create my own healthier recipe that tasted just as perfect, sweet, and cozy… And I finally did with this Ultimate Healthy Banana Bread! It has the same fruity flavor and supremely tender texture, but my version has no refined flour or sugar—and only 120 calories!
Nerd alert! I learned a lot about how to make the perfect banana bread while testing this recipe, so I’m sharing all of those tips and tricks with you! (I also share more in my recipe video below!)
Nerd Alert 1: The Flour
You’ll use white whole wheat flour (like this!) to make this healthy banana bread! No, it’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour… White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour all of the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour, like extra fiber, but it also gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture. That lets this recipe’s tender texture and banana flavor really shine!
Nerd Alert 2: The Bananas
Not exactly surprising, but the bananas truly are the key to making good banana bread. You must use very ripe bananas! The ones with more brown spots than yellow are ideal. See the ones below?
That’s the minimum amount of brown I recommend. More is even better! That’s because the brown bananas have a stronger flavor and more natural sweetness than their pure yellow friends. If you use yellow bananas or yellow bananas with a few brown spots, your banana bread will taste bland. I promise it’s worth waiting for your bananas to turn extremely brown and speckled!
Tip: As long as you use those really ripe bananas, you’ll only need to add a touch of pure maple syrup (like this!) to boost the natural sweetness.
Guess what? The bananas not only provide flavor and sweetness… They also help with the tender texture! Yet another reason why ripe bananas are best. The pure yellow ones are much starchier, so they won’t produce the same tender texture. Because you’re just using ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil, it’s really important to use those supremely ripe bananas!
Can you tell I’m a huge fan of ripe bananas yet?
You’ll also mix in some Greek yogurt to boost the tender texture! I love baking with Greek yogurt because it adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories… And it gives your baked treats a protein boost, too!
Nerd Alert 3: The Secret Ingredient
Yes, there’s a secret ingredient in this banana bread! Any guesses? Maybe? Okay, I’ll tell you…
It’s vinegar! Just a teensy tiny amount. I promise you can’t taste it! The vinegar is a key ingredient because its acid reacts with the baking soda, which helps the banana bread rise better and also helps with the tender texture. I love kitchen chemistry!
Nerd Alert 4: The Baking Method
Have you ever baked a loaf of banana bread, pulled it out of the oven, and came back to the kitchen 5 minutes later… Only to realize it sunk as it cooled? Such a bummer! That happened to me the first time I tested this recipe, so I figured out 3 ways to combat that and ensure your banana bread stays nice and tall.
1) An extra egg white. Okay, so not quite part of the “baking method,” but it’s still important to the structure! Egg whites contain lots of protein. Protein is the number one thing that makes baked goods hold their shape once they’ve come out of the oven and while they cool. You must use all 3 egg whites!
2) Lower baking temperature. Another reason baked goods sink as they cool is because they haven’t fully cooked through in the center. If you slice into banana bread and notice a thin slightly gooey-looking line above the bottom crust, that’s the evidence! (For the record, I actually love that part… But I assumed not everyone is odd like me! ?) So we’re baking this banana bread at 325°F instead of 350°F so the center can cook all the way through without the sides turning really brown or burning.
3) Foil on top. With the lower baking temperature, the banana bread needs to stay in the oven longer in order to cook all the way through. But… Leaving it in the oven longer can result in an overly brown or burnt top! The foil acts as a shield, preventing that burned top, while still allowing the center to keep cooking through. Partway through baking, you’ll quickly remove the foil and immediately pop the pan back in the oven. (Act FAST! If you take too long, your loaf will start to sink!) Removing the foil allows the center to turn a nice golden brown during the last part of baking.
Nerd Alert 5: Cooling
Last one! For the best texture, you must wait until the banana bread has fully cooled before slicing into it. The center is still “setting” while it cools, so cutting into it before the center is at room temperature isn’t a good idea. However! Once the sides of your banana bread feels like it’s at room temperature, you can pop the loaf in the fridge until the bottom feels chilled to speed up the cooling process.
Whew! Lots of kitchen chemistry… But one absolutely perfect loaf of healthy banana bread! ♡ 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!
| The Ultimate Healthy Banana Bread | | Print |
- 2 ¼ cups (270g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (260g) mashed banana (about 2 medium)
- 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup
- 6 tbsp (90mL) nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9x5” loaf pan 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, eggs, vanilla, and vinegar. Mix in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Mix 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.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top with foil, and try to push up the foil in the center to ensure it doesn’t touch the batter while baking. Bake covered at 325°F for 35 minutes. Acting very quickly, remove the pan from the oven, and remove the foil. Immediately put the pan back in the oven, and continue baking the banana bread for an additional 28-32 minutes (for a total of 63-67 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
Make sure you measure the flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That's the one I own and love!) Too much flour will make your banana bread turn out dry and bland.
The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to help the banana bread rise and create a more tender texture. Don’t skip it! (And I promise you can’t taste it!)
For best results, use the ripest, darkest, most spottiest bananas you can find! The ones with more brown color than yellow are ideal. (See my photo in the blog post above for reference!) Measure the bananas by cups or grams. Not all “medium” bananas are the same size!
The mashed banana and Greek yogurt combined need to measure 1 ¼ cups. If you have slightly more than 1 cup 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.
