You know how banana bread is just an excuse to eat cake? Here’s a healthy banana bread recipe that’s actually healthy: and tastes good, too!

Banana bread is usually just an excuse to eat cake, right? Most banana bread recipes are full of oil, refined flour, and refined sugar, very much like a cake. Since that leaves Alex and me with a stomach ache and a sugar crash, we wanted to create a healthy spin on this popular treat. Here’s our healthy banana bread, made with no refined flour and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. And it actually tastes great! You may remember our “famous” Healthy Banana Muffins, lightly sweet and fluffy, made with oats and bananas in a blender. Well, this is the same concept: this time in bread form!

A few other options? Go to Vegan Banana Bread or Easy Banana Nut Bread.

How to make healthy banana bread

The starting point for this healthy banana read recipe is our Healthy Banana Muffins, which have quickly become a fan favorite. These muffins are blender muffins: you whiz oats, bananas, eggs, spices and maple syrup in a blender to make a quick and healthy muffin batter. That makes these muffins 100% whole grain, but they come out light and fluffy! These healthy banana muffins have become so popular that we wanted to try them in another way. Enter: our easy healthy banana bread recipe!

This healthy banana bread uses a blender to blend up oats, banana, eggs, spices, and maple syrup into a delicious batter that’s 100% whole grain. Using only oats makes it naturally gluten free too! The best part about it is that it tastes delicious and satisfying, but it doesn’t leave you with a sugar crash or make your stomach feel funky.

Slices of this banana bread are literally one of my favorite “treats” lately, and it’s made of all good-for-you ingredients. It’s literally like eating a banana and oatmeal, with drizzle of maple and oil drizzled on top. Our toddler Larson also gobbles it up, slathered with a bit of almond butter!

Why make this healthy banana bread?

OK, so let’s say you’re a banana bread lover because you love it as a sweet treat. If that’s you: don’t make this recipe! Stop right here and go over to our Chocolate Banana Bread.

But if you’re looking for an oatmeal banana bread that is lightly sweet, 100% whole grain, and full of good for you ingredients, then this one is for you! Remember that it’s not going to taste like the sugary-sweet kind, but lightly sweet in a nuanced way. And it will feel so good on your stomach, too. Oh, and it’s also naturally gluten free and dairy free. We’ve included a flax egg variation to make it vegan, too! One recipe tester tried it that way for us and loved it.

What type of bananas for banana bread?

For this healthy banana bread recipe, it’s best to have very ripe bananas. It’s worth waiting the few extra days for your bananas to ripen. To help the bananas ripen faster, store them in a brown paper bag and fold down the top. You can also add a few already ripe bananas or another piece of fruit to the bag to increase the amount of ethylene gas that helps it ripen.

The riper the better here: you can even use bananas that have turned black! Why do you need ripe bananas for banana bread? The texture and the sweetness of the bread very much depends on the ripeness of the banana. Using an under-ripe banana results in a flat-tasting bread.

What type of oats to use?

This healthy banana bread recipe has no refined flour, so it relies only on rolled oats as the “flour” component. These oats are ground in a blender into what becomes essentially oat flour. So if you have oat flour on hand you could use an equal quantity of oat flour instead of the rolled oats.

Whatever you do, do not substitute steel cut oats for rolled oats. Steel cut oats are very hard with a texture like rice, and will not blend in the same way that rolled oats do.

How long will homemade banana bread keep?

Can you put homemade banana bread in the refrigerator? Yes! Banana bread will keep for 1 to 2 days at room temperature, but you can extend its life by refrigerating it. Homemade banana bread lasts about 1 week in the refrigerator. Make sure to wrap it tightly in aluminum foil or place it in an airtight container.

More brunch recipes

This easy healthy banana bread is perfect for brunch! Here are a few more brunch recipe ideas:

This healthy banana bread recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy-free. For vegan and plant-based, try the flax egg variation below.