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.
this is yummy but it made maybe twice as much banana bread as i expected- watch out! or use a bigger pan like i did.
So good ! I used coconut/almond milk, coconut oil, added a handful of chopped nuts and seeds, and sliced a banana on top before going In the oven
Tip top recepie thank you !! Will be checking out some of your other posts XD
Thank you, Ele! :)
I LOVED your banana bread recepie!!! So healthy and delicious! Thanks so much!!
Hooray, thanks Maria!
I just made this and posted on instagram. The recipe is really easy to follow and came out delicious!! I used coconut butter and agave. I also used 3/4 C whole wheat flour and 1 C AP flour. I added chopped macadamia nuts I had from the bulk bin. I searched healthy banana bread and your recipe looked good. IT delivered! Thank you! My husband loves Banana Bread so this will be my new go to recipe. Trying your cauliflower curry soup next! Glad I “stumbled” upon your site. It is very nice!
Thanks!
Shannon Vasquez.
Thank you for saying hello, Shannon! I’m so glad you enjoyed the banana bread and hope you love the cauliflower soup just as much! I’m going to try to find your Instagram photo next!
This banana bread is so wonderful! The texture is perfect – moist but not gummy. I used coconut oil, honey, added chopped walnuts and raisins. Thank you for this healthy and tasty recipe :)
Added 1/2 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut and Greek yogurt instead of milk and it was really good!
Delicious! I had extra bananas from a neighborhood tree (tropical part of the world). Found your recipe. Took your suggestion of slicing up extra bananas for texture. Added a few chia, sunflower, and linseeds. Perfect bread. Glad I discovered your blog!
Lovely recipe, thanks! I went with whole wheat flour, coconut oil, maple syrup and walnuts. My bananas were totally brown, defrosted from frozen, but still cold. I cooked in a fan oven on about 150C (I live in the UK and only have a fan oven), for nearly 70 mins and it’s still a tad raw. Any thoughts? Flavour is still amazing though! And I’d encourage anyone to absolutely use very brown bananas. Thanks!
Baked it with the kids tonight and we all went bananas over it!!! Sharing is caring and we are very grateful. Merci xoxo
Hello,
I made this last time with maple syrup and it was amazing!
I have a little bit of maple syrup left, so I was wondering if it would be ok for me to mix maple syrup and honey for a batch.
Thanks!
This recipe is perfect, thank you so much. I used coconut oil and added brazil nuts. Yum!
I try to comment whenever I make a recipe, but I’m not always good about it! I have made probably 50% of your recipes (and working towards the other 50%!!) and this was one of my favorites. It was a big hit with my non-vegan family (I made the vegan version). No one could tell it was made with whole wheat. It was filling, but not “dense”. This, along with all of you taco and salad recipes are in my weekly rotation! Ok, maybe not weekly for this one, but whenever I have a “mixed crowd” for breakfast – this is coming out! Thank you.
A good recipe! thanks! I’m sure that my family will love it! The toasts of this bread will be wonderful! Have you a toaster? What can you recommend? My toaster is broken:( I need a new one. I saw a review of the best toasters at topreviews.best What can you say about these models?
How come after this is baked there are purple colored specs in the bread?
Are you talking about those tiny little dark specks? I think they are just banana fibers.
If you sub some baking powder for part of the soda, the brown spots won’t appear, and the bread will be much lighter overall–in early some people are not happy about the dark speckled look. (1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda)
I meant “if really” , not in early, which is still a horrible sounding sentence! Lol
Did you use walnuts?
I made it today with bread flour and added some pumpkin seeds! It was so delicious! Thank you for the recipe :)
Love this recipe. Do you have the nutritional information/fat calorie count for this recipe?
Would love to make your banana bread but my printer won’t print it and I didn’t see a printer-friendly version.
Omg really. Just write it down shorthand. U don’t need to write the recipe word for word on
OMG. Jst wrte shorthand. FFS.
Ha!
Chill out Janine!
hahahahah true!
