Healthy Banana Bread Recipe

Written by: Rosemary Seguin CNP, NNCP

Banana bread is one of my favourite things to bake. As soon as those bananas start to get brown spots on them, I mark my territory and make sure no one touches them. You see in my house it’s a rare occasion when bananas make it too the “spotty” stage. I think I must live with a bunch of monkey’s because no matter how many bunches I buy each week, it’s never enough. Same holds true for my banana bread, as soon as I make it, it’s gone within 24 hours! I guess I’ll take that as a compliment to the baker 😉

So, one of the things I love about banana bread is you can make it super healthy and not feel guilty about eating it. Don’t be fooled though, most of the banana bread recipes out there are not as healthy as you may think and certainly the store bought ones are a far cry from healthy.

Just because it has bananas in it doesn’t make it healthy! There are a lot of other ingredients in there that quickly turn it into “junk” food. So beware and read your labels if you’re buying one premade.

The banana bread recipe I have for you today is one that I’ve been making for years. The ingredients are flexible and it’s easy to play around with, I make it different every time. So I’ll give you the basic recipe essentials and the extra options you can throw in so you can customize it to your liking.

INGREDIENTS:

In a large bowl combine:

2 cups spelt flour

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Combine separately in another bowl:

3-4 very ripe bananas (about 1.5 – 2 cups)

2 whole organic eggs

¼ cup of honey

½ cup vanilla rice milk or almond milk

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Zest of one organic lemon

Mix wet into dry and fold until just incorporated

You may now add in one or two of the following: carefully folding in the ingredients. If you over stir/mix, the banana bread will come rubbery.

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup dark chocolate pieces

½ cup chopped dates

½ cup shredded coconut

To bake; Preheat your oven to 350F.

Grease a loaf pan with some butter and dust with spelt flour so the bread doesn’t stick to it. Pour in the batter and place in your preheated oven for approximately 45-50min. Take the loaf out of the oven, stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean you bread is ready. If not place back in the over a few minutes longer and re-test.

Cool, slice and serve with your favourite spread (mine is Artisana coconut butter or Nuts 2 U almond butter) or enjoy on its own!