I love love love all things banana, especially banana nut bread. I’ve probably tried dozens of different banana bread recipes through the years.
These days I’m having fun trying to make my favorite foods lighter and healthier, without sacrificing flavor. Or texture – which can be a real problem when you try to decrease too much fat from baked goods.
Healthy Low Fat Banana Nut Bread
This low fat banana bread recipe comes from an unexpected source. Not from my Weight Watchers cookbooks or Ellie Krieger cookbooks, but from my very first cookbook – by Marion Cunningham.
Marion describes this as pure and simple banana bread, heavy, moist and dark. And she is so right.
This recipe doesn’t call for any special ingredients usually associated with low fat baking – no egg whites, no applesauce. All the moisture necessary comes from the ripe mashed bananas. The only fat in the recipe comes from the egg yolks and walnuts – 2 very healthy sources of fat – in my opinion.
I tweaked the recipe slightly – substituting 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for1 of the cups of all-purpose and baking powder for the baking soda.
Make sure your bananas are very very ripe.
I don’t think you’d ever guess that this banana nut bread is low fat. If you like moist and dense banana bread, I you’re going to love this one.
I enjoyed a slice this morning for breakfast spread with peanut butter and topped with banana slices. Yum. It was one of the best peanut butter and banana sandwiches ever!
Healthy Low Fat Banana Nut Bread Recipe
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Recipe type: Quick Bread
Author: Martha
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 10 mins
Serves: 16
Healthy low fat banana bread that is pure and simple, heavy, moist and dark. If you like moist and dense banana bread this is the recipe for you.
Ingredients
4 large ripe bananas, well mashed (1-3/4 cups)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the bananas and eggs together until they are well combined.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until well combined.
Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture, just until blended and then stir in the walnuts.
Put the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it out evenly.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutritional estimates per serving (1 slice): 152 calories, 3 g fat, 28.7 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 3.6 g protein
My loaf took about 1 hour and 5 minutes to be done. It was still a little underdone at 1 hour.
This low fat banana bread is great warm or cooled, however you like it best.
These days I’m having fun trying to make my favorite foods lighter and healthier, without sacrificing flavor. Or texture – which can be a real problem when you try to decrease too much fat from baked goods.
Healthy Low Fat Banana Nut Bread
This low fat banana bread recipe comes from an unexpected source. Not from my Weight Watchers cookbooks or Ellie Krieger cookbooks, but from my very first cookbook –
by Marion Cunningham.
Marion describes this as pure and simple banana bread, heavy, moist and dark. And she is so right.
This recipe doesn’t call for any special ingredients usually associated with low fat baking – no egg whites, no applesauce. All the moisture necessary comes from the ripe mashed bananas. The only fat in the recipe comes from the egg yolks and walnuts – 2 very healthy sources of fat – in my opinion.
I tweaked the recipe slightly – substituting 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for1 of the cups of all-purpose and baking powder for the baking soda.
Make sure your bananas are very very ripe.
I don’t think you’d ever guess that this banana nut bread is low fat. If you like moist and dense banana bread, I you’re going to love this one.
I enjoyed a slice this morning for breakfast spread with peanut butter and topped with banana slices. Yum. It was one of the best peanut butter and banana sandwiches ever!
Nutritional estimates per serving (1 slice): 152 calories, 3 g fat, 28.7 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 3.6 g protein
My loaf took about 1 hour and 5 minutes to be done. It was still a little underdone at 1 hour.
This low fat banana bread is great warm or cooled, however you like it best.