Earlier this month, a friend of mine drove her three young boys all the way from Idaho to California to take them to Disneyland for their spring break vacation. When she asked if I would be interested in meeting up for dinner on the first night of their trip, I immediately said yes.
That afternoon, I hopped into my car for the trip north to Anaheim. To avoid driving back late at night, I booked a room at one of my favorite hotels in the area, and after checking in at the front desk and receiving the keys, I headed upstairs and discovered a surprising view out of the window: the entire atrium down below, plus neighboring hotels through the lobby’s 16-story glass windows. I definitely didn’t mind one bit — much better than overlooking the parking lot!
After our incredibly fun dinner where I met her family and joined them in wandering around Downtown Disney, I returned to my hotel feeling so happy and relaxed. Right before crawling between the sheets, I decided to let myself sleep in as part of my mini vacation… Which would mean I’d also miss all of rush hour traffic on my drive back home!
Yet the next morning, the hotel’s alarm clock on the nightstand right next to my head had different ideas. It blared a loud buzzing sound, almost like a fire alarm, at 6 am! Completely confused, I blearily reached over and hit the button on top to quiet it. Unfortunately…
That was only the snooze button, so ten minutes later, that little alarm clock greeted me with another buzz attack. I finally found the knob to turn it off for good, and somehow, despite feeling almost completely wide awake, I managed to fall back asleep until my phone’s alarm quietly and gently nudged me awake a while later.
Not quite the surprise greeting I wanted that morning…
But the aroma of this healthy blueberry almond banana bread would’ve been a much more pleasant start to my day! My timing was just a tad off though… I baked a loaf once I arrived at my house that afternoon! It’s supremely moist with lots of naturally sweet fruit flavors, and the hint of almond extract makes it taste so classy and elegant, like something you’d serve to company or at a fancy brunch.
Despite its sweet and sophisticated flavor, this banana bread is easy to make (no mixer required!) with no refined flour or sugar. And unlike my reaction to the hotel’s unexpected alarm clock… I’d happily wake up early for a slice of two of this!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY BLUEBERRY ALMOND BANANA BREAD
Let’s go over the key ingredients that you’ll need to make this healthy blueberry almond banana bread!
Flour. You’ll start by measuring out white whole wheat flour. I know, I know… That sounds a little contradictory, doesn’t it? However, white whole wheat flour actually exists — and it’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour!
Instead, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They have the same health benefits (like extra fiber!), but white whole wheat flour has a lighter taste and texture. That lets the moist texture and sweet flavor of your healthy banana bread truly shine!
Hint: It’s similar to red and green grapes. Slightly different flavor, noticeably different appearance, but very similar health benefits!
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy blueberry almond banana bread gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe. I’ve included how to do so there!
Unsalted butter or oil. Whereas traditional banana bread recipes often call for ¼ to ½ cup of butter or oil (or more!), you only need ½ tablespoon for this recipe. That really helps keep your healthy blueberry almond banana bread low calorie and low fat!
Then it gets the rest of its tender texture from two other ingredients… Any guesses?
Greek yogurt. If you said Greek yogurt as the first one, you’d be right! Greek yogurt is one of my favorite ingredients in healthy baking (I’ve used it in everything from banana bread and muffins to brownies and frosting!). Here, it adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories, and it also gives your healthy blueberry banana bread a protein boost!
Bananas. If you guessed “mashed banana” as the second ingredient, you’d be two-for-two! The mashed banana provides a lot of moisture to the batter, yet it also plays two other roles: flavor (obvious, I’m sure!) and natural sweetness. This is why I recommend using the ripest bananas you can find. Bananas that are pure brown or black are perfect!
Those overripe bananas contain more natural sweetness than the pure yellow ones, which makes your healthy banana bread taste sweeter. They’re much softer too, compared to their pure yellow (aka more starchy!) counterparts, and that gives your loaf a more moist and tender texture.
Basically… Be patient and wait until your bananas are fully and completely covered in spots. I promise it’s worth letting your bananas overripen before baking this quick bread!
Sweetener. Then to boost the natural sweetness, you’ll also stir in a bit of liquid stevia. It’s another one of my favorite ingredients! Stevia is a plant-based, sugar-free, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean eating friendly!). It’s also really concentrated. You just need 1 teaspoon for this entire loaf!
This is the liquid stevia that I use because I love its flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertaste like with some other stevia products. Although you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, I buy mine online here because that’s the best price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine too!)
Hint: Many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, so they’re not necessarily 1-for-1 substitutes for each other. For the best flavor and results, I highly recommend using the same one that I do!
Special ingredient. This recipe has a slightly surprising ingredient not found in many traditional banana bread recipes… And that’s distilled white vinegar. Yes, I know it sounds really strange — but it’s a vital component!
