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
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
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 am looking forward to making this. Could I use brown sugar? What size pan?
Hi! You could substitute brown sugar in this recipe, but it will likely change the texture of the loaf. Since we haven’t tested the recipe with this substitution ourselves, I can’t promise the results will be equally successful–but don’t let me stop you! (It will probably be good, just different from our recipe!) If you do give it a shot, let us know how it goes!
The loaf pan is a standard, 9×5 baking dish (1.5 qt capacity). You can find this information in the Equipment section of the recipe card by clicking on the image of the baking dish (or any other items listed in this area of the recipe), which will take you to the Amazon product page for that item, and lists all the specifics you’d want to know, like it’s size and volume. ~ Marion
This recipe seems like it works for some but not for others, and I was unfortunately one that it didn’t work for. I followed the recipe and baked it in a glass loaf pan. After 1.5 hours my knife still wasn’t coming out clean, but I thought maybe it was just really moist since it had cooked so long at that point. It looked really nice when it came out but then fell to about half the height it had been. Very undercooked when I cut into it. Ended up throwing it out. Won’t try again
What type of yogurt do you recommend? Regular or Greek and fullfat or nonfat? Thanks!!
You can do either regular or greek0 but make sure it is full fat.
Thank you!!
Your prices are from the 1950’s …get real.
We shop at discount grocers in Nashville, TN, and our prices are not made up. I’m sorry that food is so overpriced where you live, but we certainly aren’t misrepresenting our prices in any way. XOXO -Monti
I make banana bread all the time and like to try new recipes.Followed it exactly, came out horrible. Despite my fresh baking powder and soda, it didn’t rise and was gooey on the inside. Just made bread the other day and should have stuck w that recipe. Terrible!
I tried this recipe today, and I’m not sure what I did wrong (I bake frequently, and am usually pretty good at preventing disasters!), but like many others, mine looked lovely as I took it out – toothpick came out clean, nice crust, etc – but it fell almost immediately, and there was raw batter towards the bottom. On the bright side, it was delicious broiled in my air fryer! Tasted like French toast!
Great save Happy Day. I am unsure what could have gone wrong, as I wasn’t there with you. But definitely make sure you use a separate oven thermometer to ensure you are baking at the right temperature. Most ovens are off by quite a bit. Also, make sure you are baking the bread in the center of your oven. XOXO -Monti
This made awesome muffins with semisweet chocolate chips. They freeze well!
Love this recipe, moist & delicious!
I have made this many times and have loved the outcome every time. Has and always will be my go-to banana bread recipe.
Wonderful recipe! I make it with Greek yoghurt, about 1/3 cup sugar and I sub 1/2 cup plain flour for wholemeal. It took an extra 10 minutes to cook. It is delightfully light and a great level of sweetness for breakfast or late night snack.
I’ve made this bread several times. Once with Greek yogurt because that’s what I had on hand but it wasn’t as good and took a lot longer to cook and was still a little too mushy. When I use whole milk plain yogurt (Mountain High brand) it comes out wonderful though! I also put foil on top the last 10 minutes because it was already nicely browned and I didnt want it to burn.
I was intrigued by this recipe. Banana bread is already a moist bread in my experience, so why add yogurt? But at the same time.. why not? I always have a ton of bananas and yogurt so it seems to make sense to try this soon :)
Yum! Came out perfectly. Thanks Beth
The best and easiest banana bread I’ve ever made! Thank you!
What happens I forgot to put in the baking powder
The bread probably won’t rise properly and it will be very heavy and dense.