Banana Blueberry Oat Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.Whenever I need to use up ripe bananas and blueberries, this banana blueberry oat bread is the first thing that comes to mind. I use rolled oats, fresh blueberries, and naturally sweet bananas to create a loaf that is soft, sweet, and satisfying. It bakes up golden with a tender crumb, and works perfectly for breakfast, snack time, or as a simple afternoon treat.
Unlike coffee shop-style loaf cakes, this blueberry banana oat bread does not lean heavily on sugar and refined flour. I made sure to use more wholesome ingredients that still deliver flavor and a familiar texture, similar to my vegan pumpkin banana bread. If you enjoy lighter baked goods, then these loaves are definitely worth trying.
A few years ago, I noticed how frequently I was making my healthy chocolate chip banana bread, and knew it was time for some innovation. Instead of chocolate chips, I decided to include my kids’ other favorite filling and used oats to lower the glycemic index, making it a great lunchbox filler. Pretty soon, I was making this nearly as much as the chocolate chip version, and had to remind my kids that there were other flavors that needed to be explored. Ha!
👩🏽🍳 Why I Love This Recipe
Each time I slice into this blueberry banana oat bread, I am always impressed by how soft and moist the crumb stays, without it seeming cloying. I use overripe bananas to reduce the need for excessive amounts of sugar, while the blueberries add bursts of tart flavor, undercutting the natural sweetness of the other ingredients. As a nutritionist, I love that the oats and whole grains provide fiber, making this bread filling, with less worry of a sugar crash later on.
Getting the texture right with oat-based breads can be tricky, but I made sure to keep the method for this recipe simple and balanced. I mix the batter until just combined, then gently fold in the blueberries, making sure not to crush them. Baking the loaf at a steady temperature allows the center to cook through, while the edges stay soft. I never skip resting the baked loaf, as this gives me the cleanest slices and keeps everything perfectly intact.
A few years ago, my family and I arrived home late and severely jet-lagged after a long day of traveling, and went to bed almost immediately. For some reason, I could not sleep in as late as my husband and kids and decided to go on a quick grocery run. There were a few overripe bananas in the produce section, and I knew then what I was making for breakfast. My family probably could have done with a few more hours of sleep, but the smell of this loaf baking in the oven summoned everyone into the kitchen in their zombie-like states. If you ever need to get someone out of bed, bake this banana blueberry oat bread, and allow the smell to waft through the house. It is better than an alarm clock.
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🥘 Ingredients
For this banana blueberry oat bread, I use a combination of pantry staples and fresh ingredients to create a soft, flavorful loaf. This is what I use:
Whole wheat pastry flour: This is what I use for a light, nutty flavor, without making the bread dense.
Rolled oats: I like using old-fashioned oats for a better structure.
Ripe bananas: These add natural sweetness and moisture.
Blueberries: I use either fresh or frozen to create jammy pockets throughout the loaf.
Eggs: These help bind everything together and help the loaf keep its shape as it bakes.
Olive oil: A small amount keeps the crumb soft without weighing it down.
Brown sugar: I use just enough to enhance the natural sweetness from the bananas.
Buttermilk: This adds moisture and a slight tang, while also reacting with leavening agents to help the loaf rise.
Leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda keep the texture light by giving the loaf a rise.
Cinnamon and salt: I add these seasonings to round out the flavor and add a touch of warmth.
🔪 How To Make
This banana blueberry oat bread comes together easily, with these steps:
Prepare oven and pan: To start, I preheat the oven to 375F, then lightly grease and flour a loaf pan.
Mix wet ingredients: Then, in a large bowl, I whisk together the mashed bananas, eggs, oil, buttermilk, and sugar until combined.
Combine dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, I mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, until everything is well distributed.
Bring batter together: At this point, I add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir gently until just combined. After that, I carefully fold in the blueberries, making sure to keep them intact.
Bake: I pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool: Once it is done baking, I let the banana bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
💭 Expert Tips
My #1 Secret Tip for this banana blueberry oat bread recipe is to let the batter rest for 5 minutes before baking. This gives the oats time to absorb moisture, which helps create an even and tender crumb.
Other Tips To Keep In Mind:
- Leave some texture: I like leaving a few small lumps in the mashed banana for a texture that works well with the whole blueberries.
- Top with oats: If I want a slightly crispier, more golden top, I scatter a small handful of rolled oats over the batter just before it goes into the oven.
- Use foil tent: When the top of the loaf starts looking too brown, and the inside is not yet fully cooked, I cover it loosely with a piece of foil.
- Do not thaw: If I am using frozen blueberries, I add them straight from the freezer and fold them in quickly to prevent excess liquid from mixing into the batter.
- Room temperature ingredients: I take my cold ingredients out of the fridge 20-30 minutes before I begin. This makes a huge difference to the way the batter forms.
📖 Variations
These are 3 variations of this banana blueberry oat bread, which have received the most compliments:
Lemon blueberry loaf: During warmer months, I add 1 teaspoon lemon zest and replace 2 tablespoons of buttermilk with lemon juice. These citrus additions lift the flavor and make the blueberries stand out. My husband loves this, especially with a light lemon glaze on top.
