We eat eggs or oatmeal most mornings, but sometimes it's nice to have something baked. I especially love warm sweet banana bread with my coffee.
Unfortunately, most banana bread recipes are not very healthy. Unsoaked/unleavened whole wheat flour isn't good for you due to the phytic acid which blocks mineral absorption. (Read more about how phytic acid causes tooth decay here.) Refined white flour has almost no nutrition.
To make a truly healthy banana bread, I recommend using sprouted flour. For this recipe, I used whole wheat sprouted flour. This is flour that is made from sprouted whole wheat (the sprouting helps to reduce the phytic acid), and freshly ground. (Check my resources page for where to buy sprouted flour.)
Also, most banana bread recipes are way too sweet. When I want to eat banana bread, I don't want an overly sugary dessert. I want something in between bread and a pastry. I like to be able to taste the banana in banana bread — not a wall of sugar.
I based this recipe on the one from Simply Recipes, but I modified it to use 75% less sugar. I also used maple syrup instead of refined sugar. Maple syrup is a low-glycemic sweetener and it's much more nutritious than refined sugar.
This banana bread is also healthy because I used real grass-fed butter and a pastured egg — farm-fresh foods that are much more nutritious than butter and eggs from factory farms. A pastured egg has 5 times more vitamin D than battery eggs. Read more about how to buy pastured eggs.
Lastly, banana bread is a wonderful way to use up overripe bananas. Instead of throwing away bananas that become brown and overripe, just toss them in the freezer. When you have 3 or 4 bananas, just pull them out of the freezer and you're ready to make banana bread. It's actually best to do it this way because after the bananas have been frozen, they just pop right out of the peels (after you let them defrost on the counter for an hour or so) and you don't even have to mash them.
This banana bread is much healthier but you will never know it. It tastes just like regular banana bread — only not as cloyingly sweet. And you can feel confident that you are feeding your family something not only delicious, but also super healthy.
Healthy Banana Bread
Ingredients:
Ripe bananas, mashed (4) — or just defrosted from the freezer
Grass-fed butter (1/4 cup)
Maple syrup (1/4 cup) — where to buy maple syrup
Pastured egg (1)
Vanilla, preferably organic (1 tsp)
Baking soda (1 tsp)
Pinch of sea salt — where to buy sea salt
Sprouted flour (1 1/2 cups) — where to buy flours
Equipment:
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter on low heat in a saucepan. You also use ghee, and/or you can substitute coconut oil for half of the butter.
3. Take the ripe bananas out of the freezer and let them defrost for an hour or so. Then peel and place in a bowl. If you are not using frozen bananas, you will need to mash them a bit.
4. Mix the butter in with the bananas, then beat in the egg.
5. Add the vanilla, maple syrup, baking soda, and sea salt.
6. Finally, mix in the sprouted flour. You don't need a mixer for this — you can just use a wooden spoon. Also, I don't sift — I just dump it in.
7. Butter a loaf pan (preferably enamelware) and spoon the banana bread mixture in.
8. Bake for about an hour.
9. Remove from oven. Let it cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
Yum, I love Banana Bread….I made a couple recently and used Rapadura instead of sugar….it worked a treat and the kids loved it. Your photo looks much prettier than mine did…definitely need a new camera ;)
Thanks so much for the recipe! I want to figure out ways to bake healthy & also try sprouted flour. I’m on a no sugar / no wheat diet right now, but in a month or so, I’ll be able to put this back in my rotation. (I try to follow a rotational diet due to food allergies right now).
On another note – I’ve really loved your website & others I’ve found through yours. I’m a WAPF member, but there are no chapter meetings & sometimes leaders don’t even respond to my emails for help / questions. So it’s very encouraging to find like-minded folks online.
Can this recipe be changed to a Pumpkin Bread recipe? My daughter Loooooves pumpkin bread.
This looks great!
Meredith’s last blog post..Movenpick Inspired Yogurt Muesli
Hi, Pam,
Here’s a recipe for pumpkin bread that looks pretty good:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pumpkinbread
Just sub the sprouted flour for regular flour, make sure you use “crispy” (soaked and dried) nuts, and use maple syrup or rapadura instead of brown sugar.
Hi, Jessie!
Where do you live? Maybe you could start a chapter… :-)
I’m going to post soon about how to use Meetup to start a local chapter. We started ours last month and already got over 80 members. It really helps to use Meetup because they advertise for you online and help you find like-minded people in your area.