For a sweeter-tasting banana bread, substitute 1-3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup for an equal amount of milk.
You must cover the batter with foil during the first stage of baking. This allows the center to cook through without the top turning overly brown or burnt. Work very quickly when removing the foil! If you leave the pan out of the oven for too long, the loaf will start to collapse, and it won’t recover to fully rise properly.
For more information, read the tips in my blog post above and watch my video directly above the recipe!
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Small Batch Banana Muffins
♡ Healthy Morning Glory Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Banana Buttermilk Pancake Bites
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Banana Nut Muffins
♡ Healthy Zucchini Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy banana bread recipes!
Despite making quite a few changes to this recipe, it still turned out great. There are currently flour and egg shortages in my area. I subbed 2.25 cups wheat flour for 1 cup cake flour, .5 cup buckwheat flour and .75 cups rolled oats. I also used whole eggs because they’re hard to come by and because I’m always looking for added protein. I added four tablespoons protein powder and used .75 cups Greek yogurt and no milk. I also used three bananas instead of two and .25 cups granulated sugar instead of the maple syrup. It turned out tasty, and the buckwheat flour adds an unexpected pleasant appearance to the loaf. Buckwheat flour as well as bananas have dark flecks, and the buckwheat gives the bread the appearance of being chock full of banana. I also love walnuts in my banana bread so I added 1/3 cup chopped walnuts in the mix. Everything else I did the same as directed. Yum! Very healthy too.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this banana bread Elizabeth! Thank you so much for taking the time to share all of your recipe modifications. I always love hearing what tweaks work! You’re so creative with all of the ingredient shortages currently going on too. It took me nearly two weeks to find flour, so I completely understand trying to use what you have on hand! Once it’s easier to find, I really want to give your buckwheat tweak a try. It sounds so fun! 🙂
I think it would be an interesting experiment to see if making only the one modification to sub some buckwheat flour adds a little to the coloring off the loaf without changing the flavor profile significantly. I wouldn’t know how it compares since I haven’t tried the original recipe yet. For me it was a happy accident that buckwheat flour was all I could find at the grocery store and that it worked out. Some day I would like to try the recipe as directed.
I used to be a chemist before I became a baking blogger, so I’m always a fan of kitchen experiments! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of this banana bread once you eventually get a chance to try it as written too, Elizabeth!
How would I substitute the flour for coconut flour in this recipe?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Kimberly! Coconut flour won’t actually work in this banana bread. However, you can use coconut flour in these recipes of mine instead! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making this banana bread or any of my coconut flour recipes!
I have been all over the internet and YouTube, searching for a healthy, but good banana bread recipe with all the ingredients I have. Finally, I settled with this recipe, since it was most convenient. I would say that the taste is not very sweet, but I didn’t mind because I ate it with Greek yoghurt and some fruit (great combination btw). The texture is quite soft and in my opinion, taste great. My sister doesn’t really like it but that’s because she prefers chocolate, sugary fat stuff. My dad and mum like it. In comparison to the video, the dome, for me, did not rise too significantly and was kind of lumpy; it did not look perfect like the video. I think to fix this, I would have mashed the bananas more (with less lumps) to create a finer texture. Otherwise, you get a very thick lumpy batter. I think the best thing is when you slice it up and it looks very perfect inside, compared to the outside. I had 3 slices. I would recommend if you’re trying to be healthy and you’re not too picky.
I’m so honored that you tried making this recipe, Emily! I’m glad you enjoyed the taste and texture. You’re right about mashing the bananas — I always aim to make my banana purée completely smooth with virtually no lumps! Also, the ripeness of your bananas greatly impacts the flavor, so if your bananas had more yellow than brown, that would also factor into the not-so-sweet flavor. (I also share a modification in the Notes section for sweeter banana bread; maybe your sister would prefer that?? 🙂 )
That’s strange that your loaf didn’t rise though, so I’d love to help solve that issue! How did you measure the flour and mashed banana? Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe how you used them to measure? Did you cover the top with foil for the first half of the baking time? (If you skip that part, then it makes your banana bread rise unevenly and usually results in a jagged or cracked top instead!)
Hi Amy,
I would like to try this recipe but don’t have white wheat flour, can I use same measurement buckwheat flour?
Thanks
Maryam
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Maryam! I typically don’t recommend that substitution in my quick bread recipes, including this banana bread. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Since it’s a gluten-free flour, buckwheat flour lacks that, so when you substitute it for wheat-based flours in my recipes that rise (like cupcakes, cakes, muffins, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and may collapse while cooling. Does that make sense?
However, if you don’t mind that texture difference with buckwheat flour (where your banana bread may collapse and turn out denser), the flavors will still remain the same! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making this banana bread!
love this, thank you!! I’ve been looking high and low for a healthy banana bread recipe and yours has done the trick! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed this banana bread, Holly! Thank you for taking the time to let me know — that truly means a lot! 🙂
Can I use 3 whole eggs or lower the amount to 2 whole?
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Autumn! I’ve actually covered whether it’s possible to reduce to number of eggs in Nerd Alert #4 in my blog post above the recipe. (I know it can be easy to miss!) 😉 If you’d like to use 3 whole eggs, then reduce the milk by 1 tablespoon to compensate for the added volume.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!