The Sugar Substitute That Elevates Banana Bread

What better way to use that bunch of brown bananas you forgot about in the back of the pantry than by turning them into a warm loaf of banana bread? A basic banana bread recipe calls for the classic, core ingredients of the baking world — flour, eggs, butter, oil, and sugar — as well as baking soda, salt, and other optional ingredients. While you can customize your banana bread by adding in things like dried fruit, chocolate chips, or walnuts, it's possible to switch up the main ingredients as well. 

If you're out of sugar or just want to cut back on sweetness, try substituting in some applesauce. Sweetened applesauce has both natural and added sugars (Mott's Original, for example, has 25 grams in ½ cup), which gives your banana bread the sweetness it needs, all while adding an apple flavor that harmonizes beautifully with the banana. Not only that, but applesauce provides moisture to the bread and allows it to stay moist for longer (although storing banana bread properly affects moisture, too). Remember that baking can be a precise science, so any substitution should take into account the proper proportions for new ingredients. For every 1 cup of sugar, sub in ¾ cup of applesauce, and because applesauce adds moisture, consider reducing other liquid ingredients if the mix becomes too wet.

Adding applesauce isn't the only method to cut sugar from your banana bread recipe. In fact, there are several sugar substitutes that can elevate your banana bread. Honey and maple syrup are two of the more popular options when you don't want to use sugar in baking, and they work just as well in banana bread. Just remember to use less in order to avoid overly sweetening your bread (¾ cup of honey or maple syrup for every cup of sugar).

If you want to keep to the fruit theme, you can use other fruit purees to sweeten and add flavor to your banana bread. Store-bought fruit purees sometimes have added sugar in them, so if you want to keep the recipe sugar free (not including natural sugars), you can make your own fruit puree at home. Fruits that pair particularly well with bananas and have natural sweetness include strawberries, apricots, and mangos. But don't forget, banana bread is called bread for a reason, so it's completely fine to bake it without any sugar, too.