Updated and republished from October 2010
Breakfast, snack, or dessert…this bread, mini bread, muffin, or mini-muffin recipe fits the bill. This bread is moist, nutritious yet has enough good-for-you fat (from coconut oil) and sweetness to taste delicious!
I altered this Basic Banana Bread recipe from Cooking Light Magazine and plan to try their other variation called Peanut Butter Banana Bread. To up the nutrition, I added some pumpkin, subbed some whole wheat flour, and used a bit less sugar.
I often bake up a double batch of these in various muffin tin sizes, freeze them, and pull them out for quick school morning breakfasts. My kids go bananas (pardon the pun) over these guys! You’ll notice this batch is a bit more orange than the others. That’s because I changed the pumpkin to banana ratio in this one (1 cup pumpkin to 1/2 cup smashed banana), and they were still rockin.
And then on other days, I feel more like having a nice, warm loaf of Banana Pumpkin Bread instead. Either way, this recipe is a home run. I’ve made it more times than I can count. Enjoy!
Yield:
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PinIngredients
- 1 cup smashed ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup canned pureed pumpkin
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup unrefined sugar (also known as sucanat)
- 1 cup unbleached white flour (or sub white whole wheat flour)
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add sugar; beat until combined.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through ground nutmeg) in bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended.
- Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or muffin tin coated with cooking spray.
- For bread, bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. For muffins, bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes until a wooden pick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread or muffins from pan; cool completely.
- Optional: Combine powdered sugar and milk, stirring until smooth; drizzle over bread.
Notes
Freezer Meal Recipes:
To Freeze: Bake and cool completely. Remove bread from pan and wrap tightly with plastic wrap and a layer of foil. Or, remove muffins from pan, place in freezer bag, seal and press out all air. Freeze.
To Prepare: Thaw in fridge or on counter or use defrost setting of microwave. Warm in 15 second increments in microwave.
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Can I use brown sugar instead of “unrefined” (or is that the same as sugar in the raw?) trying to avoid going back to the store!
Brown sugar has more moisture in it because of the molasses, so I would recommend just granulated sugar (white sugar).
I didn’t see the amount of brown sugar listed in the recipe. So, I just winged it at 1/4 cup. Then I sprinkled chopped black walnuts on top.
Thanks for being creative with the pumpkin/banana idea.
★★★★
Oh thanks for pointing that out! I actually don’t use brown sugar, so I’ll take that part out.
I’m from Australia and we use either plain flour(doesn’t rise) or self raising flour ( which does rise). Your recipe just says flour, can you tell me which flour to use
Thanks
We use plain flour unless a recipe calls for self-rising flour. Thanks for stopping by Suzette! I think you’ll really enjoy this recipe.
This is my new “go-to” recipe. I have tweaked it a little, but my kids devour them. I have no idea if they freeze well, they never make it that far. I also add zucchini, cranberries, flax seed, walnuts, and whatever else I can find. Sometimes I use oat flour instead of, or in addition to wheat flour. I even added spinach once that no one knew. I use greek yogurt too. I LOVE this recipe and make it often. Thank you so much.
That’s awesome and I do the same thing you do. I add all kinds of stuff from the fruit/veg drawer. I love that you love this recipe as much as our fam does!
heh pro tip – read the yield rather than relying on the pictures to know how many pans to divide the mixture between…
Great sub ideas and idea for V-Day post, Natalie! What recipe did you make again? I’m not sure I have a chocolate banana bread. Do you mean Chocolate Sweet Potato Bread or Chocolate Banana Muffins?
Whoops, I meant to post this on the chocolate banana bread post!
I made these this morning with frozen sweet potato puree instead of pumpkin. My 10-month old thinks he’s too big of a boy for puree now. 😉 They are so yummy! I used nonfat greek yogurt and subbed 2 T agave nectar for the turbinado sugar. These would be great to feature as a part of a Valentine’s post!
Healthy Refuge is my "go to" for healthy recipes my kids will like. I just made these and they turned out great! Instead of granulated sugar I used honey and instead of white flour I used WWFlour. Thank you for yet another great recipe:)
Hey Rach! I made the loaf of bread today with 3/4 white and 3/4 wheat flour. I also used 1/4 brown sugar and 1/4 florida crystals. I did add some chocolate chips though… because I can't help myself and it's for bible study tonight. 🙂 Oh, my pumpkin puree was one I had in the freezer from last year that was marked apple/pumpkin puree. Not sure why I mixed them last year, but I did… used the same amount, but not sure if it made a difference in sweetness or anything since there was some apple in it? Thanks for the idea though. So yummy!