This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This healthy banana bread recipe is easy to make, naturally gluten-free, and full of the best rich banana-y flavors.
Friends, do you have an amazing healthy banana bread recipe in your back pocket these days?
If not, I can’t recommend this one enough. ♡
It’s basically a simple adaptation of my favorite healthy banana muffins recipe turned into — you guessed it — banana bread. And it is everything you could want in a good banana bread and more.
First and most importantly, I love this recipe because is deliciously banana-forward. There are a few delicious warming spices and vanilla mixed into the batter too, but they are firmly in the supporting role here so that the bananas (hopefully nice and brown and deliciously over-ripe!) can be the stars of the show here. I also love this recipe because it is naturally sweetened with just a half cup of maple syrup, which adds a wonderful subtle touch of flavor and also prevents this bread from being overly sweet. It’s also naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, easy to prep in just 10 minutes or so, and it bakes up to be perfectly rich and moist. But most impressively — especially with this list of healthier ingredients — it is just legit delicious.
We go back and forth in our house between making banana bread and banana muffins, so feel free to go with whatever works best for you. But for everyone who has requested a lightened-up banana bread recipe, here’s how I make mine!
Healthier Banana Bread Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Healthy Banana Bread Ingredients:
To make this healthy banana bread recipe, you will need the following ingredients (see the full recipe below for detailed amounts and instructions):
Mashed ripe bananas: Preferably over-ripe, so that they will add extra sweetness and rich flavor to the recipe. Just mash and pack them tightly into a measuring cup to measure the correct amount. (1 cup typically equals two medium bananas.)
Old-fashioned oats: Which we will pulse in the blender or food processor until they are finely ground to make our oat flour. (Or, you can just use store-bought oat flour instead.)
Pumpkin pie spice: Turns out this spice blend pairs just as deliciously with bananas as it does pumpkin!
Almond milk: Or your favorite kind of plain nut milk, oat milk or cow’s milk.
Maple syrup: Or you could sub in honey if you prefer.
Mix the dry ingredients. Which we will do in a blender or food processor — puréeing the oats into flour before adding the other ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients. Then, in a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. And gently fold the dry ingredients into them. (Be careful not to overmix the batter!)
Bake. Pour the batter into a 9 x 5-inch bread pan, bake until the bread is nice and golden on top and passes the toothpick test, then let it rest on a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes.
Serve. Then I highly recommend enjoying your first slice while the bread is still nice and warm — there’s nothing better!
Optional Add-Ins:
I’m one of those people who loves my homemade banana bread straight-ahead, no-frills, just-as-it-is plain. ;) But for those of you who love those extra add-ins, feel free to include some…
Chocolate chips: Because…chocolate. You can either sprinkle them on top of the bread, or fold a handful into the batter.
Nuts or seeds: Such as pepitas, pecans, sunflower seeds, walnuts, etc. You can either sprinkle them on top of the bread, or fold a handful into the batter.
Dried fruit: Dried cranberries, raisins, apricots…whatever you love.
Turbinado sugar: If you would like the bread to be a bit sweeter (and also give the crust an extra crunch), I also love sprinkling a few generous pinches of turbinado sugar on top of the batter just before baking.
A maple glaze: Or you could make a glaze! Simply whisk together powdered sugar and maple syrup until they form a glaze-like consistency, and drizzle over your bread for extra sweetness.
Prep oven and bread pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 5-inch bread pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. Purée oats in a blender or food processor until they reach a flour-like consistency. Add in the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and sea salt, and pulse until the mixture is evenly combined. Set aside.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mashed banana, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract until evenly combined. Fold the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredient mixture, and stir until the mixture is just combined. (Try to avoid over-mixing.)
Bake. Pour the batter into the bread pan and spread it out evenly. (If you would like a sweeter bread, you can sprinkle the top of the batter evenly with turbinado sugar.) Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Remove pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
Serve. Serve warm. Or let the bread cool to room temperature, then store in a sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Oat flour amount: If using store-bought (pre-ground) oat flour, you will need 240 grams (which equals 2 cups or 8.4 ounces) of oat flour. As always if you are making this recipe gluten-free, double-check the label to see that your oats are certified gluten-free.
How much oat flour would you use in cups? i don’t know how much 240grams or 8.4 ounces (is that just under 1 1/2 cups of flour? Thank you..I really want to make this!
Looks amazing! Would this work with pumpkin instead of banana? My boyfriend is allergic to bananas! I’ll definitely make this version for myself, though. ;)
I imagine that a flax egg would work, but haven’t tested it. If you give it a try, would love to hear how it goes!
