A healthy real food banana bread recipe made with a natural sweetener and higher protein flour so you can enjoy a slice or two of moist & fragrant banana bread any time of the day without going overboard on sugar.
One of the best smells in the whole entire world is fresh baked banana bread. It's one of my favorite recipes to make when I've had a bad day and am feeling grumpy or sad. After about 10 minutes of easy prep, I can sit back and relax while my home fills with the warm fragrance of sweet banana, vanilla & cinnamon. Bye bye stress, hello endorphins!
Despite the fact that baking banana bread is legit kitchen therapy and brings me to my happy place, I've considered it a "special occasion" treat for years because all the classic recipes I tried called for generous amounts of cane sugar.
Classic Banana Bread: Dessert or Breakfast Fare?
Combine that sugar with the already sweet bananas and you're pretty much at dessert level. Which is fine if you want to treat it as such, but most of these super sweet banana bread recipes are categorized as breakfast or afternoon snacks...
I don't know about you, but when my breakfast consists of lots of refined flour + sugar, I crash HARD and feel horrible (i.e. exhausted and hungry) within 1-2 hours. I used to feel like this DAILY back in high school and early college. I thought it was normal to go through peaks & valleys all day long feeling tired and then wired. Nope, nope, nope!
Thankfully, I developed a passion for cooking in my early 20s and this was when I discovered that the food I was eating (Standard American Diet fare of fat-free, low-fat, lots of sugar, grains & refined flours) was the source of my digestive and energy issues. This is what spurred my real food journey and I am SO grateful I am on a different path now.
Maybe you're nothing like me and you can handle eating cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, and French toast casserole multiple times a week for breakfast. More power to you! (I'm kinda jealous.) However, I'm guessing that most of the folks reading this are in the same camp as me.
In the past few years, I've made it a mini project of mine to remake classic recipes with way less sugar (and usually only unrefined sweeteners) so I can enjoy them again for breakfast or a snack without experiencing a blood sugar crash afterward.
I already did this with peanut butter balls, flourless peanut butter cookies, and peaches and cream muffins and can't wait to add more to the list, like today's banana bread.
What Makes This Banana Bread Recipe Healthy?
You're probably wondering what makes this banana bread recipe healthier, right? Yes, I know "healthy" is a subjective term, but according to my food philosophy, here are a few things...
1) DIFFERENT FLOUR
I swapped out the typical all-purpose or 100% whole wheat durum flour for all-purpose Einkorn wheat flour. This makes a BIG difference. As soon as I made the switch to Einkorn wheat for pasta and baking/cooking, I noticed that I no longer experienced a "carb coma" after eating foods with it (like a big plate of penne pasta). Simply put, Einkorn wheat makes my belly VERY happy. Never heard of it? Here's a bit more info...
Einkorn wheat:
- is the most ancient and pure wheat
- is the only wheat never hybridized
- has a higher protein count than modern wheat
- has slightly higher amounts of vitamins, trace minerals, and fiber
- has less starch than regular wheat
- has a different type of gluten than modern wheat so it may be easier to digest for those with gluten sensitivities
2) UNREFINED SWEETENER (AND LESS OF IT)
Instead of refined cane sugar, this recipe uses real maple syrup and way less of it than is called for in most classic banana bread recipes. Real maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup) is minimally processed, contains trace vitamins and minerals, and also tastes a bit sweeter than cane sugar so you can use less of it in a recipe.
3) HEALTHY FAT
Instead of the highly processed vegetable, canola, or soybean oil (not considered real food) called for in most banana bread recipes, this version uses a healthier cooking fat like avocado oil or melted coconut oil.
BIG PICTURE The combination of a flour with a higher protein count, way less sweetener, and a healthy fat in the banana bread creates a good balance of protein, fat & carbs that can help keep blood sugar levels balanced versus fixing a recipe with refined flour, sugar & little fat which may send them crashing.
Note: This is also why I like to add high-quality hydrolyzed collagen powder to my baked goods because the extra source of clean, tasteless protein keeps me full longer and helps to balance my blood sugar.
Healthy Means It'll Taste Like Cardboard, Right?
