Delicious Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

I'll be honest... I LOVE banana bread (especially Greek yogurt banana bread), but I never have enough bananas to make them. My kiddos always finish off the bunch before the bananas are ripe enough to use! I feel like most people have the opposite problem--not eating them fast enough and then not knowing what to do with the mushy, less-than-appetizing, brown-peeled bananas.

I actually just discovered that my local grocery store sells overripe bananas for a discount price! I'm not sure why I didn't know about this sooner, but now I won't have to hide the fresh bananas from my kids. Seriously though, I usually have a secret stash hidden so that I can get them ripe enough for this banana bread recipe!

Regardless of how efficient your household is at polishing off bunches of bananas, I have some tips on how to make sure you have some that are perfectly sweet and overripe for baking.

The Best Bananas for Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

The ideal bananas for this banana bread recipe are mushy, brown-spotted, and even sometimes black! This is because as the bananas continue to ripen, a chemical reaction in which starches break down causes an increase in sugar that gives them the sweet flavor that is perfect for bread.

If your bananas are taking too long to ripen, try putting them in a brown paper bag with an apple, closing it off, and leaving them for a day or two.

If you are in more of a hurry, try the oven method. Line your bananas up on a cooking sheet. Bake them at 300° F for about half an hour, or until they turn black. Allow them to cool before using them for baking. This method is adequately effective, but I find the flavor to be better when allowed to ripen naturally.

Why Greek Yogurt in Banana Bread?

You may be asking, why use Greek yogurt? It makes the banana bread extra moist! Some recipes use sour cream or oil to add extra moisture. However, Greek yogurt has the same effect without the extra fat. It's a much healthier option!

I also use Greek yogurt in my lemon raspberry bread recipe, make sure to check that one out as well.

This banana bread is perfect for breakfast, and so are these lemon blueberry muffins. I have lots of breakfast recipes on my blog--make sure to check out this brioche french toast casserole recipe as well.

If you're wanting that banana bread flavor but in cookie form, you'll have to check out my banana bread cookies recipe--they're a website favorite!

If you try out this Greek yogurt banana bread or any of my other recipes, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe. If you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.

Now get baking, and enjoy!

Delicious Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

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Servings: 20 servings

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Calories: 300kcal

This recipe makes 2 loaves of banana bread.

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 ½ cup all purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1 cup white sugar
• ▢ 4 large eggs, room temperature
• ▢ ⅔ cup plain greek yogurt
• ▢ 4 cup mashed bananas (8 large bananas, overripe)
• ▢ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional*

• ▢ 1-2 cup chocolate chips
• ▢ 1-2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 bread pans with cooking spray.
• Add butter and sugars to standing mixer and mix on high until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times to make sure it's well mixed.
• In a separate bowl, mash the bananas well.
• Add eggs to the butter/sugar mixture, and mix on medium-high until well combined. Then add in yogurt, mashed bananas, and vanilla and mix until well combined.
• Add all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon) to a separate bowl, and whisk together until evenly mixed.
• Add the mixed dry ingredients to the standing mixer and stir on low until just barely combined--there shouldn't be any flour pockets.
• Stir in any other mix-ins (ex. chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, etc.)
• Evenly distribute the bread batter between the two bread pans. Bake for 55-65 minutes. **After 25 minutes of baking, cover the bread pans loosely with tin foilu--this will keep the bread from burning before the middle has cooked through. Keep a close eye on the bread during the last 10 minutes of baking. Once the center is firm and a fork can come out clean, it is done.
• After completely cooled, store in the refrigerator in a sealed container or plastic wrap, etc. This bread is even better the next day!

Notes

*I put 1-2 cups for both the optional nuts and chocolate chips because if you are using just one of them, you will likely want 2 cups of the ingredient. However, if using both nuts AND chocolate chips, just use 1 cup of each. Two cups of each ingredient would likely be overdoing it.

**Putting the tin foil on the bread after 25 minutes allows the top to set- this will help prevent the tin foil from sticking to the top of the loaf.

The bread may take longer to cook with additional mix-ins like chocolate chips or nuts.If you halve the recipe, or only cook one loaf at a time, the bread will likely need less time to cook. Check on the bread after 40 minutes, and adjust as needed.

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Course: Breads