Nutty crunch version: When I want extra texture, I fold in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts and sprinkle a handful on top before baking. I care not to add more than this, as it can make the loaf slightly heavy. This is a great version for breakfast and pairs well with natural nut butters.
Lower sugar version: For everyday snacking, I reduce the brown sugar by half, and let the sweetness of the bananas do all the work. It is less like a dessert but still satisfying. Even my kids enjoy this one.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
If you are planning on making this banana blueberry oat bread as part of a breakfast spread, I recommend serving it with other foods that make a complete and cohesive meal. For some added protein, you could try it with a mango protein smoothie, which complements the fruit flavors. Or you could toast the slices of oat bread slightly, and spread some vegan cream cheese over the top with a drizzle of vegan honey.
My kids like turning this banana blueberry oat bread into a dessert, and on weekends, I let them. So far, their favorite creation consisted of 2 slices of oat bread, with a layer of white chocolate hazelnut spread in the middle, and a few pieces of caramelized banana. They were tempted to drizzle over some of my healthy vegan chocolate sauce, but thank goodness they chose not to.
🧊 Storing And ♨️ Reheating
Room temperature or refrigerator: I store the bread in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Freezing: Once cooled, I slice the loaf and wrap each piece individually, before freezing for up to 2 months.
Reheating: I reheat slices in the oven or microwave briefly until warmed through.
❓ Recipe FAQs
What can I use if I do not have buttermilk?
I use the buttermilk to help react with the raising agents, and to keep the bread moist throughout the 1-hour-long bake without drying out. But if I do not have any, I make a quick substitute at home. I add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup, then fill it to the 1 cup mark with regular or plant-based milk. Then I stir it, and let it sit for 3-5 minutes until thickened and slightly curdled. You could also use plain yogurt thinned out with a splash of milk.
How do I keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the loaf?
For me, the most reliable fix is to spoon 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan before adding blueberries. I fold the blueberries into the remaining batter and pour that on top of the plain batter. If I am using frozen blueberries, I toss them in a tablespoon of flour before folding them into the batter. This coating gives the batter something to grip onto and keeps the berries suspended.
What should I do if my bananas are not ripe enough?
Underripe bananas do not provide enough sweetness or moisture, which can leave the bread slightly dry and less flavorful. To speed up the process, I place whole unpeeled bananas on a baking tray in a 350F oven, and bake until the peel is blackened. Then I let them cool completely before mashing and adding to the batter. The heat turns the starches into sugar and softens the fruit.
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🎥 Watch How to Make It
Banana Blueberry Oat Bread
Whenever I need to use up ripe bananas and blueberries, this banana blueberry oat bread is the first thing that comes to mind. I use rolled oats, fresh blueberries, and naturally sweet bananas to create a loaf that is soft, sweet, and satisfying. It bakes up golden with a tender crumb, and works perfectly for breakfast, snack time, or as a simple afternoon treat.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 237.5kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 2 large eggs or 2 flax eggs to make this egg-free
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana about 2 medium
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup olive oil you can use ⅙ cup oil + ⅙ cup apple sauce if you like
- 2 cups (240g) whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and dust lightly with flour.
- Whisk buttermilk, eggs, banana, sugar and oil in a large bowl until well blended.
- Combine flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, mixing just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake about 1 hour, or until browned and a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
- My #1 Secret Tip for this banana blueberry oat bread recipe is to let the batter rest for 5 minutes before baking. This gives the oats time to absorb moisture, which helps create an even and tender crumb.
- Leave some texture: I like leaving a few small lumps in the mashed banana for a texture that works well with the whole blueberries.
- Top with oats: If I want a slightly crispier, more golden top, I scatter a small handful of rolled oats over the batter just before it goes into the oven.
- Use foil tent: When the top of the loaf starts looking too brown, and the inside is not yet fully cooked, I cover it loosely with a piece of foil.
- Do not thaw: If I am using frozen blueberries, I add them straight from the freezer and fold them in quickly to prevent excess liquid from mixing into the batter.
- Room temperature ingredients: I take my cold ingredients out of the fridge 20-30 minutes before I begin. This makes a huge difference to the way the batter forms.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 237.5kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 4.9g | Fat: 8.1g | Saturated Fat: 1.3g | Cholesterol: 31.8mg | Sodium: 135.5mg | Potassium: 166.1mg | Fiber: 4.5g | Sugar: 14.9g
Love the recipe
Is there any way to lessen or sub the qty of brown sugar?
Thanks
Thanks! And yes absolutely – you can use unsweetened applesauce for 1/2 or all of the sugar! So you can do 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce + 1/3 cup brown sugar, or 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce and no sugar. Hope that helps!
Hi Anjali, is there a substitute for buttermilk. I usually dont keep buttermilk at home.