Not in my world, friend.
I'm over the fat-free, bone-dry, tastes like sawdust and makes you reach for a tall glass of water recipes of my youth. Done, done, done.
Give me the fat, give me the flavor, give me the moisture!
Contrary to what the title might conjure in your head, this banana bread recipe is moist (so important in a quick bread), sweet (but not too sweet), and fragrant.
Exactly what banana bread is supposed to be. And the texture is wonderful. Perfect for thick, warm slices slathered with nut butter, regular butter, or jam. I typically eat it this way in the evening with almond butter and a cup of hot herbal tea. So cozy!
This is now my go-to banana bread recipe and all future versions will likely be tweaked versions of this one. :)
yield: 10-12 servings
Healthy Banana Bread
prep time: 10 MINScook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 hours and 10 mins
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/3 cup of avocado oil or melted coconut oil (plus extra for oiling pan)
- 1/2 cup of real maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of mashed ripe banana (approx. 3 medium bananas)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (get my homemade vanilla extract recipe)
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose Einkorn wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (I love THIS sea salt)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice OR purified water
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder (I love THIS true Ceylon cinnamon powder)
- 1 medium banana, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
Optional Add-Ins:
- zest from 1 orange
- 1/4 cup of high-quality hydrolyzed collagen powder (a clean source of extra protein)
Recommended Equipment
- 9 x 5 inch loaf pan
- 2 mixing bowls
- measuring cups (I love these magnetic ones)
- measuring spoons (I love these magnetic ones)
- wooden spoon or rubber spatula
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with a bit of extra cooking oil. In a bowl, mash 3 medium bananas (or enough to yield 1 cup when mashed) until very soft and all the large chunks are gone. Slice another banana into 1/4 inch rounds. Set both aside.
- In a second bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup together until combined. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in the mashed banana and vanilla extract, followed by the einkorn wheat flour and sea salt, gently stirring until all lumps are gone (sifting the flour first will help, but it's not necessary). Finally, stir in the baking soda and fresh orange juice (or water), followed by the cinnamon powder. (Note: If you're including the optional add-ins like fresh orange zest or collagen powder, add them to the batter now.)
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan, smooth the top with a spatula, and gently place the banana slices on top of the batter (slightly overlapping one another) and along the edges of the loaf pan. (Adding the slices to the edges instead of the middle allows the loaf to rise.)
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the banana bread comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the banana bread from the loaf pan by running a knife or rubber spatula along the edges and then flipping it over and out of the pan. Let the loaf cool for 20-30 minutes more on a wire rack (or somewhere it can get air circulation underneath it), then slice into even portions and enjoy.
- Store the cooled banana bread in an airtight container and consume within 2-3 days, or pop it in the freezer (also in a sealed container) and eat within 3 months.
© The Rising Spoon. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not reprint this recipe without my written permission. If you'd like to feature this recipe on your site, please take your own pictures, rewrite the directions in your own words, and link to this post as the original source. Thank you!
Created using The Recipes Generator
Recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate's Healthy Banana Bread and Allrecipes' Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread (which is the recipe Kate originally adapted hers from)
Notes & Tips
- I have only tried this recipe with the Einkorn wheat flour, which acts the same as all-purpose flour; however, this is based on two other recipes that use 100% whole wheat flour so that should work just fine, as well as regular all-purpose flour if that's all you have.
- If you have a gluten-free flour that works the same as all-purpose or whole wheat and doesn't require different ratios of moisture (less or more liquid), then that should technically work, as well. Please let me know if you try this!
- Frozen banana bread slices reheat well straight from the freezer, so I like to flash freeze the slices the first day I bake them, store them in a ziplock bag, and pull them out one at a time to warm up under the broiler when I'm ready for a quick snack.
- Bonus: If you want to order my favorite collagen that I linked to above, I have a coupon code just for my readers! Enter RISING10 at checkout for 10% off your total. :)
I'd like to hear from YOU!
Do you prefer quick bread recipes that are sweeter or less sweet? What did you grow up eating?
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P.S. Keep Reading! More Recipes From The Rising Spoon:
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips (Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free)
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