Healthy Banana Bread!
With this healthy banana bread recipe, you're only a few basic ingredients away from the best banana bread ever! It's made with whole wheat flour and honey.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Want to make someone’s day? Bake them some banana bread! Just yesterday, I said, “I’m going to bake some banana bread,” and watched a full-grown man’s eyes light up like a kid’s on Christmas morning.
Banana bread is one of those classic, all-American comfort food recipes that fills the whole house with warmth and makes everything better. Banana bread is magic.
I perfected this banana bread recipe for my cookbook and wanted to share with you here. This recipe has all the hallmarks of classic banana bread—it’s fluffy, moist, infused with sweet banana flavor, and beloved by toddlers and adults alike.
Bonus? This recipe requires just one bowl, a few measuring cups and some basic ingredients.
What makes this banana bread healthy?
- This banana bread recipe is made with 100 percent whole wheat flour, unlike traditional banana bread recipes that call for refined flour and lots of processed sugar.
- This banana bread is naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup, which offer some trace nutrients that white sugar does not.
- Lastly, this recipe calls for a reasonable amount of unrefined oil rather than whole sticks of butter (choose from virgin coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil).
As you can see, my homemade banana bread has plenty of redeeming qualities, chief being that it won’t send your blood sugar levels for a loop. You can keep them all to yourself, though. No one will be able to tell that this is healthy banana bread!
Banana Bread Flour Options
This recipe is flexible! Any of the following flours will work well. I love to use white whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour—they offer all the whole wheat nutrients, without the characteristically nutty flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour blend
- Oat flour*
- Spelt flour
- Whole wheat flour
- Whole wheat pastry flour
- White whole wheat flour
*To substitute oat flour, you’ll need to use 2 1/2 cups, for reasons elaborated in my guide to oat flour.
Want to make your banana bread with almond flour? You sure can, but it’s not a simple substitute, so follow my almond flour-based banana bread recipe instead.
Tip: How to Measure Flour
For best results, it’s important to measure your flour properly. Here’s how to measure flour in cups using the “spoon and swoop” method:
- Gently stir your flour with a large spoon to loosen it up.
- Spoon the flour into your measuring cup (don’t scoop it in!).
- Level off the excess with a butter knife.
Banana Bread Variations
Now that I’ve finally perfected this basic banana bread, feel free to change up this recipe and make it your own. Toss some chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter! Same goes for chocolate chips. You could also add raisins, chopped dried fruit or slices of bananas.
Craving muffins instead? Follow my recipe for healthy banana muffins.
Following a special diet? With a couple of minor tweaks, you can make this bread vegan (so dairy free and egg free, too) or gluten free. Check the recipe notes for details.
Watch How to Make Healthy Banana Bread
Healthy Banana Bread
With this healthy banana bread recipe, you’re only a few simple ingredients away from the best banana bread ever! It’s made with whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. You can easily make this banana bread vegan or gluten free—check the recipe notes for details. Recipe yields 1 loaf (about 10 slices).
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (75 grams) melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil or high quality vegetable oil*
- ½ cup honey (168 grams) or maple syrup (155 grams)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (225 grams) mashed ripe bananas (about 2 ½ medium or 2 large bananas)
- ¼ cup (56 grams) milk of choice or water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (NOT baking powder; they aren’t the same!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top
- 1 ¾ cups (220 grams) white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour**
- Totally optional: ½ cup mix-ins like chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, chopped dried fruit, fresh banana slices…
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then whisk in the mashed bananas and milk. (If your coconut oil solidifies on contact with cold ingredients, simply let the bowl rest in a warm place for a few minutes, like on top of your stove, or warm it for about 10 seconds in the microwave.)
- Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, and whisk to blend. Lastly, switch to a big spoon and stir in the flour, just until combined. Some lumps are ok! If you’re adding any additional mix-ins, gently fold them in now.
- Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. If you’d like a pretty swirled effect, run the tip of a knife across the batter in a zig-zag pattern.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (typically, if I haven’t added any mix-ins, my bread is done at 55 minutes; if I have added mix-ins, it needs closer to 60 minutes). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for at least 10 minutes. You may need to run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the bread from the pan. Carefully transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool before slicing.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my honey whole wheat banana bread, originally based on All Recipes.
