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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread, 2.0

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This is not the kind of bread you measure.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

This is the kind of bread where you really feel like some oats, and you have some ripe bananas calling your name from the fruit bowl, and well, peanut butter would be really great with those and hey, chocolate chips: why not.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

This is a bread to work by feel, mostly. If you measure, you’ll probably mess it up. It’s a fine balance of eyeballing flour, deciding on baking powder, and making a fine smash of yogurt and bananas.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

(And okay, you do kind of measure everything and write it down, but you do it like it’s a secret from yourself. Because everything always turns out more delicious when you don’t really measure.)

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

This is the kind of bread that is born from the realization that your recipe archives contains only one peanut butter oatmeal banana bread and taking action. We’re problem-solvers.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Let’s be real: this is a flexible, just-happy-to-be-here kind of loaf where you could swap the egg for a flax egg and yogurt for almond milk and whole wheat flour for more oat flour and it’ll satisfy most everyone’s eating needs. But it’s also the kind of loaf you can whip up spontaneously from items just waiting in your pantry.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Either way, it’s going to end up in someone’s stomach, and they’re going to be happy.

My previous oatmeal peanut butter banana bread was CRAZY OATY! Crazy! More bread-y than quickbread. This bread is more along the lines of what I usually make: more cakey. I’m (obviously) more often in the mood for this loaf.

Make it your own–if you don’t have plain yogurt, use milk and a little vinegar to activate the baking soda.  Hate peanut butter? Try another nut butter or just use oil. Don’t like bananas? Try mashed sweet potato, zucchini, squash, or grated carrot. Vegan? Use a tablespoon of flax or chia seeds instead of the egg, and use soy yogurt or non-dairy milk. Gluten-free?  Use gluten-free oats and use a non-gluten flour (although the loaf may not rise as high). Easy peasy!

Tip: If you’ve ever tossed dying bananas straight into the freezer without peeling, cutting, and storing out of sheer laziness (eek, guilty) or lack of time, now is the time to whip them out. If you forget to take them out in time to defrost before you need to mash them, place on a plate and microwave for 10-15 second intervals to quickly defrost.

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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Bread, 2.0

Summary: This loaf balances a hefty amount of oat flour and a nice chew from a handful of rolled oats. Soft and sweetly scented from the banana, yogurt, and peanut butter, this is a loaf to eat for breakfast, dessert, and snacking all day in between.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 12 slices
Calories 146kcal

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup oat flour I ground a scant cup of rolled oats in my food processor
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • ¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 2 large bananas mashed (VERY RIPE. Freezer-black is best.)
  • ¼ cup yogurt any kind
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup of granulated sugar or 3.5 tablespoons honey or other liquid sweetener.
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan.
  • Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl or glass measuring cup, mash the bananas. Add the yogurt, peanut butter, oil, sugar, egg and vanilla; whisk to combine. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, scraping the sides. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Top should be browned and spring back slightly when done.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • erika

      Hi Kim–I’m sorry for the extremely delayed reply! My comment system has been glitchy for the past few months! I’ve used a couple different sized pans, but all generally around the standard 8.5″ x 4.5″ size. Again, so sorry for the EXTREMELY late response, but hope that helps!

  3. Juvenal

    Hi Erika,

    Thanks for this lovely recipe. I’ve adopted a clean eating lifestyle and I’m glad you have recipes that are both healthy, delicious and easy to follow! I did some simple modifications such as omitting the peanut butter (as I’ve none on hand now 🙁 ) and cutting back the honey to 1.5 tbsp! I love the slight crusty feeling that the oats provided, and the moist provided by the yogurt.

    My family gave a thumbs-up for this bread so thank you for making my first ever bread-making experience such a successful and lovely one! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes 🙂

    xx

    • erika

      Juvenal, thanks so much for letting me know!! Your lovely feedback is very much appreciated–I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

  4. Lianna

    uh, yea I don’t think I’m quite at that level of kitchen baking skill where I can just throw a few ingredients here and there and turn out with a magical looking perfect oatmeal peanut butter banana bread, what?! thank goodness you took notes along the way so that the rest of us have some hope at replicating your perfection! haha

  5. Lilly Sue

    Now, this is my kind of bread! I love all the ingredients 🙂 I am the same about measuring which is a bad thing when you are trying to post recipes!! I am so much more of a add a little more of this, a dash of this and it’s good! Thanks Erika!

  6. Nancy @ gottagetbaked

    Girl, “sheer laziness” is my middle name so you can just imagine my freezer with its jumble of black frozen bananas still in their peels. At least I’ve always got ripe bananas around to make this amazing loaf. I can’t believe you just eye balled it all and it turned out so perfectly. If I did that, it’d probably look like something my dog coughed up. This proves once again that you have magic in the kitchen.

