Rhubarb Banana Bread and How to Ripen Bananas in the Oven
*The photos for this Rhubarb Banana Bread were updated on 5/25/16.*
You will never miss the oil or refined sugar in this delicious whole wheat bread recipe. The rhubarb adds a nice tart flavor; while the banana balances out the tart with a lovely sweetness.
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Have you guys tried rhubarb? Before making this bread, I had never eaten the widely popular and really unique fruit vegetable. That’s right… rhubarb is actually a vegetable and surprisingly, a relative of buckwheat. To learn all about the health benefits of rhubarb, click here. When I started seeing the deep pink celery-like stalks turning up at the grocery store, I knew I had to find out what all the rage was about. After baking, you can see in the pictures that the rhubarb turns yellow and softens nicely.
I googled “healthy rhubarb recipes” and also searched the rhubarb recipes on Foodgawker. I didn’t come across any rhubarb/banana recipes with my search. You know how much I love banana, plus it’s a natural sweetener (when ripe), so I thought this would be the perfect place to start. Unfortunately, my bananas were quite yellow and didn’t have any of those lovely brown spots us bakers like to see.
Not too long ago on some blog, (I don’t remember which one) I came across instructions for ripening bananas in the oven. This was so easy and worked like a charm. I put my two bananas (peel on), needed for this recipe, in the oven at 300 degrees F. for about 40 minutes and until soft and VERY brown. After my bananas had cooled slightly, I cut off one end of the peel and squeezed the banana out of the peel and into a bowl. They were very juicy and I just added all banana and juice to this recipe… I figured it would only add to the moistness of the bread.
Whoever says you can’t create a healthy whole wheat bread with no oil or refined sugar that tastes incredible… clearly does not know what they’re talking about. I AM IN LOVE with this bread!!!!! I was a little anxious about that taking that first bite because I typically add a little oil and sometimes sugar to my bread and I just didn’t know if this recipe would be all that tasty. With the sweetness and moisture from the extra ripe bananas and slight tartness from the rhubarb; this recipe was a winner in a major way.
Rhubarb Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour would probably work great too
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon all spice
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed, ripe banana, about 2 medium bananas
- 1/3 cup honey, I use raw local honey (brown sugar or maple syrup would probably work well too)
- 1 cup finely chopped rhubarb, about 1 large stalk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare an 8x4" loaf pan* with a natural cooking spray.
- Whisk all dry ingredients, flour through all spice, in a medium bowl and set aside.
- *Use a stand or hand-held mixer to beat eggs on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Mix in vanilla, banana and honey until combined.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Gently fold in rhubarb. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until loaf is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool bread in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen sides with a knife and remove from pan.
Notes
- An 8x4" loaf pan is slightly smaller than the typical 9x5" loaf pan.
- Alternatively, this recipe could be used to make muffins. I'm not sure how many it would make and cook time should be shortened to about 20-25 minutes.
- Alternatively, you can beat and mix by hand. However, I find it easier to use my stand mixer.
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Nutrition Facts 12 Servings
Calories-100.5 Total Fat-o.3 g Cholesterol-0.0 mg
Sodium-1.0 mg Potassium-104.1 mg Total Carbohydrate-23.4 g
Dietary Fiber-2.7 g Sugars-9.4 g Protein-1.8
Something to think about…
Have you ever tried rhubarb? If so, how was it prepared? Are you a fan?
Have you ever tried ripening a banana in the oven? This would be great for smoothies… ripen the banana and then freeze it. Just be sure to peel it before freezing it.
What’s the last kind of bread you baked?
Have an awesome Thursday!
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Made this recipe today (made muffins = yield 12 large)
This recipe is not overly sweet (I used maple syrup)
Delicious with a little pat of butter!
So happy to hear you enjoyed! And thanks so much for taking time to leave feedback!
