Moist Healthy Banana Bread with applesauce, no sugar and low fat. It is so delicious you won’t know it is healthy. Comes together in one bowl with simple ingredients.
Love quick breads? Healthy apple bread, healthy pumpkin bread and healthy zucchini bread are on a regular snack rotation in our house.
Healthy Banana Bread Recipe
Healthy banana bread is a staple in our house. It is perfect as a school snack or healthy breakfast (spread with butter – yum!).
Learn how to make it using our healthy banana bread recipe. So easy, my 12 year old makes it.
Your perfect banana bread with applesauce should be moist, have glossy and sticky top and with a crack. When you take a bite it melts in your mouth.
In my world, it is the best banana bread. And you are looking at it right now!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Ripe bananas are a must. They make bread sweet and moist. Ripe bananas are very yellow with brown spots. The uglier the bananas, the better. Even uglier than in my photo and video are perfect. If you don’t have going bad bananas, don’t fret. To “ripen” bananas faster, bake yellow bananas with skin on for 20 minutes at 300 degrees F oven. Or place a few ripened bananas or apples with unripened ones in a brown bag, close tightly and wait 1-2 days.
- Unsweetened or sweetened applesauce. Substitute with extra ripe large banana, Greek yogurt with 2% fat content and higher or pureed fresh apples.
- Eggs. You can replace with flax seed eggs if needed.
- A bit of oil. Really any oil works like avocado oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil or melted coconut oil.
- Honey or maple syrup – Any liquid but not dry sweetener is OK like agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- Whole wheat or spelt flour. Flours that don’t work with this recipe are almond flour, coconut flour and all purpose white flour. I have not tested this recipe with any gluten free flour.
- Optional mix-ins: 1/2 to 1 cup of nuts, chocolate chips or blueberries.
If you can find a more simple healthy banana bread recipe with only 1/3 cup of maple syrup and without 1 cup of vegetable oil, feel free to leave it in the comments. 🙂
How to Make Healthy Banana Bread
- Mash bananas and eggs with a masher. I first like to mash bananas and then “whisk” eggs with the same masher.
- Add all other ingredients except flour. “Stir” with the same masher. I know, I’m fancy but there is really no need for extra tool and bowl. Quick bread is not a cake.
- Add whole wheat or spelt flour and stir gently until incorporated. Do not mix too much as bread might come out rubbery. Batter should be thicker than pancakes.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour and then let cool completely before slicing. It will make all the difference because you will be able to slice the bread. Been there, done that haha.
How to Store, Freeze and More Tips
Store banana bread on a counter wrapped in plastic or straight in the loaf pan covered with plastic. Then cut a slice each time. You can slice it fully and wrap each slice in plastic but in my opinion it is not environmentally friendly option.
Banana bread stays fresh on a counter for up to 3 days. After you can refrigerate for another 3 days.
To freeze banana bread, bake and cool completely. I recommend you do not slice bread before freezing. It retains its moisture better this way. Place in a gallon size Ziploc container, let out as much air as possible and seal. Freeze for up to 3 months.
To thaw, defrost on a counter. Takes about 3-4 hours. Bread will taste just like freshly baked. Pop it into a toaster for a minute for that freshly baked bread warmth and aromas.
You can make mini meatloaves by baking them for about 35-40 minutes and checking with a toothpick.
Enjoy this healthy banana bread!
More Healthy Quick Bread Recipes
Browse all healthy muffins and quick breads.
Healthy Banana Bread
Healthy Banana Bread moist with applesauce, no refined sugar and low fat. Easy banana bread recipe your kids will love.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: North American
Ingredients
- 4 medium very ripe bananas (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 eggs, large
- 1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 tbsp avocado or coconut oil (melted)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder, aluminum free
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 5 loaf pan with unbleached parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork or a masher. Add eggs, applesauce, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk to combine (masher works fine).
- Add flour and stir gently just enough to mix. Pour batter in prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool off completely. Cut into 10 slices and enjoy.
Store: Keep in a cool dry place in a glass airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
I made your recipe today with freshly milled soft white berries. I used coconut oil in place of the apple sauce. I added 77 g of sourdough rye starter, reduced the quantity of flour by 38 g and added 38 g of full fat plain yogurt. I used 50 g of maple syrup (a little less than 1/4 cup). I added a cup of frozen raspberries. It rose nicely in the oven and we enjoyed it for breakfast. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
You are welcome for your recipe haha. Glad I could help. 🙂
Forgot to give 5 stars!
★★★★★
Thank you for putting the extra effort. Means a lot to me, Bonnie.
Love your banana bread recipe!
I added walnuts, never had any extract, so added dash of cinnamon & nutmeg.
Yay! So happy to hear. I am gonna make one today too.
I made this with recipe and added raisins and cinnamon. It was terrific and I recommend it.
★★★★★
Happy to hear!
Without a doubt the best recipe I found on pinterest. I did not add any maple or honey and it was still sweet and tasty. I made 3 in 3 days as my kids and husband fell in love with it and said its THE best breakfast ever. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
You are super welcome!!!
I love this recipe, I now sub flax for one egg and put a little more applesauce and 1 tbsp less oil and use some stevia and half the honey and it still comes out very tasty. Thank you.
★★★★★
You are very welcome! 🙂
Unfortunately I used almond flour to replace the whole wheat. Not a good idea. It really never baked all the way through. Oh well…live and learn. Thanks for your recipe. Will try with whole wheat next time.
Not a good idea. I have almond flour banana bread recipe. Wish you saw it before. Next time.:)
I subbed half the wheat flour with 1/2 C coconut flour. Looks good…
★★★★★
Happy to hear!:)
Should I have used 100% whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour.. because I used 100% whole wheat flour and it was kind of thick the batter?
Whole wheat flour. And did you bake the bread and…? Maybe your bananas were smaller or did you skim the top of the measuring cup with flour with a butter knife?
I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out wonderful! My two year old loved it too. Thank you!
★★★★★
Awe, you are so welcome!
The best Banana Bread EVER. It’s moist and not so sweet that it made you shiver from a sugar rush. It’s a Keeper and Healthy. I will stop looking for new ways to use old bananas, now I will watch them turn brown and make Banana Bread. 5 STARS, or more.
I used whole wheat flour, will keep as is.
★★★★★
Hi!,
Looking forward to trying your banana bread recipe. I live in a small town & cannot find spelt flour. I did find coconut flour, could it be substituted for the spelt/wheat flour?
Unfortunately not. You can’t find whole wheat flour? Coconut flour is way more rare than whole wheat…Hmmm.
Hi Olena,
I tried the recipe with Carol’s gf flour, came out great. I love that it’s not overly sweet especially for my boys.
Thank you..
★★★★★
Welcome!!!
The best recipe I’ve found, although I had to use whole wheat flour. I can’t find Spelt!!
★★★★★
That’s totally fine. I always use it.
Hi. Do you have the conversion of cups to grams ? Thanks a lot
I don’t, sorry. You can Google conversions. Won’t take long.:)
I had some overripe bananas that needed to be used and checked your site for recipes. I decided to go for your Healthy Banana Bread. I added some cinnamon and blueberries to the recipe. It smelled delicious while in the oven and it tastes that way too. I just had a slice and could eat another one, and another one, and……. 😉
★★★★★
Yay. What did the child say?:)
She hasn’t tried it yet as she was away. 😉 I just did a 27mi. bike ride and a slice of banana bread afterwards was a nice reward. 🙂
I would have half of the bread after that bike ride.