Best Banana Bread (low sugar)
Spring brings out the crazy in me. One sunny day is all it takes, and I’m running around in flip flops throwing open windows, hanging laundry on the clothesline, flipping burgers on the grill, and dragging lawn furniture out of hibernation. Then the following day, the temperature drops 20°, accompanied by torrential downpours. With some hail and thunder thrown in for good measure.
And I never see it coming.
Suddenly I find myself in the kitchen, stirring a pot of soup and pulling on a pair of wool socks. It’s like those weird dreams where you switch location without warning. Where am I? What just happened?!
Spring in the Pacific Northwest is what happened. And while I love, love, love the sunshine, I must admit I don’t mind some rainy days thrown into the mix. If it rains, I bake. I’m predictable like that.
This week I baked a double batch of my favorite banana bread recipe. Overripe bananas are famine or feast in our house. We either have zero bananas or 27 with black spots. I think it has something to do with the fact that my kids swing from eating them nonstop to refusing to touch them. I can’t keep up with these little people!
It’s nice when an overabundance of overripe fruit is not a waste though. Banana bread!
Most quick bread recipes call for a ton of oil and sugar. This recipes cuts the oil/butter by adding sour cream, which results in that trademark moist crumb. And the sugar. I am a firm believer that you could cut the sugar in most recipes by 1/3.
In this case, I have cut it back even further because ripe bananas are so sweet on their own. A typical banana bread recipe with these ratios would have 2 cups of sugar!! I use just 1/2 cup.
RELATED: 12 Ways to Use Up Bananas
This recipe is open to endless variations. I like to add Chia seeds and flax seeds or flax meal to pretty much any recipe I can get away with it. For the muffins, I topped them with shredded coconut before baking and stashed them in the freezer for my husband, who is always looking for a quick breakfast or snack option to add to his lunchbox.
You can pour the batter into loaf pans and add different ingredients directly to the pan, stirring gently to evenly incorporate it to the dough. With a single recipe, you can change it up with 2 different types of banana bread or 2 dozen muffins (try a silicon muffin pan!).
This time around, I added chocolate chunks from Trader Joe’s (of course) to one and fresh cranberries to another. Buy bags of fresh cranberries when they are on sale around the holidays and store them in the freezer. You can add the frozen berries directly to the bread batter. It bakes up beautifully and gives a nice tart kick to this sweet bread.
So the next time you find yourself in the middle of that combination of crazy wet weather + overripe bananas, just pull on some warm socks, fire up the oven, and bake some bread.
Best Banana Bread (low sugar)
Makes 2 loaves or 24 muffins
Ingredients
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened (Salted vs. Unsalted Butter)
1/2 c. sugar
6 ripe bananas (about 3 1/3 cup mashed)
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sour cream
4 egg whites
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
optional: 2 T. each Chia seeds and/or flax seeds
optional: chocolate chips/chunks, whole fresh or frozen cranberries, walnuts, shredded coconut
- Beat sugar and butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the bananas and beat until smooth (small pieces of banana are fine). Add the milk, sour cream, and egg whites; beat until combined.
- Combine the flours, baking soda, and salt. Add to the banana mixture, stirring until just blended.
- Preheat oven to 350. Spoon the batter into a greased 9″ loaf pan or 24 muffin cups. Bake loaves at 350 for about 1 hour, muffins for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
******************************************************
When it rains, I’m stuck reading Richard Scarry books on repeat. But if you have the good fortune of actual adults (or even older kids) with a more advanced grasp of the English language in your home, Bananagrams (Amazon) is a fun, simple game. Playing games while eating piping hot banana bread on a rainy day? Oh man, that sounds perfect. Throw in a Chai tea, and I’ll be right over.
Looking for more delicious recipes?
Follow Frugal Living NW on Pinterest!
Fantastic range of boards from best recipes and tips for frugal living to gardening and budgeting help.
This post may contain affiliate links. See the disclosure policy for more information.
FYI: Number 3 in your directions tells you to pour the batter into “a” 9” loaf pan, not 2 pans. This is misleading as the full recipe makes 2 loaves.
I can’t wait to try this. BTW, with regards to bananas, I rarely eat bananas but I do like to bake with them or put them in smoothies. So when they’re just ripe enough, I slice a bunch onto a cookie sheet. Pop that into the freezer for a couple hours then remove the slices to a freezer bag. They work great for baking and add that bit of cold flavor to smoothies.
I typically have low fat sour cream on hand. Would that work in this recipe?
Yes, that will work!
Is it OK to use white flour, instead of whole wheat? That’s what I have right now and would like to use that up first.
Sure! All white flour would work just fine.
Hi. I would like to use the whole egg, for nutrition, and I see that someone else asked about the egg whites. You replied something about yogurt but there is no yogurt in this recipe. Can I use two whole eggs instead of 4 egg whites? Also, is the amount of banana increased so that the sugar can be reduced and the bread still very sweet?
The recipe calls for sour cream. Plain yogurt would also work and has the same effect. I think you would be just fine subbing in whole eggs. Quick breads are pretty forgiving.
I didn’t bump up the bananas from the original recipe. I just feel that ripe bananas are sweet enough on their own, without a ton of added sugar. I decreased the sugar to reflect that. You could play with that amount to suit your own tastes!
I was wondering why this recipe only uses egg whites. Is this just to be healthier?
Egg whites have a drying effect so when you’re adding in extra liquid via the yogurt then it balances the texture. I added too many egg whites last time on accident and they were VERY dry. No one ate them.
I made this with my 4 year old son yesterday and he gobbled it up! Great recipe
Can you half this recipe? I am a single cooker so I hate to make so much, plus I only have half the bananas 🙂
Yes, the amounts in this recipe are easy to cut in half! Makes one loaf or 12 muffins.
I love the trick in the original Moosewood Cookbook. You spray your pan with oil and then you dust it with sesame seed. When the bread comes out you have this nutty crust of roasted sesame seeds on the sides and bottom of the pan that goes really well with the sweetness of the bananas
Such a great idea! I’m definitely going to try it. Thanks, Ruth!
What do you do with the egg yolk? I hate throwing things away, do you have a good recipe you can add that into?
Yvonne, I always save it to add to my scrambled eggs the next day or you could use it to make lemon curd but you need more than just one yolk.
You can also freeze egg yolks or whites! (Be sure to label how many there are in your container.) Many recipes seem to call for one or the other so I like to keep them that way, if not about to scramble.
Great recipe, try the Mrs Pollifax series of books for kids. Better yet the audiobooks which you can find at the library.