Zia —
I make this all the time and just sub 2 tbsp ground flax+6tbsp warm water instead of eggs! Perfect every time.
Amy —
I make this often with flax eggs (2.5 TB flax and 6TB warm water, let sit for at least 5 mins before using). Perfect every single time. LOVE this recipe!
I just happen to have some ripe bananas….if it taste as good as it looks, I’m going to love it. My grandsons have a lot of allergies, and your healthy ingredients is just what I’m looking for. I’ve enjoyed so many of your recipes!
? yummy! Easy to make and not too sweet? I used applesauce instead of coconut oil, and honey ? instead of syrup. I look forward to spreading a little peanut butter on for breakfast!
Ceci F —
Hi! Can we use peanut butter instead coconut oil?
So excited to try this recipe! Yum!
This looks delicious, and healthy too. Any thoughts on using the batter to make muffins? Any idea you can help with on how long to cook them? Thanks for the great looking recipe.
Ali I make these muffins weekly and am so excited to make it into bread too! I have tried both flax egg and regular eggs and both hold up extremely well and were so popular in my school lunchroom with my coworkers! Love this!
Made this last night to bring to a new mom where they don’t eat processed sugar and stay away from flour – so it was perfect. I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top and also left mine in 55 minutes. Do you find this bread is a bit more “wet” (more like a pumpkin bread) than a typical banana bread? Just wondering if I should have baked it for longer or if the consistency is different because the oat as a binder is different than flour. REGARDLESS, the flavor is good – not super sweet.
This is very tasty. I love that it’s not as strong a banana flavor as most are. It’s very subtle. The texture is a bit fragile but if you use a serrated knife it works well. It is not overly sweet at all. In fact I added about 1/4 cup sugar as I ran low on the maple syrup and you could not tell except for the little bit i sprinkled on top as suggested. I ate it warm , not hot with butter. it was delicious and really reminds me of a gluten free/paleo bread I buy at Farmers market. I will absolutely make this a bunch more!! I think I’ll also sugar the whole pan after greasing it. So happy to have found this on the web!
This was amazing! I never used oat flour before so I was skeptical how it would turn out. I used rolled oats and pulverized them with my food processor. This recipe was quick, easy and delicious! This will definitely be my go to banana bread recipe.
Hi, the inside of the bread is too wet. It has been on the oven for over 50 min. and it doesn’t seem to be changing. Every time I do the toothpick test it comes out being too moist. What should I do?
For those who found the inside being a more wet texture after baking – I kept it in the oven for 1 hour and found that after it cooled down around an hour later the structure was perfect.
If you attempt to cut a slice immediately after it leaves the oven, it breaks apart and is still wet (yet still delicious!) But if you wait, it will be worth it to get the banana bread consistency.
I’ve made these twice. It’s a great GF recipe, my 16 year old son is GF & has Crohn’s. I made a couple of modifications for round 2. I used melted butter, low fat milk & added some fresh ground nutmeg. They make great muffins! Only 4 muffins left in the double batch, 2 dozen muffins, I made last night!
#4 under instructions section says muffins. Di you mean to use the word bread? First time I made oatmeal flour. It gives the bread a nice texture. I will make this a second time, and will somehow add a little more sweetness and a little more pumpkin spice.
I’ve been wanting to make this for a while and finally did this morning. I was suspicious of it, but wanted to try it as an alternative to my traditional banana bread that is loaded with sugar (but oh so good). I have to say, this turned out better than I expected. It has a nice texture and was pretty easy to pull together, though a few extra steps than if you made it traditionally.
I will say, a full cup of almond milk would be WAY too much. I was looking at my mixture and thinking there is no way this needs a full cup. I had combined all of my wet ingredients except the milk. I added in the dry and mixed to see the consistency. I ended up adding only 1/4 C. of almond milk when I felt it was at the right consistency for banana bread. I baked it for 45 minutes and the texture was perfect. It would have been soup if I had added all of the milk. So beware of that.
I added some chocolate chips and sprinkled with turbinado sugar. I will likely make this again!
Sonia —
Thanks so much for your comment/tip regarding the milk-totally agree that 1 cup is way too much. I have made over 6 oat flour banana bread recipes using milk and found the more milk used (anything over 1/2 cup) ends up in a pudding-like banana bread! The science behind it is something to do with the ratio of wet ingredients to dry. I am using 1/4 cup of milk as you suggest. Thanks again from a baker who loves tasty baked goods !
