Banana Bread: An Actually Simple & Healthy Recipe That Everyone Loves

For years I’ve been scrolling past the most delicious-looking banana breads on blogs and Instagram.

Every now and then, I did my own attempt at baking banana bread, but most of the recipes were not nutritious enough for my taste (filled with sugar and butter) or so healthy that several ingredients weren’t available at the supermarket near my house.

I wanted: 

• A simple recipe,
• With ingredients I had available or could easily get,
• That fit into my eating pattern (a.k.a. not too many calories and high in protein),
• And delicious too.

Demanding, eh?

So I decided to work on my own version.

I collected all kinds of banana bread recipes. From the Netherlands and abroad. Nutritious and less nutritious. Simple with familiar ingredients to more difficult recipes with special ingredients.

And after playing with it for a while, this is what came out.

I’ve been baking this exact banana bread recipe every week for six months now. Family and friends are happy to receive a few slices of banana bread and even my driving instructor regularly asks me to bring her a slice.

This banana bread is super simple and only uses eight ingredients, most of which you probably have in your pantry and only one of which you can’t buy at my supermarket—but that one’s optional.

1. What you need to know
2. How to make your simple and healthy banana bread

What you need to know

I make this recipe in a blender. That way, I don’t have to make my oat flour separately and it ensures everything’s mixed well. It also saves me sore arms and extra dishes.

If you don’t have a blender, you can puree your bananas with a fork and mix your ingredients with a hand mixer or whisk. I’d go with ready-to-go oat flour or choose another kind of flour.

This is a base recipe for your banana bread—there are endless variations! Throw in raisins and an apple, nuts, peanut butter, pumpkin, cookie spices, or chocolate chips sometimes.

How to make your simple and healthy banana bread

Ingredients

1. 150 gr oat flour
   Make your own oat flour by grinding 150 gr oats in your blender
2. 50 gr protein powder
   I use vanilla for extra protein and sweetness, but this is optional
3. 8 gr baking powder
4. Pinch of cinnamon
5. Pinch of salt
6. 450 gr ripe bananas (3 big ones or 4 smaller ones)
7. 3 eggs
8. 40 gr honey (2 tablespoons)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven at 170°C/340°F and grease your baking mold. Instead of greasing it, you can also use a sheet of baking paper.
2. Weigh out all your dry ingredients in the blender: oats, protein powder, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and cinnamon to taste. Blend it.
3. Put this to the side in a separate bowl.
4. Now mix the bananas, eggs, and honey in the blender.
5. When those are blended well, slowly add the dry ingredient mix.
6. Once your mix is nice and smooth, pour it into your baking mold.
7. Put the baking mold in the middle of the oven for 1 hour. Baking time can vary based on the size of your mold and the kind of mold you use. In my cake mold, it takes an hour, in my bread mold, 45 minutes.
8. Let your banana bread cool in the mold for 10 minutes, and another 20 minutes on a rack.

This recipe gives me 15 slices. The nutritional value for each slice are:

• 105 calories
• 15,4 gr carbs
• 2 gr fats
• 5,8 gr protein