Honey Banana Bread
Honey Banana Bread is easy to make and so delicious. This recipe uses only honey to sweeten the banana bread so it’s refined sugar free!
I love this Honey Banana Bread! It’s simple and requires just one bowl like most banana bread recipes, but it’s sweetened only with honey! And you really can taste the honey.
I’ve adapted it from my mother-in-law’s beloved recipe for banana bread to make it refined sugar free because I watched an episode of Good Eats and Alton Brown told me how to use honey in the place of sugar in most recipes. Cool story right?
I thought honey and bananas sounded like a nice combination and healthier than regular banana bread so I went for it and it worked splendidly. Keep reading to find out how to make this delicious and healthier banana bread!
Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links, which means if you decide to purchase any of the items linked in this post, I should earn a small commission. This creates no additional cost to you and helps support the work that goes into running The Fig Jar. Thank you! -Becky
Ingredients for Honey Banana Bread
- Bananas
- Honey
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Canola oil
- Milk
- Baking powder & baking soda
- Salt
It’s best to use overripe bananas when making banana bread. If you need to ripen them quickly, you can place them in a paper or plastic bag overnight to speed up the process.
Substituting honey for sugar in banana bread
It’s surprisingly easy, here are the key tenets for replacing sugar with honey in banana bread
Step 1: think of it as directly subbing in honey for sugar but reducing it by a 1/4.
Step 2: reduce amount of liquid by 3 tbsp, in this case it was milk.
Step 3: add a pinch of baking soda to reduce acidity, in recipes that call for baking powder only.
Step 4: reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees because honey browns faster. This recipe also takes a little longer to bake than most banana breads.
How to make banana bread with honey
Making this banana bread is super easy. Everything gets mixed in one bowl, then baked.
First, mash your rip bananas in a large bowl. Then add the eggs, milk, oil and honey and mix well. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until combined, do not overmix.
Second, pour the batter in a loaf pan and bake. I absolutely LOVE my lodge cast iron loaf pan (affiliate link). It’s a beautiful pan and things cook beautifully in it.
Third, after you’ve patiently waited for the banana bread to bake, ENJOY! I love to eat mine warm with salted butter.
Notes on baking with honey
Honey browns quicker than sugar which is why we use a lower baking temperature, but keep an eye on this as it bakes. It if starts to get too brown and there is still a good amount of cooking time, try moving it to a lower rack over cover gently with foil.
Try to use a good quality raw honey, for two reasons.
First, you really can taste the honey in the bread so use one that you really enjoy the taste of. Second, if you want to bake with honey for health reasons, raw honey is associated with most of the health benefits related to honey.
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Honey Banana Bread
Not too sweet, super moist and bursting with fresh bananas. Plus it’s completely refined sugar free!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- 3 ripe mashed bananas (or 1 heaping cup of mashed banana)
- 3/4 cup honey
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk
- 2 1/2 cup flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- pinch baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Place bananas in a large bowl and mash thoroughly with a fork. Add honey, milk, egg and oil, stir to combine.
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir until just combined.
- Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 55 min to 1 hr 10 min, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Try serving with honey butter and pink salt! Just let butter soften, add a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of salt.
Hi can you substitute milk with almond milk?
Hi Katrina, I haven’t tried it but I think that should work!
My family believes, as I do, that this is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever made. The rest are i going in the trash. This is super moist ( I did double oil) and really good if refrigerated . Made one loaf yesterday and making another right now. Didnt last long. Thank you for posting this recipe.
This made my day! You’re so welcome 🙂
Us too!
I used oat milk and it turned out great!!
Hi.. Can I use butter in place of canola oil?
Hi Joy, I have not tried butter as a replacement for the canola oil so I’m not sure. I think it would be worth a try. Let me know!
Hi,
Do you happen to have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Jackie,
I’m sorry I don’t. I am looking into adding nutritional information for my site, but not there yet! You could try this https://whisk.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/. But can’t really vouch for it.
Thanks!
Can I add walnuts and raisins to this recipe
I haven’t tried that but I think it would work fine!
Just made this banana bread as I was looking for a banana bread recipe that used honey or maple syrup and did not include whole wheat.
It came out great!
I think I cooked it on 1 ring lower In My oven than I should have, so didn’t have as much browning as I would like so I will keep that in mind next time. I did raise the rack for the last 7 minutes and it helped.
Only change I made was that I added yellow raisins. This just add another texture element and a little more pop of sweetness.
Thank you for the recipe and the tips for baking with honey.
Very helpful and the recipe was tasty! I will definitely make it again! And of course less guilt makes it priceless Lol
Yay! I’m happy to hear you liked it! Less guilt is always a plus ☺️
Your recipe made delicious muffins! I love that it’s simple, uses only 1 bowl and requires no sifting. To those who do use it for muffins, consider subbing 1 Tbsp of the milk with lemon juice for a little more lightness. Golden raisins would be a nice add-in – I spiced them up with 1/4 tsp. ground cloves.
Oooh yum!! I love the sound of raisins and cloves too!
How many cups is the 3 mashed bananas? We have different size of bananas here in my location. Thanks!
Hi Pearl, its one heaping cup of mashed bananas! Sorry for the delayed response~I recently had a baby 🙂 Enjoy!
I think your powder vs soda is swapped. My wife asked me to double check her ingredients. We followed this exactly and were confused putting in so much baking powder. It came out pretty gross and we threw it out.
No, the recipe is correct. Sorry you didn’t like it.
