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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
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.
Question? Can you freeze this bread or even the slices?
I cut a few slices an froze them an took them out waited 15 minutes an slabbed butter on them an they were perfect.
Baked goods usually freeze very well. You’ll probably want to place some parchment paper between slices so you can get them apart, though! And make sure to let it cool completely before freezing.
I did all that do all went well.
I just made this banana bread an I followed the recipe as directed. It turned out perfect. The top did flatten slightly, it was full of flavor an super tasty with a smear of Nutella.
I thought have you ever tried chocolate covered banana bread? With the success of the chocolate banana muffins I figured you could come up with a bread recipe like this one only using chocolate. This bread was amazing. Imagine chocolate, coconut flakes an bananas.
That sounds amazing! I haven’t tried it yet, but now I want to. :)
I would love ❤️ to see what you come up with. I’m so excited. 😃
Can I sub plain greek yogurt for plain yogurt and almond flour for all-purpose flour?
Unfortunately, I would need to test that to see how much it affects the end product. There are a lot of chemical reactions involved in the process of baking, so when you start substituting ingredients it can really change how it turns out.
I am planning to try it with nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt since that’s what I have. I’ll report back!
Didn’t work out for me.
I only had vanilla Greek nonfat yogurt so that’s what I used. I used half the sugar and vanilla to compensate. I didn’t use almonds but did add chocolate chips. It did not turn out for me. Looked beautiful out of the oven but 15 minutes later sunken flat, didn’t want to come out of the pan, and now it looks terrible. I’m willing to bet it will still be amazingly tasty, though. Makes me want to serve it with ice cream for a dessert.
The first time I made this, I used Greek yogurt, and I think it turned out a lot better. It baked a whole lot faster for sure.
I have a no waste kitchen so this was great way to use up banana . So delish! Great for breakfast with a little Nutella on top
I love it! I baked it many times now, and it turned perfectly each time. I add chocolate chips, though, because I have a sweet tooth, but nonetheless, it’s an amazing recipe.
Hi! This sounds so good. I just wanted to ask: did you use bleached, enriched all purpose flour? Or unbleached all purpose flour?
And to the best of your (or anyone’s) knowledge does it matter?
Thank you again for your amazing recipes I love them so much.
It doesn’t matter, you can use bleached or unbleached. :)
Any good substitutes for the banana? Would canned pumpkin work well?
You could probably do something similar with canned pumpkin, yes. :) I haven’t tried it to know if it would need any additional tweaks, though.
I am testing it right now because I loved the banana bread with yogurt so much! I looked at your other pumpkin bread recipe but I still had yogurt leftover from this one, so I thought it would be more frugal to use it up!
Recipe made the most soft and moist banana bread I tried baking! Made this twice now and perfect results.Super happy with the results, and love how this is a bit healthier than most recipes.
I was a bit anxious why it had mixed reviews, but gave it a shot anyways. I followed the recipe as is, and it was perfect.
If it helps anyone, here are some tips:
– I used Greek yogurt full fat
– I used dark brown sugar, as I usually do for banana bread for the Color. I’m thinking of adding a bit more next time, as I like it sweeter
-I also added semi sweet chocolate chunks , sooo delicious.
-I used a metal pan. I did use a square pan, because I found that when it rise the square gives me the best height (I prefer not too big slices when I cut!)
-for square metal pan, I start checking at around 35mins mark. Usually it will be done between 35-45mins for me.Highly recommend checking it often as every oven is different.
last time we had left overs until 4-5 days, and I can confirm it’s still SOO soft until then. If you want to refresh it then, you can warm up your slice in the microwave for 15 seconds or something, and spread some butter in it !
I love Budget Bytes recipes, but this one was an epic fail. I baked the bread for over an hour & a half and it was dark, dark brown on the outside and still wet & gummy on the inside. Very disappointing!
Clearly, this is on you… I’m sorry to say that, but I baked this numerous times now, and it is amazingly good and it turned perfectly each time.
What kind of yogurt did you use? I’ve had some banana bread fails in the past and I think it’s because I used greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt!
Hi Beth. I just have one question. Is there a particular kind of yogurt that works best for this recipe? Does plain Greek yogurt work for this recipe?
I used plain (non-Greek) yogurt. Greek yogurt has less moisture, so that may throw off the moisture balance in the bread. I think some other people have commented that they used Greek yogurt, but I haven’t tried it myself. :)
I have never added yogurt while making banana bread. Will be definitely making it this way soon.
This recipe is amazing! I’ve never made banana bread before and it turned out perfectly, using a glass loaf pan and plain whole milk yogurt. Also used about 3 small, extremely ripe bananas (very soft) to make 1 cup mashed banana. Rose beautifully and it is nice and moist. Cooked the full 60 minutes without opening the oven door and it was fool-proof! My suggestion is to chop the walnuts finer than the pre-chopped ones from the grocery store, unless you’re super into nuts! Tastes delicious, will definitely make again!
Thank you for this recipe! I use it to make jumbo muffins (6 muffins per recipe). I cut the sugar down to a 1/4 cup, and find it’s just as good. How can I re-calculate the calories with the sugar amount changed?
I’m so glad it worked out for you! To recalculate the nutrition data you’d need to use an online nutrition calculator on another website. You can Google “recipe nutrition calculator” and several will come up. :)
Hey! May I ask you what temp and how long do you bake them to make muffins please?
One of the best banana breads , if not THE BEST !! it turned out perfectly . If I may suggest to those who had disappointing results .. Measure out the bananas , make sure you have two cups … Three or four large bananas will be about FOUR cups , resulting in a wet, gummy bread .. Baking time was 60 minutes
So I made the banana bread into muffins and it was an instant hit! Easy, not super sweet, and all the muffins were gobbled up.
Today, I went to grab my over ripe bananas, and they were gone, tossed by hubby. I took a zucchini ( in plentiful supply) and shredded it (1 cup), added 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder, and followed the recipe (omitted nuts and added 5 chocolate chips to each muffin). Again I dished into the muffin pans. Divine!