Peanut Butter Swirl Protein Banana Bread

This protein banana bread has 10 grams of protein per slice with only 14 grams of carbs and 6 grams of fat. The peanut butter swirl on top makes for a beautiful loaf and an ever better surprise inside. And if you’re a fan of easy recipes, you can have this bread prepped and in the oven in about 10 minutes.

You’ll also find a recipe for turning leftovers into banana bread French toast. There’s a lot packed in this post so let’s get going!

Protein Banana Bread Ingredients

I’ll walk you through everything you’ll need to make this protein banana bread below and cover substitution notes as we go. This is a super simple recipe that’s essentially combining dry and wet ingredients in two bowls then mixing together and pouring in a loaf pan. So let’s start with the dry ingredients.

Dry Ingredients

• protein powder
• all purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• kosher salt

Protein Powder for Baking

The protein powder will be the most important ingredient in protein powder banana bread, obviously. I use PEScience Select for all my protein powder recipes. It’s a blend of whey and casein protein, making it perfect for baking with.

I highly encourage you to use the same protein powder for best results. Using a whey-only protein powder, for example, will require some recipe tweaks like increasing the amount of flour to compensate for its lack of absorbency.

If you’re new to protein powder baking or PEScience, I always like to mention you can buy 5-serving samples of their Select protein powder. That’s enough to try this recipe and my chocolate chip banana protein powder cake while you’re at it. You can also use my affiliate code mason to save 15% on PEScience products.

Wet Ingredients

• mashed bananas
• peanut butter
• fat free Greek yogurt
• eggs
• vanilla extract
• granulated sugar (or sugar free Swerve, in this case)

What is Granulated Swerve?

If you’re unfamiliar with Swerve sweeteners, they’re a calorie-free, non-glycemic sugar substitute that cooks and tastes just like sugar. You can use other sugar substitutes as long as they substitute 1:1 for sugar.

Swerve also makes powdered sugar and brown sugar substitutes, which you can use for savory recipes like my firecracker ground chicken or healthy sausage gravy.

Peanut Butter and Add-Ins

This recipe was adapted from Claire Saffitz’s almond butter banana bread. Suffice to say, you can use other nut butters. I used natural crunchy peanut butter and skipped out on adding things like roasted peanuts or chocolate chips, but you can add them if you’d like more texture in your bread. Claire’s original recipe calls for 1/2 cup or 2 ounces of roasted and chopped almonds.

In addition to the peanut butter inside the protein banana bread, I added a swirl of peanut butter on top of the loaf. It creates an eye-catching effect and some of the peanut butter will slightly sink into the loaf as it bakes. Those bites are extra special.

Can I use powdered peanut butter like PB2 to reduce the fat?

I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a relatively low fat recipe as-is. Reducing further will almost guarantee a dry and tough finished loaf.

How to Make Protein Banana Bread French Toast

This banana bread should last for around 4 days at room temperature if it’s tightly wrapped. For a fun way to use about half the loaf towards the end of its shelf life, make some protein French toast!

Here’s how I do it:

1. Cut the protein banana bread into 1″ slices. Set aside.
2. Mix 2 large eggs with 1/3 cup milk, 1 teaspoon of granulated Swerve or sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of kosher salt. Mix well.
3. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat before adding cooking spray or a tiny bit of butter. Once hot, dip the slices of banana bread into the egg mixture and cook for 90-120 seconds per side until golden brown. If the bread is browning too fast, reduce the heat to medium-low.

Top your protein French toast with freshly sliced banana, peanut butter, your choice of syrup, and a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Final Notes

The two biggest takeaways for a successful attempt at this protein banana bread are to use PEScience Select (or a whey and casein blend) and use a sugar substitute that’s a 1:1 swap for granulated sugar.

Aside from those two points, you should be ready to rock. If you have a question about this recipe I forgot to cover, drop a comment at the bottom of the post. And if you love this protein banana bread, I always appreciate recipe reviews!