Sourdough Banana Nut Bread with Protein

If you’re looking for a simple and delicious way to use overripe bananas, this easy and super moist banana nut bread recipe is a great choice. It includes sourdough discard for added flavor complexity and a tender texture, while also helping to make the nutrients more bioavailable. This recipe also incorporates protein powder and Greek yogurt to increase the protein content, resulting in a more fulfilling and well-rounded treat.

 

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• Why You’ll Love This
• The Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Equipment Used
• How to Make this
• How To Store
• FAQ
• Other Recipes You Might Enjoy

Why You’ll Love This 

TL;DR

• Sourdough discard adds a unique, complex flavor and a tender texture, while also making the bread more gut-friendly.
• Protein-packed goodness with Greek yogurt and vanilla protein powder, making this a satisfying and nutritious snack or breakfast.
• Half the sugar, fewer carbs than traditional recipes, so you can enjoy a sweet treat without the guilt.
• Super moist and flavorful thanks to a balance of ingredients like mashed bananas, brown sugar, and Greek yogurt.
• Reducing food waste: Perfect for overripe bananas and a great way to use up leftover sourdough discard.

Easy One Bowl Banana Bread

While you could say banana bread without nuts is the simplest way, it’s also just a little boring, isn’t it? But some magic happens if you add just a few chopped pecans: It suddenly has bite, crunch and character, while still keeping its quintessential flavor and the ease of a one-bowl recipe. All with ingredients you likely have at home. Just stir everything together, bake and you have a real treat to snack on.

Perfect Use For Overripe Bananas

Use those bananas that are staring at you from that fruit bowl at your counter, asking you what you’re going to do with them, since clearly you have no intention of eating them as they are. I know, I’m the same…I eat mine only when they are still slightly green, but anything after that will find it’s way into some version of banana bread or muffins. My recent Cinnamon Banana Muffins are testament to that, so is the deeply chocolatey version with roasted bananas.
I often think I only buy more bananas than I’ll eat raw, so I have an excuse to make them.

Use Up Sourdough Discard

As in most of my baked recipes, I’m adding sourdough to this bread. Discard to be specific. Not just because it’s a very practical use for any discard you might have hanging around, but also because it adds a whole new dimension of flavor to any baked good. If you ever bit into a good artisan sourdough bread and wondered why it’s just tasting so much better than the stuff from the supermarkets, you know what I mean. There is that slight tang, sure, but mainly it makes the flavor more complex, while also giving the banana bread a more tender texture and, if left overnight, even breaking down gluten, leading to a gut friendly bake.

Plus it helps making minerals and protein more bioavailable by breaking them down into smaller, easier digestible molecules, as I explained in my post on Why I’m Baking with Sourdough and Protein and Why You Should Too!

Of course you can make this without sourdough, by simply swapping it for ¼ cup flour and ¼ cup milk. But why would you want to?

Ingredient Notes

A few notes on the most important ingredients. As usual, the full list is in the recipe card.

• Bananas – Starting with the most essential ingredient for banana bread, the super ripe ones, that look like they fell asleep on the beach, are best. They have the highest sugar content and lead to that caramelised banana flavor which makes this bread so utterly irresistible. You can use frozen bananas. Just defrost first, and because more of their juices isn’t contained by cell walls anymore, add ¼ cup more flour.
• Brown sugar – Contains more moisture than white sugar and adds even more caramel flavor, which is always a good thing in my book.
• Greek Yoghurt – I used the 0% fat version for this banana bread, as that’s what I had at home.
• Protein Powder – As in most of my baking I’m using MyProtein Whey concentrate in vanilla flavor.
• This is neither affiliated nor sponsored. Just the powder I found to taste best after trying a fair few. If you never found one you actually enjoy, give this one a try.
• Sourdough Discard – I prefer using one that was fed within the last 2-3 days for sweet recipes. Though with the sweetness from the bananas you probably get away with week old too. Of course you can always use an active starter.
• Flour – All purpose flour is best for this recipe, as it gives a tender structure.

