This is my take on banana bread, a zucchini banana bread. It's a healthy banana bread recipe (well much healthier than many banana bread recipes). BUT no one, not even my kids complain about the zucchini at all.
Why This Recipe Works
- Half the sugar of traditional banana bread recipes but this healthy banana bread still tastes great!
- Being a Zucchini banana bread recipe means this loaf has some veggie content which is not just great for our bodies but also the zucchini keeps the banana bread moist.
- This recipe is dairy-free so it's suitable for kids with dairy allergies.
- Easy to make, no fancy ingredients or methods, no cake mixers needed.
Ingredients you will need
To make this recipe you will need pantry basics: flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, oil, eggs plus bananas and zucchini.
Substitutes
- Flour: I use a 50:50 mix of plain flour and wholemeal flour, this means some extra fibre but still a soft texture. You can skip the wholemeal flour and use one hundred percent plain flour. However, I find the recipe is too dry if you use one hundred percent wholemeal flour.
- Ripe Bananas: Banana can't be substituted out of a banana bread recipe, but your bananas can be bruised battered and brown and you will still get a great result. Potentially even better than using perfect bananas.
- Zucchini: I use shredded zucchini in this recipe, you can substitute with equal quantities of grated carrots. The flavour of the banana bread will be slightly different as carrot has a stronger flavour than zucchini, but it will still be delicious.
- Sugar: In this recipe, I use brown sugar as I like the flavour it adds to the banana bread. If you would prefer to use an unrefined then coconut sugar is a suitable substitute. You can also make this recipe with granulated white sugar.
- Oil: I like to use a mild olive oil in my baking. Any mild flavoured oil would be a suitable alternative, such as coconut oil, as would melted butter.
- Eggs: I haven't tested this recipe with egg substitutes.
Bananas and Zucchini
In any baking where you are using fresh produce like bananas and zucchini it is important to use the correct amount. Or at least a similar amount to the original recipe, and as we know the size of fresh produce can vary a lot.
I have therefore weighed and measured the banana and zucchini rather than just saying a generic '1 medium' or '1 large'. As too much or too little will mean your zucchini banana bread will be quite different to mine.
The zucchini I used was quite large, it weighed approximately 200g (194g to be exact) and when it was grated it yielded 2 cups of grated zucchini.
I used 2 large bananas to make my healthy banana recipe, when mashed this yielded approximately 270g of mashed banana, which was 1 cup of mashed banana.
Wholemeal Flour
In New Zealand, and I believe Australia and the UK, wholemeal flour is a common ingredient. It is quite a coarse flour as it contains wheat bran (see image below). I don't believe this exact flour is available in North America. But I understand wholewheat flour can be used as a substitute.
How to Make Zucchini Banana Bread
Prepare the banana and zucchini
- Mash the bananas, you want approximately 270g of mashed banana or 1 metric cup (photo 1).
- Grate the zucchini, you want approximately 200g of grated zucchini, which is around 2 metric cups (photo 2).
- Squeeze out the zucchini with your hands to remove as much liquid as possible (photo 3).
Make the loaf
- Heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (360 F)
- Prepare a loaf tin, I use a silicone tin so I don't need to line it, if you are using regular loaf tin then you will need to line it with baking paper
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk the oil, eggs, and mashed bananas (photo 4).
- Add the sugar and whisk until well combined (photo 5).
- In a second large bowl whisk together the remaining dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, and cinnamon (photo 6).
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, fold until just combined (photo 7).
- Fold in the grated and squeezed zucchini (photo 8).
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin
- Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 40 mins or until a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack.
Top Tips
Here is how you can make this healthy banana bread recipe perfectly every time!
- Use a mix of plain and wholemeal flour, this yields a banana bread with higher fibre but still a great soft texture. If you cannot find wholemeal flour you can use a wholewheat flour
- Be sure to use the correct amounts of mashed banana and grated zucchini
- Don't forget to remove the excess liquid from the grated zucchini by squeezing it well before adding it to the batter
- If your children are very weary of anything the slightest bit green, try peeling the zucchini before grating, then over time stop peeling it.
FAQs
My secret to making moist healthy banana bread is adding grated zucchini and including mild flavoured olive oil in the batter.
This zucchini banana bread stores best in an airtight paper towel-lined container at room temperature. Make sure you cool the bread completely before transferring to the container. It will store for 3-4 days.
Absolutely this loaf will freeze for up to 3 months if frozen. Make sure you wrap the loaf completely in cling film before freezing. When you want to enjoy the banana bread. Defrost on the bench over night.
