Healthy Honey Flax Tahini Banana Bread

How is it almost the end of April?! The weather’s been strange, but I’m just rolling with it. 30 degrees one day, 70 degrees the next. Chicago, you weird but I appreciate if spring would finally just arrive.

Today I’m bringing back an older recipe that’s simple, delicious, nutritious and easy to make. I want you to be as excited as I am because this tahini banana bread is about to blow ya mind like Eve and Gwen Stefani did in 2001. (If you have no idea what I’m referring to, please watch this insane video.)

This tahini bread pretty much kicked off my tahini obsession when it was originally published a few years ago. Since then I’ve made tahini chocolate muffins, tahini chocolate chip cake, tahini curry cauliflower sweet potato salad, curry vegan broccoli chickpea salad, and these damn good paleo tahini chocolate chunk cookies. It’s REAL GOOD.

So, what is tahini?

Tahini is simply ground sesame seeds and it’s very similar to how peanut butter or almond butter is made. Good tahini is creamy, mild, nutty, toasty and spoonable. It should not be overly bitter, thick or pasty. My favorite brand of tahini is by Soom (plus it’s female owned!).

Banana breads are one of my favorite things to make because I always seem to have extra ripe bananas and love enjoying a slice or two during the day while I work.

This time I did a little something different by adding tahini instead of oil, flaxseed meal, black sesame seeds (feel free to use regular), cinnamon and honey. The flaxseed meal adds an extra boost of fiber & protein to the bread, so you can feel good about enjoying this for breakfast or as a snack!

Tips for making tahini banana bread

Make sure your bananas are nice and ripe. They should be ripe with plenty of brown or black spots, which means the bananas will be sweeter for baking.

Feel free to use pure maple syrup, coconut sugar or brown sugar instead of honey.

Try it toasted, then spread with butter or tahini and a drizzle of extra honey + sea salt. So good!

To make this banana bread vegan: instead of 1 egg, use 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons water). You can also use maple syrup or date syrup instead of honey.

To make gluten free: I would suggest using chickpea flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. I think it would work very well. You can also use Bob’s 1:1 gluten free flour.

How to store banana bread

If it’s not too humid in your home, then I suggest storing this tahini banana bread on the counter or at room temperature. Make sure it’s nicely wrapped with foil. The bread should get sweeter as the days go on! If it’s humid in your house, store the bread in the fridge.

How to freeze banana bread: you can choose to freeze the loaf as is or you can slice it and freeze the individual slices. Just make sure that it’s tightly wrapped in plastic and then foil. To reheat, simply place a slice in the microwave or set it out until completely thawed.

By the way, did I tell you that Tony and I are heading to Barcelona and Turkey for 3 weeks in May?! We cannot wait! If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments!

More banana recipes you might like:

Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Paleo Chocolate Chip Coconut Flour Banana Bread

Vegan Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls

Vegan Paleo Banana Muffins

Chunky Monkey Zucchini Banana Muffins

If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below or upload a photo to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen so I can see your creations! I greatly appreciate your readership. xo!

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Healthy Honey Flax Tahini Banana Bread

4.91 from 20 votes

byby :Monique of AmbitiousKitchen.com

Leave A Review Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

ServesServes 12 slices

A unique take on banana bread: Healthy Tahini Banana Bread made with whole wheat flour, flaxseed, sesame seeds and naturally sweetened with honey. This bread is wonderful toasted!

Ingredients

• 3 extra ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups mashed banana)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any kind of milk)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For topping:
• banana slices
• black sesame seeds

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8x4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper & spray with nonstick cooking spray. (This is important for easy removal of the bread!)
• In a large bowl combine the wet ingredients: mashed banana, honey, tahini, egg, vanilla, and almond milk until smooth.
• In a separate large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: whole wheat pastry flour, flaxseed meal, sesame seeds, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and smooth top with a spatula. Place banana slices on top of the batter and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top for a beautiful effect.
• Bake for 55-65 minutes or until tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Remove from oven and allow pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove bread and transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Bread is very good toasted and spread with extra tahini or any nut butter of choice.

Recipe Notes

To make vegan: Instead of 1 egg, use 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons water).

To make gluten free: I would suggest using chickpea flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. I think it would work very well and be deliciously sweeter.

Nutrition info does not include the banana slices on top.

Nutrition

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 174calCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 4.7gFat: 6.4gSaturated Fat: 1gFiber: 4.8gSugar: 9g

Recipe by: Monique Volz | Photography by: Sarah Fennel