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Yield: 12 slices
Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
I love having banana bread stashed away in the freezer – it is an absolute life saver on those busy mornings. My whole wheat banana bread is perfectly freezer-friendly and I pretty much always have a few loaves on hand. This one has a crunch topping that my 5 year old likes to pick off the bread… Yeah, it's really good 😉
Recommended Equipment:
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas
- 3/4 cup sugar (can reduce to 1/3 – 1/2 cup for a less sweet version)
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Dry Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch (or more whole wheat flour)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Crumb Topping
- 1/2 cup flour (plain or whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
Instructions
- Prep: Heat the oven to 360°F. Grease and line a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- Make batter: Whisk together all wet ingredients in a large bowl. Sprinkle flour, cornstarch (OR extra flour), cinnamon, baking powder and salt on top. Gently fold in, do not overmix!
- Make topping: For the crumb topping, place the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until crumbs form.
- Assemble bread: Place the batter in the prepared loaf tin and evenly sprinkle with the crumb topping.
- Bake the banana bread: Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely (rmemeber to peel off the parchment paper, too!)
Step by Step Recipe Video
Nora’s Tips
A note about the whole wheat: You can definitely tell this bread is made with whole wheat flour. I like this addition because it gets some fiber into my kids, but if you want a more dessert-y bread and don’t care about the whole wheat, better make my Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread with regular flour. If you want a refined sugar free, whole wheat banana bread, try my Healthy Banana Bread. And if you want an in-depth guide on making banana bread with whole wheat flour in general, my guide to making whole wheat banana bread is for you!
TIP: I like freezing quick breads in individual slices, separated by parchment paper. That way I can always pull out just as many as I need, AND they defrost a lot faster than an entire bread!
Baking Tips:
Stirring the batter: Do NOT overmix the batter, or you’ll end up with a dense and chewy banana bread. Use a wooden spoon or a spatula to combine it, never a whisk or a mixer. Muffins: This bread recipe also works great as muffins, bake for around 20 minutes. Moisture: This recipe has a few healthy swaps. They don’t make it super special health food… But the Greek yogurt in there especially helps to make a moist banana bread – even though I make this bread with 100% whole wheat flour! It’s also important not to overmix the batter, or you’ll end up with a dense and gummy loaf vs a fluffy and moist one.Crumb topping:
Crumb toppings and streusels are some of my favorite things on top of a baked good. I love them on Banana Crumb Muffins, on Pumpkin Streusel Bread, on Cinnamon Crunch Zucchini Bread… See? Favorite thing ever 😉 The keys to a good topping are to- use cold butter (NOT melted butter, and NOT buttery spread or any other substitute!)
- cut the butter into the flour and sugar until you have a heap of small and large crumbs – if it feels too wet/pasty, add another tablespoon of flour
- lightly push it into the batter of the banana bread to help it stick to the loaf
Ingredient Notes:
Banana ripeness:
Pretty ripe – definitely soft with lots of brown spots. However, I do NOT like banana bread made with extra super ripe bananas – you know, the entirely black ones. They just turn too alcoholic for my taste.Storage Instructions
Banana bread keeps quite well. Wrap it tightly in foil or stick it into an airtight container to keep it moist. I like storing it in the fridge for up to 5 days.Freezer Tips:
Wrap the cooled bread tightly in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Label and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost on a rack on the counter. You can warm it in the oven for a few minutes, if you like.Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 291kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 100mg | Potassium: 186mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 1.1mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1.2mg
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Casey
The banana bread came out perfect with this recipe! I never thought about using yogurt and (olive) oil instead of butter but it feels healthier with the whole wheat flour too. I also added walnuts for a nice crunch! The crumb topping is my favorite part of this and it makes the whole treat that much more scrumptious. Thank you so much for sharing!
Kathleen A Cole
Hello Nora! I have to tell you that I tried this recipe yesterday and I love it! I must admit I was skeptical with this extra 1/4 of wheat flour/flour that was added into the batter. It wasn’t a sweet bread but with the cinnamon crunch on the top, it was a winner. I made it early in the morning and surprisingly my 10 year old granddaughter ate almost two slices before going to school. Thanks so much! It fits into my diabetic eating plan as well and I will definitely be making this again.
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad, Kathleen!
Lindi
This looks interesting love the cinnamon crunch top. Could you suggest another fruit that could work, Banana’ S and me are not friends, the smell, sliminess and texture make me dry reach. Down here in Australia all the stone fruit is in season and I was thinking maybe peach, apricot ……
Ida
I am diabetic can I replace some flour with almond flour And use splendacfor sugar
Nora Rusev
Ida, I know of a couple of readers who successfully made this with Splenda Granulated. I would think you’d be able to substitute some of the flour with almond flour, but I have never tried, so I cannot 100% advise. I would think you could use 3/4 cup almond flour, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch, but you’d have to test and see how it goes. Hope that helps!
Connie Anderson
Haven’t made it yet but when I get the recipe I sure will it looks delish. I save and make many of your recipes and most time have good luck with them. thank you so much.
Nora Rusev
Connie, this is making me so happy to hear! Thank you so much.
JIM
GOOD STUF
Kristýna
Hello from the Czech Republic 😉, I tried your recipe for bread but in muffin form. The muffins were delicious. There were 16 muffins from one dough. Thank you for the recipe. 🧁
Nora
Hello back to the Czech Republic 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Kristýna! We love this as muffins, too.
Talented Tom
made this into Jumbo muffins, makes about 8 reduced heat to 350°,and baked for half hour.
Briana
Hey, I am wondering if I could use regular all purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour? Only because that’s all I have on hand!
Nora
Hi Briana, several people have successfully made this with all purpose flour in place of the whole wheat, so I think it should work just fine!
Susan Parsons
I just made this and it turned out great! Followed the recipe exactly! I will make again. I may add a little almond flavoring. My grandmother made a banana bread that almond flavoring, everyone always asked for her secret!
Nora
So happy the bread turned out well for you, Susan! And I love the idea with almond flavoring – I’ll have to give that a try.