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.
Thank you very much for the recipe. Made it with white flour as i didn’t have wholemeal nevertheless turned out very tasty. Will use wholemeal next time to make it even more healthier.
Hi Kate!
Is it possible to make this recipe but instead of a loaf use muffin tins?
Hi Addy, you sure can. Follow my recipe for healthy banana muffins for full details. :)
ur a boomer
This recipe is amazing – super easy and absolutely delicious, so happy I found it!!! I used regular all purpose flour, added some chopped dark chocolate pieces and sunflower seeds, turned out amazing! Have you tried substituting w coconut flour? I usually have that one,just didn’t try this first time.
Hi Karolina! I’m happy to hear that. Unfortunately, coconut flour isn’t a great 1:1 substitute.
If I halve this recipe (I only had 1 banana), should I halve the cooking time or still bake it for 55 mins? Thanks!
Hi Dominique, you’ll want to roughly halve the cooking time assuming you’re baking it in a loaf pan. Actually, it might need a little less than half the amount of baking time, so keep an eye on it. Bake it “until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.”
which one do you think is better to use oat flour or almond flour? which one would it make the bread more tasty
Hi Carolina, I haven’t tired it with either so I can’t say for sure. I don’t usually have luck with those working as a 1:1 substitute sorry!
Hi Carolina,
I always use oat flour and the texture is more spongey/cakey rather than bready. I think because oats tend to absorb moisture well that it tastes more chewy!
I’m not sure if it will turn out due to the volume, but you could try cutting the time in half.
Hi! I really want to use this recipe but i don’t have honey or maple syrup. Can I use coconut sugar or even regular sugar? If so, how much should I add? Thank you!
Hi Crystal, I’m sorry, this recipe relies on the natural sweetener for moisture. I’m afraid your bread might not turn out well if you substitute a dry sweetener.
The texture, the ingredients and the taste: everything is just perfect! Thank you for that great recipe.
Unfortunately this was designed to be used with a liquid sweetener. It helps with the moisture of the bread as it is a liquid ingredient.
I tried this recipe & realised what I thought was maple syrup in my cupboard was actually golden syrup but it worked beautifully, I also added some choc chips. My whole family loved it!
Hello, have you tried this with almond flour? I’ve got a bunch in my pantry I’d like to use. If no, that’s okay, I’ll try it out.
Almond flour typically doesn’t substitute well for wheat flours, since it’s gluten free and made of nuts instead of grains. I did just hear from another reader that replacing half of the flour with almond flour worked for her, if you’d like to give that a try.
I make this banana bread with pecans and banana pieces it’s always a hit
I love that! Thank you for your review.
Yes. I did 3/4 almond flour and 1/4 white flour….its turn out very moist….one small loaf had butterscotch chips and for some reason didnt fully cook like the other 2 small loafs. It was just alittle wet on the top middle. Ot
herwise very good over all.
Hi Kate!
I have a question… Do I have to add lemon juice to the baking soda?
Hi Manuela, this recipe doesn’t call for lemon juice. Are you referring to a different recipe?
Dear Kate,
I was so excited about this recipe… it made the house smell amazing while it baked, it came out of the pan perfectly and cutting into it, it was so moist and steamy (especially for using whole-wheat flour!). I didn’t add any extras (no nuts, chaco-chips) as I wanted to taste it strictly as is. But I was so disappointed to hardly get ANY banana flavour. I mainly just taste the coconut oil. I’m going to try this recipe again, as I think it has amazing potential. I’ll most likely try adding an extra banana and maybe a little more honey. Chocolate-chips could do it too. I do love a sweet banana bread so maybe it’s just me ;)
Hi Cara, I’m sorry to hear that! Did you use a true cup of banana? I have made this often and haven’t experienced that. I appreciate your feedback!
I used two large bananas in trying to save on making an extra dirty dish ;) That could be the problem! I’ll try again and let you know how it goes the second time :)
I made this recipe twice and tomorrow will be a third time! So delicious- moist and not too sweet. This last time I added coconut flakes! Was a great addition.
Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Danielle!
Used rice flour for gluten free and it turned out great!
