I’ve been even more diligent about keeping my food waste low since the pandemic started, since our visits to the grocery store are few and far between. So when I was taking stock of what was on hand the other day, the puzzle pieces started to move into place in my head, and I saw everything I needed to make a glorious loaf of banana bread. Yogurt banana bread, to be exact. Why yogurt? Read on to find out.
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Why Add Yogurt to Banana Bread?
Yogurt is a great ingredient for adding to banana bread and other baked goods. It keeps the bread moist, tender, and super delicious without using a ton of butter or oil. You’ll want to use plain yogurt for this recipe, not pre-sweetened. I have not tested Greek-style yogurt in this recipe, but would guess that it would make a slightly more dense loaf, since it has less moisture than regular yogurt.
How Ripe Should the Bananas Be?
The more ripe the banana, the better for banana bread. As bananas ripen the starches turn to sugar, so an un-ripe banana will not be as sweet or as soft (good for mashing). Try to wait until your bananas have NO green left and are about half spotted. If your bananas get to the perfect banana bread ripeness, but you’re not quite ready to make banana bread, simply peel them, toss them into a freezer bag, and freeze them until you’re ready.
Can I Bake These As Muffins?
Yes, this batter works great for banana muffins, too! Just divide the batter between 12 wells of a muffin tin and bake for about 40 minutes at 350ºF.
What Else Can I Add to Banana Bread?
Banana bread is fun because you can add all sorts of stuff to it. I used walnuts here, but they’re completely optional. You can do other nuts, like pecans or even shredded coconut. Chocolate also pairs really well with bananas, so you can add ½ cup chocolate chips, or melt the chocolate and swirl it into the batter once it’s in the bread pan. A little bit of well-drained canned crushed pineapple would also be fun!
How to Store Banana Bread
After baking the banana bread, let it cool completely to room temperature, then transfer it to a gallon-sized zip top bag and store in the refrigerator. It will last in the refrigerator for about five days. I like to slice mine before refrigerating, so I can just take one slice out at a time to have with my coffee. About 15 seconds in the microwave and it’s warm and delicious, just like fresh baked!
P.S. Banana bread is really good with a little peanut butter or almond butter drizzled over top!
Yogurt Banana Bread
Servings 8 thick slicesIngredients
- 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas) ($0.42)
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.67)
- 2 large eggs ($0.46)
- 1/2 cup sugar ($0.40)
- 4 Tbsp butter, melted ($0.52)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.30)
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.23)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ($0.60)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Rub a little butter on the inside of a loaf pan to coat the bottom and sides.
- Mash the banana well, then add it to a large bowl along with the yogurt, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk these ingredients until they're well combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg until well combined.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and stir together just until there is no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl (a few lumps are okay, just be careful not to over stir). Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, then bake in the preheated 350ºF oven for 60 minutes, or until the bread is brown, cracked open on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a few moist crumbs are okay, just no raw batter).
- After baking, let the banana bread cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Once it's slightly cooled it will have pulled away from the bread pan slightly. Run a knife along the sides between the bread and pan, then gently turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cool, slice and serve.
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Equipment
- Glass Loaf Pan
- Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
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You might also like my Banana Flax Muffins!
How to Make Yogurt Banana Bread – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Rub a little butter inside a loaf pan to coat the bottom and sides. Make 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas). I do this in a glass measuring cup with a fork. It should only take about 30 seconds.
Add the mashed banana to a large bowl along with 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 large eggs, ½ cup sugar, 4 Tbsp melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk these ingredients together until they’re well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp nutmeg. Stir until well combined.
Pour the bowl of dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and stir just until they are combined and no dry flour remains on the bottom of the bowl. A few lumps are okay, but make sure there are no pockets of dry flour left. Avoid over stirring. (photo is half-way through stirring)
Fold ½ cup chopped walnuts into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake the bread in the preheated 350ºF oven for about 60 minutes, or until the bread is browned, the top is cracked open, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (“clean” means no raw batter, a few moist crumbs stuck to the toothpick are okay).
Allow the bread to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. It will pull away from the pan slightly as it cools. Run a knife along the sides between the bread and loaf pan, then gently turn the bread out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, slice and serve.
I made this this weekend and swapped the nuts out for chocolate chips and omg was it good!! Instant hit in my house!
This looks delicious! Would it be crazy to use Greek yogurt and throw in a splash of milk to thin it out?
It would add more moisture to the recipe and you could risk it sinking in the middle, so I wouldn’t suggest it!
I used lactose free greek yogurt when I made mine (no extra milk though) and it turned out awesome!
