I know there are 28,758,583 banana bread recipes out there, but trust me.
Most bakers have a banana bread recipe they swear by. Somewhere along the way they found the worn out index card in Grandma’s recipe box. Or more recently, their bananas went bad again so they desperately searched on Pinterest “best banana bread recipe ever.”
I’ve baked plenty of excellent banana breads, muffins and cakes. But none of them are my great-grandmother’s recipe (which was from her sister, which was from another grandma, which was probably from Eve herself).
Other breads taste great. But to me, this one is better. It’s less crumbly, more dense, more deliciously like biting into a slice of my childhood than any other.
Especially when it’s slathered with butter.
My favorite part? Using whole wheat and replacing the sugar with honey hardly messes with the deliciousness.
Grandma's Healthier 1 Bowl Banana Bread
A delicious, one-bowl, whole grain, and naturally-sweetened version of my grandma's banana bread. It's the best, and no one can argue with me, because this is my grandma we're talking about.
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil or melted butter (coconut oil and palm shortening work great here)
- 1 1/2 cups flour, (all-purpose or whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup, (or 1 cup sugar)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, stirring well.
- Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 F for 1 hour, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool thoroughly before serving (trust me - it tastes better).
Notes
Variations:
This recipe doubles and triples easily. If you don't have a loaf pan, use a cake pan or muffin tins.
If you don't have quite enough bananas, applesauce, pumpkin puree, or mashed sweet potato makes a great substitute.
Dairy-Free
Use oil or palm shortening instead of butter.
Egg-Free
Replace the egg with a flax egg from this post.
To Freeze:
Cool completely (preferably overnight), wrap in plastic wrap or foil, seal in a gallon size freezer bag, label, and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 10 Serving Size 1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 280Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 40mgSodium 209mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 1gSugar 20gProtein 4g
Please note: The actual calories and nutrition of this dish will change depending on what ingredients you use. Nutrition information is not always accurate.
More Baked Awesome:
Simple Strawberry Breakfast Cake (Or What to Do with Blah Berries)
Mix-in-the-Pan Fruit & Oat Bars (Healthy enough for breakfast too!)
Going to make this right now! I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love banana bread!
We’ve made this several times now, because it’s so much simpler than all the others I’ve tried! I add a bit more flour, maybe 1 and 2/3c, and a touch more salt if using oil or unsalted butter. Pumpkin version is great, too, especially with a few chocolate chips thrown in. 🙂
I really like how this bread turned out! I had to make some changes based on what I had and it still turned out great! Flax seed instead of egg, half oat flour, extra banana because it was going bad, and sugar instead of honey. My favorite part about this recipe was that you just throw all the ingredients into a bowl at the same time Haha. Super easy 👍 thanks for another great recipe!
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked it. I change it very frequently, and the recipe always holds up really well.
We just found out we have a couple celiacs in our house, I know at one point you cooked with minimal gluten a while ago – do you have any familiarity with how to make this GF? All the flours / flour combos seem overwhelming to me. Thanks!
Hi Kate!
I totally get it. I was overwhelmed at first too. I found that almond flour or oat flour recipes worked great for me – a slightly simpler baby step. Paleo recipes worked better for me too. I just searched for recipes that used only 1-2 different flours. You might like this site too – Beth is a friend of mine who is Celiac! https://redandhoney.com/
Thanks Steph, that was really helpful! It came out great! – I added half an egg (I doubled the recipe so it was a whole egg) and used most of a recipe for GF all purpose flour mix. I’m checking out Beth’s website too!!