I followed the directions but the eggs were not included with the wet ingredients. As a result I forgot to put the eggs in. Turned out ok but when I went back to the ingredients I saw the eggs. WIll have to try again. Maybe you can correct that little omission or maybe you already did. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so sorry that you miss read, but if you’ll notice step 3 – “***Use a stand or hand-held mixer to beat eggs on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Mix in vanilla, banana and honey until combined.” Hope you get a chance to give this recipe another try!
Looking forward to trying this recipe – good not to have to cook the rhubarb first! My mom used to make stewed rhubarb – in a pressure cooker. I believe a fair amount of sugar was involved to cut the tartness of the rhubard. One time when she was making it, the little knob on the top of the pressure cooker blew off, and all the rhubarb blew out like a volcano through the little hole in the top! It was pretty violent actually. All the rhubarb stuck in strands to the ceiling in the kitchen, and my dad had to scrape it off! True story… 🙂
I’m going to pre-rate the recipe, because it’s just what I was looking for – thank you!
Oh my goodness! That’s quite a story! I hope you enjoy the bread!
This is JUST what I was looking for, I have over ripe bananas on the counter and just harvested my rhubarb. I’m assuming that I could probably do muffins instead? Easier portion control and much easier to send along with my husband for work!
Hope you enjoy! Let me know how the muffins turned out, if you decide to try them.
Hi Kim,
You rhubarb banana bread is now ik my oven! Do you have an instagram account? So I can mention you when posting it!
Looks delicious!
Awesome! Hope you love it! You can find me @KimsCravings. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! I have a armful of rhubarb from my neighbours garden and a freezer stacked with ripe frozen banana and thought I must be able to combine them. This was just the avenue I was looking for. Increased the flour, banana rhubarb and Maple syrup by 1/2 cup so that I could make 2 loafs! Smells delicious, can’t wait for it to cool!!
Hope you liked it! And lucky you with all of the garden rhubarb!
I used white flour instead of wheat, and white sugar instead of honey. I also added half a cup of sour cream and a 1/4 cup of butter to this and it turned out absolutely AMAZING! (I know it defeats the purpose of it being somewhat healthy, but just a tip for anyone else who wants to try)
Either way, sounds delish! Thanks for sharing your adaptations!
I used to eat rhubarb by itself fresh from my grandma’s garden! I love the stuff! I usually enjoy it in some strawberry-rhubarb combo but I’m excited to try this banana-rhubarb combo! 🙂
It’s a wonderful combo. Hope you get a chance to give it a try!
It was delicious! The banana made it nice an moist, while the maple syrup was just enough to match the sourness of the rhubarb! Will definitely make more while the rhubarb is in season! Thanks!
Thank you for this excellent recipe. Tasted great – even my husband, who doesn’t usually like rhubarb, enjoyed it. I often find that low-fat banana bread recipes do not turn out very well, but the added moisture from the rhubarb really seemed to make a difference.
Thanks so much for your comment! I’m so glad you loved the bread as much as I do!
Thanks Kim for this amazing bread. I grow my own rhubarb. This totally was a hit in my house! Healthy turns out amazing! Thanks again for posting!!
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m so glad that your family loved the bread as much as I do! 🙂
This recipe looks awesome, and it’s rhubarb season at our house! However, your sodium content looks far too low, for a recipe with that amount of salt. I’m not saying the salt is bad, just that the # looks wrong. Protein might be too low too, given the amount of protein that went in.
Thanks, Matt! You might be right about the nutritional information. I’m not sure… I used spark.com to calculate the nutritional info.
I LOVE rhubarb and I never would have thought to put it in banana bread! Thanks for the great recipes and ideas, they are all great!
I just adjusted my banana bread recepe and added rhubarb, and I also add bran. Swiched it up a bit this time. I went on google and looked up banana / rhubarb bread and this is what I found so I incorpotated it into my banana bread one. I can hardly wait to try it.
Brenda
I hope you enjoyed!
I honestly do not think that I have ever tried rhubarb, which is embarassing to me! I need to change that ASAP, especially since I have been seeing TONS of recipes using it lately.
OMG I love that banana tup! I’ve never heard that before!
This looks amazing! I love banana bread and I love rhubarb – so this is the perfect amalgamation!