Hi! You can actually make your own buttermilk by just mixing water + yogurt 🙂 3/4 cup plain yogurt + 1/4 cup water = 1 cup buttermilk. Hope that helps!
Awesome! Thank you. Always have home made yogurt. I am excited to try out this recipe now.
Oh great! Let me know how it turns out!
Good to know! I usually do not have buttermilk at home either. I’ve made this recipe 3 times, the best banana bread ever! I’ll make it again today, and will use the water + yogurt tip!
Oh awesome! Hope the water + yogurt tip worked for you Tai!! 🙂
I have done this banana cake this afternoon, and is great! My husband and I loved it! 🙂
Woohoo! Thanks for letting me know Taiana!
Can I replace the flour with more oats? Maybe I can process the additional oats in the food processor so it’s fine consistency? What do you suggest? Also, don’t use canola oil, just olive oil. Can I use melted butter? What do you suggest?
Hi Angie! Yes – you can replace all of the flour with oat flour (1:1 replacement) – you can make oat flour just like you said (by grinding the oats up in the food processor). You can also use olive oil instead of canola oil (1:1 replacement there too) — or you can use half olive oil, half applesauce. I’m not sure if butter would be a 1:1 replacement so I’d stick to olive oil if you can. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for this amazing looking recipe!
Thanks Tiana!! Enjoy!
Do you know the carb count? That is how I calculate my Weight Watchers points for a recipe.
Hi Ruth! One serving of this recipe has 46.6g Carbs. I’ve updated the printable version in the post with the nutritional info as well – I hope that helps!
I absolutely LOVE banana bread.Our whole family does, so we end up making it a lot. I’ve never added oats to it though. But I like them in other stuff, and it sounds really good. I’ll have to try this instead of our usual recipe!
Isn’t banana bread the best? My husband and I love it too 🙂 I’m sure you’ll love this twist on the traditional recipe! You’ll have to tell me how your family likes it too!
Just put this loaf into the oven! So excited to try it. I put in a little extra blueberries (I had misinterpreted the amount needed) but I love their taste so it’ll be a bit more fruit filled.
Woohoo! How did it turn out? And I’m all for more blueberries – bring on the fruit! 🙂
It turned out excellent! Even my sister who is usually not a big fruit person liked it. Definitely adding this recipe to my collection!
Hooray!! I’m so happy to hear that Aileen!
This looks like a great recipe! Quick question- do you think I could use frozen blueberries instead of fresh? My concern would be that frozen berries would be too “watery”…
Thanks!! Hmmm – regarding the frozen blueberries – I’d stick to fresh for exactly the reason you mentioned. I think the frozen ones would have way more water content and might change the consistency of the bread. Hope that helps!
I know this is over a year later but in case anyone else reads this and wonders-you can use frozen blueberries no problem. Toss them in flour before stirring them gently in. The flour will absorb the little bit of moisture that seeps and keep the ‘blue’ from bleeding to much into the bread. The worst that will happen is the blue will spread but the consistency should be fine.
Oh that’s a great tip! Thanks for sharing Katie! 🙂
“1 1/2 packages Driscoll’s Blueberries” – are their packages pint? half-pint? something else? can you ballpark the total either in ounces or cups?
Ohh good point Dave! So to clarify: 1 package of Driscoll’s Blueberries is about 4.4 oz. So 1.5 packages would be about 6.4 oz. – about 3/4 of a cup. Hope that helps!
This is baking up in the oven as I type – I can’t wait to see how it comes out! I’m always on the hunt for healthier versions of my favorite foods 🙂
That is awesome!! Can’t wait to hear what you thought about the recipe once it’s done. Hope your house is filled with the smell of freshly baked blueberry banana bread right now! 🙂
They’re just about to come in season here in New Zealand. We have a friend with a blueberry farm, so I’m being especially nice to him so that I can bake this (but I always am!. 🙂
That is such a great way to get your blueberries! I wish I had a friend who was a blueberry farmer 🙂 Btw – I was in New Zealand last year in January – we visited both the North and South Island – it is a BEAUTIFUL country!
Beautiful bread! Love that this one isn’t dripping with sugar and butter, instead it has oats and blueberries (some of my favorites by the by).
Thanks – so glad you like it! I’m totally with you – I LOVE that this recipe is lower in fat and sugar than traditional banana bread recipes, but it still tastes delicious!
This is a beautiful blue berry banana oat bread! The flavors are made for one another and your photos are spectacular! Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great night =]
Thank you so much – I know you will love this recipe! 🙂
This sounds like a fantastic change from banana bread. I love the addition of oats, it sounds like a portable blueberry oatmeal!
A portable blueberry oatmeal is a great description of this bread! It’s definitely a fun change from the original. Enjoy!
I LOOOOVE banana bread but my favorite part is the crusty edges and the top. If you see a loaf missing it’s top and outside then you know I was there haha. Sounds like a great recipe!
Haha! I love the crusty edges and the top too – I’m the one who eats the top off of muffins and leaves the rest behind. Good thing we can make our own versions of this bread, otherwise you and I would be fighting for the crust on this loaf! 🙂