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This olive oil banana bread with whole-wheat flour is moist, tender, flavorful and easy to make. So, if you’re looking for a go-to whole-wheat banana bread, this is it!
I’ve been making this banana bread for years. What I love about this recipe is it stays moist for days. Not something you’d expect from a whole-wheat quick bread. And it’s all thanks to the combination of honey, buttermilk and olive oil.
Three Key Ingredients to Making Moist Whole-Wheat Banana Bread
Baking Soda: I tested this recipe multiple times and found that using only baking soda, no baking powder, resulted in the tallest and most tender banana bread.
Honey: using honey instead of granulated sugar add sweetness, flavor and more moisture.
Oil: oil is pure fat while butter can have 10–18% water content. By using oil instead of butter, you’re removing the chance for moisture loss. Additionally, you’re using a liquid fat which inherently makes a more moist quick bread.
Pan Size Matters
I generally prefer to use 8½ × 4½-inch loaf pans for quick breads. However, this recipe needs a pound cake loaf pan which is slightly bigger at 9×5-inches. Aside from being great for pound cake, these larger pans are also good for meatloaf.
Bake Into Muffins Instead
You can easily bake this banana bread batter into muffins, here’s how to do it:
- Heat your oven to 400°F and line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
- Divide the banana bread batter between muffin cups, sprinkle turbinado sugar over top and bake until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centers come out clean; this will take about 18 minutes.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
More Whole-Wheat Baking Recipes
Healthy Baking
Healthy Whole-Wheat Muffins
Baking Recipes
Whole-Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
Muffins
Healthy Carrot Muffins
Baking Recipes
Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Whole-Wheat Olive Oil Banana Bread
Description
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Ingredients
- 2 cups (205g) whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup (234g) mashed ripe bananas from 2 large, very ripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F (177ºC).
- Coat a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides; coat paper with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
- In a separate bowl, mash bananas until very smooth. Add eggs, honey, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to banana mixture and mix just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth top, and bake until dark brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55–60 minutes, rotating halfway through baking.
- Let bread cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Turn bread out and let cool completely on wire rack.
Hi! I would live to make this recipe but I only have Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Does it work with it or I need to use regular olive oil?
Thank you!
Hi Silvia! You can absolutely use extra-virgin olive oil, it will be delicious!!
I ve been doing a lot of experimenting with white whole wheat flour and I LOVE it! I m a huge fan of banana bread so I ll definitely have to give this a try ??
I’ve made the vegan version of this banana bread a few times now and I LOVE it. I find one chia egg (1 tbsp ground chia + 4 tbsp water) is enough to replace the eggs if you go the chia route. I have an insatiable sweet tooth so I replaced the honey with 1/3 cup maple syrup + 1/3 cup brown sugar but it was definitely sweet enough with just 1/2 cup sweetener. And the texture of the bread is just *chef kiss.* Not too dense, just sweet enough, lightly spiced. Thanks for this great recipe. 🙂
Oh my gosh, Kayla thank you for the wonderful comment! Also, I LOVE that you make this vegan with a chia egg, that will be super helpful for readers to hear! I totally get it with the sweetness too—I’ve heard from a few people that they’d like it to be sweeter, so it’s good to know that it works with maple syrup and brown sugar! Even a bit of sugar sprinkled over top right before baking would be fabulous!
WOW! best banana bread I’ve ever made, you’d never know it was healthier. Moist, just sweet enough, and not too dense. saving this and making it regularly!
Hi, looking to make this for breakfast for myself and my baby who is doing baby led weaning. Is there a good substitute for the honey as that’s a big no before age 1. Thanks!
Hi Renee, great question!
You can use ½ cup packed brown sugar in place of the honey. If you want to keep it naturally sweetened you can also use coconut sugar (increase to ¾ cup) or pure maple syrup instead. I hope that helps!
Delicious! I added chopped pecans and am eating it fresh from the oven now. I love how the flavor of the honey comes through.
Hi Mimi! I love that you added pecans, I bet that crunch is tasty!!
Have you tried using whole wheat einkorn in this recipe? If so, did it require any adjustments?
Hi Moi, unfortunately I have not tested this with einkorn but will put it on the list for testing!
I tried it with einkorn whole wheat and it’s great!