AHHH-MAZING! I have made this bread 3 times since you posted this recipe. Everyone loves it and requests it on the weekends. Super easy to follow, simple ingredients on hand, and SO FLUFFY !! Thank you for sharing !!
This is by far the best banana bread I have ever tasted. It’s moist, has a great crumb, and omg it’s so delicious. I skipped the nuts because I am not a fan, and made the rest as per the recipe. I pulled it out of the oven at 57 minutes. I could not wait to try it. It is fabulous!
What size loaf pan do you use?
We used a loaf pan measuring 9 x 5 x 2-1/2 inches.
OMG SO FLUFFY. I love banana bread, and usually bake my mom’s recipe, but decided to try yours. I love how light it is!!! I added chocolate chips and chopped pecans instead of walnuts. YUM
Just made this as muffins. Had Pecans in the freezer so I chopped them.
I expected great things because I have made other muffins with yogurt, zucchini, chocolate, & applesauce and they got rave reviews.
Too Bad The tops of these muffins were flat & brown.
The bottoms were too soft. Had to add some time
They barely edible. I think the oven should be hotter for muffins in a shiny pan.
My normal muffin recipes are 400 F for 30 min not 350 or 40 min.
I have an oven Thermometer, so it wasn’t a temperature error..
I tested my baking powder and Baking soda and they were both still good, but the muffins were flat with an overdone top and barely done bottom.
A disappointment.
Too bad.
So you didn’t follow the recipe and then gave it a one-star rating? What an unfortunate thing to happen.
I’m making this for the second time in a week! I used plain Greek yogurt, since I had 2 cups left over from a recipe, and it added a tangy flavor that may not be for everyone. I loved it, though!
This didn’t work out for me… Followed the instructions exactly. I left it in the oven for an extra 10 minutes, but I had to pull it when the top was getting a little too brown. Still raw inside. First banana bread I had fail, not sure what went wrong
I’m sorry to hear that Melinda! Without being there to see it’s hard to say exactly what happened. One culprit could be your oven. The temperature could be too high. A cheap oven thermometer is a great investment.
Thanks, maybe that will be my next investment. The parts I could salvage were delicious, so I’d like to give this recipe another try!
Wow! I have tried four other banana bread recipes during quarantine that were all “okay,” but this one was amazing. So moist with the perfect amount of sweetness. I swapped the nuts for mini chocolate chips and it worked out great :)
Hi,
I just wanted to tell I’ve gone healthy freak with this recipe: swapped all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour, chose liquid sweetener (pure maple syrup, and only 1/4 cup – added 2 Tbsp flour to balance the moist), omited butter and picked vegetable oil instead. Still it turned out AMAZING. I must confess I wouldn’t mind more sweetness next time, but this became a superb breakfast thing. Thank you!!! <3
Subbed all-purpose for whole wheat and it came out great! I did sprinkle the top with oats, but I wouldn’t recommend, it really covers the beautiful browning.
This was pretty great – I had a bunch of yogurt and bananas going brown, so very timely! Just wanted to say that it definitely works with 1/4 c of sugar instead of 1/2. Not very sweet, but still decent. I had an 1/8 loaf thick slice with a little butter for breakfast, and it actually kept me satisfied for 4+ hrs, which is rather amazing. I recommend toasting the walnuts before adding them!
I just made this. Halfed the yogurt and added 1/2 cup of applesauce for more tastyness and it came great!!
Delish! I only had crushed pecans so used those instead of walnuts an added chopped up chocolate bars. Cooked this up in a 9″ cast iron skillet which I had reheated a bit combined with being more shallow reduced the cooking time to under 40 minutes. Turned out great. I also used home-made yogurt which is also super easy, extends how long milk lasts and much cheaper than normal yogurt. Heat milk to 180 degrees, cool to 120 degrees in ice-bath, mix in 1 teaspoon yogurt with live cultures per quart of milk, transfer to storage containers which need not be fancy. The normal BB meal prep containers work fine. Transfer to warm place to ferment undisturbed. I use my oven which I keep warm with pots of boiled water that I re-boil every 8 hours or so. Yogurt is set after overnight ferment and gets progressively more tart with time.
Thanks to the BB team for all of the great recipe’s and good cheer during these strange times!
This is good. Nice and light.
Just made this recipe into muffins (I ended up having a bit of batter leftover, so I actually made 12 muffins and 1 mini loaf) . It took just about 18 minutes to bake the muffins and 33 minutes for the mini loaf. They are really moist and delicious, not too sweet. I made a couple changes….I used vanilla yogurt (all I had on hand), replaced half the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and sprinkled some oats over the top of the muffins before baking. I also stirred in some blueberries to the remaining batter for the mini loaf. Thank you for the great recipe, I’ll definitely be making them again.