Roasted walnuts et a bit of cardamom brings this amazing cake to next level. Thanks for the recipe
Yummmm! We made this tonight. We used 2 large bananas and eyeballed it, looked like a heaping cup. We substituted avocado oil for canola, what was on hand. Our local wildflower honey went in along with a healthy splash of vanilla and probably 1/2tsp of baking soda. I don’t trust my pinch to not pinch too much. We baked for 55mins. The bread came out moist with a lovely little crust. Seriously, so delicious! Will have to try add ins next time, because there will be a next time. Thank you!!
I’m so happy to hear you loved it! Wildflower honey– yum!! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
-Becky
Hi,
thanks for the recipe. Just curious though; when baking banana bread is it bad to open the oven to rotate the pan before the top has crusted?
Hi Jack, its not necessarily bad, but do it carefully to try not to disturb the rise.
First time I made this and it was amazing … we love it! However last 3 time it’s not cooked inside and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong … help please! Am I converting it wrong maybe …. Do you have recipe in oz or mls to see if I’m doing it right as it’s really puzzling me now … and I’m wasting a lot of good ingredients!
Hi Kirsty! I’m so glad you loved it! (the first time at least!) Hmm I sorry, don’t have it converted to oz or mls yet. My first thought is oven temperature. Do you have a thermometer inside your oven or can you get one? That way you can make sure the oven is fully preheated to the right temp when you put the bread in and it should cook properly that way. But some other things to consider:
Spoon and level the flour (don’t pack), try measuring the mashed banana to make sure it’s not too far over 1 cup and make sure you use the same set of measuring cups for all the measurements (different sets can vary).
Try using room temperature milk and egg, or at least not straight out of the fridge.
Also, when you say it’s not cooked inside is it because you inserted a toothpick/knife and not coming out clean at the end of the cook time? Can you cook it a little longer? If it’s already pretty browned on the outside but not done in the middle, you could tent it with foil to keep the outside from burning while the center finishes. This can hopefully prevent your ingredients from going to waste.
I hope this helps!
Best recipe ever ! If you leave looking for a fresh home style taste this is it! Love it .
If your looking for a fresh home style taste , this is it ! Love love love it ! best recipe ever .
Thank you so much! This is very similar to the recipe my mother in law used to make, so it’s definitely special to my family!
Hi I have just one question, 325 Fahrenheit or Celsius?
Hi Katerina, It’s Fahrenheit!
This is truly the best banana bread recipe I have eve made. It is pure heaven to slice it and make french toast!!! THE BEST!!
Oooh French toast! I need to try that! Thank you for the lovely review <3
Maravilhosa Obrigada por partilhar. Posso fazer sem gliten
Você pode experimentar uma mistura de farinha sem glúten para todos os fins. Ainda não tentei, então não tenho certeza se funcionará, mas acho que deveria. Boa sorte!
Não é sem brilho e sem glúten
I just made this recipe tonight and LOVE IT. I added chocolate chips & walnuts — so delicious!!
Yum! Love those additions 🙂 Thank you for your review!
The ONLY pound cake that has risen so beautifully like in the picture (perhaps even a little more) and I’ve made PLENTY of recipes, using the same amount of baking powder. Not only it’s soft and moist but akso not overly sweet which I love. I did add ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon because I love the taste in banana bread. Turned out so good! Thank you!
Yay!! So glad you loved it 🙂 Cinnamon is a lovely addition!
Looks like a great recipe. Do you have the measurements in grams?
Hi Vera,
I do not, you could try using the charts on all recipes.
Loved this recipe! I made them with 1:1 gluten free flour and avocado oil. I also added an extra small banana because I find gluten free flour can soak up a bit more moisture. It is perfectly sweet, banana-y and oh so good!
Yay!! I’m glad it worked out with the alterations 🙂
This looks so good! What a great combination of flavors!
Perfect in every way. I did decrease honey by 1/4 c and subbed oil with coconut oil. Next batch I’m adding chopped nuts. It baked perfectly at temp and time. Not too sweet yet moist with a just right crunchy top. And pretty enough for a magazine photo! Thank you!
Yay! So glad you loved it Ananda!
Just made this and it’s delicious. I added a tonne of cinnamon tho and I would recommend adding a lil less honey then the recipe falls for as it was a lil to sweet for my taste,
Mine came out a little raw in the middle. I probably put too much banana. I wonder if i should have baked at 350 degrees…(I used muffin pan and baked for approximately 40 minutes).
Hi Elva,
It sounds like baked these as muffins and not in a loaf pan. The cook time for a loaf is 1hr+ so you may have just needed to let them bake a little longer. The lower baking temp is due to the use of honey because things will brown much faster than with regular sugar.
I made this recipe because the one I normally make calls for a lot of sugar and I am an advent raw honey fan I put it in my coffee every morning instead of sugar and my husband brought a big piece to work to eat for breakfast with his coffee and he broke off pieces for everyone and said everybody in his office loved the banana bread thank you for this delicious recipe and I’m surprised how big the bread is my other recipe the bread was so small what I did was I added a little vanilla extract and cinnamon to Jazz it up
Hi Melissa! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review 🙂 I’m so happy to hear everyone loved it!
Hi, I would love to try this recipe but what can I replace the egg with. My mom is a vegetarian and I’m new to baking. I love would to make this for her. I’m not sure what’s a good substitute is. Ive read that condense milk is alternative but how much would I add? Thank you!