Storage suggestions: This bread is moist, so it will keep for just two or three days at room temperature. Store it in the refrigerator for five to seven days, or in the freezer for up to three months or so. I like to slice the bread before freezing and defrost individual slices, either by letting them rest at room temperature or lightly toasting them.
*Oil options: I love coconut oil here. I used unrefined coconut oil and can hardly taste it in the final product. Olive oil might lend an herbal note to the muffins, if you’re into that (I tested with California Olive Ranch’s “Everyday” variety and couldn’t even taste it). Vegetable oil has a neutral flavor, but the average vegetable/canola oil is highly processed, so I recommend using cold-pressed sunflower oil or grapeseed oil if possible.
**Flour alternatives: In place of the whole wheat flour, you can use an equal amount of all purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. Or, substitute 2 ½ cups oat flour.
Make muffins: Here’s my banana muffin recipe.
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey, replace the eggs with flax eggs and choose non-dairy milk (I used almond milk) or water.
Make it dairy free: Choose non-dairy milk (I used almond milk) or water.
Make it egg free: Replace the eggs with flax eggs.
Make it gluten free: Use an equal amount of Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free blend or 2 ½ cups certified gluten-free oat flour. Do NOT substitute coconut flour.
Make it lower in fat: I would argue that this bread contains a healthy amount of fat, but you can replace the oil with applesauce if you’re following a low-fat diet.
If you love this recipe: You will also love my banana muffins, banana cake with cream cheese frosting, healthy pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins. Here are all of my baked goods and banana recipes.
Recommended equipment: I am totally in love with my Fiesta Loaf Pan in Turquoise (affiliate link).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made the healthy banana bread!!! Amazing. Put raisins in and sliced bananas on top!!!
I’ve made this before and it’s amazing. What are your thoughts on using avocado oil in place of coconut??
You could try it! Olive oil works well here, so avocado oil should. Let me know!
I’ve developed a serious love for baking over the past few years. Last year I became obsessed with artisan bread, and this year I’m all into the holiday breads. This will be my first ever banana bread and I’m pretty excited!
So glad I found your blog-this will be the second recipe I’ve made today (first was chia pudding). I didn’t wait to post a review after I tasted it because it’s already pretty obvious it’s a great recipe from the previous comments.
The only thing I can tell you so far is, it’s an easy recipe that uses whole/healthy ingredients. Already a win in my book!
Hey I really want to try your recipe but I have a major problemanufacturers. So I live in Germany and we don’t really have cup as a measurement. It would be super nice if u would replie to me an tell me the amount of the ingredients in gramms
Excellent recipe – so easy! I used a particularly robust type of honey, and it really comes through. Perfect toasted with a bit of butter. Next time I’m shoving some chocolate chips in there – yum!
I made this but wanted to go gluten free so did 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 and 3/4 cup almond meal. I added an extra teaspoon of baking powder based on other comments here. It didn’t rise much at all, and though it hasn’t cooled down yet, it still tastes pretty delicious. And doesn’t seem too crumbly yet!
I chose this recipe mainly because a many of the commenter are left such glowing reviews of the finished product, and because those overripe bananas were also beginning to annoy me. Luckily, I had everything I needed at home, including an underutilized gift of Australian honey. As someone who doesn’t eat eggs, I substituted with one flax egg and one extra mashed banana. I think I skimped a tiny bit on the honey, worried the bread would be too sweet. In the end, this is such a delicious bread and such a forgiving recipe. Thank you!
This is my new go-to banana bread recipe! I did some tweaking to mine, sort of combining your banana and pumpkin bread recipes.
1/2 C banana and 1/2 C pumpkin puree, and I used 1/4 C honey with 1/4 molasses for sweetener. My mix-ins were walnuts, pumpkin seeds and raisins. It tastes amazing!
This is in my oven as I am typing. I will let you know how it comes out.
Do you think this recipie would work with Organic Buckwheat Flour?
so made this and it is delicious but I did not realize how many gram of sugar was in it on my part. End up being to many for me being diabetic. So not sure how to tweak that.
Kate, Love your work! I am a practitioner of Chinese Medicine in Australia and was looking for a tasty banana bread (sans the sugar) and this has really hit the mark. Simple to make, filling and delicious. I made it with maple syrup and added pecans as the kids like something a little sweet…looking at your other recipes and quite excited! Good resource for the patients!
I made these today. I was a bit short of honey, so I added a sprinkle of brown sugar on top of the muffins. They’re delicious! I love the coconut oil in them!!! Thanks!