This recipe was fantastic! I doubled it and used 3TBS coconut oil and 3 TSP of Apple sauce, subbed honey for the maple syrup and added dark chocolate chips! This is going to be a new staple
I am not much of a baker or cook, but with extra time on my hands due to safer at home orders, I’ve been trying all kinds of new things, including many of your recipes. Thank you! I’ve now made this banana bread twice in about three weeks, and it’s a real winner. I was amazed to learn that I could use my blender for something other than smoothies :) I didn’t even pay attention to the fact that it is a gluten-free and dairy-free recipe, but now I’ve shared it with a few of my friends who have these dietary restrictions, and they’re excited to try it.
The one note I have that may be helpful to others is that each time I made the bread, I only used about 1/2 cup of almond milk, as I thought that a full cup was going to result in batter that was too thin. The bread turned out beautifully each time, but I preferred it when I baked it for 55 minutes the second time around, as opposed to 50 minutes the first time, when the bread was a bit too moist for me and fell apart more than I would have liked.
So moist and delicious! Made a loaf last week with 2 cups store bought oat flour. Was very good but didn’t totally set up. Made today using 2 1/4 C store bought oat flour. Texture was better.
(Should also mention last week subbed one of the Tbsp of coconut oil – I ran out – with butter. This week I replaced all the coconut oil with butter. Will try with oil as instructed in recipe next time around.)
This has been added to our list of rotating regulars. Thx for the great recipe!
So good! As usual we bought bananas and forgot about them. I am trying to lose weight so I started out looking for a lighter version but something about this gluten free version caught my eye. I bought my usual almond milk made with bananas instead of unsweetened almond milk so I cut the maple syrup in half. I also bought Bob’s oat flour. It’s moist, flavorful and made the house smell AMAZING. I’m just bummed I didn’t grab chocolate chips to add for the roommate. I think I’ll make a batch tomorrow in muffin form for him.
One of my favorite recipes – have made this 6 + times and love it. Have use maple syrup or honey with success. I’d like to try it with pumpkin purée- anyone tried this?
Tasted good but was the texture and consistency of baked oatmeal rather than bread. Too moist to slice and toast. I followed directions and baked even longer than recipe called for due to moisture content.
Perfect Recipe! Thanks!!
I used honey instead of syrup
Vegetable oil instead of coconut
And normal low fat milk
I also added a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips..
It took 65 minutes in the oven but turned out just perfect!!
I entered this recipe in whisk after I omitted the eggs and substituted avocado oil:
Nutrition per serving
Calories
176.97kcal
9%
Total Fat
5.39g
8%
Carbs
29.36g
11%
Sugars
9.79g
11%
Protein
3.61g
7%
Sodium
123.24mg
6%
Fiber
2.94g
11%
Percent Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
View all nutrients
Glycemic Index
55
Low
Glycemic Load
16
Moderate
This looks amazing! I’m totally going to have to give this a try with our next batch of ripe bananas!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
This looks amazing Ali. So healthy and yummy!! Can not wait to try this.
How much oat flour would you use in cups? i don’t know how much 240grams or 8.4 ounces (is that just under 1 1/2 cups of flour? Thank you..I really want to make this!
You would need 2 cups of oat flour (measured by scooping the flour into a measuring cup with a spoon, so that you don’t accidentally overfill it).
I made this today.Added some raisins and walnuts
.Really nice..your recipes are simple and easy to do.❤
Looks amazing! Would this work with pumpkin instead of banana? My boyfriend is allergic to bananas! I’ll definitely make this version for myself, though. ;)
Looks terrific! Do you have any advice for an egg-replacer here? Perhaps flax meal?
I imagine that a flax egg would work, but haven’t tested it. If you give it a try, would love to hear how it goes!
I make this all the time and just sub 2 tbsp ground flax+6tbsp warm water instead of eggs! Perfect every time.
I make this often with flax eggs (2.5 TB flax and 6TB warm water, let sit for at least 5 mins before using). Perfect every single time. LOVE this recipe!
Looks wonderful! Can you please consider adding nutritional analysis to your recipes! I am sure many people would appreciate that!
I just happen to have some ripe bananas….if it taste as good as it looks, I’m going to love it. My grandsons have a lot of allergies, and your healthy ingredients is just what I’m looking for. I’ve enjoyed so many of your recipes!
