¾cupsugarcan reduce to ⅓ - ½ cup for a less sweet version
⅓cupoil
½cupGreek yogurt
Dry Ingredients
1 ¾cupswhole wheat floursee notes for substitutes
¼cupcornstarchor more whole wheat flour
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
1 ½teaspoonsbaking powder
¼teaspoonsalt
For the Crumb Topping
½cupflourplain or whole wheat
½cupbrown sugar
1teaspooncinnamon
¼cupbutter
Instructions
Prep: Heat the oven to 360°F. Grease and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
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. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Combine dry ingredients: Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Stir together until well combined.
Combine wet ingredients: Stir together all wet ingredients in a separate large measuring jug until well combined.
Assemble bread: Pour wet into dry ingredients and fold together just until flour is moistened (a few lumps are fine). Place the batter in the prepared loaf tin and evenly sprinkle with the crumb topping.
Bake the banana bread: Bake for around 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire cooling tray to cool completely (remember to peel off the parchment paper, too!)
Video
Notes
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! You can generally use any of these flour combinations in this recipe:
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour plus ¼ cup cornstarch (as written in the recipe above)
1 cup whole wheat flour plus 1 cup white flour
2 cups white flour; add 1-2 tablespoons extra if batter seems thin
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.
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 wire cooling tray on the counter. You can warm it in the oven for a few minutes, if you like.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!