Here’s our LA meetup group:
http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Whole-Food-Nutrition-Meetup-Group/
looks yummy thanks for sharing
Thank you for the recipe, and all of the other wonderful information that I have been reading at your site. I am so new to this, but am so interested. I am very encouraged to see so many young people trying to make a difference in their lives and the lives of their children.
peg’s last blog post..Passion: The Beach
Ha! Rebecca – that is amazing!
OMG your banana bread looks amazing! I just found your site and can’t wait to explore all your recipes.
thank you :)
Thank you for the recipe. I have been wanting to make something with my newly purchased sprouted ww flour and maple suryp. I also have five nice ripe bananas begging to be used. Now I can go and enjoy!
Hi, Evelyn, thank you.
I have not been posting as many recipes as I would like because I’ve been so busy launching Real Food Media. But I plan on slowing down some this spring/summer and doing more recipe testing and blogging!
I just put up this recipe index:
http://cheeseslave.com/recipes/
I will be adding to it a lot more soon!
Since I am now wheat free, I made my grandmothers banana bread recipe, using freshly ground brown rice. I of course subbed in butter, cream and raw honey.
It was almost identical to the original recipe!!!
Paula’s last blog post..Where life leads us
Thank God for healthy banana bread!!! It’s one of those recipes that is classic, and mostly everyone loves. I will be sure to try this!!! Thanks for adding it to the carnival – that’s how I found you!
I’m curious, did you mean baking powder? Since when did aluminum in baking soda become an issue? ;)
Alisse – my mistake! I was thinking of baking powder when I wrote that. But no, this recipe does call for baking soda.
Love the recipe link! Great idea!
My son has a milk allergy and I have been able to use coconut oil rather than butter when baking….just a thought for anyone who might have that issue. We love banana bread so I will definitely try your recipe. Thanks!
This recipe looks great–but wondering if there is a way to adapt it using regular organic flour you soak the night before as the dry sprouted flour is a bit pricey. Would pre-soaking it in say a cup of kefir just make the recipe too mushy?
Hey Annmarie,
I’m a new convert to whole foods, and I’m loving your blog! I have a couple of questions: What is the difference between yogurt, kefir, and buttermilk when you’re using them in recipes? I see them used, but I’m not sure why one is better to use than others for different recipes (like in breads, muffins, etc.).
And, the only source of raw milk I can find around here is goat milk…is there a particular reason you always call for raw cow’s milk…does goat milk work just as well?
Thanks!
Jennifer in Mississippi
Jennifer’s last blog post..Goooood advice!
all are different cultures…… kefir I believe has the most good bacteria.
when is the maple syrup added? am I supposed to drizzle it on top once its done baking or mix it in with the batter?…Im baking this in the oven right now but it doesnt say when to use the maple syrup in the directions so I kinda forgot it was one of the ingredients…will my banana bread taste bad because of this?
Add the maple syrup with everything else before baking. Sorry about that – I will fix the post.
Hi,
I love your blog!!!! And I thank you for taking the time to share all your knowledge with us newbies to NT.. I do have a question: we all love banana bread, however I have a 2 yr old that is allergic to eggs. I have been making regular banana bread without the egg that the recipe calls for and it turns out a little too moist but still tastes good. What NT friendly ingredient would you recommend in this recipe to substitute the egg? Sour cream? Applesauce? I am thinking the egg is used for moisture? Thanks!
Grind 1 T. flax seed and mix that with 3 T. water. Let sit till thick. Replaces one egg in a recipe. We don’t have egg allergies but sometimes I add this for extra omegas and fiber.
Ines,
I am not sure but I think the egg helps to bind. Sorry but I have no idea how to bake without eggs.
If it were me and my child was allergic, I would probably stop feeding him all grains and put him on the GAPS diet to heal his gut. Many food allergies can be reversed with this diet.
Ann Marie
Thank you Ann Marie. I will have to look into the GAPS diet. I did not even know you could reverse allergies… just the thought of her being able to eat the same things we do makes me smile!!!!
Thanks so much!
This is really delicious! I always love trying new banana bread recipes and I love the sprouted flour in this! :)
Hi Anne Marie, I made your banana bread recipe last night. It was delicious. The only problem I had was after I removed it from the oven the bread fell. It was baking at 350 for about 50 min when I tested it for doneness. After inserting a bread knife to check it the bread loaf flattened. I was wondering if this was a result of using sprouted flour, or not enough leavening. Thank you.