Wonderful, hope that you all enjoy it! :)
I’m going to make your banana bread tomorrow – it looks fantastic!!! Do you think I could use “flax eggs” instead making it vegan? Thanks Linda
Hi Linda! I haven’t tried the recipe before with flax eggs, but imagine they would work. Let me know how it turns out if you give them a try! :)
HI Linda, I’m curious if you made this with flax eggs? Thinking of trying it myself. :)
? yummy! Easy to make and not too sweet? I used applesauce instead of coconut oil, and honey ? instead of syrup. I look forward to spreading a little peanut butter on for breakfast!
Hi! Can we use peanut butter instead coconut oil?
So excited to try this recipe! Yum!
I love ur recipes thank u for sharing
This looks delicious, and healthy too. Any thoughts on using the batter to make muffins? Any idea you can help with on how long to cook them? Thanks for the great looking recipe.
Ali I make these muffins weekly and am so excited to make it into bread too! I have tried both flax egg and regular eggs and both hold up extremely well and were so popular in my school lunchroom with my coworkers! Love this!
Made this last night to bring to a new mom where they don’t eat processed sugar and stay away from flour – so it was perfect. I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top and also left mine in 55 minutes. Do you find this bread is a bit more “wet” (more like a pumpkin bread) than a typical banana bread? Just wondering if I should have baked it for longer or if the consistency is different because the oat as a binder is different than flour. REGARDLESS, the flavor is good – not super sweet.
Excellent! So tasty and if kept me full for hours! Thank you for this great recipe!!!
This is very tasty. I love that it’s not as strong a banana flavor as most are. It’s very subtle. The texture is a bit fragile but if you use a serrated knife it works well. It is not overly sweet at all. In fact I added about 1/4 cup sugar as I ran low on the maple syrup and you could not tell except for the little bit i sprinkled on top as suggested. I ate it warm , not hot with butter. it was delicious and really reminds me of a gluten free/paleo bread I buy at Farmers market. I will absolutely make this a bunch more!! I think I’ll also sugar the whole pan after greasing it. So happy to have found this on the web!
Very nice recipe. We have to try. So easy, flavorful and delicious.
This was amazing! I never used oat flour before so I was skeptical how it would turn out. I used rolled oats and pulverized them with my food processor. This recipe was quick, easy and delicious! This will definitely be my go to banana bread recipe.
We ❤️ banana bread
Sounds delish! Can I make the batter the night before & put it in the fridge, or would it settle?
WOW! this tips are amazing. Can you come to Barcelona and give me two? Ahahah
Thank you.
You can visit my web about spanish language school barcelona https://expanish.com/school-barcelona/
Hi, the inside of the bread is too wet. It has been on the oven for over 50 min. and it doesn’t seem to be changing. Every time I do the toothpick test it comes out being too moist. What should I do?
Perfection! I added in a couple handfuls of dark chocolate chips and toasted pecans. Oh my! Delicious and healthy, we all loved it!
For those who found the inside being a more wet texture after baking – I kept it in the oven for 1 hour and found that after it cooled down around an hour later the structure was perfect.
If you attempt to cut a slice immediately after it leaves the oven, it breaks apart and is still wet (yet still delicious!) But if you wait, it will be worth it to get the banana bread consistency.
This is incredibly delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Kitchen Utensils Review
I’m looking for the nutritional details for this recipe, but can’t locate them on the blog post. Could you please share :)
I’ve also been looking for this! Would be wonderful they shared those details with us :)
I’ve made these twice. It’s a great GF recipe, my 16 year old son is GF & has Crohn’s. I made a couple of modifications for round 2. I used melted butter, low fat milk & added some fresh ground nutmeg. They make great muffins! Only 4 muffins left in the double batch, 2 dozen muffins, I made last night!
#4 under instructions section says muffins. Di you mean to use the word bread? First time I made oatmeal flour. It gives the bread a nice texture. I will make this a second time, and will somehow add a little more sweetness and a little more pumpkin spice.
I’ve been wanting to make this for a while and finally did this morning. I was suspicious of it, but wanted to try it as an alternative to my traditional banana bread that is loaded with sugar (but oh so good). I have to say, this turned out better than I expected. It has a nice texture and was pretty easy to pull together, though a few extra steps than if you made it traditionally.
I will say, a full cup of almond milk would be WAY too much. I was looking at my mixture and thinking there is no way this needs a full cup. I had combined all of my wet ingredients except the milk. I added in the dry and mixed to see the consistency. I ended up adding only 1/4 C. of almond milk when I felt it was at the right consistency for banana bread. I baked it for 45 minutes and the texture was perfect. It would have been soup if I had added all of the milk. So beware of that.
