What do you think of when you hear the word healthy used to describe one of your favorite foods? My first thought is “it probably doesn’t taste very good”! I can’t help it I like foods that are not always good for me. Banana bread is one of my favorite foods, I love it fresh out of the oven, sliced, with butter melted all over it. If it happens to have chocolate chips in it, all the better. If I’m going to have banana bread I want it to taste good, really good!
I’ve been working on cutting out refined white sugar out of my diet, that meant cutting out my traditional banana bread recipe :(. My search for a healthy banana bread recipe that didn’t make me feel like I was compromising on taste began. Confessions of a Gluten Free Mom had the recipe I was looking for, her blog is full of great gluten free recipes and beautiful photography.
If you are new to gluten free baking you need to understand that gluten free flours are a bit on the tricky side. They have to be coddled and coaxed into performing well. If you take gluten free bread batter or dough and put it in a tin foil bread pan it will burn on the outside and be under cooked on the inside. Cheap bread pans will be better, but you won’t get the optimum results you are looking for. Get yourself a high quality stoneware bread loaf pan, your banana bread batter will cook perfectly every time, golden brown on the outside and moist on the inside. My bread pan is the Le Creuset line from Sur la table, worth every penny!
I loved how my kitchen smelled while the bread was baking, I nearly burned my fingers trying to cut it while it was still hot. I spread the butter, let it melt and took a bite. Banana bread heaven! The lack of white sugar really lets the flavor of the bananas come through. The only change I will make with my next loaf is to add some sugar free chocolate chips. Either way this recipe is a new family favorite…..
Oh yeah, this Pin Totally Rocks!
Healthy Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ cups Brown Rice Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground Nutmeg
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 2 Eggs beaten
- 6 ripe Bananas mashed
- ⅓ cup Raw Honey
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup melted Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Spray bread pan with coconut oil spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Chop pecans or walnuts roughly.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine rice flour, baking soda, sea salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped pecans.
- In another bowl, combine and mix the eggs, mashed bananas, honey, vanilla, and melted coconut oil.
- Add mashed banana mixture to dry mix.
- Pour batter into your oiled bread pan.
- Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- My loaf pan was 22 cm - 8 1/2", I had enough batter to fill the pan and 1 mini loaf pan. You can also make muffins with if you have some extra batter. After 1 hour my loaf was still wasn't done, I cooked it for about 75 minutes. As all ovens vary, use a toothpick or a knife to test your loaf for doneness before removing from oven.
Thank you for sharing and I’m so glad to hear that it turned out great for you! I love your addition of chocolate chips, I’ll have to try it sometime 🙂 ps- love your site!
Jess @ Gluten Free Confessions <3
Hi Jess,
You are welcome! I love your site and have been pinning your awesome recipes to our gluten free boards! Tracy (the middle sister)
Do you know if this recipe would work with a glass bread loaf pan? That’s all that I have and I would love to make this recipe tomorrow! Thank you!
Hi Bethany,
I did a some more research and found that next to a stoneware bread pan a glass bread pan is your next best bet. I would recommend being careful not to overfill your pan, that way it will cook all the way through without drying out or burning on the outside. We would love to hear your results and opinion:) Have a great weekend, Tracy (the middle sister)
Hey! Sounds wonderful but could I use whole wheat flour?
Hey Emily,
This recipe was specifically formulated to be gluten free, I’m not sure substituting with whole wheat flour will yield the results you are looking for. I’ve contacted the creator of the recipe, I’ll post her response here as soon as she responds. Thanks for following us! Tracy I heard back from Jessica who created this recipe. Her suggestion is to find a whole wheat banana bread recipe and then change the other ingredients to be more similar to her recipe. Hope this helps!
Hi!
Can I use white rice flour instead of brown rice flour?
Hi Michelle!
I’m not sure if all white rice flour would work. You could try half white rice flour and half brown rice flour, if it turns out well try all white rice flour. I would love it if you shared your results with us! Have a great day, Tracy
OMG…..I made this for a friend who has a gluten free Wee one, and it turned out AMAZING!!! Dare I say it ………………….oh ok then………..Better than my normal banana bread that I have been making for years! Must have been those 6 bananas!!! Now where can I grow a banana tree in Canada? Thanks for the recipe…its a keeper!
Hi Rachael!
Thanks! I was amazed at how great this banana bread recipe turned out, I’ve never seen a recipe that calls for 6 bananas before. I was skeptical until I took my first bite. Wish I could be more help with that banana tree 🙂 Thanks for following us, Tracy
Love this Banana bread, thanks for sharing! I added mini dark chocolate chips and substituted 100% pure maple syrup for the honey (I don’t like honey so we don’t keep a lot of it around the house) and it turned out fantastic. I had 2 small bread loaf pans I baked them in, I would have maybe cooked it a little less maybe 45 minutes instead of the 50, it was a tad dry, but I think it was because I split the recipe into 2 equal parts. Either way it is definitely the best healthy banana bread recipe to date!! thanks again!
Rachel,
I’m so glad you loved the banana bread. I agree it was probably dry because you broke the recipe into two pans. Adding dark mini chocolate chips sounds wonderful. I’ll have to give maple syrup a try in my next batch of bread. Thanks for following us and leaving your comment! Tracy
I would love to try this recipe, but I can’t have eggs. What do you think would be the best substitute for that?
Hi Erin,
This should work just fine for an egg substitute: mix about a tablespoon of flax in a small cup with water, judging the consistency until it is like an egg white, add to recipe as directed. Would love to hear how it turns out for you. Thanks for your comment, Tracy
Very good! I used white rice flour and it was just fine. Moist muffins on 350 for 15 minutes!
So glad you liked them Shannon! Yay!
I have made this banana bread a few times now and it always turns out AMAZING. (70mins in my European convection oven). I’m not gluten free/intolerant in any way, but this tops all other banana bread IMO. It does have that GF crumbly texture, but in a dense form? Does that even make sense! Acht I don’t know, but you have to try it. One slice with a cup of tea will fill you right up, unlike other banana bread. Go get those bananas!!
So glad to hear that! Thanks for your kind words Rachael!