substitutions

• Butter – While I use butter as I feel the flavor comes through beautifully in this moist loaf, it’s also fabulous with coconut or olive oil. Both add their own flavor component, which can be lovely. If you do use olive oil, I would opt for a mild one, so you don’t get peppery or grassy notes in your sweet treat. Unless you are into that. In which case: Go you!
• Also, vegan butter works great. But with the number of non-vegan ingredients in this recipe, I’m not too sure replacing all of them 1:1 is ideal.
• Greek Yoghurt – Both full fat and vegan will work too. They will add even more tenderness to the batter due to the higher fat content. Not that you need it to be honest.
• Brown Sugar – Using white sugar is fine, as the bananas plus sourdough discard have plenty of acidity to activate the baking soda. But to get the full caramel flavor, you might want to add 1 tsp of molasses, which is essentially what differentiates brown from white sugar.
• Eggs – To make this vegan, and I’d like to add I have not tried it with this recipe myself, the science in the fabulous book “The Elements of Baking” says you would have to add 40g flour and 60ml (1/4 cup) plant milk to replace them successfully. Also add ½ tsp more baking soda. If you try, I’d love to hear how it went.
• Protein Powder – So far I tried baking with Casein (add 1 tbsp of milk to make up for it’s more absorbing qualities) and spent barley as vegan version (add 1 tbsp less Greek Yoghurt), which should both work well. You can see the differences in baking in my post on Easy Sourdough Protein Bread.
• Of course you can always swap in flour 1:1 for the protein powder, to reverse engineer this recipe.
• Flour – If you live in the US, you could use self-raising protein flour, to get even more protein, but leave out the baking soda and reduce the salt in the recipe by half.
• Replacing half of the white flour with fine whole wheat works well too and adds another nutty flavor dimension.
• Sourdough Discard – If you’d like to bake this without sourdough, simply add ¼ cup flour and ¼ cup milk.
• Pecans – I prefer pecans over the classic walnuts for their milder flavor, but you can of course swap that back if you like. Other nut options would be chopped almonds, or even peanuts for a peanut banana loaf. If you have a nut allergy, pumpkin or sesame seeds would be lovely. So would dried fruits like raisins. Or just leave mix-ins out entirely.
• Cinnamon – If you are not a fan, cardamom or allspice are great. A hint of nutmeg wouldn’t go amiss either. Just ¼ tsp in that case.

Variations

• Make this into a chocolate Protein Banana Bread by using chocolate protein powder, swapping 2-3 tbsp of the flour for cocoa powder and adding chocolate chips instead of the nuts. Intensify the flavor even more by adding 1 tsp instant coffee powder.
• Swap the Nuts for raisins to make raisin protein banana bread. Or cranberries around Christmas.
• If you want even more banana flavor, slice one more banana and gently fold it in at the end. You might even slice one in half lengthwise and lay it gently over the top.
• Glaze with a simple icing sugar-vanilla glaze. Or add some cinnamon on top.
• Make a cinnamon swirl banana bread by adding half of the batter to the pan, sprinkling over about 2-3 tbsp cinnamon sugar, top with the remaining batter, then use a fork or knife to gently swirl it through. Top with more cinnamon sugar (never a bad idea!).
• Intensify the flavor by roasting the bananas with the sugar at 350°F/175°C for about 15 minutes. This gives the bread a fantastic caramelised banana flavor.

Equipment Used

• Bowl – 1 bowl will work just fine. Use whatever you have.
• Fork – To mash the bananas
• Whisk or Handmixer – To mix the ingredients
• Silicone spatula – Not absolutely necessary, but helpful to get all of the batter into the pan
• Loaf Pan – Mine is the classic 9×5. You could use a muffin or mini loaf pan instead and bake them for 20-30min.

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How to Make this

Back to the easy part.

Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C

Grease your loaf pan and line with baking parchment to avoid any sticking.

Mix The Wet Ingredients

• Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature, otherwise the batter may split or not mix very well.
• Ideally you’d cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using a hand mixer. If you don’t have one or can’t be bothered to dig it out, a whisk will do just fine if your butter is soft. (If it’s not, put it in the microwave for just 30 seconds to soften.)

• Add your eggs one after another and mix in until well incorporated.
• Now mash your bananas either in the bowl with the butter or in a small separate bowl (might be easier, but if you only want to wash one, it’s fine in the big bowl).
• Add the Greek yoghurt, vanilla extract, sourdough discard and protein powder and mix until combined.

Combine The Dry Ingredients

• Either on top of the wet ingredients or in a smaller bowl, briefly combine flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Fold into the wet ingredients until nearly combined.
• Sprinkle over the chopped pecans and fold in until you see no dry flour. It’s fine if the batter is a bit lumpy. This will result in the fluffiest banana bread.
• Don’t overmix.

Bake Your Banana Bread with Protein

• Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with a few more chopped nuts if you like or some cinnamon sugar.
• I used another banana sliced in half lengthwise to top the batter, the sprinkled 1 tbsp cinnamon sugar over the whole top, resulting in an incredibly glossy, caramelized banana and crunchy top.

• Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The top will be deeply golden brown and spring back when lightly touched.
• If you opted for muffins or mini loaves, bake for 20-30 minutes and check if they are done with the toothpick too.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. This will allow the loaf to firm up a little, so it doesn’t fall apart when taking it out of the form.
• Tip out of the pan or pull up using the sides of the parchment and let it cool on a wire rack.

• Enjoy Your Sourdough Banana Nut Bread with Protein
• It’s incredible while still slightly warm. Maybe with a pat of butter. Though personally I don’t think it needs it, as it’s so moist!
• This bread is also lovely toasted or super indulgent as French toast!

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How To Store

The best way to store banana bread, due to the high moisture content, is in an airtight container between two layers of paper towels, to soak up any excess. Let it cool completely before though, to avoid condensation.

It will keep at room temperature for 3-4 days.
If you live in a very warm or moist climate, it’s best kept in the fridge.

You can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Ideally wrapped in first cling film then aluminium foil. Or a freezer bag.

If you freeze it in slices, separate them with a piece of parchment, so you can take them out whenever the craving hits and just toast.

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

And if you enjoyed this recipe, please consider rating, sharing, or leaving a comment – your feedback truly helps my blog grow!

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