I added some chocolate chips and sprinkled with turbinado sugar. I will likely make this again!
Thanks so much for your comment/tip regarding the milk-totally agree that 1 cup is way too much. I have made over 6 oat flour banana bread recipes using milk and found the more milk used (anything over 1/2 cup) ends up in a pudding-like banana bread! The science behind it is something to do with the ratio of wet ingredients to dry. I am using 1/4 cup of milk as you suggest. Thanks again from a baker who loves tasty baked goods !
Loved it! Do you have nutritional values?
This recipe was fantastic! I doubled it and used 3TBS coconut oil and 3 TSP of Apple sauce, subbed honey for the maple syrup and added dark chocolate chips! This is going to be a new staple
I am not much of a baker or cook, but with extra time on my hands due to safer at home orders, I’ve been trying all kinds of new things, including many of your recipes. Thank you! I’ve now made this banana bread twice in about three weeks, and it’s a real winner. I was amazed to learn that I could use my blender for something other than smoothies :) I didn’t even pay attention to the fact that it is a gluten-free and dairy-free recipe, but now I’ve shared it with a few of my friends who have these dietary restrictions, and they’re excited to try it.
The one note I have that may be helpful to others is that each time I made the bread, I only used about 1/2 cup of almond milk, as I thought that a full cup was going to result in batter that was too thin. The bread turned out beautifully each time, but I preferred it when I baked it for 55 minutes the second time around, as opposed to 50 minutes the first time, when the bread was a bit too moist for me and fell apart more than I would have liked.
So moist and delicious! Made a loaf last week with 2 cups store bought oat flour. Was very good but didn’t totally set up. Made today using 2 1/4 C store bought oat flour. Texture was better.
(Should also mention last week subbed one of the Tbsp of coconut oil – I ran out – with butter. This week I replaced all the coconut oil with butter. Will try with oil as instructed in recipe next time around.)
This has been added to our list of rotating regulars. Thx for the great recipe!
So good! As usual we bought bananas and forgot about them. I am trying to lose weight so I started out looking for a lighter version but something about this gluten free version caught my eye. I bought my usual almond milk made with bananas instead of unsweetened almond milk so I cut the maple syrup in half. I also bought Bob’s oat flour. It’s moist, flavorful and made the house smell AMAZING. I’m just bummed I didn’t grab chocolate chips to add for the roommate. I think I’ll make a batch tomorrow in muffin form for him.
One of my favorite recipes – have made this 6 + times and love it. Have use maple syrup or honey with success. I’d like to try it with pumpkin purée- anyone tried this?
Tasted good but was the texture and consistency of baked oatmeal rather than bread. Too moist to slice and toast. I followed directions and baked even longer than recipe called for due to moisture content.
Great healthy recipe.
I loved this healthy alternative! I may try it in an 9 x 13 pan so I can cut it into bars as a replacement of the store bought ones ?
I look forward to trying this but would REALLY appreciate the nutritional details. I see a few other requests for those here as well. Thanks!
The best!! Perfect consistency and not too sweet at all, just the way I like it! Thanks Ali!! Another home run.
I don’t see the nutritional values so it’s making me nervous. It will be greatly helpful if you indicate that for any recipe.
Thank you
Our family loves this bread! And I love that it’s not sickeningly sweet. We make a triple batch and freeze the leftovers.
Perfect Recipe! Thanks!!
I used honey instead of syrup
Vegetable oil instead of coconut
And normal low fat milk
I also added a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips..
It took 65 minutes in the oven but turned out just perfect!!
This was really good! I probably could’ve blitzed my oatmeal a little longer but still enjoyed the results.
I used avacado oil and skipped the eggs. It is delicious! Now I have to log it in my noom app. Thank you for sharing ♡
I entered this recipe in whisk after I omitted the eggs and substituted avocado oil:
Nutrition per serving
Calories
176.97kcal
9%
Total Fat
5.39g
8%
Carbs
29.36g
11%
Sugars
9.79g
11%
Protein
3.61g
7%
Sodium
123.24mg
6%
Fiber
2.94g
11%
Percent Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
View all nutrients
Glycemic Index
55
Low
Glycemic Load
16
Moderate
Best banana bread I’ve ever had, healthy or not. :)
Thank you so much for this delicious, healthy recipe. I’m making it for the second time, it was so good.