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.
the bread turned out to be extremely delicious but wasn’t really…bready. it doesn’t stick together but i see that no one else has that problem so maybe it’s just my flour. i might have also added too much banana mash, however I’ll try again and give an update!
It’s excellent. There’s no way to mess it up.
I split the mix into 2 bowls (3/4 in one and the other 1/4 in the other) and added cocoa powder to one of them (1/4), then proceeded to swirl it on top to make it marble.
Loved it.
Could I use a regular cake pan and make it like a cake?
Love it! I have made it 3 times already this summer! Thanks for sharing!
How many calories in this bread recipe please? Thanks!
I love your banana nut bread recipe thanks so much for sharing that Kate
THIS IS AN AMAZING RECIPE!! I decided to make banana bread today on a whim (it’s my first time making it too!) and it came out BEAUTIFUL and SUPER DELICIOUS! Thank you for this super yummy recipe!! MY family loves it. I’m definitely going to follow this recipe from now on. Thank you! (:
Hi! Whenever I search the Internet for a random recipe, your site usually comes up with the results. I almost always scan your recipe and realize it not only looks DELICIOUS but also has versatile options for conscious eating. I’ve been using your site for about a year and felt it was finally time to tell you I’m so thankful for your recipes. Yay! And these banana muffins- best I’ve ever had! Thank you Kate!
So good! The coconut oil and honey made this so moist and tasty and not too sweet. I won’t make banana bread any other way from now on! Thanks so much!!!
How many calories are there in this. Please reply within 2 hours as this is for an assignment.
Thank you
Sorry, Lanna, I don’t provide nutrition facts yet. You can always run recipes through a nutrition calculator such as myfitnesspal.com, which is probably better anyway, as you can adjust the ingredients and serving sizes to match the way you’re making it at home.
Yum! Cannot wait to give this a go!
If I wanted to make this recipe but for muffins…would everything remain the same except obviously using a muffin tin? Any other tweaks?
Thanks!
Have u tried using butter instead of oil?
This looks wonderfully delicious Kate! I have some extra bananas I’ll have to make this with! :)
Absolutely love this recipe, would highly recommend it!
Thank you, Jane!
Can you use oat flour instead of the whole wheat flour instead? will it turn out the same?
This is my first time baking the banana bread and I can say it turned out so good and yummy and healthy too. Next time I think I am going to try with coconut sugar and see if it is going to work. Thanks for sharing the healthy version.
Neenu
Loved it so much I made my own and put it on my blog. Credit to yours given of course https://caterinacucina.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/heart-healthy-anti-this-and-anti-that-did-someone-say-banana-bread/
Very tasty. I typically suck at following recipes so having yours was awesome with all the options. I used apple sauce instead of the oil and the honey, three bananas and ditched the milk and made them as muffins. Still came out gorgeously. I’d say these are close to fool proof.
Hi there! I totally want to make this right now, but I only have the regular all purpose flour…would that work in place of the whole wheat flour?! It sounds so yummy and I’m hoping to try this!! :)
Yes, that would work!
love this recipe, and so quick to make, thank you x
The banana bread is delicious! I had to add 10 minutes to the baking time and it’s hard to tell when it’s done since it comes out clear wet from coconut oil. Any tips?
Can I use agave instead of honey?
You can, I just don’t recommend agave in my recipes any more because it’s not nearly as healthy as we originally thought.
Hi Kate. I made this cake today. It came out fantastically. I added a couple of teaspoons of powdered ginger and some crystallised ginger and chocolate chips. Thanks for the great recipe. Barb
Hi Kate…I made this recipe and absolutely loved it! I would like to add some fresh strawberries and curious if you think it will impact the mixture due to the additional moisture? Thanks for any input.
Update: Added both strawberries and blueberries (about 1 cup and a bit more to add on top once poured into the pan) and it came out just perfect! I reduced the honey to 1/3 cup, but I don’t think it would make a difference to add the full amount.
Hi Kate,
I made your banana loaf and it was delicious, everyone who tried it loved it !! Looking forward to trying some other of your recipes <3
Thank you
Catherine
This is hands down the best banana bread recipe out there, and I’ve made a lot of them! I used mainly sprouted whole spelt flour, with just a little bit of regular organic wheat flour. Divine. Thank you!
This bread is better than the sugary stuff, my hubby couldn’t tell the difference yet way better for us. Love it. Any changes you would make if I made zucchini bread instead of banana?
Hi Rae, so glad you enjoyed the bread! I just recently published a zucchini bread recipe based on this one. Hope you love it!
I’ve made and tweaked numerous banana bread recipes over the last 10 or so years and this is THE BEST one yet! It’s perfect in flavour and texture and gets devoured whenever I make it. I sprinkle/zig-zag an additional 1/2 tsp cinnamon and have made it with and without chocolate chips. Perfection every time.
Any info on nutritional facts on this bread? I use olive oil, skim milk and honey.
Sorry, Duane, I don’t provide nutrition facts yet (working on a solution), but even then, I wouldn’t be able to tell you with those exact ingredients used. I recommend running the recipe through myfitnesspal.com, where you can adjust it for exact ingredients used and get accurate nutrition facts for it.
