While made without butter, oil, or white flour, this 100% whole wheat banana bread tastes just as flavorful and moist as my regular banana bread. In this healthy banana bread recipe, swap butter with unsweetened applesauce, all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, and replace some of the refined sugar with honey. With glowing reviews from taste-testers and readers around the world, this quick bread doesn’t even taste lightened-up!
I know I say I’m obsessed with a lot of different recipes, which might make convincing you to try something a little tough. If I love so many, which ones are actually the best?
My whole wheat banana bread completely blew my mind. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations. This loaf was merely a way to get rid of 3 overly ripe bananas and a random jar of applesauce. I make my regular banana bread and chocolate banana bread with butter and all-purpose flour because that’s where all the goodness hides. Well, after 1 bite of this “whatever, it won’t be good” banana bread, I was proven wrong.
I should have learned my lesson when I made the most soft and flavorful whole wheat pizza dough and these chocolate banana muffins. Healthy ingredients CAN make incredible things.
This Whole Wheat Healthy Banana Bread Is:
- Wholesome, healthful, & hearty
- Extra moist and cinnamon-spiced
- Not overly sweet, so the banana flavor shines
- 100% whole wheat
- Prepared without butter, oil, or white flour
- Ready to bake in less than 10 minutes
Plus, this whole wheat banana bread slices and freezes like a dream. I love having a loaf on stand-by in the freezer for when I need homemade breakfast option or wholesome snack for all of us—adults and toddler alike. We all love it. (Especially with peanut butter spread on each slice!)
Let me quickly run through how you can make it.
Quick Tip: Mash Bananas with Your Mixer
Did you know you can use your electric mixer to mash bananas? Break or slice your peeled spotty bananas into large pieces and place in the bowl of your stand mixer– or use a regular mixing bowl and your hand mixer. Begin beating on low, then gradually increase to medium-high speed as the bananas break down into mashed banana. You can use this bowl for the rest of the banana bread ingredients. I do this for my banana cake, too!
You need 3 spotty medium size bananas for this recipe.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes, frozen and thawed bananas work in this recipe and you can read more about How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking if you’d like. Two important things to remember:
- The riper the banana, the better. When you bake with bananas, you want to use brown, spotty super-ripe ones.
- Strain off excess liquid. As bananas thaw, they let out a lot of liquid, which can throw off the wet ingredients in any baking recipe. I always recommend draining off most or all of that excess liquid before mashing and measuring them for your recipe.
How to Make Healthy Banana Bread
After you mash the bananas with your mixer, add the remaining wet ingredients. You need:
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Honey
- Brown Sugar or Coconut Sugar
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla Extract
Unsweetened applesauce takes the place of butter or oil. Additionally, I’m very light-handed with the added sugars—we really want the banana flavor to shine through here. If you don’t want any added refined sweeteners in this healthier banana bread recipe, swap the brown sugar with coconut sugar. To keep this banana bread dairy free, use dairy free milk.
After that, mix the dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients. You need whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mostly the same dry ingredients I use in my whole wheat banana nut muffins. Lastly, fold in chopped walnuts. The nuts are completely optional. Sometimes I add chocolate chips and/or raisins instead. I’ve even added the cinnamon layer from this cinnamon swirl banana bread. And for an extra special treat, make a batch of homemade honey butter to enjoy on the baked bread.
Love peanut butter + bananas? Try my peanut butter banana muffins (as muffins or a loaf). That recipe uses many of the same ingredients we use here.
More Healthful Baked Goods
- Morning Glory Muffins & Healthy Apple Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins
- Breakfast Cookies
- Greek Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Vanilla Almond Granola
- Bran Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal Cups
Whole Wheat Healthy Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
In this healthier banana bread recipe, swap butter with unsweetened applesauce, all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, and replace some of the refined sugar with honey. With glowing reviews from taste-testers and readers around the world, this quick bread doesn’t even taste lightened-up!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cups (288g) mashed bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas)
- 6 Tablespoons (90g) unsweetened applesauce*
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (85g) honey*
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar*
- 1/3 cup (80ml) milk*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup (67g) chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much too soon. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- You can use an electric mixer or mix everything by hand. I like to use an electric mixer because I use it to mash the bananas. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment on medium-high speed, beat the mashed bananas, applesauce, and eggs together until combined. (Or whisk by hand.) Add the honey, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed (or whisk) until combined. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Pour into the wet ingredients and beat on medium speed (or by hand) until combined. Fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. This may be before or after 60-65 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes at the 55 minute mark or so.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
- Cover and store banana bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2 after the flavors have settled together.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: The best way to freeze quick bread is to tightly wrap the loaf or slices (individually or grouped) in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place wrapped banana bread in a large freezer-friendly storage bag or reusable container. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Muffins: Use this banana bread recipe to make about 18 muffins. Pour the batter into a lined or greased muffin pan and bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total bake time for the muffins is about 22-23 minutes. The initial burst of hot air helps those muffins rise nice and tall! Or try my whole wheat banana nut muffins.
- Frozen Bananas: You can use thawed frozen bananas in this recipe. Thawed bananas are extra wet, so drain off as much of the excess liquid as you can before mashing. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Applesauce: If needed, melted coconut oil (or canola or vegetable oils) can be used instead of applesauce.
- Sweetener: Pure maple syrup or agave can be used instead of honey and coconut sugar can be used instead of brown sugar.
- Milk: I use skim milk, but any milk fat is OK. Nondairy milks work too!