I am about to make your banana bread and am quite excited.
Iam also a healthy food lover and dog lover.
I have my own dog business where you can leave your dog with a family setting while on holidays.
Off to make my bread,thankyou.
Donna.
I liike that i can freeze my bread and make banana muffins too can iuse condenced milk or golden syrup or they have no nutritions thanks
LOVE this recipe. Have passed it on to so many others. We enjoy adding drained frozen cranberries-so yummy. Thank you Kate :)
Made this banana bread with namaste gluten free flour used maple syrup instead of honey and it is fabulous! My wife is gluten free and she loves it!!! Thank you for the recipe.
I just made it and taste tested it. It’s delicious! This will definitely be made again. Thank you for sharing!
I made this banana bread yesterday and it is delicious. I thought it was going to be dry because of the wheat flour, it is so moist! This is the recipe I will be using from now on. Excellent!!
My best friend and I made this YUMMYNESS while we listened to chrismas music and decorated the tree. we LOVED it it was delicious! and what made us love it even more is the fact that it was healthy! We used the coconut oil and added pecans! Used a little honey and they ran out so the rest was maple. Was actually done in like 20-30 minutes. We loved it and may add a little tiny bit of brown sugar next time for that sweet tooth ;)
Yum! This banana bread is delicious! And healthy too! I was unsure that it would taste like a classic loaf does, but it’s even better! Going to use this recipe for many more years to come!
At last, a whole wheat recipe without compromise. Very moist and without the bitter notes I detect with whole wheat flour. Amazing!
I made 2 loaves with healthy variations to compare the taste. Both loaves replaced the oil with same amount of natural applesauce (when in doubt with oils use natural applesauce). However, loaf one had 2 eggs and loaf two used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer. Side by side comparisons by several, without identification, yielded taste preference to egg replacer loaf. That surprised me. Great recipe.
Hi, can I use melted butter instead of coconut oil? Thanks!
That was awesome :)
I don’t often cook sweets but we had a stack of bananas in the freezer and I thought I’d do a double batch —- best recipe —- so good. Ps I added a little nutmeg spice…..lovely !
Thanks Kate
Cheers Steve
Hi Kate! I had really ripe bananas so I wanted a healthy banana bread recipe and found yours! I used spelt flour, rice malt syrup and almond milk. Turned out very moist and delicious! I’m having it warm straight from the oven with a cup of tea! Couldn’t wait for it to cool! It’s delicious! I’ll be baking this one again! A healthy treat! Thanks for the recipe!
I just made this bread, and, it’s cooling now. Can’t wait to taste it!
My GOD! I am getting so tired of people with zero understanding of science telling us that, “This recipe is healthy because we use natural sweeteners like honey, agave, molasses, brown sugar etc..”
SUGAR is composed of glucose & fructose…Just like all those “healthy” natural sweeteners. and the trace element claim is junk as well…trace means trace.
http://rd4health.com/864/sugar-in-the-news/
Hi Greg, if you want perfectly healthy banana bread, I’d suggest getting by with a banana instead. I don’t use or recommend agave any more due to its high fructose content. Have a nice day!
Hello!
Any idea why my recipe would burn so badly? I cooked it on 325, and after a half hour it was still raw ish in the middle and burnt on the top…I greased the pan with a spray avocado oil…and I used a metal, not silicone pan…
This was SOO good! And I’ve made a million banana bread recipes! Was looking for something I would feel good about feeding my 1 year old, and I found it. But it shocked me how much I loved it too–will be out go-to recipe now. I really appreciated that it took just one bowl!
This was SOO good! And I’ve made a million banana bread recipes! Was looking for something I would feel good about feeding my 1 year old, and I found it. But it shocked me how much I loved it too–will be our go-to recipe now. I really appreciated that it took just one bowl!
Just made this and doubled the cinnamon and added 1t of ginger and chocolate chips to make it gingerbready/holiday-ish. Then into three small loaf pans (gotta give the custodians and administrative assistants sweet thank yous). 45ish minutes and…perfection!
My husband always complains that the banana bread I make is “too healthy”. I made this yesterday and finally got his approval (he never saw the recipe though, so perhaps that helped!). This will be one to come back to, thank you!
(PS – Our dog is named Cookie as well!)
This was great!
