I can’t help but think of when my kids were little each time I bake banana bread. Both my son and my daughter loved it. They still do. I used to make it more often back then because it just seemed like a healthy snack that I knew they’d love. To make it easier for their little hands to eat, I’d always cut their slice into fingers; just strips about an inch wide so that they’d be able to pick it up easily. It’s a joke in our house. Anytime I ask if they’d like a slice, I quietly cut it into those fingers before sliding it in front of them. They both get the same nostalgic, sweet grin on their faces. It’s those moments when you wish time would just slow down already!
So, who knew talking about banana bread would get me so emotional?
This bread has changed over the years. Back then, I made this only with all purpose flour, much more sugar and oil and didn’t use any spices. I think of this as my grown up banana bread! But, no matter how grown up I am, or my kids are…I still cut our slices into fingers!
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- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup granulated sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil or a light flavored olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 medium bananas, mashed
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped and toasted (optional)
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (optional)
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line one loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar together. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the oil, yogurt and vanilla extract. Add the banana and mix well.
- Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture, add the walnuts and mix with a spoon just until combined.
- Pour into the prepared loaf pan and if you'd like, I run a knife gently down the top of the loaf, then sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a baking rack completely before storing.
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If you love banana bread like we do, take a peek at this Coconut Pecan Banana Bread!
Hi Caroline,
I absolutely LOVE your banada bread recipe, have made it several times and family loves it! I would like to make the recipe into muffins, do you know what the cooking time would be? Also, if I wanted to add blueberries or chocolate chips, would it be the same 1/2 cup as the walnuts? Thank you!
Thanks so much, Nirvi! Love hearing that you and your family enjoy this bread so much! Muffins are a great idea! Although I haven’t made muffins with this particular recipe, I would bake them at 350 degrees and test them at 20 minutes, depending on how full the tins are. They may take up to 25 minutes for a really full tin. Blueberries and chocolate chips both sound yummy…yes, 1/2 cup, even in addition to the walnuts will work well. I hope that helps and hope that you love the muffins! :)
Why couldn’t mix well together ?
Owzer, with any quick bread or muffin, overmixing the batter will yield a tough end result.
I just made this banana bread — only with 5 very ripe bananas. I couldn’t find my turbinado sugar so I sprinkled some light brown sugar on top. Didn’t have yogurt so used sour cream. Good banana flavor, not overly sweet – just right! Thank you for this recipe — I will definitely make this again and will also use Greek yogurt if I happen to have it on hand. (sour cream works…)
Mary, I’m so happy to hear you made this and love that you adapted with what you had on hand. I love the idea of using some brown sugar on top. I bet that was delicious! Sour cream is wonderful in baked goods and I’m glad you let us know it turned out nicely with those substitutions. I just made a loaf last week too! Thanks for taking the time to message me! :)
Hooray! What a perfect banana bread! Love that you use yogurt (I put it in my carrot cake too) and the turbinado sugar on top is brilliant. Great close up shots too!
Thanks so much Andrea! Oh, I need to have your carrot cake recipe! That’s my favorite!
Your banana bread looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe :)
Thanks Rosie! :)
Banana bread was one of the ingredients on Chopped last night (which I rarely watch, btw). THe chefs did some pretty skanky things with it. Your looks simply perfect!
That’s so funny Margie! Well, considering the awful ingredients those chefs are given on that show…skanky may be all they can do! ;) Thanks for the compliment! Glad you like it!
Who doesn’t love banana bread…. I’m so hungry now…. your pics are great
I agree Tracy! It is one of my favorite quick breads! Thanks for the sweet compliment! :)
Looks yummy and I love that you used wheat flour not all 100% white all purpose flour. I’ll have to try this recipe out for myself!
Thank you Christine! I try to use as much whole wheat flour wheat in my baking as I can without changing the flavor or texture too much. I hope you like this! Thanks for stopping by!