Did you figure out how to keep the bread from falling? I’ve made it twice- once according to the recipe and it fell big time. I made it again and decreased the temperature to 325 and increased the cooking time to about 90 minutes. It tested done with a knife in the center, but as it cooled it collapsed. It’s still doughy in the middle, but the crust is crunchy- almost overlooked, so I don’t think I could add more time without it getting too hard. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I totally had the same issue. I think I will be adding more flour next time, probably almost double, it had a very pourable consistency.
Someone in the family is allergic to wheat, what could be another option for us? I would love to have banana bread, but living wheat free hasn’t allowed much of that lol…I would definitely love to get a slice of that!
I love banana bread, a nice bonus when its super healthy
yours looks like an interesting site
yummy yum! THat looks so good. I love banana bread. I wonder if it would work with coconut flour
Made this last night using frozen/thawed very ripe bananas. It is delicious!! Thanks!
Ohhh yay! I am going to go make this right now, was hoping to find a healthy version of banana bread!!
This banana bread is delicious! I used spelt flour since I couldn’t find sprouted. Yummy!
I have been making this bread for a few years now (probably since you first posted it) and I love it. I linked to it here: http://www.gratefullynourished.com/gratefully-nourished/2011/12/12/gift-baskets-and-tiger-butter.html
because I used it for my Christmas baskets.
I am new at all of this blogging stuff, I hope it was alright that I linked to your recipe! Thank you so much.
Of course it’s all right! :-)
Anyone know if you can make this with almond flour?
We are still wheat free.
How much butter/oil?
I think the butter amount got deleted from the first time you posted this recipe, Ann Marie.
I have been making banana bread for years for my hubby, but now should switch to a healthier recipe.
You didn’t say how much butter is required.
Can anyone reply to butter amount?
I would probably use 1/4 to 1/3 cup butter. For quick breads I often see butter and sugar amounts roughly the same. Hope that helps. ;)
Hi, everybody. I’m sorry the butter amount got deleted somehow.
I think it was 1/4 cup. I fixed it.
I am going to actually make this recipe this morning and I will let you know how it comes out.
This is perfect! Substituted Amber Agave 1/8 cup instead of Maple and it was fantastic!!Thank you for your awesome recipe!!!!!!
I made a loaf of this today with my newly purchased bag of sprouted whole wheat. It was delicious!! I typically hate people who tweak recipes instead of making it ‘as written’ at least the first time but I only had two bananas and needed to make some adjustments. So I used two bananas and added a half of a can of pumpkin puree. I also used about a teaspoon or more of pumpkin pie spice to go along with the pumpkin. I also added a tablespoon of ground flax. It was amazing. SO moist and my family loves it. My husband said he would like it a little sweeter but I like the fact that it isn’t sickly sweet and cloying. I highly recommend this recipe! Thanks so much.
Can this be made with soaked flour, instead of sprouted? I haven’t yet made anything with sprouted flour (needs to be ordered and shipped, which I just haven’t gotten around to doing yet), but soak all grains in water/whey prior to baking. Seems like it would be possible, but don’t know how the extra moisture should be offset…?
I had the same problem as Theresa above with the loaf appearing to be done but collapsing and being complete mush inside. I’m thinking perhaps my 4 bananas were much larger than yours and 2 might have been enough.
Yay! I’ve been craving banana bread like crazy lately!! I can’t wait to try this. Aaaand I just found grassfed butter at a local raw dairy farm! I’m making this as soon as my bananas are ready!
This not only looks good but tastes awesome and so easy to make! Thanks for the recipe.
I am wheat free by choice. Sprouted flour would give me all sorts of problems. I am going to give it a try using “alternative ingredients.” Would this work to use almond flour/coconut flour? However, I am not trying to be rude by changing the recipe. Thanks.
Did you use a 4×8 or 5×9 pan? I just started baking with sprouted wheat but have only made 2 loaves of bread so far. I don’t find many recipes for sprouted wheat at this time. Could I use any recipes cup for cup using sprouted wheat but use Einkorn recipes or regular wheat recipes?
Great recipe! Can’t wait to try! If i wanted to add in blueberries can i just add them in or does something need to be modified? Thanks!