One of my pet peeves is when people label a dessert as “healthy,” and not because that is grammatically incorrect, but rather because desserts have sugar of some form and that will never be “good” for you no matter how much whole wheat flour you throw in there. Of course, you could say one dessert is more healthful than another or that it will lead to the demise of your health less quickly than its traditional counterpart. But to call a dessert healthful because we use yogurt instead of butter, but then add in 3 cups of sugar, is just plain delusional.
Would you call me a hypocrite if I told you I have a recipe for a healthful dessert? I don’t blame you, but stay with me here. I know of a sweet something that calls for no sugar of any kind — not even my favorite, maple syrup. Don’t be silly, I am not going artificial on you! It is a delicious banana bread sweetened only with ripe bananas and pureed dates. Dates grow locally in Southern California, so we have access to some fantastic varieties here, my favorite being the Medjool. If you are ever craving something sweet, but don’t want to give in to processed junk, take a pitted date or two and stick a pecan in the middle. Amazing. I digress. The dates do double duty as sweetener and add moistness so we cut back on some of the butter, too. The key, though, with any banana bread is using super ripe bananas, well-speckled with lots of black dots (the kind many people toss in the garbage — arrgh!).
Banana bread freezes beautifully and makes a terrific muffin, as well. I adapt this recipe according to the season, adding blueberries in the summer, fresh cranberries in the fall and walnuts or pecans in the winter. This banana bread is not as sweet as the ones you may be used to, so yes, you can add chocolate chips or a drop of maple syrup if you must. Just don’t call it healthy!
Date-Sweetened Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried dates, about 7 ounces, pitted
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 4 Tablespoons 1/2 stick unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil, , at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour, spelt flour or sprouted spelt flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
- 3 large ripe bananas,, mashed
- 1/2 cup raw walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (or fresh blueberries or cranberries)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. (Can be lined with parchment if it is aluminum.)
- Place the dates in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the hot water and allow the dates to soften for at least 10 minutes. (I usually get the rest of my ingredients ready while the dates are softening.)
- Turn the mixer on low speed and blend until the water has incorporated with the dates. Turn the mixer to medium low speed and beat the dates until a smooth puree forms.
- Add the butter or coconut oil and beat until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter-date mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the mashed bananas and walnuts.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes (I made it in many different ovens with this range of time), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out barely clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
good recipe….a keeper. I doubled it and made it in two loaves….added a little brown sugar to the recipe and topped it with oatmeal and brown sugar mixture before baking. turned out yum….half the loaf was gone after 10 mins out of the oven. thank you for the recipe
Mmmmm…..brown sugar and oatmeal on top! I need to try that!
Hi Pamela!
How long does this keep and should it be kept in the refrigerator or at room temp?
Thank you!!
I would say 2 days at room temp and a few more days in the fridge.
Hi, to sweeten desserts with dates instead of sugar is definitely the healthy option but you’re still using butter (the coconut oil would be the healthy option) and wheat flour, whole wheat or white, it’s the same thing. Spelt flour maybe slightly better but it’s still wheat. Can I substitute with coconut flour or almond flour? It will loose some of the texture I’d imagine but it would be truly healthy!
Um……ok. This is a treat food. No one is saying to eat this instead of a salad. This recipe is just a higher quality banana bread than the norm. There are people who have made the argument that almond flour is not truly healthy (I’m not one of those people.) That said, this bread can be made successfully with coconut oil (I made it just yesterday, actually) and I imagine ghee would work fine given the small quantity required. You cannot substitute coconut flour or almond flour in this recipe. I have a recipe on the site for almond flour banana-carrot muffins that I regularly make into cakes. You may find that recipe more to your liking: https://pamelasalzman.com/banana-carrot-almond-flour-muffins-recipe/ Enjoy!
Hi Pamela! I’m so excited to try this recipe. I’m a student living in a small apartment and don’t have room for a mixer. Do you think a blender would do the job for the date puree?
Hi Kristin! I haven’t tried it with a blender, but it should work. A small food processor would work as well. I just made this today and it’s delicious!
Thanks, Pamela! I tried it and it was awesome. The blender worked! This is definitely a favorite of mine that I will be making again and again. 🙂
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Yay! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi, Can i use apple sauce instead of oil / butter ?
I haven’t tried that, so I can’t be sure. I would worry that the bread would get a little gummy. But it’s only 4 Tablespoons, so maybe it would work.
Just made this banana bread two days ago. Between my boyfriend and I, it is almost completely demolished! Your recipes do no wrong. Definitely my go-to banana bread recipe from now on!
Well, thank you so very much! It has been my go-to banana bread for at least 10 years. Who needs sugar??
I have made this twice and it is so good!! Everyone loves it! I have been only using dates as a sweetener for awhile now, so I really appreciate this recipe!
So glad! Thank you for leaving a comment — I really appreciate it!
hi. i was wondering if i would still need the 1/2 cup water if i used fresh medjool dates instead of dried? thanks!
I’m not sure since the only fresh dates I ever had were literally just picked from the tree and they weren’t super soft. If the fresh dates you are referring to are very soft and pureeable, I guess it would work, but I honestly don’t know since I haven’t tried it.
I love this recipe. I found it after I discovered that dates can be used to sweeten things. I have a toddler who doesn’t care much for veggies, so I made this once as written, really liked it, but then wondered if I could substitute sweet potato puree for the bananas. Long story short, I’ve been making sweet potato muffins using this recipe for months now. I put in about 2 cups puree, plus a tsp. of cinnamon. (I also have to admit I add 1/3 cup sugar or honey, but per muffin this is less than 1 tsp!) They take about 23 minutes to bake. It makes about 18-20 muffins. I keep most of them in the freezer and give them to the little guy as a snack or when he is just not eating well. He asks for them all the time! Thanks for this recipe!!
Lovely! What a nutritious snack for your toddler and thank you so much for the detailed notes on how you adapted the recipe. I love that, thank you!
This is exactly what I needed to know! I’ve made this recipe probably a hundred times for every potluck and event I can, and I make muffins for my family every week. I love it so much! I wanted to make a pumpkin version for Thanksgiving and planned to ask Pamela if it had ever been done before! This is pretty close. So I’m thinking of doing 1 can of pumpkin puree (15oz) and maybe 1 banana…perhaps honey if needed. Think it will work?
Awesome! Yes, you reminded me that I used to use a can of pumpkin (15oz) instead of sweet potato and it worked well. I don’t know about with the banana though. But yes, a little honey (1/3 cup is enough) gives it the right amount of sweetness.
I just made the banana bread and ate a slice. Yum. What a great recipe. Took 60 mins @ 170c. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful!