Protein Banana Bread

Protein banana bread is a yummy, protein-packed breakfast treat perfect for starting your morning off right! This bread is super moist and fluffy with a deliciously tender crumb and tons of natural sweetness and bright banana flavor in each bite. Each slice packs in 9 to 10 grams of protein thanks to added vegan protein powder, whole wheat flour, eggs, Greek yogurt, and walnuts. Start your morning off right with a slice…or two!

Ingredients

• Very ripe bananas – for perfectly sweet and rich banana flavor, use super ripe bananas. The best bananas are yellow with a little light spotting. They’ll be naturally sweeter and creamier. And they are easier to mash. [6.5 g protein per loaf]
• Protein powder – vegan or plant-based protein powders work best in this recipe (as opposed to whey protein). We love using Orgain Simple vanilla protein powder or My Protein vanilla pea protein . [20-30 g protein per loaf, depending on type of protein used]
• Yogurt (Greek or plant-based) – Yogurt adds extra moisture to this banana bread and cuts back on the oil needed. We prefer reduced fat or full fat Greek yogurt (both work good). You can try plant or regular yogurt too, but they will be lower in protein (this recipe has not been tested with plant yogurt). [15 g of protein per loaf]
• Eggs – eggs work as a binding agent and they add about 12 grams of protein to this loaf. [12 g of protein per loaf]
• Pure maple syrup – maple syrup is a natural sweetener lower on the glycemic index than cane sugar. Pure maple syrup is perfect for cutting out refined sugars while lending a light maple flavor. Honey also works wonderfully. Note: this is NOT pancake syrup! [0 g protein per loaf]
• Olive oil – Olive oil is a slightly healthier option than canola oil and it adds a nice hint of nuttiness to the bread. You can substitute canola oil if you prefer. [0 g protein per loaf]
• Whole wheat flour – It’s super easy to sneak in whole wheat flour into baked goods and it works wonderfully in this recipe. It has a minimal impact to the overall texture or taste of this bread and packs in more fiber, protein, and micronutrients than all-purpose flour. [24 g protein per loaf]
• Walnuts – walnuts give this bead a nice light crunch while adding healthy fats, fiber, and protein. [9 g protein per loaf]

Why You’ll Love This Protein Banana Bread

• High protein – between the added protein powder, Greek yogurt, eggs, and whole wheat flour, we packed in a lot of protein in this bread. One loaf has around 87-97 grams of protein (depending on the type and brand of protein powder used). With each loaf yielding about 10 pieces of bread, that is almost 9-10 grams of protein in one serving of banana bread!
• Subtly sweet – this bread is not overpoweringly sweet. We use a ton of ripe bananas to give this bread its natural sweetness and enhance it with 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup. It has the right balance of sweetness to make it feel like a sweet breakfast treat without making you feel heavy or sugar bombed.
• Light crunch – with just 1/2 cup of walnuts folded into the batter, you get a hint of crunchiness to break up the texture.
• Easy to make ahead – this bread is super quick to make and is the ideal meal prep breakfast. We like to make a loaf on Sunday and then enjoy it all week long for a tasty snack or fueling breakfast on the go!
• Customizable – this bread is completely customizable to your tastes! Use plant-based yogurt instead of Greek yogurt. Add chocolate chips or dried fruit to mix things up. Swap out walnuts with chopped almonds, pecans, or macadamia nuts for a subtle change in flavor. Add pumpkin spice, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and/or allspice to make it a pumpkin pie spice variety. Swirl in almond butter, peanut butter, or apple butter for a slightly different flavor (and even more protein!). Use your favorite variety and flavor of protein powder. There are so many ways to tailor this bread to your tastes!

Tips for Making Protein Banana Bread

1. Use very ripe bananas – for perfectly sweet bread be sure to use overripe bananas. Look for bananas that are yellow in color with some dark spots. These bananas will be easier to mash, add a creamier texture, and give this bread more natural sweetness.
2. Cover the bread with foil – halfway through baking, cover your bread loosely with tin foil to avoid it browning too quickly on the top and sides.
3. Use the whisk attachment – use the whisk attachment on your stand mixer to mash the bananas for the smoothest batter with no lumps of bananas.
4. Don’t overmix the batter – be careful not to overmix the batter, which leads to tougher, denser bread. Instead stop mixing when you see a few streaks of flour in the batter.
5. Use vegan/plant-based protein powder – we highly recommend using vegan protein powders in this bread (and in baked goods in general, from muffins and bread to pancakes and waffles). It tends to behave more closely to flour than whey protein does. We have recipe tested countless baked goods with whey protein and have usually found them to be less appetizing in texture, flavor, and appearance than those using vegan protein.

How to Make Protein Banana Bread

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the flour, protein powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk together with a fork. Set aside.

Install the whisk attachment on a stand mixer. Add the bananas to the bowl and whisk until pureed. You should yield about 2 cups of mashed banana (about 5 medium bananas).

Add the olive oil, maple syrup, Greek yogurt, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk together on medium speed.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients slowly to the bowl. Be careful not to overmix (there can be a few lumps and white streaks in the batter). Fold in the walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the bread pan, smoothing it out with the back of a spatula. Cook for 60 to 70 minutes. Loosely cover the bread with tin foil for the last 30 minutes of baking in order to prevent the top and sides from burning. After 60 minutes, check that the bread is done by inserting a knife or toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should come out clean.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting. This bread will keep about 2 days at room temperature or 7 days in the refrigerator.

How to Store

Wrap the banana bread tightly in plastic wrap and the place inside a freezer baggie. Store at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 7 days.

Recipe Modifications

We love how customizable this bread is. Try a few of our suggestions below to tailor this recipe to your tastes!

• Yogurt – this recipe calls for plain unsweetened Greek yogurt to up the protein factor, but feel free to use your favorite variety of plant-based yogurt, like coconut, almond, or cashew yogurt instead. Or swap Greek yogurt for plain regular yogurt or a lightly sweetened vanilla or coconut flavored yogurt to add a little sweetness or flavor variety.
• Mix-ins – we keep it simple with only adding walnuts to this bread to let the banana flavor really shine. But we love a good mix-in. Try adding milk or dark chocolate chips or peanut butter chips or dried fruit to the batter or as a final topping. Change out walnuts for chopped almonds, pecans, or macadamia nuts or sprinkle candied nuts on top for a little extra crunch and sweetness. Or swirl in a few tablespoons of almond butter, peanut butter, pumpkin butter, or apple butter for a delightfully different flavor and appearance.
• Spices – we like to use the subtle sweetness of cinnamon to bring out the banana flavor in this bread. But add whatever sweet spices you like. Pumpkin spice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice are perfect additions to turn up the cozy factor of this bread.
• Protein powder – we use Orgain Simple vanilla or MyProtein vanilla pea protein in this recipe, but you can use whatever protein powder you prefer! We do recommend sticking to plant-based/vegan powders, as they perform much better in baked goods than whey protein. Change brands and flavors to switch up the flavor profile and protein content of this bread.

Frequently Asked Questions

Check out our other breakfast bakes

• Chocolate chip banana bread
• Healthy cranberry orange muffins
• Zucchini bread
• Cranberry dark chocolate scones
• Morning harvest muffins
• Healthy apple cobbler muffins
• Chai spiced apple scones