This one bowl Zucchini Banana Bread is made without butter or oil, but so tender and flavourful that you’d never be able to tell it’s healthy! Greek yogurt, bananas, and shredded zucchini keep it extra moist, while a sprinkle of chocolate chips make it feel extra decadent.
I feel like Sundays are a good day for banana bread.
So are Mondays. And Tuesdays. And Wednesdays. And… any other day of the week. Well, any day of the week [that you also happen to have nice spotty bananas]. Because while I guess you technically could make banana bread with bananas that aren’t perfectly ripe, you probably don’t want to. That’s what Mom taught me when I was really little, and while my 8-year old self totally didn’t understand how bananas couldn’t be “ready” when they were right there, my older self gets it. Spotty brown bananas for the sweet, sweet win.
Actually, that seems to be my biggest struggle in life right now – bananas not ripening fast enough. I don’t know why stores think it’s a good idea to sell neon green bananas, but it takes over a week for those suckers to get to get anywhere close to edible. At least for me. I know different people like their bananas in different stages of ripeness, but for me it’s yellow with plenty of brown spots.
And when they reach the point of no return and become a spawning ground for fruit flies? We make banana bread…
Zucchini banana bread, in this case. In one bowl, because… who wants to clean more than that? I know I don’t… and I don’t even really mind cleaning my kitchen that. Especially if I’m feeling stressed out. For some reason, cleaning tends to calm me down when I’m feeling really overwhelmed. Maybe because it helps me get a sense of order and control when things feel so chaotic in my head? But I know, I know – this isn’t the time for psychoanalysis.
It’s a time for delicious banana bread.
Like most of my other banana bread recipes, this one is based off my much-loved Greek yogurt banana bread. I mean… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Only I have fixed it a few times since then. And again for this particular variation.
I was kind of worried about the extra moisture the zucchini would add, so I left out one of the eggs and replaced the maple syrup with more coconut sugar to cut back on the wet ingredients. The result is quick bread made without any butter or oil that’s still super soft, tender, and full of flavour. I also wanted to add some chocolate chips without having them be in every bite (I’m strange, I know), so I took maybe 3 of 4 tablespoons and sprinkled them on top before putting the bread in the oven. If you wanted to, you could totally add the chocolate chips to the batter though. Or just leave them out completely. Either way, I think you’ll like this one.
Happy eating!
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One Bowl Zucchini Banana Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (110 g) plain 2% Greek yogurt
- 2 medium-size, ripe bananas, mashed (200 g or 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) coconut palm sugar*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup (180 g) whole wheat pastry flour**
- 1 cup (115 g) shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess liquid***
- (optional) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF (176ºC), and lightly grease a 9 x 5 (23cm x 13cm) bread pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg until the yolk breaks. Whisk in the yogurt, bananas, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing until smooth. Spoon in the flour and gently fold it in until just combined. Gently mix in the zucchini and chocolate chips if you’re adding it to the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spreading it out evenly, and sprinkle on chocolate chips if you just want them to be on top. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
* You can also use regular cane sugar. ** You can also use all purpose flour or a mix of 3/4 cup (90 g) all purpose and 3/4 cup (90 g) of whole wheat flour. *** I like to place a handful of shredded zucchini between two paper towels and squeeze it over the sink. This drains it of just the right amount of liquid to allow the muffins to cook properly.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
Looking for more healthy banana bread recipes? Try one of these!
Double Chocolate Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Banana Bread
Double Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread
Flourless Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
One Bowl Greek Yogurt Banana Oat Bread
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Is the amount of zucchini measured before or after the squeezing?
It’s measured before.
I have made this twice so far and it is so good! Thanks for the recipe!
I just made this today and subbed regular came sugar, which was my only substitution. The bread came out super flat, like half the height of yours. Do you know why this happened?
We do banana breads quite often in a million combinations but I never thought of adding zucchini to it, it’s a brilliant idea!! Thanks, we’re definitely trying it soon 🙂
That looks DELICIOUS!
beautiful recipe, thank you for sharing.
I made a couple of slight modifications – prepared my own flour using oats instead of wheat flour and replaced the chocolate nibs with cacao nibs, raw honey instead of coconut sugar (not a fan of coconut ingredients anymore) and it tastes absolutely delicious!
Amanda when I build my cooking school here in NSW, Australia, you will be one of the first cooking instructors I’d love to invite to share your wonderful delicious healthy food!
Cheers
Sandie
I made this today. Moist and delicious!
You should come to Cleveland. Our bananas go from green to spotty in like two days and that’s with the AC on!!
OOOOHHHH yum! I love your greek yogurt banana bread, so this sounds fantastic. I’m right there with you on the banana debacle; like don’t they understand??? We the people stand together in solidarity in protection of all the spotty yellow bananas that are continuously shunned from grocery stores.
And chocolate chips not in every bite? You ARE weird ;p
We keep coming across zucchini (or courgette as we say in the UK) bread recipes at the mo… and we keep wondering why it’s not very common in Britain! It looks delicious! We love a good one-bowl recipe too… so simple! Great post 🙂
Sochal – The Healthy Social Network
I love how as we get closer to fall more and more bread recipes are popping up! Can’t wait to try this one out. I love zucchini bread.
This looks super delicious! Now I definitely know what to do when I have some overly ripe bananas (also I totally know your struggle with buying neon green bananas that take forever to ripen and then once they do, you have like a day to eat them all)
Elizabeth || Liz Living
I’m glad i stumbled onto this great recipe. Going to give a try over the weekend.