Healthy Banana Brownies

These Healthy Banana Brownies are rich, fudgy and chocolatey with a light banana flavour, like banana bread and a brownie rolled into one. They’re made in one bowl and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.

Note From My Kitchen

It seems inevitable to have a few bananas going brown on my counter, and while I love turning them into Cottage Cheese Banana Muffins or Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars sometimes I just want chocolate. These Healthy Banana Brownies are my favourite way to use up overripe bananas when a brownie craving hits.

These brownies are mostly chocolatey with a light banana flavour, like a cross between my Oat Flour Banana Muffins and my No Bake Chocolate Brownies.

I tested a few different batches of these brownies to get the texture right, including a batch with baking powder and a batch without. Leaving it out made all the difference. Without it, these banana brownies bake up dense and fudgy instead of cakey, which is exactly what I want from a brownie!

Key Ingredients

• Bananas: Use very overripe bananas with lots of brown spots. They’re much sweeter, mash easily and give the brownies most of their natural sweetness. If you have extra overripe bananas also make my Almond Flour Banana Muffins, and save any fresh ones for my High Protein Banana Pudding!
• Natural peanut butter: Adds richness and helps keep the brownies fudgy. Use a runny, drippy natural peanut butter or crunchy if you like some texture. Almond butter or cashew butter like I use in this Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough work as a swap.
• Flour: Use either all-purpose flour or oat flour. All-purpose flour gives the brownies a softer texture, while oat flour is great if you want them gluten-free or with more whole grains.
• Maple syrup: I tested these with both 1/3 cup and 1/2 cup of maple syrup. Because of all the cocoa powder, 1/3 cup wasn’t quite sweet enough, so 1/2 cup is the sweet spot.

How To Make Healthy Banana Brownies

*This is a recipe overview. The full recipe with measurements and instructions can be found below in the recipe card.

Step 1: Mash the bananas in a large bowl, then add the peanut butter, maple syrup, egg and vanilla.

Step 2: Whisk together until smooth.

Step 3: Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt to the same bowl.

Step 4: Stir until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Step 5: Add the batter to an 8×8 inch baking pan.

Step 6: Bake for 20 to 24 minutes at 350°F until the edges are set.

Step 7: Let cool in the pan, then cut into brownies.

Frequently Asked Questions