Healthy Skillet Banana Bread

The following recipe and photography is courtesy of Graham R. and his dog, Carl. For more of their delicious food ventures, visit them on Instagram @cookingwithcarrrl.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it was how to make banana bread! A year or so ago, everyone and their mother became banana bread experts and shared their baked beauties online. It was fun, but the only problem I noticed was that every recipe was loaded with butter and sugar, you know, the good stuff!

This Skillet Banana Bread starts to correct some of those unhealthy woes by using coconut oil and organic coconut sugar in place of butter and processed sugar. I picked up a bag of Madhava coconut sugar from Heinen’s and have been in love ever since. It is a great 1-to-1 replacement for your average sugar. Oh, and I can’t forget the flour! For this recipe, I ditched regular flour for gluten free flour and couldn’t even taste the difference in the end. Look at me being healthy, watch out 2022!

Bananas can seem ripe one minute and then turn at a moment’s notice. One tip I have is to freeze bad bananas. The ones I used in this recipe were frozen for two months before I thawed and baked them into this tasty treat! If you do not have bananas that are ready for baking, toss them in the oven for a few minutes at 350˚F. This will bring out the sweetness that is found in an overripe banana.

I’m no Martha, but you could bake these in small 6-inch cast iron skillets and give them out as gifts, too. You could even pair this with, I don’t know, my Sweet & Smokey Snack Mix! Now that’s a crafty gift full of love.

Let’s go bananas!