You know what sucks? Having to throw out food because it went bad. You know what I mean, cleaning out the fridge, tossing moldy, old, and squishy food into the can, feeling like you’re just tossing dollars and dollars of your hard earned money into the can (because you are). While we can’t help you with all of it, what we can help you with is putting those mushy, days old, bruised bananas to good use, for a quick and easy protein banana bread recipe sure to pleasure just about any pallet.

Protein Banana Bread - What Is So Good About It?

If you’re like us, you like a delightful little snack and you like it eat it without a little side of guilt. This banana bread with protein powder recipe is made with simple ingredients commonly found in just about any kitchen, and it has a delicious texture and sweetness. Did we mention it has buttery pecans for a little crunch and mini chocolate chips for a creamy oomph? Mmm… getting hungry… right now.

Ingredient Swapping

The ingredients for this healthy protein banana bread are pretty easy to use, but if you don’t have them, they’re pretty easy to swap out. For example, if you don’t want to use butter, you can use coconut oil. If you don’t want to use all-purpose flour, you can use almond or oat. If you don’t want to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, you can use regular milk. If you like more spices, or want more of a fall pumpkin bread, you could even swap the butter for canned pumpkin and add in other spices like nutmeg and pumpkin pie.

Choosing A Protein Powder For Baking

We highly recommend using Swolverine’s Whey Protein Isolate powder in this recipe because it boasts 26g of pure protein per 30g scoop. It will add a little sweetness and flavor, regardless of whether you choose to roll with the Vanilla or (our favorite) Honey Cinnamon Peanut Butter. We recommend using a scale to measure the 30g out just for accuracy, but eyeballing it can work just fine, too. You can also use Swolverine’s Grass-Fed Collagen Protein, but it will make the bread more dense, and you may want to double the baking powder (rising agent).

Protein Banana Bread Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
• 1 - 30g scoop Swolverine Whey Protein Isolate (Vanilla or Honey Cinnamon Peanut Butter)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 medium banana
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 + 2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 2 tsp butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp (or more) mini chocolate chips
• 4 tbsp (or more) pecans

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Spray a baking loaf pan (9x4) with cooking spray
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash the banana (riper the better) well. Add the wet ingredients, the unsweetened vanilla almond milk, sugar, and melted/softened butter. Mix well
4. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients, the flour, Swolverine protein powder, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon, mixing well
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips with a spatula or wooden spoon
7. Grab your baking pan and pour the batter into the pan. Smooth it out so that it is evenly spread, and top with additional chocolate chips and pecans
8. Place in oven and bake 15-20 minutes (or longer) or until you can insert a knife into the bread and it comes out mostly clean (do not over-bake, it will turn out dry)
9. Remove from oven, letting the bread cool slightly, and serve with a dollop of butter. Enjoy!

Did you like this recipe!? Tag us on social media @swolverine so we can follow along with your creations.