Green Monster Bread
We’re back with another recipe that doesn’t have any sugar, oil, or butter!!
And better yet, this time we’re sneaking in some SPINACH! Boo-yah! I kind of feel like a super hero, kicking sugar’s butt with all of these healthier (but delicious) recipes we’ve been sharing. Actually, I think this is the start of something good. I want to incorporate more healthier dessert/snack-y recipes going forward.
Don’t worry, the layered cakes aren’t going anywhere! We’re just expanding!
But I am waiting for the day I decide to make a healthier layered cake with no sugar, but I’ll have to think about how to make buttercream without powdered sugar :)
This is a perfect quick bread recipe! It’s sweetened with bananas and honey, it has a little bit of peanut butter, cinnamon, and greek yogurt – and there’s the famous green ingredient, spinach! It DOES NOT taste like spinach but tastes quite similar to banana bread, but with a lighter sweetness.
I will tell you, this is the perfect bread to eat in public, say at the mall, if you want to get really weird stares. While everyone else at the mall is eating pretzels and drinking 800 calorie coffee drinks, I was eating slices of this bread out of a tupperware container. If I only had samples to give to everyone, I think their minds would have changed. I think I’m used to eating weird things in public, like that one time I found cooked bacon in my purse.. where’s the tomato, lettuce and bread to make a BLT?!
You could turn this green monster bread into muffins – just bake the batter in a muffin pan at 350º F for 18-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.


Green Monster Bread
Ingredients
- 3 bananas
- 1 ½ cups fresh spinach
- 6 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Lightly spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a blender, puree the bananas, spinach, honey, greek yogurt, and peanut butter until smooth.
- Pour the blended mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well.
- Transfer the batter to the loaf pan.
- Bake for 48-58 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I’m printing this one for St.Patrick’s Day. The day I turn all our food green :)
I’ll be busting this out on St. Patty’s Day too!
I’d love to have a loaf of this sitting in my kitchen! It looks delicious and a slice would keep me out of the cookie jar :)
I LOVE the idea of turning a green monster into bread! Out with the smoothies, in with the snack bread! :)
OR.. you could enjoy both :)
Question – is that 1-1/2 cups fresh spinach, frozen spinach, or 12 ounces any form of spinach? I have frozen, would have to go out and buy fresh, but the important thing is that volume would be different for fresh and frozen.
Can’t wait to try it. Sounds great. And, I even have 3 ripe bananas on the kitchen counter! Thanks.
Hi Dianne! It needs to be fresh! I just added that in the ingredient list, thank you for asking!
Have you used wheat flour or coconut flour in place of the all purpose? If so, which is best?
Hi Brittiany, I have not, so I can’t offer any advice!
Hi there! Can’t wait to try this recipe!!! What is the caloric intake per serving? I’m loosely following Weight Watchers!!
Thanks!!
This looks great! Do you have any suggestions for making it dairy free? Thank you!
Hi Sandra! I don’t bake dairy free, but you could look up potential substitutes online!
Hi this looks amazing!! Do you have any nutrition info calories per slice, carbs etc???
thank you
When measuring your spinach, how tightly do you pack it? Thanks so much, I can’t wait to try it! maybe I’ll be able to sneak some veggies into my 4 year-old this way! ;)
This looks like an amazing way to get my 4 year old to eat some veggies! Do you pack your spinach when measuring or leave it pretty loose? Thanks!
I will first start by saying this was super easy to put together, which I love. It came out of the oven at 50 minutes and looked beautiful but the knife came out wet so I put it back in for another ten minutes, and then another ten and another…Within minutes of coming out of the oven it sank down and became a dense, moist brick. The taste wasn’t bad, but the consistency was not good. Not sure where I went wrong!
Same thing happened to me!
Hi ladies! The batter is definitely more dense but the loaf shouldn’t cave in once baked or removed from the oven. Are you over mixing the batter when adding the dry ingredients?
Mine did the same thing! :(
Sadly, mine did the exact same thing! I tried muffins and they started out looking great. They kept needing more and more time, but they got very brown on the top, instantly sunk, and never finished baking. I’m so sad because I thought I’d make a double batch to have extras. Now I have to throw it all out :’( I was so hopeful for filling my kids with some veggies.
This looks amazing! Only problem, for me, is not being gluten free…do you have any recommendations for replacing the all purpose flour with anything else? :)
Hi Ashley! I use Pillsbury Gluten Free Flour all the time! You can sub it one for one. I also hear people like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour!
Hi! I’m probably the only person in my house brave enough to to eat green bread, even if it’s chock full of bananas and other delicious treats! My question is- Do you think this would this freeze well? I’d like to take a slice or two for breakfast but I’m worried it won’t last long enough throughout the week.
Hi Renee! That is a great idea! Since this bread is similar to banana bread I would think it would freeze great. Perhaps google some tips to make sure you’re freezing it properly!
Wow, really, I can’t get over that delicious taste! So simple and yet – sooo great. Thank you for this recipe – it’s a real keeper
Mmmmmm…..yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just starring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
Hi I just made this for my toddler who only likes bread. I used kale instead of spinach cuz that’s what I had. And instead of Greek yogurt, regular vanilla yogurt (cuz now my toddler refuses to eat yogurt and I have an abundance of it). Also I used a glass loaf pan instead of a regular pan. The loaf tastes yummy but the outside is fairly dark while the inside appears slightly raw still even when I followed the cooking instructions. Would the glass pan make that much difference? Thanks!
I didn’t make any substitutions, except that I baked these as muffins and followed the recommended time of 18-24 minutes. I baked an extra 5 minutes, then another 5, and another 5 because the toothpick wasn’t coming out clean. The muffins started to brown some more, looking done, so I pulled them out only to have them collapse down in the center. I took one out to test and put them back into the oven, but I don’t think it’s going to turn out this time. The one I tested tasted great, but the inside was raw and not bread like at all. I’ll try again because the taste is so great, and the ingredients are wonderful!
Wow amazing look this is tasty i really must say eat this now
Enjoy!!
I will first start by saying this was super easy to put together
My son loves banana bread and loves spinach so I would love to make this for him. One issue I have is that he is allergic to peanuts so what do you suggest I substitute the peanut butter with.
Hi Martha! Can he have almond butter? You could use that. Otherwise, I would just omit the PB, it’s more for flavor and I don’t think it will affect the recipe by leaving it out!
I grinded up a cup of oats instead of flour and let it sit in order to absorb the liquid for 20 minutes before baking. It turned out well this way.
I will be making this and crediting it to your blog on my instapage (Instacleanfoods). I don’t see your instagram anywhere. Thanks for this!!!!
Hi Sonia! My IG handle is beth_thefirstyear!
I make this as mini muffins and my little man loves them!! Today I even added chopped raspberries and made them as pancakes…turned out great!!
How long did you have to bake them for? I want to do this for my girls the next time I make this.
48-58 minutes!
I have a peanut allergy what is a substitution for the peanut butter?
Perhaps almond butter?
I used about half a package of thawed and drained chopped spinach since I didn’t have any fresh on hand, and added some fresh blueberries. It turned out wonderful. The rest of the spinach went into a quiche so we had a yummy spinach and protein packed breakfast!
YAY! So glad it came out well for you!
thank you
Aha Nice Post, Delicious Food
I LOVE the idea of turning a green monster into bread! Out with the smoothies, in with the snack bread! :)