I added a tablespoon of butter (for flavor and nutrition)
and I only used 1/4 cup of honey instead of 1/2 cup, and added 1/4 cup of brown sugar (I have all this brown sugar I’m trying to get rid of lol).
I also added a handful of stevia sweetened chocolate chips and a handful of walnuts.
It took about 65 – 70 minutes in the oven, but it is perfect and moist! Yum.
These nutrition facts are for the whole batch right? I’m baking it now but when the temp was at 160 I smelt some burning odor so I turned it down to 130 and turned on the lower part of the oven. At the last 5 minutes I’ll turn on the top part.
Dear Kate,
My husband’s eyes also light up at the mention of banana bread! :-)
I made this yesterday, and it turned out absolutely scrumptious! The only substitution l made was regular flour for corn flour. It is my go to banana bread recipe. Thanks a lot and my warmest greetings to Cookie!
I just made this. Fabulous. Thank you so much. Perfect recipe.
This bread is amazing! I added chocolate chips, some shredded coconut, and some fresh cranberries. I used maple syrup instead of honey, 3/4 cup white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Using coconut oil makes a big difference compared to other recipes I think, and is such a healthier oil in comparison to butter especially! Thanks!
Thank you for the perfect banana bread recipe!!
I added walnuts to the batter along with cardamon, ground cloves, nutmeg and extra cinnamon. Super delicious!! Even the toddler loved it. I also doubled the batch and split it into two pans. It is likely not to last as long as that much should
I make this alllll the time. So good and so easy! This is the best recipe! Thank you! Also, I was looking for a sugar free recipe for my kiddos first bday cake. I just replaced 1/2 of the oil and half of the milk with applesauce (to add a little sweetness) and left out the honey. It was just as delicious! Made it into a layer cake!
Thanks for the recipe! Instead of oil i used apple sauce. Hopefully it turns out yummy!
Hi, can i use plain (all purpose) flour instead of wholewheat flour?
Great recipe. I am going to make this tomorrow for visiting family over Christmas :)
I added the zest of one lemon and some frozen blueberries and had the best banana bread I’ve ever had – AND – being healthy is the BEST! Thank you so much!
I substituted apple sauce for the water and 1ccoconut flour+3/4almond flour and HOLY Mole!!! These are so good! Super moist, but still stick together. I made them into muffins. My daughter ate almost the entire batch. I did the whole 55 mn in the oven but I think I’ll do 45 next time, or maybe turn down heat.
Omgoodness .. this is so good.. a friend made this and sent some to me for Christmas.. I am so thrilled to actually be able to eat something so yummy.. and not be worried about all the bad stuff.. thank you for perfecting & sharing it =)
I substituted 1/4 cup Blue Agave Cinnamon Syrup for the 1/2 cup honey; just because I thought it might be yummy. Agave tends to be sweeter and I’m not a big fan of sweet anyway (and ripe bananas are plenty sweet already!) Since it was already flavored with cinnamon, I didn’t add the extra. Used virgin coconut oil (my first time using it to bake) and buttermilk instead of regular milk (another first). I have to tell you: this is the BEST banana bread I’ve ever had! Not too sweet (which they usually are) and the buttermilk made a huge difference in both flavor and texture. I will definitely use this recipe again. Next time, with blueberries! Thank you!
Love this recipe! I used coconut oil, added toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and walnuts, and substituted nonfat Greek vanilla yogurt for milk. I doubled the recipe and cooked it in a bundt pan, and then drizzled the top with dark chocolate. So good!
Delicious! Thanks for the terrific recipe Kate. I only had organic white flour and added some extra cinnamon and it is fantastic. Next time I will try the lower fat option….nom,nom,nom. xo
A delicious banana bread, moist, with a lovely texture …. the sweetness was perfect! I added some chopped prunes and used a combination of wholewheat flour (1cup) and almond meal (3/4 cup) This is now my favourite banana bread recipe. Thank you Kate and “Bon Apetite” for 2017 -:)
YEEEESSS,
It was delicious. Not to heavy like a pound cake and not to light and fluffy. Moist and tasty. I made two batches making four smaller loaves of bread total.
The first batch was by the recipe exactly using vegetable oil and pecans. Turned out FANTASTIC
The second batch was using coconut oil, (pecans again)then split the mix. In the last half I added raisins and two scoops of chocolate protien powder, whey isolate.
To my delight it also came out WONDERFUL.
GREAT RECIPE
This is honestly the best banana bread ive ever made. :) 10/10