January is around the corner as I’m making this banana bread with olive oil — and that’s precisely the point. I know that in just a few weeks, most of us will be craving healthier treats that still give us that sweet fix while helping us eat a little healthier.
Is that what brought you here?
Whether you’ve come looking for a healthier treat to enjoy in the new year or you simply love baking healthier desserts, you’re going to love this healthy and moist banana bread with olive oil.
Not only is it healthy and delicious, but it’s also easy to make and uses only a few high-quality ingredients.
Did I also mention it has chocolate chips??
If that sounds like the banana bread you’re after, stick around and let me show you how.
PIN IT FOR LATER
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What Makes This The Best Banana Bread With Olive Oil?
Your time and money are precious, so I understand that you want to make sure you’re not throwing them down the drain when choosing to trust a recipe over another. I’ve been there plenty of times.
So let me get this straight.
Here are all the reasons why I think my banana bread with olive oil is the best, or at least one of the best out there:
- It uses a few high quality ingredients, starting with extra virgin olive oil as opposed to vegetable oil. In Italy that’s the norm, but I can see that things are much different in other countries, which is why it’s important we start spreading the word.
Extra-virgin olive oil isn’t just tastier, it’s also healthier. That’s because it’s natural and unrefined, retaining all its nutrients, especially thanks to the cold-pressing process. Vegetable oils, on the other hand — which can include regular olive oil or, worse, oils like rapeseed — are often blends that have been refined and treated chemically, losing much of their nutritional value.
If you are ready to make the switch to extra virgin olive oil, but don’t know which one to buy (not all of them are the same), this is my favorite olive oil. - With my recipe, less is truly more. Fewer ingredients, fewer calories, but more goodness. My recipe uses less oil and sugar than most recipes out there, but still manages to pack a lot of flavor. You’ll understand what I mean when you try it. And if you’re not ready to reduce the sugar to one third, like I do, you can reduce it to two thirds; I will give you both options.
- This recipe uses a special combination of liquid ingredients that yield an extra moist banana bread. Other recipes, focusing on using more oil at the expense of the higher calories.
- As with all my baking, I use a secret Italian ingredient that makes cakes more delicious. I’ve learned it from my Sicilian grandma, but most Italians use it too. Don’t worry, I will share a link for you to buy it.
- This olive oil banana bread recipe is tried and tested, not just once! I use the same base recipe to bake all my loaf cakes, with a few little tweaks, and it always works like a charm.
Why Use Olive Oil In Banana Bread?
As an Italian, for me baking with olive oil, extra virgin to be precise, is very normal. However, I appreciate the fact that most people are used to baking with butter. So let me explain why using olive oil is a great idea.
Olive oil, especially a high quality one like a cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (this is my favorite oil for baking and cooking), is considered healthier than butter due to its higher concentration of healthy fats.
Healthier doesn’t, however, mean lower in calories, if that’s what you are after. In fact, 100 ml extra virgin olive oil contains around 100 calories more than 100 gr butter.
Don’t worry though! My recipe uses nearly half the olive oil used by most recipes out there. That means that the final result will be both healthier and lower in calories, super moist, and delicious.
Speaking of delicious, that’s another reason why baking with extra virgin olive oil is such a great idea. If you use a good Italian extra virgin olive oil like this one, it will add its fruity tones to your cakes and bakes. It’s only subtle, so it won’t overpower the other flavors, but that little extra flavor makes your cakes taste more unique and wholesome.
Finally, but most importantly, baking your banana bread with olive oil is going to make it much moister. And I think that’s important. After all, who wants to eat dry cake?
Don’t get me wrong, I love butter almost as much as I love extra virgin olive oil, especially on bread! However, if you are baking a healthy cake, in my opinion, extra virgin olive oil wins.
Ingredients For Olive Oil Banana Bread
Bananas – Of course! We can’t make banana bread without them, although you could use a banana flavoring, but that’s a no no in my Italian kitchen.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil– I already stressed the importance of using extra virgin olive oil instead of simple olive oil, or worse something like rapeseed or canola oil. This is the one I use for all my cooking and baking.
I have tried different Italian brands, but this one gives me the best quality at a good price, and it’s always readily available, as opposed to a fresh EVOO that’s only available during olives harvest season. Those types are great if you can get your hands on them for that brief period.
Eggs – I still haven’t tried making this olive oil banana bread without eggs, but I am pretty sure it would taste delicious. So if you’re vegan, you can replace the eggs with a flax egg – which is made by mixing one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of water.
Coconut or brown sugar – I like to use coconut sugar for most of my desserts, because it’s healthier and also gives a more rustic taste, similar to caramel. So if you like the idea of the trending brown butter banana bread, then use coconut sugar to get a similar taste with fewer calories.
Salt – just a pinch to enhance the flavor of all the other ingredients. I like to use an iodised salt from Sicily, but any table salt will do.
Flour – I use 00 flour for most of my cakes. I like these Italian brands: Barilla, Caputo, La Molisana.
Vanilla essence – I prefer using an organic Bourbon vanilla essence in powder form. If you do the same, make sure you use it sparingly because it’s really strong. You can also use a vanilla pod, but in that case you’ll need to use half or less.
My Secret Ingredient – The secret ingredient I hinted to earlier is an Italian baking mix that’s flavored with vanilla. You can get it here. I have tried baking with simple baking powder and baking soda, but it never gives me the same result. Plus, using it always brings back childhood memories.
I still remember my grandma taking it out of her special baking drawer. She would lift the tablecloth on her wooden kitchen table, open a small cute drawer on the side, and there she kept her recipe book and this baking mix.
