Healthy Banana Gingerbread Loaf Recipe (2024)

By Sarah Remmer, RD | Dec 17, 2020 (updated Jul 17, 2023)
4.7 from 10 reviews | 4 Comments

This delicious and surprisingly nutritious Banana Gingerbread Loaf will be a new holiday favourite in your house (and your kids will devour it too!). It’s soft, moist and has the perfect combo of sweet and spicy.

The perfect combination of sweet and spicy

If there’s one thing I know, the smells and tastes of gingerbread always bring on the holiday spirit. Even this year, when everything is weird and wacky. I mean, let’s be honest… Christmas 2020 will be anything but normal. No extended family or friends; no big family skating party; no potluck appy-style Christmas Eve party; no big family Christmas dinner gathering. There are a lot of holiday traditions that have been taken away from us this year. But the pandemic cannot take away our Christmas spirit. Some of our most treasured traditions will be preserved (such as baking delicious holiday recipes), and some new ones created. In fact, Christmas 2020 might just be the most memorable Christmas ever. Especially in your children’s eyes.

Could this be the most wonderful Christmas you’ve ever had? What if?!

I’ve been feeling sad and disappointed just like everyone, but over the past week or so, I’ve really tried to change my perspective. This is just one of many, many Christmases. And we’ll likely never get another Christmas like this! When do we ever have so much time to spend with our immediate family members? When are we not running around trying to fit everything and everyone in? When do we ever have the chance to play endless board games, enjoy a fire, bake those recipes that we’ve always wanted to bake, go skating and tobogganing with JUST OUR FAMILY, or spend Christmas day in our PJs—from beginning to end.

Why I love this Healthy Gingerbread Loaf so much:

If baking is part of your plan (which in my mind, is one of the most special things you can do with your kids), you must MUST put this recipe on the list. It’s the perfect way to rescue old bananas (which add natural sweetness and help to reduce food waste), and bring the festive taste and smell of the holidays into your home. Made with ground rolled oats, milk, and bananas, this loaf is unusually nutritious. But you’d never know it, because it’s naturally sweet, soft, moist and delicious!

Pair it with Greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast, or enjoy it with vanilla ice cream for dessert!

P.S. If you’re looking for a baking rack to cool this beauty down, check out this wire cooling rack.

Healthy Banana Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

Yield: 1 loaf

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

See Also

Salty-Sweet Peanut Butter Sandies Recipe

This delicious and surprisingly nutritious Banana Gingerbread Loaf will be a new holiday favourite in your house (and your kids will devour it too!). It’s soft, moist and has the perfect combo of sweet and spicy.

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups mashed ripe banana
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup milk of choice
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup molasses – blackstrap or regular
• 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp each: baking powder and salt
• 1 cups finely ground oats
• 1 cup flour of choice
• Optional: ½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan very well, going up the sides. (Or line the pan with parchment.)
2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Whisk the first 6 ingredients together in a bowl, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, stir remaining ingredients together very well (except chocolate chips). Pour wet over dry, stir just until evenly mixed, and smooth into the loaf pan.
4. Bake on the center rack for 40-45 minutes – then do not open the oven even to peek, but turn off the heat. Let sit in the closed oven for 10 additional minutes.
5. Remove and let cool completely before going around the sides with a knife and inverting onto a plate or cutting from the pan.
6. Store leftover slices in the fridge for 2-3 days or freeze for up to a month.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sarahremmer on Instagram and hashtag it #sarahremmer. And if you love this recipe it would mean so much if you could leave a review and rating.