Related recipes
If you are a banana bread fan, you could also try my double chocolate banana bread recipe.
I love baking with zucchini, it adds moistness but no change in flavour to most recipes
- My wholemeal zucchini banana muffins are great
- My gluten-free double chocolate zucchini muffins are dairy and grain-free and delicious
- My zucchini slice is a savoury loaf absolutely perfect for picnics
Healthy Zucchini Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 200 g Zucchini This is typically 1 large zucchini
- 270 g Banana This is typically 2 med/large bananas
- 100 g Brown sugar ½ cup
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml Olive oil (mild) ½ cup
- 160 g flour 1 Cup
- 160 g wholemeal flour 1 Cup
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Mash the bananas, you want approximately 270g of mashed banana or 1 metric cup.
- Grate the zucchini, you want approximately 200g of grated zucchini, which is around 2 metric cups.
- Squeeze out the zucchini with your hands to remove as much liquid as possible.
- Heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (360 F. Prepare a loaf tin, I use a silicone tin so I don't need to line it, if you are using regular loaf tin then you will need to line it with baking paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk the oil, eggs, and mashed banana.
- Add the sugar and whisk until well combined.
- In a second large bowl whisk together the remaining dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, fold until just combined.
- Fold in the grated and squeezed zucchini.
- Transfer the batter into your prepared loaf tin.
- Bake at 180 degrees (360 F) celsius for 50-60 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Once cooked, remove from oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes in the loaf tin before turing out on a cooling rack.
Notes
- Use a mix of plain and wholemeal flour, this yields a banana bread with higher fibre but still a great soft texture. If you cannot find wholemeal flour you can use a wholewheat flour
- Be sure to use the correct amounts of mashed banana and grated zucchini.
- Don't forget to remove the excess liquid from the grated zucchini by squeezing it well before adding it to the batter
- If your children are very weary of anything the slightest bit green, try peeling the zucchini before grating, then over time stop peeling it.
- Storage: This zucchini banana bread stores best in an airtight paper towel-lined container at room temperature. Make sure you cool the bread completely before transferring to the container. It will store for 3-4 days.
- Freezing: This loaf will freeze for up to 3 months if frozen. Make sure you wrap the loaf completely in cling film before freezing. When you want to enjoy the banana bread. Defrost on the bench overnight.
- Flour: I use a 50:50 mix of plain flour and wholemeal flour, this means some extra fibre but still a soft texture. You can skip the wholemeal flour and use one hundred percent plain flour. However, don't go for one hundred percent wholemeal flour as the bread ends up too dry.
- Banana: Banana can't be substituted out of a banana bread recipe, but your bananas can be bruised battered and brown and you will still get a great result. Potentially even better than using perfect bananas.
- Zucchini: I use grated zucchini in this recipe, you can substitute with equal quantities of grated carrots. The flavour of the banana bread will be slightly different as carrot has a stronger flavour than zucchini, but it will still be delicious.
- Sugar: In this recipe, I use brown sugar as I like the flavour it adds to the banana bread. If you would prefer to use an unrefined then coconut sugar is a suitable substitute. You can also make this recipe with granulated white sugar.
- Oil: I like to use a mild olive oil in my baking. Any mild flavoured oil would be a suitable alternative, as would melted butter.
- Eggs: I haven't tested this recipe with egg substitutes.
Dana says
Argh, what did I do wrong? My banana bread was still a raw, stodgy brick after 60 mins. Horrible! Yours looks nice though...
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
Did you squeeze out the zucchini?
Carrie says
Same thing happened to me when I made this bread. Raw and under cooked on the inside. I squeezed out the zucchini too.
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
Hmmm, I've tested this recipe many times and not had this issue. Thanks for the feedback though, I will look into it further.
Tina says
Came out great. Super moist and delicious. My 2 year old devoured it.
Elsa says
Hi, thank you for all your wonderful recipes! Can i use only oat flour instead? If i dont have zucchini and carrots should i just increase the quantity of bananas and how many would it require? Thanks again
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
Oat flour will behave differently so you will get a denser loaf. but it should work
Emma says
I just made this using carrot instead of zucchini and weighing out all the ingredients and it worked perfectly. The one thing I did change was using 1/3 cup sugar instead of 1/2 cup, just to reduce that down for my kids and it's really yummy. It was done after about 45 mins in my fan bake oven. Thanks for another awesome lunchbox recipe!