Greek Yogurt Banana Bread (Extra Moist) - Bread Dad (2024)

This Greek yogurt banana bread recipe creates an extra moist banana bread with a hint of your favorite Greek yogurt. The addition of Greek yogurt to banana bread adds protein, extra moisture, some calcium and a slight taste of your favorite fruit flavored yogurt.

The amount of “yogurt fruit” flavor (i.e. blueberries) depends on how much fruit is in your Greek yogurt. Just be aware that this flavor is never going to be a lot since we are using a lot more sweet & delicious bananas (versus Greek yogurt) to make this recipe.

Key Ingredients – Greek Yogurt & Bananas

I love blueberry Greek yogurt so I usually add it to my Greek yogurt 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! However, you can also make this extra moist banana bread with strawberry Greek yogurt, blackberry Greek yogurt, vanilla Greek yogurt, plain Greek yogurt, etc. Just make sure to use your favorite Greek yogurt flavor.

Recipe Sections

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Tips

Sliced Greek Yogurt Banana Bread – Moist & Delicious

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup – Fruit Flavored Greek Yogurt – 118 milliliters
• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Ripe Bananas – 345 grams
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored oil such as canola or corn oil
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1/2 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 100 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 107 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 5 milliliters
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 2.5 milliliters
• Optional – 1 Cup – Chopped Walnuts (115 grams) or Chocolate Chips (170 grams) – or a 1/2 cup of fresh fruit (i.e. blueberries) to match your fruit flavored Greek yogurt

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

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

** Subscribe to Bread Dad’s free recipe newsletter **

Greek Yogurt Banana Bread – Straight from the Oven

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Premix the Greek yogurt (so all of the fruit on the bottom of the container is completely mixed into the yogurt).
• Mash the bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat the eggs.
• Stir the Greek yogurt, bananas, eggs and vegetable oil 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 (i.e. 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 60-65 minutes or until golden brown.
• 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.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. We LOVE to hear from people who have enjoyed our recipes!! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Baking Tools – Bread pans, etc.
• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Making Books
• Ingredients – Flour, sugar, etc.

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 our “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 our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• If you like baked goods made with Greek yogurt, you should also try our Greek Yogurt Bread recipe. It creates an extra soft sandwich 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.
• If you use fruit flavored Greek yogurt to make this yogurt banana bread, you can also add 1/2 cup of the same fruit (i.e. 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) and this can cause baking problems (i.e. need for longer than expected baking time).

• 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.
• Greek yogurt has lots of benefits when added to baked goods. It 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.

• UseRIPEbananas 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 1/2 cups of mashed bananas in order to avoid any recipe problems (so the banana bread is not too dry or too wet). FYI – 3 large-sized bananas equal roughly 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 cups of mashed bananas (not sliced bananas). If you have any leftover mashed bananas (after measuring the 1 1/2 cups), you can freeze the mashed bananas for later use.
• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (i.e. corn or canola oil) in order to make this yogurt banana bread recipe. Stronger flavored oils (i.e. peanut oil or olive oil) may negatively impact the banana bread taste.
• 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.
• After measuring the packed brown sugar in a measuring cup, I like to use a fork to break up any small lumps in a separate bowl before adding to main mixing bowl.
• I like adding light brown sugar to this recipe because it adds a slightly richer flavor and a little more moistness (when compared to regular granulated white sugar). However, you can replace the brown sugar with granulated white sugar if you don’t have brown sugar or dislike the flavor of baked goods made with brown sugar.
• This recipe takes 60-65 minutes to bake versus the 65-70 minutes for most of Bread Dad’s other banana bread recipes. For some reason, the extra Greek yogurt seems to make things bake quicker than expected. Not sure of the science behind this!

• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. 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.
• Optional – If you want to “enhance” this yogurt banana bread recipe, you can add 1 cup of your family’s favorite dessert ingredient (i.e. chocolate chips or chopped walnuts) after you have completely mixed all of the other ingredients.
• 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.
• Please visit our banana bread glaze page if you would like to learn how to add a vanilla or chocolate glaze to your banana bread.

• 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.
• 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.

• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 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.
• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked. Use a portable oven thermometer to check the interior oven temperature.
• Since this recipe uses baking soda, this banana bread should be placed in the oven as soon as the batter has been mixed & poured into the bread pan. Baking soda activates quickly and if the batter sits around for a while before the bread pan is put in the oven, the quick bread might have problems rising properly (as some or most of the gas will have been released before the baking has commenced).

• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. 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 (i.e. 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 (i.e. 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.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Beginning bakers learn a lot from your baking comments, tips & recipe variations. Jump to comment section

More Bread Dad Recipes

• Bread Machine Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Banana Bread Recipe
• Quick Bread Recipes – Pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, etc.
• Cookie Recipes

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Banana
• Wikipedia, Banana Bread
• Wikipedia, Greek Yogurt
• Wikipedia, Yogurt

Your fantastic comments motivate us to write more easy & delicious recipes. Also beginning bakers learn a ton from your helpful suggestions, tips and amazing recipe variations.

Related Recipes

• Greek Yogurt Bread – Sandwich bread
• No Butter Banana Bread
• No Egg Banana Bread
• 2 Banana Bread – Banana bread made with only 2 bananas
• Vegan Banana Bread
• Walnut Banana Bread

Please leave a comment & recipe rating in the comment box below. Thanks!