This is the best whole wheat banana bread! Not too sweet and I love the whole wheat flavor! I made it for my husband more than once. Definitely our favorite!
Tried this last night and the recipe was forgiving enough for even a novice baker.
Lovely recipe, I used Brazil nut + choc chip in the bread. I like the coarse wholewheat adds a bite to the bread.
The best banana bread ever
Hi- love this recipe and I also love your healthy double chocolate chip muffins. How can I make this healthy banana loaf with cocoa powder, similar to the double chocolate chip muffins? Or, is there a way to make the healthy double chocolate chip muffins into a loaf? Thank you!
You can make the Skinny Double Chocolate Chip Muffins in a loaf pan. Bake time will be longer.
Wow so good and moist! Tastes just like the regular version but without all the excess sugar and oil
This turned out great! Not too sweet, and surprisingly moist. I didn’t have apple sauce, so I subbed oil, used chocolate chips instead of walnuts, and topped the loaf with a dusting of turbinado sugar for a nice crunch. This has become my go-to banana bread recipe.
Could I use half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour?
That should be fine!
Any replacement for eggs ?
Hi T, We haven’t tested this recipe using egg substitutes, but let us know if you do!
We are egg free and we use Bobs Red Mill egg replacer for this recipe.
On a separate note, I froze the undercooked/gummy cakes while inspiration came to me. Well it finally occurred to me that the raw result meant it needed more flour. And crumbled oats aka porridge oats (US quick oats) are a coarse flour. So I made the baked oatmeal recipe on this site with slight modifications to include crumbled raw cake (reduced the oats from 3 cups/225g to 2 1/2 cups ish/200g, replaced maple syrup with sugar for less liquid, 2 UK large eggs (2 US XL), 1/8-1/4 cup/30-60g applesauce depending on “heavy handedness”, a touch less salt so you taste the sugar, and an extra 1/2tsp baking powder for fluff power. I was a little nervous by seeing soup not batter lol, but of course it baked up perfectly (and tasted the same too). So thank you again for providing quality adaptable recipes. I did post this comment on the original recipe but the page froze and I lost the comment. Anyway thank you again
Big winner!!! I did not have any measuring tools when I made this. I tried to stick to the recommended measurements as best I could and it turned out great. Thank you for sharing this 🙂
Good morning. Please advise what kind of whole wheat flour. Pastry? Bread? Please and thank you so very much!
Hi Maureen, we use and recommend regular whole grain, whole wheat flour.
Hey, this recipe is just perfect! It tasted even better than the ones with regular or oat flour. I used ¼ cup of coconut oil instead of applesauce and skipped the sugar because my banana was super sweet, so I thought honey would be enough. I added berries instead of nuts, and it turned out great.
The banana bread was moist and delicious did not taste healthy at all!!!
This bread taste so good for being healthy – we love it!
This turned out really nice, was gobbled up. Not too sweet, just enough. I didn’t have enough bananas, so added some yogurt (not the really runny type, but not Greek. Somewhere in between; was pourable though), and that worked really well. I omitted the milk because of the yogurt. I also used sugar instead of the honey and brown sugar, because that’s what I had. Used oil instead of applesauce. Still very nice!
Love this so much. Added some nutmeg too! I will make this many more times.
I’m excited to try this recipe this weekend. Can I sub applesauce for Greek yogurt instead?
Hi Smoothie, if needed, the best swap for the applesauce is melted coconut oil (or canola, vegetable oil, or even melted butter).
Hi, any idea how many calories per slice? Thanks
We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
When I plugged it into cronometer, it said 180 calories per slice (assuming 12 slices).
Made muffins and they came out wonderful! So moist and tasty you don’t miss the oil or butter! Do you have the nutritional information? Sorry if I missed it. Thanks!
Hi Stacey, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Perfect healthy banana bread! I modified time, temp and leavening due to being at a higher elevation. Also added chocolate chips and did half pecans, half walnuts. It turned out super tasty and just the right amount of sweet!
Just what I was hoping for! Whole wheat, less sugar(I used coconut sugar and maple syrup). I didn’t have apple sauce so I used veg oil. My add ins are chopped pecans and chocolate chips. Perfect for morning coffee and afternoon snacks(with peanut butter!).
Thank you for this great recipe!
Thanks for this recipe. Waiting for the bread to bake. How come you have not used any butter or oil?
Hi Smriti, this is our healthier version of banana bread, where unsweetened applesauce takes the place of butter or oil. Here is our regular banana bread recipe, if you’re interested.
This sounds delicious! Could I use all purpose flour if I am out of whole wheat?
Danielle, that should be fine. Hope you enjoy the bread!
This recipe was a hit with family for day to day after school snack. But can this be adapted to bread machine ?
Do you know how to convert from loaf to 13×9
Hi Brenda, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. (Or here is our banana sheet cake recipe.)
This is by far the best recipe for whole wheat banana bread that I’ve tried. The bread has a dense, moist texture with just the right amount of sweetness. The only change I made was to use maple syrup instead of honey.
I used a glass loaf pan so baked at a slightly lower temp of 325 for 65 minutes. It turned out perfectly! Thanks for the tips about where to place the baking rack and to lightly cover halfway through. Those details make such a big difference.
Hi, any alternative for walnut? My kid doesn’t like it but she loves banana bread .
Hi Neethu! You can leave the walnuts out, or replace them with the same amount of chocolate chips, raisins, or another nut like pecans.
This recipe was easy to follow and the bread is delicious. Thanks to Sally and her team.