    • erika

      Haha oh Nancy. Whatevs! Wanna trade freezers? I’m running low on my freezer bananas 😉 You are silly. But your dog is ADORABLE!!! Omg all those photos on IG…I die.

  9. Brandi

    Such a beautiful loaf Erika! I love that you added peanut butter…I’m IN LOVE with peanut butter and eat it daily! I only wish I liked bananas….I really really do. 🙁 I hate that I don’t!! I’m with you too on the guessing on measurements…I actually HATE measuring and eyeball my recipes, but HAVE to measure for my blog…it takes so much time. Some of my best creations have been mostly eyeballing, and then I have to go back and try to recreate it, lol!

    • erika

      Brandi–me too! Haha peanut butter on a banana was my breakfast for nearly 2 years straight! (So sad you don’t like bananas!) And lol isn’t measuring the worst?? I feel like kind of feeling your way along a recipe is the best way to do it, baking or cooking!

      Also, health question for you: do you ever have any concerns about peanut butter? Actually, I’m betting you buy organic where this wouldn’t be an issue, but I read somewhere that someone had concerns about eating peanut butter because there’s a higher chance of peanuts growing mold so they’re more like to have pesticides or something?! Do you know anything about this?

      • Brandi

        I’ve heard the same issues about peanuts but you are right, I buy Santa Cruz organic creamy peanut butter and keep it in the fridge. Buying organic is better because peanuts are I believe the worst pesticide sprayed nuts. No problems whatsoever though with Santa Cruz. It is so amazingly delicious too…I’m a little obsessed! 🙂 Iget it at Kroger. Also, cashews and walnuts and macadamias can do that too…..pretty much any nut with high oil content…so I store all my nuts and flours in the fridge to maintain their freshness.

  12. Kym

    I have yet to master the art of eyeballing and experimenting cus i’m not familiar with the ratios yet… I just started baking like… a month ago. Haha! This looks delicious though! My husband loves banana bread and I have almost everything in your ingredient list! Will have to try!! 😀

    P.S – not sure if you get notification for the response to the comment you wrote on my story page, but here it is again just in case! “I know! It’s amazing how many asians are so skinny considering our diet… not just the amount we eat, but what’s in our food too! Lifting weights has tons of benefits if done correctly. If you’re starting out, finding a good program will help with giving you direction and structure so you’re not just aimlessly lifting weights, wondering if you’re doing it right, or if it’s the right kinda weight, etc. I got into it when someone suggested i check out a program called “starting strength” which helps you start from the bottom and get stronger and stronger. Paired with a good diet, this is what has given me the most results! At the end of the day though, do what you love to do that way you’ll keep doing it! 🙂 As for Fitocracy, it’s like the Facebook of fitness. It’s addicting especially if you like gaming and “leveling up” as you get points for each work out and move up to different levels!! :D”

    • erika

      Aww thanks for the awesome response comment! I will definitely have to check starting strength out. And Fitocracy sounds awesome!

      That is super cool that you just started baking! I almost can’t imagine what it was like before this near-constant stream of baking…let me know how your baking adventures go–I’d love to hear about them! 🙂

  13. Leah

    Yummm, who doesn’t love a good banana bread?! Especially with peanut butter! This sounds delish but I have to admit, I’m a little intimidated by baking without measuring. If I’m cooking a meal, I’m fine with making it up as I go but baking, not so much haha. Love that you gave SO many substitution options!

    • erika

      Thanks Leah! I know, I think it’s actually kind of bad that I’m so free with not measuring when I bake. It makes it really hard to recreate and all bakers are totally precision, precision precision! Oh well…I’m learning to embrace it and the fact that I will probably never be a professional baker. Hah.

    • erika

      Haha Natasha, you’re exactly like my mom and sister! I always thought it was kind of weird because aren’t they still a little sour then? I used to like them when they get a tiny bit speckled and soft (probably super gross to you) and they would always eat all the bananas before they got to that stage! Now that I like them slightly more yellow, life is better 🙂

  15. Julia

    I love baking by sight and taste. I didn’t do much measuring until I started blogging and I do much more measuring now than before. This way I can make sure I get consistent results but not confining myself to a recipe can definitely be liberating. LOVE this bread…peanut butter…banana…..yum!

    • erika

      I’m totally with you on that. I’ve had some recipes turn out fantastically that I didn’t measure and the re-creating process doesn’t always go well, so frustrating! But yes, the peanut butter banana combo is one of my faves too! Ooh, I’m excited to check out your GF banana bread!

      • erika

        LOLL Alex how did we find each other’s blogs? I’m so glad you and your comments are in my life. And I put a banana in the freezer without peeling too and regretted it until I realized I could just defrost it and use it! The banana sludge that you have to unpeel is unappealing, I’ll admit, but they’re sooooo sweet!