Whole Wheat Reduced-Fat Chocolate Banana Bread

This whole wheat reduced-fat chocolate banana bread is (almost) guilt-free and is a perfect way to start your morning. Tastes great with coffee!

Banana bread is a classic, isn’t it? It is everyone’s go-to recipe when they have a pile of brown bananas siting on the counter top that no one wants to eat. We go through bananas like a bunch of monkeys, but occasionally a few are left over that have gone a little too far.

It doesn’t happen often because I like them green and Ben likes them on the brown side, and we typically freeze some brown ones for smoothies. But we go through about 4 bunches of bananas a week so I often buy even more to ensure that there will be some ready to turn into banana bread.

I’ve been making reduced fat banana bread for a long time and it is a family favorite. Reduced fat banana bread is so super moist using a minimal amount oil, substituting applesauce to replace most of the oil. It freezes great and I often make two loaves so that I have one to pull out of the freezer when the first loaf has been eaten (in other words, in two days or less).

Update: I wrote a new post about my whole wheat banana bread which is the way I make it now.

Sometimes I like to switch it up a little by adding some cocoa powder for extra anti-oxidants. Yeah. For that reason. And for the great taste of cocoa. The best part is that cocoa powder doesn’t add hardly any calories.

I have to really fight the urge to throw in some chocolate chips as well but I like to keep this whole wheat reduced-fat chocolate banana bread something I can feel good about eating for breakfast. Try it with this delicious vanilla bean whipped cream cheese!

PS: I’ve also adapted this banana bread recipe into banana bread muffins and banana bread with coconut and chocolate chips! If you’re really looking for chocolate, try triple chocolate banana muffins!

More ideas for brown bananas:

 

• Banana Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (THE BEST banana cake, seriously)
• Banana Mango Smoothie
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Milkshake
• Banana Doughnuts with Brown Sugar Glaze from Buns in my Oven
• Whole Wheat Banana Streusel Muffins from Chocolate & Carrots
• Chocolate Walnut Breakfast Cookies
• Zucchini Banana Bread from Brown Eyed Baker

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Recipe

Get the Recipe: Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread

5 from 3 votes

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

10 servings

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This chocolate banana bread is (almost) guilt-free and is a perfect way to start your morning. Tastes great with coffee!

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups whole wheat flour (can use all-purpose flour or a combination)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ cup ground flax seed
• ▢ ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ cup unsweetened applesauce (or 1 snack size container)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 bananas, depending on size)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F°. Spray a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, flax seed, and cocoa powder until well combined.
• In a separate large bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and eggs until combined. Stir in mashed banana.
• Add dry ingredients to banana mixture, stirring just until blended. Do not overmix. Spread batter evenly into prepared loaf pan.
• Bake until toothpick or knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out almost clean, or about 1 hour.
• Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes before removing bread from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and storing in an airtight container.

Notes

• Add a cup of chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips to the batter for an extra treat!

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 245kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 37mg, Sodium: 264mg, Potassium: 330mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 21g, Vitamin A: 81IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 44mg, Iron: 2mg

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.

© Author: Rachel Gurk

Verdict: The whole family loves this bread!
Changes I would make: mmmm….chocolate chips. Maybe next time.
Difficulty: Easy!

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