This was my first time trying a gluten-free banana bread recipe. (Obviously I used your gluten-free option). It turned out very good! So nice and moist! And I like the cinnamon touch as well. I have tasted one other gluten free banana bread and this one was way better. I plan on printing this one out and saving it in a recipe binder for the future.
Yum
I added 1/4 cup of oats and sprinkled some on top delicious!
LOVED this recipe. I used half plain flour and half whole meal and it’s truly delicious. Thank you!
This is my staple recipe. I have literally made it over 20 times. As well as the muffin version. My children, family and friends love it it’s perfectly sweet and moist. I’ve added raisins (my personal fav), pecans, walnuts, chocolate chips. I have made it with both regular unbleached all purpose flour and whole wheat; taste wonderful each time. I have also made it with coconut oil and coconut butter. Thank you for this recipe. I will be passing this recipe down for years to come.
I never leave comments on recipes. This one was SO good. I didn’t have vanilla extract so I skipped it. Used maple syrup and 3 bananas instead of 2. Delicious!!!!
Made muffins with this
Recipe, subbed the flour with white flour and used golden sugar (stocked in pantry), was absolutely delicious!!!! However I went out and bought honey because that’s what drew me in to begin with!!! Will make ASAP down to 3 muffins!!!!
Hi Kate.
I want to try this recipe, but I have a microwave oven with convection and grill. Can you please suggest how to adjust the cooking time and at what settings. I have never really baked before… but I love banana bread and given the current situation I cannot go out and buy any. And I would like to start being more self reliant in terms of banana bread!
Hi Raghav! I’m sorry, I’ve never made this bread in a convection oven so I’m not sure of the settings to recommend. The trick is to bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Is this self raising or plain flour
The BEST banana bread EVER! I took this to a Thanksgiving dinner last year and everybody raved about it! What I, and everybody, love about this bread is it isn’t really sweet. Some banana breads are just too sweet. I used honey instead of syrup – not sure if that made any difference. I make it with Craisins and walnuts. SOOOO yummy! Thank you!
I made this and used cacao nibs for my mix-in. It was amazing! I used 3 bananas and it came out perfect and moist. I can not stop eating it.
I made this and used cacao nibs for my mix-in. I used coconut milk instead of dairy milk. It was amazing! I used 3 bananas and it came out perfect and moist. I can not stop eating it.
Hi, I tried this recipe today but the bottom half of the loaf was stodgy after over an hour in the cooker. I used plain gluten free flour, all other ingredients were same as the recipe. Thank you
A note of help. I noticed several times that Katie said do not use gluten free flour. It will NOT turn out. :)
Aahh ok, thank you! :)
I am sorry Laura, I should have said that Katie warns about certain gluten free flours not turning out. Which ones to use and which ones not too. I said that wrong. Sorry
I don’t have any maple syrup, would it be possible to substitute it with applesauce?:)
I haven’t tried it, but you can see if other readers have in the comments.
Hi Kate. I love this recipe and have made it twice. Both times I’ve baked it per temp. And baking time but the center is still gooey. I admit I am not a baker, I can cook until the cows come home but Not so good with baking. I live at 1700 feet. Use a convection oven. Any ideas ?
Hi Ausra, I’m sorry this one has been tricky for you! It could be your altitude. Here is a helpful resource.
Can you freeze a loaf of this?
Yes! I believe this does freeze well for some readers.
Hi There.
I am European over here and we don’t have measuring cups and stuff. Do you have the recipe in grams? as banana bread recepies in Italian don’t look as good and simple as this one
Hi Vittoria! I don’t, but this is a great conversion resource.
It would be really useful to have also the metric measurements, I m really struggling..
Hi Mia, I don’t offer those at the moment, but here is a great resource.
Looking forward to trying this with the kids today. If I wanted to add unsweetened coco powder (approx 1/2cup) and tahini (approx 1/4cup), would I have to adjust any ingredient amounts?
Without trying it, I wouldn’t know for sure. They both can impact the overall texture and consistency.
I added 1/4cup cacao and 1/4cup tahini and it’s turned out wonderfully!
Just pulled it out of the oven, it’s the most gorgeous banana bread I’ve ever made! Can’t wait to try it! I did follow your recipe exactly, added 1/2 c walnuts.
