Whole Wheat Banana Bread (one bowl!)
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Whole wheat banana bread is a staple in my house – my kids love it and it’s a perfect way to use ripe bananas. It freezes well and makes a great lunchbox treat!
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: You’ll love the one bowl method I use to make this bread, for easy cleanup.
How long it takes: 15 minutes to stir up, 1 hour to bake
Equipment you’ll need: large bowl, measuring utensils, masher, loaf tin, oven
Servings: makes 1 loaf
This banana bread recipe is one of my favorites and it’s one that I make so frequently. I even let my type-A personality take the backseat sometimes and let my kids help me out with it. They love using the potato masher to mash the bananas. They also love talking me into adding some chocolate chips.
I’ve shared a few varieties of this bread: whole wheat caramel banana bread, whole wheat banana bread with chocolate chips and coconut, reduced-fat chocolate banana bread, and banana bread muffins! Healthy banana bread is another favorite. We really do love this whole wheat banana bread in every shape and form.
About This Banana Bread
Even with all its different variations, this recipe is the one I go to most often. If I have enough bananas, I almost always make two loaves. I’m all about doubling up on things because it isn’t much more work to use a bigger bowl and wash two loaf pans. Then we have one loaf to enjoy right away AND a loaf to freeze. Yay!
I’ll run through the recipe here with lots of additional tips but feel free to jump to the recipe card below. You’ll find complete instructions and nutrition information.
What You’ll Need
- Bananas! It wouldn’t be banana bread without bananas. You’ll need one and a half cups of mashed ripe bananas which is about 4 large bananas. Use nice ripe bananas, the riper the better. Bananas with brown speckles or even completely brown are best for banana bread.
- Applesauce: You’ll need a half cup which happens to be just the amount that’s in the snack sized servings of applesauce. The applesauce replaces much of the oil that’s usually added to quick breads. I usually use unsweetened applesauce.
- Oil: While most banana bread recipes have up to a cup of butter, this healthier recipe has only 2 tablespoons of oil!
- Whole Wheat Flour: Whole wheat flour adds lots of nutrition and fiber and gives the bread a hearty texture. If you prefer, all-purpose flour can be substituted or even a combination of the two flours.
- Sugar: Use regular granulated white sugar. There’s a lot of natural sweetness from those ripe bananas and the applesauce.
- Eggs: Most quick breads contain eggs and this bread is no exception.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Adds a nice sweet flavor. If you like to vary things a bit, try maple extract.
- Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt: Normal quick bread ingredients, they add leavening and keep the bread from tasting flat.
How To Make Banana Bread
When I first began making this banana bread, I’d always use three bowls. One bowl for mashing the bananas, one to combine the wet ingredients, and one final bowl for the dry ingredients. It’s the type-A in me again, probably. Everything in its place!
My one-bowl method! However, since I don’t like to do dishes (who does?), I switched to the method I use now for most of my quick breads and muffins. With this method, you only need one bowl.
Guess what? Your bread turns out the same whether you use three bowls or one. And it’s a third of the dishes. That’s a beautiful thing, right?
Here’s how to do it: Start off by mashing the bananas in the bottom of a large bowl. To the bananas, add the sugar and the rest of the wet ingredients: eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla.
Give the contents of the bowl a vigorous stir, making sure the eggs are well blended. You shouldn’t be seeing runny whites or yellows.
On top of that mixture, gently add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Give those a little toss together – I use my fingertips! – before stirring them into the wet ingredients.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture until there’s no dry parts. Try not to overmix the batter. It will look a little lumpy and that’s okay. Overmixing makes the bread tough or have a lot of big holes.
Scrape the batter into a loaf pan and bake! It will take about an hour. Use the toothpick method to test if it’s done.
Baking Tip
Wondering how to tell when your bread is ready to take out of the oven? Stick a toothpick halfway into the bread, near the center of the loaf. If the toothpick comes out clean or with a crumb or two attached, the bread is ready to take out of the oven. If it comes out with sticky batter, let the bread bake a bit longer.
Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes or so before removing it from the pan. Finish cooling on a wire rack.
When it’s completely cool, slice the bread into ten delicious slices.
