I crave this crazy moist pumpkin banana bread with an irresistible crackly crust all fall long! It has the absolute best texture thanks to lots of ripe banana, canned pumpkin puree, whole grain flour, almond butter, and maple syrup. With 6g protein and 4g fiber per slice, it's also super satisfying. Beyond delish with coffee (and a smear of cream cheese frosting, duh).
The fact that I until now I didn't bless your face with a recipe that merges pumpkin spice flavors with banana bread is straight blasphemy. My almond flour pumpkin bread (with a whole can of pumpkin) and bakery-style whole grain banana bread are some of my favorite desserts on my site!
I dreamed of this bread being gorgeously moist, light, not cloyingly sweet, and healthier. Enter white whole wheat flour that packs a fiber punch while still being super soft. Brain-boosting almond buttah instead of tons of oil. Half the [unrefined] sugar of most loaves. Oh my!
It's kind of nuts how incredible the texture is. Beyond the perfect interior is a crackly, bakery-worthy crust enhanced with a smear of tangy cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Spooky good.
The low down on ingredients
- Banana: Overripe banana adds much needed flavor, moisture, and sweetness since pumpkin is very bland.
- Pumpkin: Canned pumpkin adds nutrient-dense moisture (hello, vitamin A) and gorgeous orange hue.
- White whole wheat flour: All the great nutrition of 100% whole grain flour but softer and lighter. Spelt flour would be another good option. King Arthur is my favorite trusty brand. I suspect 1:1 all purpose gluten free baking flour would also work.
- Pure maple syrup: My favorite natural sweetener for caramely notes. Not to be confused with Aunt Jemima.
- Almond butter: In lieu of a bunch of oil or butter, she adds plenty of healthy fats and contributes to the excellent texture. Use the drippy kind with just almonds as the ingredient.
- Eggs: Eggs bind the bread, improve the texture, and help it rise. For a vegan version, you can try flax eggs (or make my whole wheat vegan pumpkin muffins).
- Avocado: Just 2 tbsp neutral oil (you could also use melted coconut oil, butter, or olive oil) to achieve a supreme texture.
- Spices: Plenty of pumpkin pie spice and even more cinnamon for cozy, warm fall flavors.
- Salt: You'll notice this recipe has more salt than most, but it really adds the perfect pick me up flavor to round out the neutral pumpkin. I tested this with only ½ tsp and it wasn't enough.
- Vanilla: More depth of flavor!
- Raw sugar: Any kind of granulated sugar (I used organic cane sugar) works to create that amazing crunchy exterior.
- Cinnamon cream cheese frosting: Clearly I'm obsessed, so of course I had to create a spiced fall version for this gorg bread. I can't get enough of the tangy creaminess atop the fluffy loaf.
Let's make it!
Whisk banana, pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup, oil, eggs and vanilla.
Add flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon.
Use a wooden spoon to stir until just combined.
Pour batter into lined loaf pan. Sprinkle on raw sugar on top.
Bake for 1 hour. Make frosting. Cool, frost and devour!
My top tip
Taking care to spoon and level the flour (versus packing it into the bag which yields too much flour) and not over-mixing the batter are surefire ways to guarantee a puffy, pristine loaf. No dry, dense quick breads allowed!
Storage
Keep the cooled, unfrosted bread tightly wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store cream cheese frosting in the fridge and frost slices as you eat them.
This freezes well, too!
I hope you're as obsessed with this fun fall recipe as I am!
I'd be super grateful if you'd take a moment to leave a quick star rating and review below. Comments mean the world to me and your honest feedback helps me to continue to share recipes you'll crave!
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Fluffy Pumpkin Banana Bread (healthier!)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
I crave this crazy moist pumpkin banana bread with an irresistible crackly crust all fall long! It has the absolute best texture thanks to lots of ripe banana, canned pumpkin puree, whole grain flour, almond butter, and maple syrup. With 6g protein and 4g fiber per slice, it's also super satisfying. Beyond delish with coffee (and a smear of cream cheese frosting, duh).
You'll have about ¾ cup pumpkin puree leftover, the perfect amount to my make Pumpkin Overnight Oats, yippee!
Ingredients
- 1 cup very overripe mashed banana*
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup almond butter (the drippy kind)
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp raw sugar or granulated sugar, for sprinkling (a courser sugar is ideal for a crunchy, crackly top!)
- recommended topping: healthy cinnamon cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x5 in loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Measure out 1 cup banana in a medium bowl. Add pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup, oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- Add flour, being sure to spoon and level it into the cup to ensure you're not using too much. Add baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Use a wooden spoon to stir until just barely combined (over-mixing makes the bread dense).
- Pour batter into lined loaf pan. Sprinkle on raw sugar on top. Bake for one hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. While bread bakes, make frosting.
- Cool on a wire rack then devour! I find this this bread tastes best the next day, just like most banana breads. If frosting, I recommending frosting fully cooled individual slices versus the whole loaf (since anything frosted should be refrigerated within two hours). Unfrosted bread can be stored tightly covered at room temperature for 3 days and then refrigerated.
Notes
*3 small/medium bananas but please measure! A heaping cup works. The riper they are, the better this will taste (mine were almost black).
Val says
I feel like I've done the greater good a disservice by waiting so long to write a review about this bread... 🙂 It is absolutely over the top delicious! I made this for my mom and husband and both couldn't believe how moist and flavorful it was. A second loaf was immediately requested by both lol.
I made exactly as written and it came together in minutes. I love recipes like this that have so much flavor from spices because there's not a lot of 'heavy' prep involved, really just measuring out spices and you're done. We all thought it was the perfect amount of sweet, too - classic Alexis magic to have concocted a pumpkin bread with so little added sugar! Absolutely divine and will be making over and over this fall!
Ooh - and we've tried with the icing and without. Both are phenomenal and you can't go wrong. Flavorful enough without and a fun healthy cake option with.
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Yayyyy Val! I'm sooo happy your mom and husband loved this one. Low added sugar but still major delish vibes for the win!! Thanks a million for such a thoughtful review 🙂
Carrie says
These are so delicious! Smooth and fluffy and filling-the perfect breakfast muffin.
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Love it, thank you Carrie!!