The vinegar (an acid) reacts with the baking soda (a base) to create air bubbles. When your quick bread is in the oven, those air bubbles make it rise, and they also create a more tender texture in your healthy blueberry banana bread. The vinegar flavor completely bakes out, so you can’t taste it at all in your finished loaf!
Isn’t that neat? I love nerdy baking chemistry like that! (Maybe because I was a scientist before I became a blogger…)
Almond extract. Time for the final two most important ingredients! The first of those would be almond extract. It’s actually my favorite baking extract! I love its naturally sweet and sophisticated flavor. It elevates just about any baked treat to make it taste elegant and fancy, including this healthy blueberry banana bread!
Blueberries. Last — but certainly not least! — come the blueberries. In my quick breads, I try to use fresh blueberries whenever possible, and that’s what I did when baking this healthy banana bread. Frozen ones tend to dye the batter a funky gray color, and every once in a while, they taste a little less sweet or juicy. But as long as you don’t mind that gray color, frozen ones will work in this recipe too!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY BLUEBERRY ALMOND BANANA BREAD
Like I mentioned earlier, this healthy blueberry almond banana bread is easy and straightforward to make. This recipe includes one key difference in its steps compared to traditional ones…
Foil. Before sliding your pan into the oven, you must cover the top with foil. By placing the foil over your loaf pan and tightly crimping it to seal air inside at the start, rather than at the end, it allows the top of your banana bread to bake at the same rate as the center. This gives your healthy blueberry almond banana bread a gorgeous domed top — without any splits or cracks!
Hint: When the top of your quick bread bakes faster than the inside, it sets sooner and creates a rigid crust. As the center continues to bake through and rise, it pushes up on that rigid top crust, which causes the cracks and splits.
Then partway through baking, you’ll remove the foil to let the top of your quick bread finish baking and turn a beautiful golden color. Just be careful and work quickly!
Whew! Are you still with me? I hope so! Because now all that’s left to do is…
Slice and devour your 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 healthy blueberry almond banana bread!
Healthy Blueberry Almond Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 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 ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp liquid stevia
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (260g) mashed banana (about 2 medium – see Notes!)
- 2 tbsp (30mL) distilled white vinegar
- 6 tbsp (90mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ½ cups (210g) fresh blueberries, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. 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, egg whites, almond extract, and liquid stevia. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the mashed banana. Stir in the vinegar. 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 4 equal parts.) Gently fold in 1 cup + 5 tablespoons of blueberries.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Gently press the remaining blueberries into the top. Cover the top with foil, crimping the edges around the pan’s rim to seal, and try to push up the foil in the center to ensure it doesn’t touch the batter while baking. Bake covered at 350°F for 35 minutes. Acting very quickly, remove the pan from the oven, and carefully remove the foil. Immediately put the pan back in the oven, and continue baking the banana bread for an additional 30-35 minutes (for a total of 65-70 minutes) or until the top feels firm to the touch and looks golden or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Breakfast Quick Bread
♡ Healthy Blueberry Buttermilk Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Banana Buttermilk Scones
♡ Healthy Blueberry Banana Bran Muffins
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy banana bread recipes!
As I was reading your post my mouth was watering. I couldn’t wait to try it until I looked at the whole recipe and saw three egg whites. I’m allergic to eggs and haven’t found a good substitute for egg whites. Do you have any suggestions? I love your recipes and the explanations of all the ingredients.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Babs! My brother is actually allergic to eggs, and Ener-G is my favorite substitute. Ener-G is a shelf-stable powder that keeps for ages. It works perfectly as an egg replacer in nearly all of my recipes, including this one! For my recipes, use 1 ½ teaspoons Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water for each egg white (and you’ll need an additional ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil {or Earth Balance, if you’re vegan!} for each egg yolk, although that doesn’t apply in this particular recipe!). I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!
Made this recipe but added lemon zest and lemon juice as we love lemon and blueberries togeather.
What a fun idea Joanne! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂 I hope you enjoyed your banana bread!
Can we use frozen blueberries for this recipe? Thanks!!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Janice! I’ve actually covered this exact question in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions). I know it can be easy to miss! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread!
Can you substitute vanilla for almond extract?
Yes, that’s fine! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread Susan! 🙂
Any substitute for eggs please?
I’m honored that you’d like to try making this recipe, Harri! My brother is actually allergic to eggs, and Ener-G is my favorite substitute. Ener-G is a shelf-stable powder that keeps for ages. It works perfectly as an egg replacer in nearly all of my recipes, including this one! For my recipes, use 1 ½ teaspoons Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water for each egg white (and you’ll need an additional ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil {or Earth Balance, if you’re vegan!} for each egg yolk, although that doesn’t apply to this particular recipe!). 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this banana bread if you try making it!