While this bread is completely delicious on its own, to dress it up, try spreading it with gingerbread butter, orange honey butter, or just plain butter. Peanut butter is really good, too. For fancier brunches, serve it with vanilla bean whipped cream cheese.
I know you guys are going to absolutely love this whole wheat banana bread as much as we do!
FAQs
Like most baked goods, banana bread is a sweet treat that should be eaten on a “once-in-awhile” basis. Bakery banana bread is often high in added sugar and fat, making it “bad” for you.
However, I would consider this recipe a healthier choice because it’s made with whole wheat flour (for added nutrition and fiber), less sugar, and very little added fat. Most of the sweetness comes from the bananas and applesauce.
Hmm, are we talking about taste or health attributes? Banana bread is a better choice nutritionally. It has less fat, sugar, and usually isn’t frosted like a banana cake is.
There’s certainly a place in my heart for banana cake though! If you’d like a recipe, try the best banana cake. It’s wonderful frosted with homemade cream cheese frosting or even better, chocolate cream cheese frosting!
Because banana bread is quite moist, it’s a good environment for mold and bacteria growth. It will be fine on your counter for a few days but if you notice fuzzy mold, black or white spots, or a strange odor, discard it.
Make It Your Own
- Add chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips to the batter. My kids love this variation. If we weren’t a nut-free family, I’d add peanut butter or butterscotch chips for a treat.
- Make banana nut bread. Add chopped toasted pecans or walnuts to the batter.
- Try cinnamon banana bread. If you like warm spices, a teaspoon of cinnamon adds a whole new dimension of flavor. Add it with the dry ingredients.
- Not crazy about bananas? Try healthy pumpkin bread (or pumpkin streusel bread!), applesauce bread, or whole wheat zucchini bread.
Make-Ahead Ideas
Make a double batch. One loaf to eat fresh, and one to freeze! You’ll need six ripe bananas which is a lot of bananas. Whenever I have extra ripe bananas, I peel them and put them into a freezer safe container for later use, like baking that extra loaf of bread. Thaw them slightly before using. They may look a bit juicy and brown but don’t worry, the bread turns out fine. If that sounds like a good plan to you, you can read more about freezing bananas.
Storage Tips
Always make sure home-baked breads or muffins are completely cool before storing in an airtight container or resealable bag. Warm bread in an airtight container will produce moisture which promotes spoilage.
This bread will keep on the counter for three days or in the fridge for up to a week.
This banana bread freezes well. It will keep at least a month in the freezer. Freeze the loaf whole or cut up into slices so you can easily grab one and go. It makes a great lunchbox treat.
more Banana Recipes
Have a bunch of brown-speckled bananas sitting on your counter? The riper the better! All of the recipes listed below are delicious ways to use up ripe bananas.
- Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Triple Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Healthy Banana Pancakes — whole wheat
- Banana Bread Muffins
- Creamy Mango Banana Smoothie
- Banana Popsicles
- Take a look at my complete list of banana recipes!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (4 bananas, depending on size)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup applesauce
- 2 tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola, or coconut)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place mashed bananas in a large bowl (I'd mash them right in this bowl to save dishes!). Add eggs, sugar, applesauce, oil, and vanilla. Whisk to combine wet ingredients.
- On top of wet ingredients, add whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix the dry ingredients together before stirring into the wet ingredients.
- Whisk all ingredients together just until combined.
- Spray a 8- or 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add banana bread batter and smooth out into an even layer.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Cool for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan before turning out of the pan onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- Banana bread, wrapped well, will keep at room temperature for a few days. For longer storage, store in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to a month. If desired, slice first before freezing so individual slices can be removed.
- If desired, replace whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour, or a combination of the two.
- Sugar can be reduced to ½ cup, if you’d like to reduce added sugar. The bananas and applesauce add lots of natural sweetness.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Jack Jones says
You have fantastic recipes, and living in the UK, there are (very few) ingredients I sometimes have to replace. But your site has relegated my 15+ cookbooks to a dust collecting shelf. Thank you.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!!
josephine ramos says
Hi Rachel, I’ve made this cake basically every week since I found your recipe. I have my happy Monday night using up the overripe fruit and veg cook party. Well, this time I added to the recipe: cut crystalized ginger, cut crystallized lemon slices, hazelnuts and ground cardoon seeds, touch of mace. Oh my, so good. Your master recipe is extraordinary, thank you for sharing
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad you like it! And I love that you’re adding some fun additions. Thanks for sharing!