Hi from France ! After a few visits in Canada and USA, where banana bread is common, I wanted to make it at home, and couldn’t find a good recipe since it’s not a very popular thing here. And I am SO grateful to have found your recipe, I can’t get enough of this bread. Since I love chocolate, I always add a few chips of it in the bread, and also almonds. I use half maple syrup and half honey. And truly, it’s the best banana bread I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for the recipe, it’s now time to explore the rest of your website :)
I just found this recipe…. I used safflower oil and omitted the milk or water as it seemed moist enough without. A really good alternative to recipes using butter and sugar… thanks. Really delicious !!!
Hi, I usually baked with both baking soda and baking powder, can I still do that ?? ( 1.5 tsp baking powder, and 3/4 tsp baking soda was usually the amount I put for 250 gram of flour in my banana recipes), I noticed some recipes used both while others only with b.soda….so, I really wondered how using both or just one will affect the taste actually..pls enlighten…:) Thank you
This was the first recipe of yours that I tried, and now I make it every Sunday! I love that your recipes have different suggestions for what to use. It’s seriously so handy! I also made your raspberry lemon muffins last week and will be making them again this week. Can’t wait for your book to come out :) P.S. Also love the sweet Cookie pictures!!
I tried your recipe with a mix of a bit of coconut flour and wheat germ in with 1 cup of white flour instead of whole wheat it tastes very good still but was very thick and heavy in the middle, almost like it didn’t rise, so maybe I should have added a bit more baking soda or add some baking powder. But I really liked the fact that it has no white sugar, I used both honey and maple syrup.
Awesome bread! I’m trying to eat healthier anyway I can and this bread came out great even with whole wheat flour (which I usually don’t like). I have saved this recipe as a favorite on my iPad! Thanks!
Omg this is my favourite banana bread receipe!! So flavourfull and moist, I will keep doing it this way forever from now on! Thank you so so much Kate! Wish I could share a picture of the one I made . Julia
I made your healthy banana bread this afternoon and we just cut into it. It’s delicious and so moist, we love it.
I used olive oil, whole wheat flour as that was in my pantry and maple syrup; I will make the same way next time.
Thanks for the recipe as this is my new goto banana bread!!
the first banana bread i have ever made. we love it! I’m no baker so not surprised when it did not rise into the beautiful loaf shape. what did I do wrong? Sorry to bother you☺
If anyone is wondering what the macros are for a slice of this (cut into 8 slices, with 1/3 cup walnuts and 5 tbsp of chocolate chips added in), they are: 342 calories, 16 g. fat, 50 g. carbs, and 6 g. protein.
Recipe sucked for me. All I got was a a dense (condensed no fluff) banana bread. I followed every ingredient with some exceptions. I just used butter instead of oil of the same amount. I added the 2 eggs and potato baking soda starch. My dad is a chef and he spitted it out. First banana bread recipe.
Made it. Fell in love. And it’s exactly what I was looking for on he healthier side. Do you have a total calorie count ? I just didn’t feel like figuring it all out lol. I also made a batch with a 1/2 cup less of wheat flour and implemented a banana protein powder and I also added a little more cinnamon. Perfect.
This is the best healthy banana bread that I have ever had, much less made.
I figured the calories for the entire loaf would be 1620 and that’s rounded up a tad bit. So if you cut it into twelve slices your looking at roughly 120-140 calories for 1/12 of a piece.
you’re welcome in advance. Love this bread.
Wow, this banana bread is amazingly good. For the flour I used 1/4 cup almond flour 3/4 cup oat flour. I just reread your recipe and realized I didn’t add enough flour. It was still so good!?! Usually that combo of flour makes a dry muffin or bread but with the bananas it was so moist. Also used orange juice for the water or milk, and grated the zest of a whole orange, with some of the pulp from the orange. So flavorful. Thank you, your proportions are perfect.
Hi Kate! I’m relatively new to your site, but have made a few of your recipes so far and everything has been fantastic! I made this bread last week and have already had to make four more batches as I’ve had so many requests for it from my friends and co-workers. I followed the recipe exactly, using grapeseed oil, honey, regular nonfat milk, white whole wheat flour and walnuts. The texture is so perfect and the flavor is just delicious. It was even tastier the next day. Healthier and infinitely better flavor than traditional recipes — this is definitely my new go-to recipe for banana bread! Divine! Love your blog and thanks for sharing! xoxo
Yum! I followed your recipe and used a flax-chia blend instead of eggs and it was great! I also replaced the milk with Greek yogurt which gave it a pleasant tangy flavor. Had to throw in chocolate chips, too, heh heh.
Great recipe – this reminds me of banana cake more than banana bread, which is perfect for my tastes. :) I will definitely recommend your recipe to others!
This is the best Banana bread I have ever tasted. I used 1 cup of oat flour + 3/4 cups of white whole wheat flour and it was amazing. Seriously, you could sell this bread. Thanks for the recipe! xoxo
we love this. instead of honey, i’m using a handful of dates :)
Is the batter supposed to be dry? This is my first time making banana bread
I’ve made the pumpkin muffins, the banana bread and the potato salad we love them all Thank you so much
Fantastic! Thank you, Nancy.