Janine
Your comment sounds, ‘critical’, verses, helpful? Everyone reads recipes, and cooks differently. I just wanted to share that your comment wasn’t impactful to me, but rather it turned me away. But you have the right to comment.
Take care
Trish Franks
Hi Cheryl, if you look next to the right of the recipe title (above the list of ingredients), you’ll see a print icon. Click on that and you can just print the recipe itself.
I open the page on my laptop and then walk backwards and forwards to the kitchen after checking what comes next…That way I can burn calories in prep for a slice of three when ready….lol
I made this lovely bread last weekend and it was fantastic!
Best banana bread I ever made and I have tried countless recipes over the years! This one will be my banana bread recipe from now on.
I made a few little changes: I used 1 cup of sprouted spelt flour and 3/4 cup ground almonds and added 1/2 tsp almond extract, I replaced the milk with yogurt and only used 1/4 cup maple syrup (as bananas are naturally sweet). I baked it at 350F for 50 minutes.
I grew up on banana bread (one of our family classics) and while I think this is a good base to work with it wasn’t a hit for me. I found it a bit dry and hard to actually taste banana. I used 3 medium ripe bananas. Next time I make this I will try doubling the bananas to 6 — or 2-2.5 cups. I think that would give me both the moist texture I was missing and the bonafide banana taste. Just my 2 cents and preference — thank you for a great base though, I love using whole wheat flour, almond milk, and honey/maple combo for sweetness!
It’s a snowy, cold day here in Chicago – a perfect baking day. I came across your recipe on Pinterest, had a few ripe bananas, so I thought why not! I used all purpose gluten free flour, added sliced almonds and coconut flakes on top. It looks and smells amazing, here’s hoping it tastes just as good! Thanks for your recipe Kate.
So I was too excited when i foud this reipe that I forgot we were out of whole wheeat flour, so I used regualr white. Its just about done baking but I’m curious if anyone else has ever made it that way. I hd already prepped everything else and when the time came for the flour…Well hopefuly i tastes ok but so much for trying to make it healthier
Thanks, that was truly delish! I used very ripe bananas, a mix of honey and my new palm flower nectar powder. Also some left over flaked almonds and raisins. I also used 1cup of whole sheeps yoghurt instead of milk so I think it was extra rich.
This recipe is amazing!!! I am not a baker but your recipe was really easy to follow and turned out great. I added chocolate chips and pecans. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks!
Loved! I made with gluten free flour, coconut milk, maple syrup, and egg replacer for a gluten free/egg free/dairy free AMAZING banana muffins!
Made this morning and it’s a winner! I’ve tried several healthier versions of banana bread trying to figure out the right ingredients and this was just right. Eaten up by the entire family! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
What modification should I make to the baking time/temp if I want to make mini loaves? Thank you, can’t wait to try this!
how big is the pan?
I just made it and it’s sensational. The only changes I’ve made were using quinoa flour and adding medjool dates. Your recipe is a great one!
OMG just made this and love it (and I hate bananas!)
I’m in the UK so struggled a bit with converting the amounts so maybe put a tad too much honey in it and I added some chopped dates. Can’t wait to eat it all up and make another…
I did the same! A few chopped medjool dates to add to a gooey centre – amazing!!!
I am new to baking. I actually tried the other banana bread recipe and then bumped into this recipe. Made a loaf yesterday afternoon and it’s already over. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. When you bake for the first time and it’s a success it really motivates you to make again. Thank you once again for this lovely recipe. It sure is a keeper.
Hello! I really want to make this banana bread, however, I do not have any whole wheat flour, and was really trying to just use what I have on hand. Could I make this recipe using regular all purpose flour? What would the substitution ratio be? Thanks!
Just made this recipe for the second time and it’s still great! I’ve substitute the flour for whole wheat pancake mix and the oil for applesauce. Turned out awesome.
Hey Kate! This Banana Bread is pretty awesome. I’ve made it twice here in Brazil. Would you mind me translating this recipe to portuguese and posting it?
Thank you
Wow! I thought I had commented here.
Kate this recipe is amazing. I’ve done it twice in Brazil. It’s really easy and so good!