I LOVE your recipes and have made so many of them but made this for the first time today and it is by far my favorite! Oh my gosh, it tastes FANTASTIC! Bonus that my kids love it too! It was so fluffy and moist and just turned out amazingly (maybe it was the vinegar that did it?!). Thanks for the amazing recipes! I’m waiting for you to publish a cookbook of all of them!
Oh my goodness — you just made my entire week Emily!! ♡ I’m so glad you loved this banana bread and that your kids like it too! It means the world to me that you’re enjoying my recipes so much and that you’d even consider purchasing a cookbook of them. My heart feels so full right now!
If it’s any interest… I published a cookbook called Healthier Chocolate Treats a few years ago! You can find more info about it here. I also have a shorter eCookbook here. I hope to publish another book in the future too, so stay tuned for any potential announcements about that! 😉
Can this be made in a bread maker.
We really appreciate your interest in this recipe, Mary! We haven’t personally tried this recipe in a bread maker, only in the oven using the instructions provided. If you decide to try it, we’d love to hear how it turns out!
Could this be made as muffins? If so, how long should they bake, same temperature, etc?
I love the idea of making this banana bread as muffins, Julie! You should be able to make 12 muffins using this batter. We’d recommend the same temperature and checking after about 18 minutes. They’ll probably need more time, but it’s much easier to pop underdone muffins back into the oven than save burnt ones! 😉 Just like with the banana bread, the muffins will be done when the tops feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with some crumbs attached. I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to make some!
Do you have a healthy lemon bread recipe?
Also, can I reduce the amount of blueberries (maybe by half) and, if so, will that affect the baking process?
Thank you.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes, Richard! Yes, you can reduce the amount of blueberries in this banana bread. There’s a slight chance that your banana bread may finish baking a touch earlier if you use half the amount, but that should be the only difference! Just to be safe, try checking on it about 5 minutes sooner. It may still require the full amount of baking time though!
I also have a blueberry lemon bread recipe! Perhaps that would be of interest? If you’d prefer something that’s purely lemon, then I also have this recipe instead.
In the future, the best way to find a specific recipe is to click on the “Recipes” tab in the top pink menu bar on my blog. On that page, there’s a search bar so you can find exactly what you’re looking for (such as lemon bread!). My recipes are sorted into categories on that page too, including one specifically for Quick Breads! 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think of this banana bread whenever you get a chance to try baking it — and either of those lemon recipes, if you end up making them too!
Hi Amy,
Thanks so much for your helpful reply. So, this morning I gave it a try. As I am kinda new at this I read over the recipe alot of times and was extremely careful (OCDC perhaps?). I did take a couple of pictures of the finished product but I don’t know how to attach here and I don’t really use Instagram. In any case, I used far fewer blueberries as I like banana flavor more. I used all of the ingredients except used the whole eggs and deleted one tblsp of milk. I did not have the correct vinegar on hand so used White Wine Vinegar. I used Whole Wheat Organic Flour. I followed the recipe carefully. It baked for 61 minutes and I used parchment paper and maybe I should have taken it out a couple minutes earlier. It rose very high. It is very good and I will make it again for sure (as he shovels in piece #2!). I’d like it to be a tad bit moister and I notice the crust is a bit hard, but certainly not the interior. Any suggestions/thoughts you have are more than welcome. Thank you!
It’s my pleasure, Rick! I’m so happy you enjoyed this banana bread. I’m honored that you’re already considering making it again — and eating a second slice this quickly after the first is the best kind of compliment there is! 😉 Thank you for taking the time to send your pictures on Instagram too! Your banana bread looks beautiful, and the time and effort you put into making it really shows. You’re a natural baker!
If it was just the crust that was a bit hard, then you can try baking it for a few minutes less, as you mentioned. That should help! You can also leave the foil on top for an extra 5-10 minutes to try to make the top crust softer.
Would you like the inside to be moister as well — or just the crust? I wanted to double check before making any other suggestions!
In the future, if you’d like to make a plain banana bread (no blueberries whatsoever!), I also have a recipe for that here. Just wanted to mention that in case it’s something you’d ever like to try! 🙂
Thank you very much Amy! Yes, I would like the loaf itself to be a bit moister BUT you gave me that banana bread recipe in your reply so that is what I am going to try next so feedback on making this one moister may not matter. I looked at the ingredients of that recipe and will soon try the straight banana bread recipe. Looks delicious. Appreciate your guidance!
It’s my pleasure, Rick! I’m happy to help, so please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the plain banana bread!
I also had one more thought! When tightly sealed inside of plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight, the outside of the banana bread will sometimes soften and not be as “crusty” as when it’s freshly baked. This is my favorite plastic wrap. From my experience, it clings much more tightly than other brands, so it’s really helpful and works incredibly well for storing and freezing baked treats! (When using other brands, I’ll often put the baked treats inside of airtight containers after wrapping them in plastic wrap, just to be safe and get a better seal.) I’m not sure how you’ve stored your loaf, but it might be worth trying, just in case!