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
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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 made this exactly as written (using full fat plain yogurt) and while it looked good (browned, cracked top) coming out of the oven after 70 minutes, it was totally soggy/ underbaked when I sliced into it.
I made this banana yogurt bread last week and it was absolutely delicious! I did use frozen bananas, but drained the liquid that came from them when thawed. I will definitely make this again!
I made this recipe using whole wheat flour, and 2% fat Greek yogurt. Baked for one hour, ended up with a perfect loaf of banana bread. I was surprised by how moist the bread was, and it was absolutely delicious! Great recipe Beth!
I’ve tried this recipe twice (without reading any reviews first) and got similar results as the others have posted. When I baked it today, the bread looked beautiful when coming out of the oven! It was golden brown with nice height and deep crack. Just perfect….yummmm. I took it out of the pan after a few minutes of cooling and that’s when things went horribly wrong. It quickly fell and actually slumped to one side. (Wish I could show a picture because it was really funny) Because it smelled so good, it’s slumping shape didn’t stop us from trying it. The outside had a nice crunch to it but the inside was like a bread pudding. Tasted great but the texture definitely was not what you want in a quick bread.
There are lot of mixed reviews on this post that I didn’t read until my bread was already in the oven, lol. Mine turned out as expected and looked like the pictures, even though I accidently added 1.5 cups banana instead of 1. I used nonfat plain yogurt from Walmart. I think the yogurt types might be messing people up, Beth doesn’t specify whole fat or nonfat. The Walmart brand is a lot less watery than the same stuff at Aldi, so that might have helped me here.
Lastly, I baked in a 9″ metal loaf pan. Ater 60 minutes, the edges were really browned and it looked done. The top did deflate, but just to where the loaf was flat (not sunken in). It was a LITTLE mushy in the bottom, but not bad. I think it would have been perfect if not for the extra banana. Also, I have an oven thermometer to make sure it’s actually preheated. It usually needs an extra 5 minutes after it beeps that it’s ready. They’re less than $10 and are really helpful!
Beth is there anyway we could get the metric equivalents someday for your recipes?
I’m an American but purposely seek out metric-based recipes because the British imperial system (that we continue to use in the US) is so draconian by comparison. I can’t go back after cooking with metric equivalents. I don’t have to worry about scraping anything out of measuring cups (and having to clean them all up afterwards). I just weigh all my ingredients out with exact precision on my kitchen scale. Easy, peasy; no muss, no fuss. And, less dishes to wash!
This would alleviate ambiguity with recipes such as this. I notice you say three (3) bananas. Those could rank anywhere on a spectrum of sizes. By contrast, if you say 150 grams of bananas: I weigh that out precisely and there’s no ambiguity, guessing, estimating, worrying if my bananas are too big, etc. It’s either 150 grams of weighed content or its not.
I know your background is in science so I would think this level of precision and simplicity would be appealing to you and your global audiences. Thank you for the excellent content.
It is strange that with my background in science and having to use metrics every day at work that I still prefer imperial measures when cooking! I suppose it’s because I feel like cooking is more of an art that requires flexibility and I think it’s important to not get caught up in exact measures (that’s probably why I’m NOT good at baking, which does require that precision). Despite that, I’d love to include metrics and I’ve explored many different plugins and add-ons that are supposed to make the conversions easy or automatic, but I’ve found that they’re always extremely inaccurate and there are just far too many cases where it doesn’t quite convert correctly. For that reason, I don’t feel comfortable offering metric conversions until I have a team big enough to actually re-measure and test the recipes using metrics to make sure it’s right before posting them.
Made as directed. Bread rose then went totally flat as it cooled. Top , bottom and sides are crusty ; the middle was uncooked. I will slice up and fry on stove like French toast. Total disaster- will never make again. Sorry.
This banana bread is excellent provided you use full fat plain yogurt along with butter as well. This time I did not make it that way an the bread turned out awful an I ended up throwing it away. First time this happened. I know how great it tastes as I made two loaves before an never had an issue.
Can I use sour cream instead of greek yagourt. As I want it more moist
I haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out, but they are similar ingredients so it might be worth a shot!
I have a tried and true banana bread recipe I always use, but since I love so many other Budget Bytes recipes I gave this one a try. The outside was dark brown and crunchy, while the inside was gummy. I had to bake it 17 extra minutes before the toothpick didn’t come out wet. The tops sank as soon as I pulled them out of the oven. Tasted alright, but the texture was so bad I ended up throwing it. Not sure exactly what happened, and I fully admit it could have been me, but I did notice an awful lot of reviews after the fact who had the same issues. I used a disposable foil loaf pan, if that means anything.
Unless they suggest a change, I often ignore negative recipe reviews (especially baking recipes) because as much as people say “I followed the recipe exactly” I always assume they didn’t. So when I saw people say their loaves never got done, stayed gooey in the middle, and just sunk straight out of the oven, I assumed it was their fault. Until it happened to me :) I measured my bananas, used exact recipe quantities and ingredients, and it still came out very dark and tough as leather on the outside, gooey in the middle, and it cooked for an hour and 25 minutes. I’m left to conclude it must be a difference in loaf pan. I noticed in the pictures Beth used glass, so I’d be interested to know if those who had problems cooked in metal like I did. Google tells me when a recipe is written for glass, you’re supposed to add an additional 25 degrees to the temp if baking in metal, so if anyone reads this and tries a metal pan with that adjustment, I’d be very interested to hear how it works out for you!
Used metal pan and cooked for an hour and 30 minutes and still came out undercooked. I have used the same metal pan (multiple times) and baked banana bread for 350 F, 60 minutes and it comes out fine. I think it’s the ratio of wet vs dry with this specific recipe. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to bake well when mixing the ingredients together, but thought ‘I should follow the recipe’. Should have known and adjusted the ratios beforehand.
I made this last night with gluten free flour and it was delicious! I loved the reduce sugar and the nutritious addition of plain greek yogurt. Another winning recipe!
Turned out great! Only had plain nonfat Greek yogurt on hand, so based on previous comments saying it was too dense, I used 4 frozen over ripe bananas in hope the extra moisture from the freeze-thaw would balance everything out. And it worked out!
It should be noted that overripe bananas when frozen give off a lot of water when defrosted. They should not be used in this recipe. Very soggy outcome.
Made this last night with craisins (chopped in food processor) and some hemp hearts. Also used 1/4 cup sugar to lessen the sweetness. Very good, so soft and moist it was hard to cut (maybe bc less sugar?). Will make again
What quantity of hemp hearts? I’m trying to add these to my baking. Thanks!
I’ve made this recipe at least 4 times now and it always turns out perfect.
Absolutely delicious 👩🍳😋👍🇨🇦