Not every morning in my life is filled with Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread… not when things like my ten year class reunion and bathing suit season loom just around the corner. For real friends, those are two scary things. At least I don’t have to go to my ten year reunion in my bathing suit. Can you imagine the horror!? Yea… so there’s always a silver lining.
I’d like to introduce you to Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread. If this bread were one of your dear friends from high school, it would be that friend who wore old lady shoes because they were the most practical, and played the trombone, and was the super smart editor of the school newspaper. This bread would be the friend that was super sensible, and sweet and just downright made you feel good about your day.
Go ahead, think of this Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread as your friend… and then it eat. No, there’s nothing weird about that.
This bread is packed full of happy, heart-healthy oats, cinnamon spice and crazy ripe bananas. It’s just the thing to throw together over the weekend, slice up, wrap individually, and freeze for breakfast for the entire week. I just grab a slice from the freezer as I’m running out the door, and by the time I have a chance to eat it, it’s perfectly defrosted. Of course the microwave and toaster oven work wonders too.
Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread
adapted from the Weight Watchers site
makes 1 loaf of 10 slices, 4 points per slice
– 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1/4 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp cinnamon
– 3 tsp canola or walnut oil
– 1 large egg, beaten
– 2 medium egg whites, beaten
– 3 large bananas, ripe
– 1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients including the oats and cinnamon.
In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add oil and whole egg and mix thoroughly.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Batter will be fairly thick.
In a medium sized bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until medium stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions.
Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes. Slice loaf into 10 equally sized slices.
Kourtney
I randomly found this recipe one day, and it’s now my go-to banana bread recipe! Thank you! And the site is lovely :-)
kim
I just made this! I made a few changes, though. I didn’t have old-fashioned oats, so I used quick oats.. I used (natural) apple sauce in plain of oil.. I added about 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.. and I used 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour. I also added mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, which I mixed with the dry ingredients first so they wouldn’t sink. I would have added some walnuts, but I didn’t have any on hand. I just realized that I did not use the additional whole egg (and only used the whites) on accident, but it didn’t make a difference in the end so I think it can be omitted completely.
While it IS a more dense/less cakey banana bread, it was actually really good and filling! It’s not overly sweet, which is a nice change. It sliced really well and hopefully it will freeze well, also.
Melanie
I had some way ripe bananas kicking around and searched for a banana recipe on your site. I’d been looking for some lowfat baking recipes for a while, so this was perfect. The banana bread came out so moist and just sweet enough. I used veg oil because that’s all I had, but I bet the walnut oil would have been great.
Thanks!
Piratefrog
I googled a LF Banana Bread recipe and found my way here. I have made BB with oatmeal before. I decided to make this recipe, however I changed it just a tad. I made a few substitutions: used whole wheat flour and no sugar added blueberry applesauce instead of the oil. To try something new and to mix things up, I also added 1/4 cup dried cranberries and 1 tsp of almond extract. Very good!
Tam
I just made this. It is delicous and easy! I added flax seed, used Smart Balance (canola & olive oil blend) instead. My oven is hot, so I only baked it for about 33-35 minutes. Highly recommend.
Tauni
I just made this tonight. It’s really good! I love the oats and that the banana flavor is not to powerful. I actually took mine out after 38 minutes and wish I would have taken it out about 3 minutes before that. It is just a touch dry. My oven must be hotter. Thanks for the recipe. Great blog and pictures!
Kay – I love your substitutes for this recipe to make it even healthier. I would love to know exactly how you do it. Sounds great!
Ruth-Elizabeth
this is getting me through my exams. it’s really, really good for sustaining my brain power. thankyou!
Kay
This my favorite banana bread recipe…thank u Joy!
I substituted whole wheat flour, Coach’s Oats, flax seed instead of oil.
Next, I want to substitute honey for brown sugar, applesauce instead of oil, and flax seed powder instead of eggs and add more bananas. It wasn’t as banana-y as I would have liked it to be. I would really like to find a way to make it sugar-free, so my dad can enjoy some (verge of becoming diabetic).
Nanciful
Great recipe! I am so making this for breakfast tomorrow! My husband is always complaining about the monotony of wheat toast and PB. This should be a nice and healthy change for him!
I don’t have an electric hand mixer, can I just beat it manually? Thanks so much!
Kathleen
Had some extra bananas, googled “lowfat banana bread,” found your recipe and made it. Fabulous. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much.
Melissa
DELICIOUS! I didnt fold the egg whites and it worked out perfectly for me:) Mmm mmmm
roni
tried this recipe last week. i think i seriously messed up the egg whites because it was DENSE! could only eat after warming up in micro…will have to give it another go.
Patty
Oats in anything, and I’m there! My bananas were finally ready to make this bread today. I used whole wheat baking flour to further increase the fiber, but other than that, followed the recipe. A slice topped with a hearty smear of peanut butter made for a delicious lunch. Thanks, Joy.
April
I made this bread last week, and when my brother-in-law came for a great lunch, he found my bread first, and devoured all but a 1″ square, claiming I could eat it for coffee break. He liked lunch okay, but this bread was a smash! Will make it next week after my bananas ripen up, trying it with sour cream to replace oil, half Splenda and half sugar, and adding raisins. We’ll see how it goes! I know, I know, taking out oil will likely leave me a dry loaf, but knowing how fast bread goes in my house, it won’t be an issue!
Chris J (Leamington Spa UK)
I’ve just made this! It’s so tasty, a perfect healthy breakfast bread! Has the bonus of being so easy even a man can do it! :-)
I added a few raisins to mine, and a few chopped hazelnuts too, also had to use hazelnut oil because i couldn’t find any walnut.