I doubled the recipe to bake 2 loaves. I used spelt flour including 1/2 cup almond meal. I also used Icelandic plain yogurt instead of milk. My oil of choice was avocado.
The loaves came out great and delicious.Very moist!
Thank you for sharing, Robin!
Looked great but was dry. I followed the recipe and adjusted my oven. I will need to add more milk or something next time.
I’m sorry it was a little dry. I hope you have better luck next time! Maybe try a little less time in the oven?
This is probably one of my favourite recipes ever. I’ve been using it for years and I actually know it by heart. I just thought I’d let you know how much I love it! It’s so versatile. I just use whatever I have on hand that fits the parameters. Loaves or muffins, vegan or not – they come out perfect every time.
Thank you!
I love that you know this one by heart! Thanks for sharing, Julia.
Should I double the measurements since I only have an 8×8 square pan?
Hi Lori! It’s hard since pans can vary so much by depth, but I don’t think you will need to. Here is a good resource to reference: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cake-pan-size-conversions/
Hi :) do you think you can use oat flour?
Hi Isa, I haven’t tried it. Typically oat flour soaks up more of the liquid than other flour. Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking works really well to make it gluten free!
I made this recipe and substituted the milk with plain Greek yoghurt (extra density preference). I also added sultanas and walnuts to the bread and sprinkled The top with plain oats. What a hit!! My son didn’t even notice it was a healthy variety with no sugar!
Thank you for the best banana bread I’ve ever eaten and baked myself ! Your website is enjoyed also ! I plan on using more of your recipes in the near future!
Absolutely Perfect :-)
Great to hear!
Turned out nicely! My bread was finished after 50 minutes, but I didn’t tweak the recipe. It could just be my oven.
I’m glad you loved it, Ella!
This was a great recipe, usually i find healthier options to be spongy and not that great. I exchanged 1/2 cup of flour for oats as i find it takes away some of that sponge though. I added 70% cocoa chunks and walnuts to it as well. Great recipe!!
Hi,
I don’t have baking soda at home. Can I use baking powder instead?
Thanks,
Joyce
Hi Joyce, unfortunately they don’t act the same in this recipe and you won’t get the same result.
Hi!! I just wanted to try this recipe out because it has no butter required in it. I don’t really care if it is 100% healthy, but can I change the white whole wheat flour to all-purpose flour?
Hi, I believe others may have used all purpose with this one and it worked ok. I know gluten free blends work, so it should.
Absolutely delicious, this will be my ‘go to’ from now on
i’ve made this many times with coconut oil, maple syrup, and spelt flour (and walnuts) and it always comes out perfect. today i made it with grapeseed oil and honey (still with spelt and walnut) and it might have been even better! so moist and delicious. highly recommend this recipe. great for breakfast, dessert, or snack. thank you for sharing it!
I just found this recipe on your page and I want to tell you how helpful it all is! All the different variations, techniques (with helpful explanations), nutrition facts, reasoning behind your decisions – it’s all so amazingly helpful. I’m trying new recipes during this time and I really appreciate your help. I feel like you’re making me a better cook! Thank you! Will let you know how this all turns out!
Awesome!!Now, my go to recipe!! Thank you.
You’re welcome, Kathy!
When I need a recipe,I will check your site first.Thank you
Dear Kate,
I am writing to you from Athens, Greece. The recipe looks great but I want to ask you concerning the baking, is 165 degrees celsius for conventional ovens or air ovens. Thank you. Maria
Hi Maria! All of my recipes are designed for conventional, so that’s 165 degrees celsius in a conventional (not air) oven. Hope you love it.
Just made this using EVOO, Spelt flour and coconut milk. My 10 year old daughter LOVED it. I made double and mixed dark chocolate & Walnuts. Tha k you for the great recipe!
Love this recipe and make it all the time substituting unsweetened applesauce for oil. It’s a big hit around our house!!
Thank you for a brilliant recipe! I’m always opting for healthier ones and this was not only much less guilty but also absolutely delicious! Melted in our mouths!
can this be made with self-rising whole wheat flour? how do i substitute if stuck :) thanks.
Hi Nat, I’m sorry, I wouldn’t recommend it! For baked goods, it’s important to use precise amounts of baking soda or baking powder, and I don’t know how much is present in your flour.