The Healthiest Banana Bread, According to a Dietitian
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Here’s an Easy, Healthy Banana Bread You’ll Want to Eat on Repeat

Here’s an Easy, Healthy Banana Bread You’ll Want to Eat on Repeat
Everyday Health
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Updated on July 30, 2026
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Everyday Health staff nutritionist Kelly Kennedy, RDN, shows you how to make healthy banana bread.
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Bananas are a staple food, purchased by more than 80 percent of U.S. households. Yet somehow, the inexpensive yellow fruit has become inexplicably trendy.

The craze for treats like banana lattes, banana cream prebiotic sodas, and banana water (an actual beverage) has inspired a nickname for the current moment: banana girl summer.

Banana bread is part of the fun. “Similar to matcha’s popularity in coffee shops, ‘banana bread’ is a trending flavor for 2026,” one style pundit told the fashion website Who What Wear.

Of course, bananas are more than a flavor: They are a food, and one that has a lot to offer nutritionally. For one thing, a medium banana provides about 2 grams of fiber (that’s anywhere from 5 to 8 percent of the recommended Daily Value for people ages 50 and under). Fiber is vital for good digestion (key if you're on a GLP-1 drug), may boost cardiovascular health, and might even extend lifespan.

Bananas are a good source of vitamin C (essential for the immune system) and vitamin B6 (important for both the immune and nervous systems).

A medium banana may also provide more than 10 percent of your daily potassium needs, supporting healthy blood pressure.

Baking with bananas is easy and cost-effective. Squishing ripe bananas with a potato masher or the back of a fork yields a mush that can be stirred into any number of recipes, usually as a replacement for some of the more unhealthy kinds of fat. Ripe bananas are around three-quarters water, so they also add moisture to baked goods.

One of the most famous ways to cook with bananas is banana bread, a type of quick bread (a bread that does not require yeast). Banana bread is a perfect use for overripe bananas.

Traditional banana bread recipes call for white flour, white sugar, and butter, making for a final product that is more akin to cake than a nutritious breakfast option. But the following recipe swaps half of the all-purpose flour for whole-wheat flour, skips the sugar in favor of a smaller amount of maple syrup, and trades the butter for canola or vegetable oil and Greek yogurt.

You’ll want to make this banana bread even after banana girl summer is over.

healthy banana bread
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Healthy Banana Bread

Even though it has a fruit in its name, banana bread traditionally contains loads of refined sugar and saturated fat from butter. By swapping 1 cup of all-purpose flour for whole-wheat flour, this recipe adds more than 9 g of filling fiber to your loaf, per USDA data. Greek yogurt replaces some of the butter and adds protein, along with chia seeds, which the USDA notes will also add heart-healthy omega-3 fats to your morning meal. Not bad for bread!

4.2 out of 32 reviews

SERVES

10

CALORIES PER SERVING

251

AUTHOR

Kelly Kennedy, RDN

REVIEWED BY

Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCES

Ingredients

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
3 large overripe bananas
2 large eggs
½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
½ cup maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
⅓ cup canola or vegetable oil
2 tbsp chia seeds

Directions

1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard loaf pan (8.5x4.5x2.5 inches) and set aside.

2

In a mixing bowl, combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix together until evenly combined.

3

In a separate large mixing bowl, mash bananas using a potato masher or the back of a fork. Mix in eggs, yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, oil, and chia seeds. Stir thoroughly.

4

Add dry ingredients to wet ones and stir gently until just moistened (some lumps will remain).

5

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake in until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Amount per serving

calories

251

total fat

10g

saturated fat

0.9g

protein

6g

carbohydrates

36g

fiber

2.9g

sugar

13.2g

added sugar

9.8g

sodium

226mg

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EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Top 20 Fruits and Vegetables of 2025. International Fresh Produce Association.
  2. L Fortney. Everything’s Bananas. The New York Times. July 6, 2026.
  3. McKlintock K. Banana Girl Summer Is Here — 13 Sweet and Sun-Kissed Beauty Products That Fit the Bill. Who What Wear. June 19, 2026.
  4. Peel It Back: Let’s Look at the Health Benefits of Bananas. Cleveland Clinic. May 6, 2025.
  5. Bananas, Ripe and Slightly Ripe, Raw. U.S. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central. April 1, 2020.
  6. Vitamin B-6. Mayo Clinic. August 13, 2025.
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Reyna-Franco-bio

Reyna Franco, RDN

Medical Reviewer
Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Reyna Franco, RDN, is a New York City–based dietitian-nutritionist, certified specialist in sports dietetics, and certified personal trainer. She is a diplomate of the American Col...

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Kelly Kennedy, RDN, LDN

Author

Kelly Kennedy is a licensed dietitian-nutritionist with over 14 years of experience in digital media. She previously managed and oversaw nutrition content, recipe development, meal...

See full bio
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network