Greek Yogurt Banana Bread + Recipe Video

This Greek yogurt banana bread recipe creates an extra moist banana bread. The addition of Greek yogurt to banana bread adds protein, extra moisture, some calcium and a slightly “tangy” flavor.

FYI – You will even find a recipe video below if you want to “see” the steps involved in making a Greek yogurt banana bread.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Recipe Video
4. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 5 from 11 votes Featured Comment Wendy “This was the BEST banana bread recipe ever!!! LOVE using maple syrup and greek yogurt in place of lots of sugar and oil! I added frozen blueberries to mine and it was delicious!!!! Thanks for the great recipe!”

You can also easily modify your Greek yogurt banana bread by adding some chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, fresh blueberries, etc. This is a fun recipe to play with!

You can make this extra moist banana bread with plain Greek yogurt, blackberry Greek yogurt, vanilla Greek yogurt, strawberry Greek yogurt, etc. Just make sure to use your favorite Greek yogurt flavor. I often use blueberry Greek yogurt to make this banana bread. This allows my yogurt banana bread to have a mild blueberry aroma and a hint of blueberry flavor. It is much better than “regular” banana bread!

Greek Yogurt Banana Bread – Straight from the Oven

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Mashed Ripe Bananas – 288 grams – This equals roughly 2 1/2 large bananas or 3 medium bananas but use 1 1/4 cups for the most accurate & consistent results.
• 1/2 Cup – Greek Yogurt – 118 milliliters – Plain or fruit flavored Greek yogurt
• 1/4 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 59 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored oil such as canola or corn oil
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 200 grams – Use light brown sugar if you prefer a slightly richer flavor
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• Optional – 1 Cup – Chopped Walnuts (115 grams) or Chocolate Chips (170 grams) or a 1/2 cup of fresh fruit (e.g. blueberries) to match a fruit flavored Greek yogurt

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

Recipe Video – How To Make Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Sliced Loaf of Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C).
• Premix the Greek yogurt (so it is easier to measure accurately in a measuring cup).
• Mash the bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat the eggs.
• Stir the mashed bananas, Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, eggs & sugar together.
• Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir until the batter is fully mixed. Don’t overmix.
• Optional – If you want to enhance this Greek yogurt banana bread, you can stir in a cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) after you have mixed the batter.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Bake in the oven for 65 to 70 minutes at 325 F (163 degrees C).
• Take bread pan out of the oven and let the banana bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven.
• Do not remove the banana bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. This finishes the baking process.
• After 10 minutes, remove the banana bread from the bread pan. Place the banana bread on a wire cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1-2 hours. Gently slide a silicon spatula between the banana bread and the bread pan walls if the banana bread is stuck in the pan.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.
• You also can watch my recipe video to “see” how to perform each recipe step.

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Key Ingredients – Greek Yogurt & Bananas

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience. This Greek yogurt recipe results in an extra moist banana bread with lots of banana flavor.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• If you would rather “see” how this recipe is made, please watch the step-by-step recipe video on this page. It is a short & simple video that shows you how to make Greek yogurt banana bread.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes such as walnut banana bread, chocolate chip banana bread, eggless banana bread and blueberry banana bread.

• You should make this recipe with Greek yogurt… not regular yogurt. Regular yogurt has more liquid than Greek yogurt and this can throw off the recipe. If you use regular yogurt, you might have to bake the banana bread for a little longer and test to see if the banana bread has been fully baked.
• This recipe uses a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt based on a measuring cup. It does NOT use 1/2 of a small yogurt container. You need to measure your yogurt correctly to make this moist banana bread.
• I do not recommend using artificial-flavored Greek yogurt for this recipe. The banana bread comes out ok but it sometimes has a slight chemical taste. This could be a result of the oven heat affecting the artificial sweetener.
• If you use fruit flavored Greek yogurt to make this yogurt banana bread, you can also add 1/2 cup of the same fruit (e.g. fresh blueberries) if you want even more fruit flavor.
• I recommend using fresh fruit (versus frozen fruit) when making this banana bread. Frozen fruit can add unexpected moisture (via attached ice crystals) & berries bursting/cracking during the freezing process. This “extra” & unplanned for liquid can cause baking problems (e.g. underbaked banana breads & the need for longer than expected baking times).
• If you like baked goods made with Greek yogurt, you should also try my Greek Yogurt Bread recipe. It creates an extra soft sandwich bread.

• Greek yogurt has lots of benefits when added to baked goods. Greek yogurt adds protein, calcium, moisture and a slightly tangy taste to this yogurt banana bread recipe.
• Greek yogurt has generally twice the amount of protein when compared to many regular yogurts. However, always read the label to confirm how much protein is in your Greek yogurt (as amounts vary between brands and types of Greek yogurt). Greek yogurt also usually has a lot more protein than dairy-based milks.
• FYI – 1/2 cup (kitchen measuring cup) of Greek yogurt has ROUGHLY 9 to 12 grams of protein. However, this can vary by brand, whether the Greek yogurt contains sugar & fruit, etc. Read the nutrition label on your Greek yogurt container to determine the most accurate amount of protein.
• If you want even more protein in your banana bread, you should try my recipes for Protein Powder Banana Bread or Almond Flour Banana Nut Bread.

