Here's my take on Healthy Low-Fat Banana Nut 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.
Healthy Low-Fat Banana Nut Bread
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.
WW Low-Fat Banana Bread Batter
I tweaked the recipe slightly. Instead of using 2 cups of all-purpose flour, I used 1 cup all-purpose and ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour, which is finer in texture than regular whole wheat. I also swapped out ¾ cup of sugar for ½ 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.
Preparing to bake low-fat banana nut bread
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.
WW Homemade Banana Walnut Bread
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Banana Nut Bread?
According to my calculations, each slices has about 154 calories and:
4 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
4 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
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
Ingredients
- 4 large ripe bananas, well mashed (1-¾ cups)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F degrees and grease a 9x5-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.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
Source: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (affiliate link) by Marion Cunningham
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you like this low-fat banana nut bread, you might also like:
- Skinny Healthy Banana Coconut Date Muffins
- Low-Fat Banana Cake
- Banana Cranberry Muffins
- Skinny Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Moist Banana Nut Bread
- Skinny Banana Oatmeal Muffin and Bread Recipes
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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paige
So there is a total two cups of flour? The comment about substituting with whole wheat flour cconfused me a little. Thanks!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Paige,
Yes, There are 2 cups of flour total. I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat.
Alissa McAvenia
I used the correct amounts of ingredients as well as the right sized pan and only got 12 slices so your points are wrong
Martha McKinnon
Hi Alissa,
The points plus are 4 for 16 thin slices. Another strategy is to cut the bread into 8 slices and then cut each slice in half so that each thicker half slice would have 4 Points Plus. If you only got 12 slices then the points plus would increase to 5.
Kathryn
Are there any modifications I should make if I use all AP flour?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kathryn,
No, I don't believe any modifications are required with all AP flour.
Kelley
Made this today with regular all purpose flour and coconut instead of walnuts...so yummy! Don't think I all ever make the regular butter or oil recipes again!
Martha McKinnon
Thanks, Kelley. So glad you found it yummy!!
Shana
I have made this 4 different times now and my kids love it! I did add about a teaspoon of vanilla and I can't find whole wheat pastry flour where I live so I just used regular whole wheat flour. This last time I didn't have enough bananas so I used 2 bananas and added enough pumpkin to make 1 3/4 cups plus a teaspoon of cinnamon. They would not let it cool off before they had to have a piece! It feels like a heavy dough (even though there's no oil/butter) but it turns out great everytime! Thank you!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Shana! Glad your family likes it. I love all your variations, including using part pumpkin. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Yan
Hiya! This recipe looks amazing! Just what I was looking for:) This may seem obvious but just to clarify, does 1-3/4 cups of mashed bananas mean one and three quarter cups of banana? Or does it mean between three quarters and one cup of banana? Thanks!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Yan. It means 1 cup of mashed banana AND 3/4 cup mashed banana. Hope this helps.
Ms.G.V.Hartman
I have made your 'Low Fat Banana Nut Bread' many times. The bread truly is fantastic. I have saved your recipe b/c it really is a winner. Sometimes when my crowd demands a treat, so I'll put in one cup of chocolate chips and everyone loves it even more!
I imagine you send out wonderful food from your kitchen. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Martha McKinnon
Thanks for taking the time to let me know how much you and your crowd enjoys my low fat banana nut bread. I really appreciate and love the idea of adding chocolate chips. Everything is better with chocolate 🙂
GV Hartman
I have made your ‘Low Fat Banana Nut Bread’ many times. The bread truly is fantastic. I have saved your recipe b/c it really is a winner. Sometimes my crowd demands a treat, so I’ll put in one cup of chocolate chips and everyone loves it even more!
I imagine you send out wonderful food from your kitchen. Thank you for sharing 🙂
lisa chester
has anyone lost weight eating this bread to much sugar and carbs for me
myblog
Appreciate it for sharing your amazing website
Barbara Boomstra
How many Freestyle points if you eliminate the nuts? I don’t like nuts in anything,.
Jane
Excellent. Worth every point!
Donna
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?
Martha McKinnon
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
Marilyn
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?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Marilyn, when you cut back the fat in your baked goods, the texture will be less tender. ~Martha