The Best Healthy Banana Bread Recipe (2024)

4.94 from 29 votes

Wet Ingredients

• ▢ 1.5 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe medium-sized ones)
• ▢ ⅓ cup melted butter (OR oil)
• ▢ ½ cup honey
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla

Dry Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ Pinch ground nutmeg
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Cooling: 10 minutes mins

Ready In: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

• Prep: Heat oven to 360°F. Line and grease a 4×8 OR 5×9 inch loaf pan.

• Make batter: Whisk together all wet ingredients in a large measuring jug. Combine all dry ingredients well in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and fold JUST until combined (use a spatula or wooden spoon, NOT a whisk for combining the batter!).

• Bake: Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake in hot oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out just clean. Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove carefully, peel off baking parchment and cool completely on cooling rack.

Ingredient Notes:

Bananas: Please use really ripe bananas, as a lot of the moisture and sweetness in this recipe comes from using ripe bananas. If you use bananas that aren’t very ripe, the bread won’t be as good.

Butter: As I said in the intro, you can make this recipe dairy free by using oil in place of butter. I usually use canola oil, but melted coconut oil works great, too.

Honey: The recipe works with maple syrup in place of honey, too.

Flour: If you don’t want to use whole wheat flour, feel free to use regular instead. Add 1-2 tablespoons extra if the batter seems too thin (whole wheat flour soaks up more liquid).

I have had readers make my other banana breads successfully with cup-for-cup gluten free flour, too, so that is definitely worth a try if you need it.

Cornstarch: It helps to make a fluffier bread, but if you don’t have any, add 1-2 tablespoons of extra flour instead. The texture will be slightly more dense, but still good.

Baking soda: You can use baking powder in place of the baking soda in this recipe.

Baking Tips:

Mashing bananas: I usually break the peeled bananas in a few pieces and then use a fork to mash them right in the measuring jug before I add any of the other wet ingredients. So easy!

Measuring out the honey: It can be super sticky in the measuring cup, so I always spray the cup with cooking spray to help it slide right out.

Combining the batter: Please please use a spatula to combine the wet and dry ingredients, and only fold until JUST combined and no more dry flour is visible. Otherwise the banana bread will turn out very dense.

Bake as muffins: This recipe also works to make healthy banana muffins. Just divide between 12 lined and greased muffin cups and bake for around 18 minutes.

Storage Tips:

I like storing banana bread wrapped in parchment paper on the counter for a couple of days. To keep it fresh for up to 4-5 days, you can wrap it in parchment and store it in the fridge.

Freezer Instructions:

Either wrap the entire loaf first in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil, OR freeze it sliced.

To freeze in slices, separate the slices with parchment paper so they don’t stick together – that way you can pull them out one by one!

Place in a container suitable for freezing and label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months). Place in the freezer.

To defrost, leave on a rack on the counter for a few hours. You can also reheat the slices in the oven or microwave if you like.

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