Perfect One Bowl Banana Nut Bread

Perfect One Bowl Banana Nut Bread is a lightened up, whole grain banana nut bread that’s perfectly moist and made all in one bowl!  It doesn’t get any easier or more perfect than this.

I’m taking a break from apples, pears, pumpkin and all things fall today to bring you a classic.   It’s important to provide you with this Perfect One Bowl Banana Nut Bread because I have zero classic banana bread (or muffin) recipes here.  Overripe bananas are on my counter every few days, and rather than freeze all of them for smoothies, I love making healthier banana nut bread to have around for breakfasts and snacks.  I’m thinking a lot of you have this overripe banana “problem” too, so I’ve worked hard on this recipe for you…and for me. 🙂

I’m one of those people that’s always in search of the next best brownie or chocolate chip cookie recipes, and the same is true for banana nut bread.  There are so many recipes out there that claim to be the best, and I’m sure they’re amazing, but one person’s idea if the best is not another’s.  Some recipes claim that butter makes all the difference because banana nut bread needs that flavor, and some say oil is essential to provide more moisture.  What’s a person to believe?

I normally don’t bake my quick breads with butter for health reasons and only use butter if I feel like I need that flavor.  I want my banana nut bread to have BIG banana flavor, so butter is pretty much out the door.  I love using oil to let the natural flavors shine through, and it really does a bang-up job moistening up the bread.

My idea of the perfect banana nut bread goes like this:

1. I love a quick bread that has risen beautifully with a domed top (and the nuts on top only make it more appealing to me).
2. I repeat…BIG banana flavor!
3. It’s perfectly moist
4. Absolutely positively no nuts on the inside (on top is fine because they stay crunchy and get toasty)
5. The bread contains some nutrition in the form of whole grains
6. Minimal sugar (bonus if it’s unrefined like coconut sugar)
7. One bowl to clean (I’m lazy).

That’s quite the laundry list, and surprisingly it wasn’t hard to achieve.  I based this recipe off of my basic muffin/quickbread recipes, which include a combination of Greek yogurt and milk.  After a few tries,  I decided to eliminate the milk and use all Greek yogurt to make the ingredient list shorter.  While the bread was moist, the crumb was quite heavy.  It was good, but hadn’t hit my perfect status yet.

18 overripe bananas and 6 tries later, I decided to scratch the Greek yogurt and use only milk.  I was amazed at how light and moist the crumb was.  I’d left to run and errand and came home and my kids had helped themselves to a slice while I was gone.  They told me good job on the banana nut bread and that it was awesome.  I had to agree….I knew this was my perfect loaf.

I didn’t mean to go on a banana bread tangent, but I guess I did!  Obviously I’m pretty passionate about it because it is a classic, and I’m very pleased that I was able to make a lightened up version that I’m so happy with.   This is a recipe I’ll turn to every time I have overripe bananas lying around because this is my version of perfect.  I hope you think it’s perfect too! 🙂

More recipes you might like!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Bread

Perfect One Bowl Banana Nut Bread

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

Perfect One Bowl Banana Nut Bread is a lightened up, whole grain banana nut bread that's perfectly moist and made all in one bowl! It doesn't get much easier than this.

Author: Flavor the Moments

Serves: 10-12 servings

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ¾ cup coconut sugar (you may substitute this with granulated or brown sugar)
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• ¾ cup skim milk (or your choice of non-dairy)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1¾ cups whole wheat white flour (or you can use 1 cup all purpose with ¾ cup whole wheat flour)
• ½ cup walnut pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a standard size loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil vigorously until frothy, about 30 seconds.
3. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, and bananas until well combined.
4. Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until incorporated.
5. Stir in the flour until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Top the batter with the walnuts and press in slightly.
7. Bake for 50-60 minute or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out fairly clean with moist crumbs. Cool completely on a wire rack. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Notes

This bread freezes very well!
All oven temperatures vary, so it's best to set the timer for 50 minutes and check the doneness.
Recipe by Flavor the Moments.

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