Would you mind me translating to pOrtuguese and posting it?
Much love
Hi there , I’m in ireland I’ve been trying to make my mams brown bread lately but not working out for me and I think it’s the different oven she uses and old gas I’m new electric.so before I attempt this Banana bread can you tell me the temperature 165 is that in a conventional or fan oven? Thank you Anne Marie
HI, I found your site a week or so ago and I’m currently making my 2nd batch of Banana bread. My hole family loves your recipe and I’m going to make some others today. We are very particular with what we eat and i find it difficult to find yummy ones that don’t have all the sugars and things in them, so thank you! – Cam (Australia)
Hi,
Amazing recipe!! Love how it tastes although think my bananas weren’t ripe enough! Thank you for sharing, tagged the outcome on Instagram using your tag!! Xxx
Hey I just made this, turned out fantastic. I doubled the recipe (because I had 4 brown bananas and wanted to get rid of them.) I put the double batch in one 9×13 pan and used almost 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (because cinnamon is my spirit animal) and I feel very blessed to have double the amount of this bread–I have already had two large pieces piping hot out of the oven and I am about to go grab more!
I would recommend to anyone who wants to double the recipe and use a 9×13 pan to set the oven to 350 degrees and cook for less time…say 30-40 min.
Love love love
Just found your blog by the way, and I am not turning back!
Thanks for this amazing recipie X
Hi Kate,
Thank you for the recipe. It looks yummy.
Since it has no sugar in it, I assume it is good for people with diabetics.. what do you think?
This banana bread was great!
I made it gluten free by using 1 cup of rice flour and 3/4 cup buckwheat flour. delicious! thank you!
Fantastic recipe Kate! I made this with my four year old daughter and she loved making it and eating it! We’re European so not used to US cup measurements, but I am finding them a great way to teach small kids to weigh and measure ingredients
So happy to find a sweet treat for my daughter that is so healthy. She enjoyed the freedom of choosing her add-ins (raisins and sunflower seeds for the record!).
Love, Sophie (and Juliette!)
Just made this recipe using coconut oil & adding some dried cranberries & chia seeds and it was perfectly moist! This is the best banana bread recipe out there :)
Hello Kate,
this recipe looks AWESOME! I was just wondering if it is possible to omit the syrup or honey, and replace it with some more smashed bananas? Will it still be moist and yummy? I was thinking of drizzling the honey rather than bake it in the bread. Thanks a ton! :)
All I can say is..WOW! lol I absolutely LOVE this recipe, I was pretty unsure at first but I put my faith into it and decided to give it a shot. I love foods that can be made a little healthier, really the greatest. It came out great, perfect moisture. Doubled the recipe to make a load with chocolate chips and one without. Seriously the BEST. I will post on Instagram later. :) You are a fantastic baker. Thanks Katie! Sincerely, Gina
Hello! I made this recipe ytd night and it turned out so great, already reduced the amount of honey and oil but still very moist and fluffy, thank you
Super easy and delic recipe Kate :) Enjoyed making it and my dad finished half the loaf hehe… definitely have to make some more! Thanks for it!
Thank you for sharing this fabulous recipe. I added dark chocolate chips and mixture of coconut and walnut oil. It turned delicious.
Thanks for this recipe Kate :D
I made my first banana bread following your recipe and I loved it :)
I used almond milk, honey, whole wheat flour and I added a mix of nuts (almonds, nuts, hazelnuts…) it’s delicious and healthy!
I eat 2 or 3 slices at breakfast together with a fresh fruit and a green tea, that is perfect :)
Looking forward to make this recipe again, and to test your other recipes which look awesome too!
Hi Kate,
I have recently found your blog and love your ideas. I tried making this banana bread but came out very oily. As I was measuring out the ingredients I did think it looked like quite a lot of coconut oil and honey, so rechecked and saw that they were the correct measurements. i cooked it for the suggested time, on the right heat… I put it back in the oven to cook more as the knife came out very liquidy. I used US cup sizes. What has gone wrong?!