Incidentally Healthy Banana Bread
Noramlly, if I’m going to eat cake, then I eat cake. But this banana bread is as good as any that’s loaded with butter and sugar — but isn’t, and is based on whole wheat flour, to boot. So, why not?
“Healthy” depends on your point of view. This isn’t protein-forward. It’s mostly carbs. It wouldn’t fit my old coach’s motto of “I eat dead animals for breakfast”. But it’s also far better than your average muffin from a café.
This is a recipe I like to make; I’m keeping it here just as a reference for myself. It’s nothing fancy. But if you like it, let me know!
My personal review of this banana bread: Tasty but not decadent. Great with a hot drink like tea or yerba mate. Not overly sweet, nor sickly buttery. But also not bread; this is definitely a cake or a muffin that you enjoy as a treat.
I’ve also made banana corn bread previously, which isn’t bad (but isn’t as healthy).
Ingredients
Measure the weight of the bananas. You can use standard measures (metric or imperial, they’re not that different) for everything else.
- Wet ingredients:
- 300g mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas). (It’s worth weighing the mashed banana, as “medium” is vague, and this can significantly affect moisture)
- 6 tablespoons applesauce (unsweetened)
- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup oil + Greek yoghurt (you can use one or the other, but I like a 50/50 mix)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Mix-ins: 2/3 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans, choc chips, or whatever you want)
Instructions
I’ve boldfaced the ingredients to make sure you don’t miss them.
You can do this whole thing in one bowl with a wooden spoon. In fact, that’s the safer option than a cake mixer, to avoid over-mixing.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a loaf pan or muffin tray (see note below on making muffins)
- Wet ingredients: Mix mashed bananas, applesauce, eggs, honey, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla until combined.
- Dry ingredients: Over the top of the wet ingredients, sift in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, until they’re combined (it’s ok if it’s lumpy).
- Fold in walnuts (or other mix-ins).
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes, covering loosely with foil halfway through (to prevent it from becoming too browned as the insides cook more). Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
- Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before slicing.
Store at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerate for up to 1 week. (Guess what? The flavour improves on day 2!)
Muffins: You can optionally make banana muffins much more quickly by using a lined muffin pan. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for an additional 16-17 minutes (22-23 minutes total). Yes, this is much less baking time, which means less energy used!
References
My first point of reference was Sally’s Baking Addiction — she knows what she’s doing. But I made some simplifications and structural refinements and borrowed elements from a few other recipes I found on Reddit, and made it more of a metric system-forward recipe.