Delicious and super moist Sweet Potato Banana Bread is made with a whole sweet potato, whole wheat and all-purpose flour, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. Studded with dark chocolate chips, this hidden veggie banana bread will surely become a new family favorite!
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Hidden veggie baked goods recipes that actually taste good are my favorite! If you have kids who only like 2-3 kinds of vegetables, you will surely understand. Sneaking in some nutritious sweet potato into this amazingly delicious banana bread was a triumphant mom win for me!
Not only is this bread super tasty but it’s also delightfully moist without using copious amounts of butter, all thanks to the humble pureed sweet potato. If you’ve ever made healthy banana bread using applesauce in place of fat and felt underwhelmed, I encourage you to ditch the applesauce trick and make this sweet potato banana bread instead! It’s a true game changer in the department of healtifying comfort baked goods!
If you like the idea of baking with sweet potato, make sure to also check out my Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins. I love making these muffins in the fall!
For another great banana bread recipe, make sure to also check out my Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread.
Why you'll love this recipe
- This banana bread is soft, moist and not too sweet
- It’s easy to make and adapt to your preferences (see Variations & Substitutions below for ideas)
- It is packed with fruit and vegetables – perfect for picky eaters
- Naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and pure maple syrup – no refined sugar
- This recipe is low fat and high fiber
- A great way to use up leftover cooked sweet potato and brown, overripe bananas
- Perfect for a healthy breakfast, snack or dessert
- Kid-approved recipe
- Try these 2-Banana Muffin Recipe for another overripe banana baking idea.
Ingredient notes
- Bananas: the riper, the better! Brown spots on the skin or straight up brown skin is ok – overripe brown bananas are the sweetest and best for making banana bread.
- Sweet Potato: use a medium large sweet potato that makes about a cup when mashed. You will need to cook and cool the potato ahead of time. I usually cook it wrapped in a moist paper towel in the microwave because it only takes a couple minutes. You can also use baked or air fried potato in this recipe.
- Eggs: my favorite eggs are from a local farm or from Vital Farms (available in most grocery stores)
- Maple Syrup: use pure natural maple syrup. Mine is always from Maine.
- Butter: I like butter best in banana bread but if you want to make it dairy free swap it for melted and cooled coconut oil, avocado oil or even applesauce.
- All-Purpose Flour: I like King Arthur’s.
- White Whole Wheat Flour: unlike “regular” whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour has a more neutral flavor (less earthy) but it’s still whole grain.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: to help the bread rise.
- Vanilla: use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Ground Cinnamon: I always add some to my banana bread.
- Salt: to help balance out the flavors. I like to use fine sea salt in baked good.
- Dark Chocolate Chips (optional): it’s up to you if you want to add them but I highly recommend these stevia sweetened Dark Chocolate Baking Chips if you do.
How to make Banana Sweet Potato Bread
Step 1: Whisk together all dry ingredients in a medium bowl: both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
Step 2: Mash sweet potato. Just cut in in half lengthwise, scoop the flesh out into a bowl, discard the peels and mash it until mostly smooth. I use a potato masher and it does a really good job! You can also puree the potato in the food processor or a mini chopper.
Step 3: Add bananas to the same bowl and mash them with the potatoes.
Note: cooked sweet potato is firmer than overripe bananas which is why I recommend mashing it first. That way you will avoid any visible potato lumps in your bread.
Step 4: Add all wet ingredients: eggs, maple syrup, vanilla and melted butter. Mix everything together until smooth. At this stage I still use my potato masher but feel free to switch to a spoon or spatula.
Step 5: Stir in dry ingredients that you whisked together earlier with a silicone spatula. Make sure no dry ingredients are visible but don’t overmix the batter.
Step 6: Add chocolate chips (if using) and fold them into the batter.
Step 7: Transfer the batter into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out dry.
Step 8: Let the hot bread rest on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Step 9: Serve slightly warm or at room temperature and enjoy!
Serving suggestions
Serve Sweet Potato Banana Bread thickly sliced either on its own or smeared with butter or nut butter. A side of berries goes really well with it, too! My favorite way to enjoy it is warmed up (20-30 seconds in the microwave) with a thick layer of almond butter and blueberries on top. Yum!
Try a glass of this amazing healthy homemade Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte with it!
