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Easy Healthy Sugar Free Banana Bread Recipe

This Easy, Healthy Sugar Free Banana Bread is the best recipe made with unsweetened applesauce along with a little oil. It is super simple to throw together using pantry staples. Serve it for breakfast or dessert! 

healthy banana bread sliced on a white plate
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I love to eat this low sugar bread for breakfast! It’s just so comforting and a great way to start the day. Grab your favorite warm beverage and enjoy!

raw eggs, cinnamon, sweetener, melted butter, and unsweetened applesauce on a flat surface

Is Homemade Banana Bread Good For You

It really will depend on how you make it. Growing up, my mom made a recipe for me that called for 5 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of pure honey. Those are loaded with fat and sugar.

Most recipes I see have 300+ calories and 50+ grams of carbs per slice. If you want to eat a slice of bread for breakfast or as a treat a few days a week, those macros are not very friendly.

I came up with this recipe to round out the macros and nutrition facts profile a bit.

overripe bananas on a flat surface

What Type of Bananas to Use

You want to use very ripe bananas, perhaps overripe. People often make banana bread when they have bananas that are going bad.

I usually can’t find these in stores, so I have to wait sometimes up to a week for the bananas to ripen at room temperature. The bananas should have black or brown streaks in them or they should be mostly black.

You want to use ripe bananas because they are sweeter and have more sugar.

mashed bananas in a glass bowl

How to Properly Measure Flour

  1. Dump your flour into a bowl so that you can stir and loosen it up. You never want to stick your measuring cup directly into a bag of flour.
  2. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup.
  3. Level it off in the cup using a knife.

If you stick your measuring cup directly into the bag, it will pack flour into the cup and result in you using too much. The flour needs to have air when measuring. Check out more tips on How to Measure Flour here.

a collage photo of the process of mixing banana bread batter with flour and wet ingredients

How to Make Healthy Banana Bread

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine the mashed bananas, vanilla extract, melted butter, beaten eggs, and unsweetened applesauce in a small bowl.
  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sweetener, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
  4. Add the wet ingredients (banana mixture) to the dry ingredients (flour mixture). Mix with a silicone or wooden spoon. Don’t overmix. Ensure the flour is incorporated, but the mix should be lumpy.
  5. Pour the banana bread batter into a loaf pan.
  6. Bake.
healthy banana bread in a loaf pan
healthy banana bread in a loaf pan

Why Baking Soda Instead of Baking Powder

When baking soda is combined with something acidic, it reacts, which aerates and raises baked goods much like yeast. I learned this when making my Air Fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies. In that recipe, combining lemon juice with baking soda, resulted in soft cookies with a puff.

Usually when baking soda is used in a recipe, it’s also used with something acidic like buttermilk, lemon juice, or applesauce (which is used in this recipe).

Recipes like muffins, biscuits, and quick breads need a leavening agent like baking soda to give them the right texture.

Baking powder is often used when there aren’t acidic ingredients in the recipe.

To substitute baking soda for baking powder you will need 4 teaspoons of baking powder. 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda = 1 teaspoon of baking powder. You can read more about Baking Soda vs Baking Powder here.

healthy banana bread on a cooling rack

What Sweetener To Use

I use organic monkfruit in this recipe to keep it sugar free, specifically this Monkfruit Baking Sweetener. It measures 1:1 like table sugar and works great for baking. It has zero calories, no carbs, and won’t spike your blood sugar.

Feel free to use your preferred sweetener. If you use stevia or artificial sweeteners, you will have to convert the servings. Since monkfruit measures 1:1 you can follow your standard method for calculating it.

If you aren’t concerned with the amount of sugar used, you can also use 1/2 cup of pure honey.

If you prefer to use maple syrup, use 1/3 cup.

monkfruit sweetener in a bag

How to Substitute Butter

I like the flavor of butter in my bread, but I cut the standard amount of butter typically used in half but using unsweetened applesauce.

I don’t recommend substituting all the butter outlined in this recipe for more applesauce. You will need some oil. You can substitute the 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter for coconut oil or avocado oil instead.

healthy banana bread sliced on a white plate

Can You Make Them Into Muffins?