Lino says
Hi Rachel, I followed this recipe yesterday, the cake texture was very good, I used plain yogurt instead of apple sauce, cut the sugar to 1/2cup and used 1.5 cups wheat flour and 1/2 cup flaxseed grounded, and added few chocolate chips, so cake was healthy and tasty too… Thank you for this recipe, will stick to this recipe for future banana breads
Rachel Gurk says
So happy you liked this recipe! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Kara Plantinga says
Followed the recipe except subbed 1 cup of regular flour for whole wheat and added 1/4 cup of flax seed meal…oh and a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. :) It was delicious! My mother-in-law had some and said she needed the recipe.
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you liked it! The kids and I were thinking about making a couple loaves today, we have some brown bananas to use up..
Patricia Schmidt says
Can you make this in a bread machine?
Rachel Gurk says
I don’t think that would work for this recipe since it’s a quick bread and not a yeast bread.
Fran B. says
Since I didn’t have any applesauce, but did have the same amount of pumpkin puree, I decided to try this route. It was really good. I love this one bowl mix–so easy less clean-up.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad it worked out and you liked the recipe! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Kien says
Could I possibly use 2 tbsp of melted butter and plain yogurt instead? So excited to try this.
Rachel Gurk says
I’m assuming you mean plain yogurt instead of the applesauce? And butter instead of coconut oil? I haven’t tested it that way, but I imagine it should work.
Estef says
I followed the recipe as it is and made my own applesauce, and it turned out delicious! Thanks!
Rachel Gurk says
I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Linda says
Absolutely delicious, I’ve tried several whole wheat bread recipes yours’ is the best.
Rachel Gurk says
Wow, thank you so much! I’m so happy that you like it! Thank you so much for taking the time to come and leave a comment – it means so much to me!
Theresa says
I was looking for a banana bread recipe using wheat flour. I followed the recipe as written. It is delicious! I have found a keeper.
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you liked this recipe, Theresa! We just made a batch on Saturday but my kids talked me into adding chocolate chips. This is one of my most-used recipes in my own home and I’m so glad you’re enjoying it too! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Leonora says
I cut the sugar to 1/2 C. brown sugar, and added 1/2 C. walnuts and 1/2 C. chocolate chips. It’s delicious. Thanks for the recipe! I’ll try the version with coconut next.
One note on timing: Usually my oven takes a few minutes longer than a recipe states, but for this recipe, it needed a few minutes less. At 57 minutes, I could smell it really needed to come out and took it out of the pan immediately. Next time I’ll take it out at 50 min and let it cook in the pan IAW recipe.
Rachel Gurk says
Loving the addition of walnuts! It could be your loaf browned faster due to the brown sugar? But I’m glad it worked out! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Nicole says
Can honey be used as a substitute for sugar?
Rachel Gurk says
I haven’t tested this recipe that way, but I bet it would work great!
Inem Sam says
Can I substitute fresh pineapple puree for the applesauce. Cos I don’t have applesauce. Or is there a way to make applesauce at home?
Rachel Gurk says
You can make applesauce at home by cooking peeled and cored apples on the stove until they are soft, adding water as needed to get the right consistency. Pineapple puree will drastically change the flavor of this recipe…but it might be tasty nonetheless. Let me know what you end up trying!
Penny Pombert says
don’t have any apple sauce.
Rachel Gurk says
Try plain yogurt instead!
Lisa says
Just made this recipe with my kids!! My picky eaters devoured their piece and asked for more!! The only thing I did different was I made it as mini muffins, same recipe, same oven temp, for 13 minutes. Thank you sooo much!!! This was everything you look for in banana bread.. sweet.. moist!! I enjoy mine with butter also!
Rachel Gurk says
Yesssss!!!! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Denise says
this looks good, unfortunately, I have a food sensitivity to bananas and can no longer eat them
Rachel Gurk says
Oh no! So sorry to hear that. Try my applesauce bread!