Storage and freezing tips
When it's fresh out of the oven, leave this banana bread on your counter unwrapped for a few hours. Note: it will be difficult not to come up and cut a slice every 15 minutes. Once completely cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Banana bread is also great for freezing. Freeze whole bread (wrapped) or wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and place in a zip lock bag or an airtight container. Place in the freezer and store for up to 3 months. Thaw to room temperature before enjoying.
Tips and tricks for success
- Use brown bananas
- All ingredients should be room temperature
- Don’t overmix the batter
- Use parchment paper
- Let the bread cool down
Substitutions and variations
Most baking recipes require precision but I find that banana bread recipes are usually more forgiving as long as you maintain the correct wet to dry ingredients ratio. There are so many ways you can make this banana bread your own!
- Make it 100% whole grain by using all white whole wheat flour or a combo of white whole wheat flour and oat flour. The texture will be a bit heavier but it will still taste great!
- Use pumpkin or butternut squash puree instead of sweet potato for another great fall banana bread variation. Canned puree will work great.
- Mix in some chopped walnuts or pecans if you like nuts in your banana bread.
- Make it dairy free by swapping melted coconut oil or avocado oil for butter.
- Use applesauce in place of butter or oil if you want to make this banana bread low fat.
- Sweeten your banana bread with coconut sugar or brown sugar if you don’t have maple syrup.
- Turn this bread into muffins – they will bake faster than bread so start doing the toothpick test after 25 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
I cook mine in the microwave because it's the fastest but you can also bake, boil, steam or air fry it. To bake, pierce your sweet potato with a fork, place on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit flipping once. Steaming a whole sweet potato takes about 30 minutes, while boiling peeled and cut up potato will take about 15 minutes (drain well before pureeing!). The microwave method only takes 5-7 minutes at 100% power (depending on the type of microwave).
Not at all!
Yes, absolutely! If you have any frozen bananas in your freezer, just thaw them completely, mash and use in this recipe. Both peeled and unpeeled frozen bananas will work (just thaw and remove the peel, if you froze your bananas with peel on).
This recipe is part of my 20 Healthy Banana Breakfast Ideas roundup.
More healthy recipes using bananas and oats
- Healthy Banana Oat Bread
- Peanut Butter Chocolate TikTok Baked Oats
- Banana Carrot Oat Muffins
- Banana Strawberry Oat Muffins
- Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins {with Almond Flour}
- Healthy Banana Nutella Oatmeal Cookies
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Recipe
Sweet Potato Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 medium overripe bananas
- 1 medium sweet potato cooked and cooled to room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together both flours, baking soda and baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Cut cooked and cooled sweet potato in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a separate large bowl. Mash with a potato masher or a fork until pureed. You can also use a food processor or a mini chopper, if you prefer.
- Place bananas to the same bowl and mash them into the sweet potatoes.
- Add eggs, maple syrup, melted butter (or coconut oil) and vanilla. Mix everything together until smooth.
- Mix in dry ingredients with a spatula until incorporated and no white flour is visible. Don’t overmix the batter.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Decorate the top with more chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake on center rack for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Place the pan on a cooling rack and let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
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Meet the Author
Hi, I'm Agnieszka. I'm a mom of three and recipe developer, writer and photographer behind Wholly Tasteful. I love creating comforting, delicious, family-friendly recipes that you can feel good about.
Nancy says
This is great. Just so happens I have lots of bananas and i made this tasty recipe
Angela says
Great flavor and so moist.
Alexandra says
This is the perfect bread to bake over the weekend and enjoy with a good cup of coffee 🙂
Emily says
This was so good, we really loved the moist texture and flavors. The kids loved it - they're getting this in their lunchboxes!
Evi says
Never had banana bread with sweet potato! This is a game changer.
Mary says
Wow, this was super moist and had all the flavor one could ask for. Love the sweet potato addition!
Amy Liu Dong says
This banana bread recipe is delicious. I am so excited to make this for everyone again!
megane says
Such a great combination in a bread recipe.
Kristina says
This was a great alternative to regular banana bread.
Andrea says
this sweet potato bread turned out so good! the kitchen smelled amazing!
Nancy says
Wow what a brilliant new way to make banana bread. I love banana bread and sweet potatoes and now can have them together.
Boguslawa says
Easy recipe. My whole family loved it.