Over the years, my banana bread has evolved to become quite healthy. Well, it’s still a baked bread–BUT you don’t have to feel super guilty about eating it. I love mini-loaves and muffins to freeze for lunches, breakfast or after-school snacks.
If you haven’t jumped on the coconut oil bandwagon yet, it’s TIME. With the holidays coming up, coconut oil will be a lifesaver and you can find budget friendly varieties at Aldi and Costco. I also substitute in some canned pumpkin to keep it moist. I won’t say that butter is never used in our house, because you can’t have mashed potatoes without it, but we’ve cut way back on our usage of it.
This is the basic recipe, but feel free to have fun with different flavors of Greek yogurt. Add raspberry yogurt and white chips, or strawberry yogurt with mini dark chocolate chips. Forgo the chips all together and add blueberries. No matter what combination I’ve tried, the bread ends up fantastic.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1/4 cup flax seed (optional)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (vanilla is best!)
- 2-3 brown bananas , sliced or mashed
- Optional: raw sugar to sprinkle on top before baking
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Preheat the oven to 350.
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In a mixer, combine sugar, pumpkin and coconut oil. Add eggs, one at a time until mixed, then vanilla.
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In a small bowl, add flour, oatmeal, flax, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir together and slowly add to wet ingredients.
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Add yogurt and bananas. Mix together for about 1 minute.
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Pour into 1 bread pan or 4 mini loaf pans. Bake for 45-60 minutes. It depends on your oven. For a crunchy top, sprinkle with raw sugar before baking!
It looks so moist and delicious!! I will have to make some. Thanks for the recipe.
Your banana bread looks so yummy! And it's freezable? I'm in love =) I'm pinning this for later!
Thank you for pinning! It's freezable for up to 3 months…but honestly, it barely lasts a month in our house!
I love banana bread. What's funny is that I have to write a "Best banana bread" article on Monday for CBS Detroit 😛 wish I could use yours! (has to be stores/restaurants, I think)
Would you believe I've never had banana bread? This looks so good. I may need to try it.
WHAT?! You need to try it!
That sounds really good. I love healthy.
I try to healthify everything I make–yogurt is one of my go-tos!
By oatmeal, do you mean raw oats or actually cooked oatmeal?