• Optional – If you want to “enhance” this banana bread recipe, you can add 1 cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) after you have completely mixed all of the other ingredients. Stir in the extra ingredients (e.g. chocolate chips) until they are even spread throughout the batter.
• Visitors – What do you like to add to Greek yogurt banana bread to make it better or more unique? Do you use a special yogurt? Or do you add extra ingredients such as chopped nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, spices (e.g. ground cinnamon), etc. Please post your banana bread tips & suggestions in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Helen added “chopped walnuts, almonds and white chocolate chips” and Penn modified this recipe by adding some “melted coconut oil, added a couple handfuls of shredded coconut and walnuts. Moist and tender crumb, very tasty!”

• Use RIPE bananas for the best results!! If you use unripe green or hard yellow bananas, your banana bread might come out bland (with little banana flavor). Unripe bananas have more starch and less sugar than ripe bananas. The natural sweetness of ripe bananas works best when making banana bread recipes. Ripe bananas are SOFT and have many small brown & black spots on the exterior of the yellow banana peel.
• Measure your mashed bananas with a measuring cup. Use exactly 1 1/4 cups of mashed bananas in order to reduce any potential recipe problems. This will help to prevent your banana bread from being too dry or too wet.
• FYI – The use of banana “numbers” (e.g. 3 or 4 bananas) to make a recipe leads to greater moisture variability (and thus more potential problems). Why? Because bananas vary in size. The use of measuring cups or exact weights (e.g. grams) to measure your mashed bananas leads to less variability & thus less problems.

• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn or canola oil) in order to make this yogurt banana bread recipe. Stronger flavored oils (e.g. peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil) may negatively impact the banana bread taste.
• If you want to use olive oil, I would recommend using “light” or “extra light” olive oil as they would have the least impact on the banana bread. Unfortunately, extra virgin and virgin olive oil have stronger flavors and are more likely to negatively impact the taste of your banana bread.
• Some of my visitors like to use avocado oil in order to make their banana breads. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.
• You should use fresh oil when baking as some oils spoil faster than others. Old oil can go rancid and taste bitter, stale, funky, etc. Old oil can leave a bad aftertaste in your baked goods.
• FYI – Banana breads made with vegetable oil tend to taste a little moister than banana breads made with butter. The main reason is because vegetable oil remains liquid at room temperature whereas butter turns back to a solid at room temperature. Therefore, the use of vegetable oil helps to create an extra moist banana bread.

• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking soda and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your banana bread will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container. Using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your banana bread.
• Old flour can affect the taste of banana bread. Old flour can spoil and taste bitter, sour, musty, etc. Banana bread made with old flour does not taste great!
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Flour (if stored in an open bag and not in in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to banana bread collapses, etc.

• Optional – If you want to “enhance” this yogurt banana bread recipe, you can add 1 cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (e.g. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) after you have completely mixed all of the other ingredients.
• FYI – If you don’t have Greek yogurt, you can replace it with sour cream. Also check out my sour cream banana nut bread recipe if you want to see what a banana bread with sour cream looks like.
• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients. Stick to an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can overmix the ingredients and the banana bread will turn out rubbery & gummy.
• Don’t worry of the top of your finished banana bread has some cracks. Most banana breads crack on the top due to the rapid rising baking soda/powder. This is perfectly normal for banana breads and doesn’t impact the taste. If you don’t believe me… take a look at banana bread pictures online and most will have cracks in the top of the banana bread.

• If your banana breads are sticking to the bottom of your bread pan, you should consider either “greasing” the bottom of the pan with butter or vegetable oil, using a cooking spray, using a nonstick pan or lining the interior of the bread pan with baking parchment paper.
• However, don’t grease the bread pan near the top of the pan. There will be nothing for batter to cling to as it rises. This could cause the bread top to collapse as it rises.
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you are using really STICKY ingredients such as chocolate chips or fresh blueberries). It also allows you to lift the banana bread out of the pan without disturbing the top of the banana bread… in case you have added any special ingredients (such as chopped nuts or chocolate chips) to the top of the banana bread.
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana bread looks too moist or under cooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a wooden toothpick or wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the toothpick. If batter is sticking to the toothpick then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 3 to 5 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with a toothpick.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people like to use a bread thermometer to test if their banana bread is done. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. banana bread or pumpkin bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading.

• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 inch metal bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior bread ratios (thus the need for different baking time lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.
• My recipes are based on using a metal bread pan and NOT a glass bread pan. Glass bread pans bake faster than metal bread pans. If you use a glass bread pan for my recipes, you are more likely to overbake your banana bread (e.g. burnt crust).
• My recipes are based on using a regular oven and NOT a convection oven. Convection ovens bake faster than regular ovens and require less baking time than what is stated in my recipes.
• Place your banana bread in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the banana bread may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected.

• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this banana bread could come out underbaked.
• It takes roughly 15-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• Many people like to use an inexpensive hanging oven thermometer to determine if their oven has been preheated to the correct temperature.
• Moreover, for some ovens, the temperature set on the oven dial can be 25-50 degrees different than the actual temperature inside the oven. Again, I would recommend using a hanging oven thermometer to confirm the actual temperature inside your oven (as this reduces the potential for over or underbaked banana bread).

• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven and bread pan.
• Do not add the optional chopped walnuts if anyone who might eat this banana bread has peanut and/or tree nut allergies.
• For more banana bread ideas (e.g. chocolate chip banana bread, vegan banana bread or blueberry banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s main Banana Bread Recipes or Quick Bread Recipes sections.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana
2. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
3. Wikipedia, Greek Yogurt
4. Wikipedia, Yogurt

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2. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
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