Want to convert your banana bread recipe to 100% whole grains? This recipe is quick enough for busy mornings, sweet enough for dessert, and hearty enough for a snack that keeps you full all morning. An excellent use for over-ripe bananas and so easy to make with freshly ground whole grains.
Banana bread is a favorite of everyone in our house — for breakfast, snack, and even dessert, so when I decided to make over my old stand-by recipe to 100% freshly ground whole grains, everyone got a little nervous.
After all, my original recipe was passed down from my mom, maybe even my Grandma, so it stood the test of time. However, I was confident I could make a healthier loaf without sacrificing flavor…
This banana bread was my first attempt to swap whole grain flour for store-bought… and after just a few tweaks, my entire family was completely sold!
This bread is extremely flavorful and moist, and there are several variations you can try to best appeal to your family’s taste buds (keep reading)!
What if you don’t grind grain?
That’s totally fine! This recipe will work with 100% all-purpose flour from the store if that’s what you have on hand.
You could also try a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat flour… however, I would not use 100% whole wheat flour from the store as it’s much dryer and denser than freshly ground wheat berries.
After more than 5 years of tweaking and re-making many of our beloved recipes using 100% freshly ground whole grains, this banana bread still tops our list of favorites!
I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!
Ingredients for Whole Grain Banana Bread
- 5 overripe bananas; mashed (I freeze and defrost mine so they are extra mushy)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c. applesauce (or melted butter or oil)
- 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- 1/2 c. honey (or granulated sugar)
- 1 T. vanilla extract
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 3.5 c. whole grain flour* (I use 450 grams of freshly ground soft wheat, spelt, and oat flours)
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1 t. salt
NOTE: You may substitute whatever flour you have in the house in place of whole grain.
Optional Ingredients
- 1/2 c. – 1 c. optional nuts, granola, or chocolate chips to mix into the batter or sprinkle on top
- 1/3 c. optional cinnamon sugar to layer in the batter and/or sprinkle on top
- 1 c. powdered sugar + 2 T. milk to make an optional glaze for the top
NOTE: You can reduce the honey/sugar a bit if you layer cinnamon sugar in the middle and on top of the batter.
TIP: Use defrosted frozen bananas!
Over-ripe bananas on my counter are not awesome as they smell and attract fruit flies. So whenever our bananas get even slightly over-ripe, I immediately pop them in the freezer (with the skin on).
Your bananas will last significantly longer in the freezer, and if you freeze them with the peels on, they won’t stick together.
Also, in my personal opinion, frozen and defrosted bananas are much sweeter than fresh bananas so they require less added sugar in the recipe.
If you haven’t tried freezing your bananas for baking yet, do it!
How to make whole grain banana bread.
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease two 8″ x 4″ loaf pans.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas until they are very smooth.
4. Add eggs, applesauce, yogurt, honey, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Add in flour, powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until just combined.
6. Add in any of the optional mix-ins (or save these to sprinkle on top)
7. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the whole-grain flour can absorb the liquid.
8. Pour batter into prepared pans and sprinkle with optional toppings, or layer with cinnamon sugar if desired.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes (35 minutes for 9″ x 5″ pans or 20 minutes for muffins).
10. Remove pans from oven and let the bread cool IN pans for 10 minutes.
11. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on a wire rack.
12. Drizzle still-warm loaves with glaze if desired.
13. Eat and enjoy (or freeze for later).
Banana Bread Recipe Variations:
Our kids love this bread as an after-school snack, and then as “leftovers” for breakfast the next morning.
If I want to make it fresh in the morning, I usually put the batter into muffin tins to reduce the baking time (only 20 minutes for muffins!)
With chocolate chips and granola sprinkled on top.
With cinnamon-sugar layered once in the middle of the batter, and then sprinkled on top.
With a powdered sugar glaze poured over top.
With sliced bananas (not over-ripe) pressed into the top of the batter before baking.
I’ve also made it into mini loaves (3 mini loaves = 1 regular loaf) which are PERFECT for gifts!
How to Store Banana Bread
We can easily polish off 2 full-size loaves in 24 hours… but if not, this bread freezes wonderfully in a sealed zip-top bag.
Banana bread can sit at room temperature for 24 hours, but after that, I like to freeze or refrigerate it since there are so many “wet” ingredients.
Keep in mind, that refrigerated bread will dry out faster (which is why I usually freeze it).
Whole Grain Banana Bread
This banana bread recipe is quick enough for busy mornings, sweet enough for dessert, and hearty enough for a snack that keeps you full all morning. An excellent use for over-ripe bananas, with lots of whole grains for extra fiber… and chocolate chips for extra deliciousness!
Ingredients
- 5 overripe bananas; mashed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c. applesauce (or melted butter or oil)
- 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- 1/2 c. honey (or granulated sugar)
- 1 T. vanilla extract
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 3.5 c. whole grain flour (450 grams) you may use all-purpose flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1 t. salt
- 1 c. nuts, granola, or chocolate chips (optional)
- 1/3 c. cinnamon sugar to layer in the batter and/or sprinkle on top (optional)
- 1 c. powdered sugar + 2 T. milk to make a glaze (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- 2. Grease two 8″ x 4″ loaf pans.
- 3. In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas until they are very smooth.
- 4. Add eggs, applesauce, yogurt, honey, and vanilla and mix well.
- 5. Add in flour, powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until just combined.
- 6. Add in any of the optional mix-ins (or save these to sprinkle on top)
- 7. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the whole-grain flour can absorb the liquid.
- 8. Pour batter into prepared pans and sprinkle with optional toppings, or layer with cinnamon sugar if desired.
- 9. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes (35 minutes for 9″ x 5″ pans or 20 minutes for muffins).
- 10. Remove pans from oven and let the bread cool IN pans for 10 minutes.
- 11. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on a wire rack.
- 12. Drizzle still-warm loaves with glaze if desired.
- 13. Eat and enjoy (or freeze for later).
Notes
Using frozen and defrosted over-ripe bananas makes for the best quick breads!
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Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 212Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 16mgSodium 236mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 2gSugar 19gProtein 5g
Nutritional information is approximate and does not account for additional ingredients or added toppings.
A few more recipes for overripe bananas:
- Chocolate chip banana muffins/bread
- Frosted Banana Cake
- Zucchini Banana Sheet Cake (with cream cheese frosting)
- Double chocolate banana oat muffins (gluten-free)
- Banana chocolate chip pancakes (grain-free and dairy-free)
- Chocolate-covered banana popsicles
What are you waiting for… go stock up on overripe bananas and make some whole-grain banana bread!!!
Do you have a favorite quick bread recipe?
Visit my virtual recipe box for more simple, delicious, family-friendly recipes!
Mary says
I love banana bread and realize that for most people it is a great way to use extra fruit. I struggle to get it done in the middle without the edges being too dry. Am I the only one with this issue?
Andrea says
Hi Mary — one thought is that you could make banana muffins instead (they will cook faster and usually don’t have the same issue of “soggy middles” like bread loaves.
Also, are you using enough flour? Sometimes, if your dough is too “runny” it will take extra long to bake all the way through in the middle.
One more suggestion, you could try tenting the bread with aluminum foil after 20-30 minutes of baking so the top doesn’t get too brown.
Hope this helps!
Mary says
I have tried some of your suggestions and they are fine but just puzzled why no one else seems to have the problem. Never thought that I might need to add more flour and can experiment with that. Thanks for your help!
Danielle Henzel says
I know this is not a quick bread but have you made your English muffin bread with whole grains? I have successfully done it using 50/50 (using Bob’s red mill w/w pastry flour ) but have not tried 100% yet.
Andrea says
I’ve made that recipe with 50/50 and with 75/25 (75 whole grain) and it has turned out fine. I haven’t tried 100% yet.
Natalia says
Banana Bread was on my plan for today and when I saw your post I knew I had to try this version! Thank you! The kids are now in bed and the bread is in the oven, baking… I can hardly wait!
Andrea says
hope you love it!!
JJ says
Oh, my!!! Yummm!!! Have you made it without sour cream or yogurt? My crew has milk allergies, but if I could sub it for something else they would eat this up!!! We use vegan “butter” so I wonder if I could melt that? Thanks!!!
Andrea says
yes, you can definitely do this without the sour cream/yogurt. Maybe us a bit more applesauce or oil (or the vegan butter) if the batter seems dry.
Margaret says
That blob of yogurt in the photo looks like an alien–or a ghost. Complete with eyes. What ARE you baking with???
Natalia says
Haha! You made me scroll back and look 🙂
Andrea says
haha — no ghosts or aliens in our kitchen (that I know of!)
Valerie says
I prefer to take my ripe bananas out of the peel and cut in chunks to freeze. I do this for smoothie recipes. I can see that being a challenge, though, if your bananas are so overripe that they’re mushy (which happens to me…a lot!)
Andrea says
yes, I mentioned this in my post about the over ripe bananas… I DO peel some of our bananas and cut into chucks for smoothies. However, we like banana bread more than smoothies so I usually just leave them whole!
Jenny says
Have you ever tried making these into muffins? I love making your other banana muffin recipe into mini muffins. I keep them in the freezer and are easy for little hands and good for a quick snack. thanks! Looks yummy!
Jenny says
Have you ever tried making these into muffins? I love making your other banana muffin recipe into mini muffins. I keep them in the freezer and are easy for little hands and good for a quick snack. thanks! Looks yummy!
Andrea says
yeah, I think it goes without saying that ANY bread recipe can also be a muffin recipe. Just adjust the baking time for muffins versus bread (probably 18 minutes for regular muffins, 15 for mini)
Kim says
I’m so excited about this recipe! I’ve been trying to bake more healthfully and have struggled with keeping breads moist with whole grains. This recipe looks like it might be the answer!
Andrea says
hopefully you love it too!
Kim says
We did! So much so that I’m making it often! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Andrea says
so happy to hear this!! Thanks for sharing!
Jody says
Looks delicious!! I am making your loaded kale salad tonight. I will add this to my food prep for next week!!
Andrea says
yum!! I’m having the kale salad for lunch today again!
Cindy says
I have followed you for years and wondering how you got started on your whole grain journey. I am beginning to change our eating habits to a more natural environment and the grains intrigue me. I would love it if you did a post or maybe you have, and I have missed it. Where you buy your grains? How much do you buy? Do you store a certain way? Do you only grind up what you are going to use? How do you modify regular recipes to substitute whole grains? These are some of my questions. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Andrea says
haha — there are LOTS of blogs and websites out there devoted to grains. I am not one of them as many (most) of my readers don’t read my blog to get information about grains.
I did TONS of research before diving into grinding my own grain… which is what I’d suggest for you too. Figure out what YOU want for YOUR family and lifestyle and then go that route!
Oh, and I believe I linked to the post I wrote earlier this year about my whole grain journey. I’m not on my computer right now, but if you click on that link (in this post) or search my website for “whole grain” you should be able to find it!