Yes, reduce your oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick returns clean.

Optional Additional Add-Ins

a slice of healthy banana bread on a blue plate with butter

Freezer Tips

The bread should be fully cooled prior to freezing. Wrap the bread in foil and then place it in a sealable bag. It will freeze for up to 4 months.

Thaw the bread in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

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healthy banana bread sliced on a white plate
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4.97 from 29 votes

Easy, Healthy Sugar Free Banana Bread

This Easy, Healthy Sugar Free Banana Bread is the best recipe made with unsweetened applesauce along with a little oil. It is super simple to throw together using pantry staples. Serve it for breakfast or dessert! 
Save this recipe here.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword healthy banana bread, low fat banana bread, low sugar banana bread, sugar free banana bread
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
cooling 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 10 slices
Calories 182kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups mashed, ripe bananas The number of bananas will vary based on size. This is usually 2-4 bananas for me. I like to leave some banana chunks in mine.
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup sweetener 1/2 cup results in bread that is not overly sweet. If you like sweet bread use 3/4 of a cup.
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Combine the mashed bananas, vanilla extract, melted butter, beaten eggs, and unsweetened applesauce in a small bowl.
  • In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sweetener, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
  • Add the wet ingredients (banana mixture) to the dry ingredients (flour mixture). Mix with a silicone or wooden spoon. Don't overmix. Ensure the flour is incorporated, but the mix should be lumpy.
  • Pour the banana bread batter into the parchment paper lined loaf pan. Smooth the batter throughout the pan.
  • Bake for 40 minutes.
  • Open the oven and tent the pan with foil. Don't fully cover, loosely tent (it shouldn't touch the bread). This will prevent the bread from browning too much on the top as the interior continues to bake.
  • Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Test if the bread has finished by inserting a toothpick and testing if it returns clean.
  • Allow the banana bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it and transferring it to a cooling rack. Allow it to cool for at least an additional 15 minutes.

Notes

  • You can use a potato masher to mash the bananas.
  • You can substitute white, whole wheat flour in this recipe. This recipe has not been tested for gluten-free alternatives. You cannot use almond flour or coconut flour.
  • For the monkfruit sweetener, I prefer to use the baking sweetener as it bakes the best. You can also use granular.
  • You can substitute baking soda for 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Results will vary.
  • Using all butter in the recipe instead of applesauce does result in bread that is moister, but also more fat. Do what works best for you.
  • Using parchment paper makes it easier to remove the bread when it has finished baking. You can also grease the pan.
  • You can substitute 1/2 cup of honey or 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup in the recipe.
  • If you substitute a sweetener like honey in the recipe the macros are: Cals: 251 Fat: 7G Carbs:40G Protein: 4G
Recipe Tools Used in this RecipeAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition (displayed with net carbs)

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 182kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 4g
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Nutrition DataMacros are provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. This information is calculated using MyFitnessPal.com. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
unbaked healthy banana bread in a loaf pan
Recipe Rating




Adriana

Saturday 17th of February 2024

Can you use splendaadr

staysnatched

Saturday 17th of February 2024

Sure, if that's what you like.

Jackie

Monday 9th of October 2023

Very good. I made it half whole wheat and half low gluten unbleached white. I think next time I'll add walnuts...because there WILL be a next time LOL. It's also helpful that it uses up so many overripe bananas!

staysnatched

Tuesday 10th of October 2023

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Anna

Sunday 3rd of September 2023

How long does it bake in the loaf pan? I couldn't find that part🙃

staysnatched

Monday 4th of September 2023

It’s listed in step 7 of the recipe card which is directly above where you typed this question.

Mary

Sunday 4th of June 2023

Is this diabetic friendly?

staysnatched

Tuesday 6th of June 2023

I'm not diabetic. I would consult your doctor.

Valerie

Wednesday 1st of February 2023

Can I substitute egg whites for whole eggs?

staysnatched

Wednesday 1st of February 2023

I've never tried it. If you do, let me know how it turns out!