This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Here’s my take on Healthy Low-Fat Banana Walnut Bread.
I love love love all things banana, which becomes quite obvious when you take a look at all the banana recipes I’ve posted here on Simple Nourished Living. I especially love banana nut bread and have tried dozens of different banana bread recipes from simple to complicated through the years.
These days I’m having fun trying to make my favorite foods lighter and healthier and as simple as possible, without sacrificing flavor. Or texture—which can be a real problem when you try to decrease too much fat from baked goods.
This low fat banana bread recipe comes from an unexpected source. Not from my Weight Watchers cookbooks or Ellie Krieger cookbooks, but from my very first cookbook—The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (affiliate link) by Marion Cunningham.
Recipe Notes
Marion describes this low fat banana nut bread as pure and simple banana bread, heavy, moist and dark. And she is so right.
This recipe doesn’t call for any special ingredients usually associated with low fat baking. No egg whites. No applesauce. All the moisture necessary comes from lots of ripe mashed bananas.
The only fat in the recipe comes from the egg yolks and walnuts—two very healthy sources of fat, in my opinion.
I tweaked the recipe slightly. Instead of using 2 cups of all-purpose flour, I used 1 cup all-purpose and 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, which is finer in texture than regular whole wheat. I also swapped out 3/4 cup of sugar for 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and cut the amount of nuts in half.
For the best banana bread make sure your bananas are very very ripe.
I don’t think you’d ever guess that this banana nut bread is low fat. If you like moist and dense banana bread, you’re going to love this one.
I enjoyed a slice spread with peanut butter and topped with banana slices for breakfast this morning. It was one of the best peanut butter and banana sandwiches ever.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Low Fat Banana Nut Bread?
According to my calculations, each slices has about 154 calories
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
4 SmartPoints (Green plan)
4 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
4 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
4 PointsPlus (Old plan)
If you’ve made this Banana Nut Bread, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Healthy Low Fat Banana Nut Bread Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 large ripe bananas, well mashed (1-3/4 cups)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F degrees and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan (affiliate link).
- In a large mixing bowl (affiliate link), mix the bananas and eggs together until they are well combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until well combined.
- Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture, just until blended and then stir in the walnuts.
- Put the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 4 SmartPoints (Green plan) 4 SmartPoints (Blue plan) 4 SmartPoints (Purple plan) 4 PointsPlus (Old plan) My loaf took about 1 hour and 5 minutes to be done. It was still a little underdone at 1 hour. This low fat banana bread is great warm or cooled, however you like it best.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Source: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (affiliate link) by Marion Cunningham
Can you use Lakanto Brown Monkfruit Sweetener in place of the brown sugar? I had no idea brown sugar has 32 points in 1/2 cup. Wow!
Hi Donna, I’ve only ever made this recipe as written, so I’m not sure how the recipe will be affected by Brown Monkfruit Sweetener. If it measures like sugar it should work. Would love to know how it turns out for you. ~Martha
This was good. I put both baking soda and baking powder- I also used 3/4 cup almond flour instead of pastry flour. It could use another banana and may e some applesauce for more moistness. The taste and texture are great!!!
Hi Jax,
Thanks for taking the time to share your variations with us 🙂 ~Martha
I made this banana nut bread today and although it was moist and had great flavour I found the texture very chewy and rubbery. Thinking because no fat in it?
Hi Marilyn, when you cut back the fat in your baked goods, the texture will be less tender. ~Martha
My question is how much flour do you use.
Is it 1 cup AP Flour
And 3/4 cup of wheat flour.
Or is it 1cup of AP flour and 1cup of wheat?
Hi Donna, It’s 1 cup of AP flour and 3/4 cup of whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour. Of course you can use whatever combination of flours you prefer. Hope this helps. ~Martha
Excellent. Worth every point!
How many Freestyle points if you eliminate the nuts? I don’t like nuts in anything,.