If you’d rather stick to the normal baking mix you can replace this with a mix of baking powder and soda. I will give you the exact quantities below.
Chocolate bar or chips – Chocolate chips and banana bread are just the perfect combination. You can use one or both, and choose between dark, milk, or white chocolate, or even a mix of those. These are the two I like to use: option one is more indulgent, and option two.
If, for some reason, you’d rather skip the chocolate, I will give you different options later on.
Exact Quantities:
- 3 bananas (I don’t like them too ripe but they should be easy to mash)
- 85 ml Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil (⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon)
- 2 eggs
- 50 gr coconut sugar (¼ cup), or up to 100 gr if you like your banana bread sweeter
- A pinch of salt
- 250 gr 00 Flour like this one or this one (2 cups)
- ⅛ to ½ teaspoon vanilla essence depending on the strength of the one you use (mine is really strong, so I use 1/8) or half a vanilla pod
- 1 sachet Paneangeli Baking Mix (or replace with with 2.5 teaspoons baking powder and 2/3 teaspoon baking soda with a pinch of vanilla bourbon powder)
- 100 gr chocolate bar or chocolate chips (I am using milk and dark chocolate chips, but I prefer the Lindt chocolate I suggested earlier.)
Equipment needed:
- 2 large bowls
- 1 electric handheld mixer
- 1 spatula
- 1 kitchen scale or measuring cups
- 1 loaf bakeware
- baking paper
- 1 small plate
- 1 poking stick
How To Make The Best Banana Bread With Olive Oil (+ Video)
Making this recipe is really easy. Let me show you.
Start with the dry ingredients.
Add the flour, the baking mix and the salt in one of your bowls, and mix well.
Next, prepare your bananas – only two. Leave the third one for later.
Peel them and mash them onto your plate, using a fork. Do this with just two bananas, the third is for later.
Now, move onto the wet ingredients.
Crack the eggs into your second empty bowl, and add the sugar and the vanilla essence.
Use your handheld electric mixer to beat those.
Next, add the extra virgin olive oil, and continue beating.
It’s now time to add your mashed banana, and mix some more.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Add half of the dry ingredients, and continue beating.
Add the rest, and finish incorporating everything together.
Prepare your chocolate.
Chop your chocolate bar into rough pieces, small or larger, depending on how you like them.
You can add half your chocolate pieces now, and leave the rest for later. Feel free to add them all now. Mix them in.
Prepare your cake dish.
You can grease it, but I prefer using parchment paper.
Pour the batter with the chocolate chips into the line cake dish, and give it a few taps over your countertop to level the batter and release any air bubbles.
Chop your third banana
And distribute it throughout the cake dish, using a fork to help you submerge each piece.
Add the rest of your chocolate pieces.
Again, you can use a fork to help you submerge them.
Prepare your oven & bake.
Preheat your oven for 15 minutes at 180 °C or 356 °F.
Reduce the temperature to 160°C or 320 °F.
Bake at the lower level of your oven, or the middle one, but not the top for 1 hour or until your poking stick comes clean.
It’s best to check it with the poking stick after 50 minutes.
The cake is ready.
Once ready, take the cake out of the oven and leave it to cool for at least 30 minutes, or better for 1 hour. Then, you can slice it and taste it.
Tips & Variations For Banana Bread
As I already mentioned, this recipe is really easy, so you don’t have to worry about messing it up.
Make sure you use the exact ingredients, or double/triple the quantities if you are making two, three, or more.
Follow my baking timing recommendations, but if you know your oven tends to burn things or cooks quicker than most others, then check it a little earlier.
I suggest baking it in the lower level of your oven to avoid the cake from burning, or becoming too brown too quickly.
Finally, don’t forget that the quality of your ingredients will ultimately affect the final taste, so use the best you can afford.
Variations For This Banana Bread Recipe
Added protein – I have similar cakes that I make with Greek yogurt, so if you want to add the extra protein that way, you definitely can. In that case, you can add 150 gr Greek yogurt and either reduce one banana, or add 25-40 gr flour, starting with a tablespoon and adjusting as needed.
Egg free – replace the eggs with the flax eggs – which is equivalent to 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tablespoons of water.
Vegan – replace the eggs with the flax eggs, and make sure you are using vegan chocolate. All the other ingredients in this recipe are vegan friendly.
Sugar free – feel free to replace the coconut sugar with your favorite sugar replacement. Make sure it’s a good option for baking. You can also use honey, but make sure to half the quantity, as honey is much sweeter.
Gluten free – replace the same amount of flour with an all purpose gluten free option.
Add nuts – if you want to add nuts, I would suggest walnuts or hazelnuts. These are great both with and without chocolate.
Try These Other Healthy Italian Recipes
If you loved this banana bread recipe because of how healthy and delicious it is, I have plenty more already on my blog, and even more coming. Healthy Italian cooking is my passion!
Here are a few suggestions:
Creamy Italian Broccoli Soup
Green Minestrone With Basil Pesto (coming soon)
Italian Chocolate Cake With Olive Oil (coming soon)
Cosy Pastina Soup With Egg & Parmesan
Do you want more wholesome recipes like those?
No problem!
I share plenty in my weekly newsletter – Buona Settimana. I invite you to sign up via one of the boxes in this post. If you do, you’ll receive one email every Sunday that usually includes an easy everyday Italian recipe I love. And you’ll also be able to access all the past recipes I have shared in my previous emails. See you in your inbox!
Before you go, can I kindly ask you to give this post a heart and share it with a friend? I truly appreciate you.
Happy cooking,
Alessia
