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This Cottage Cheese Banana Bread is moist and flavorful without oil or butter. Made with cottage cheese, this low sugar dessert is high protein and low calorie. The perfect recipe for healthy breakfasts, snacks and desserts!
Have you ever thought of adding cottage cheese to banana bread? It’s a game changer, I promise. It adds moisture and flavor to the dessert while preventing it from drying out. The best thing is, cottage cheese will replace both oil and butter.
I came up with this recipe on the spur of the moment. After a series of viral cottage cheese recipes, I asked myself: “What else can I bake with cottage cheese?“. Cottage cheese brownies, cottage cheese flatbread and cottage cheese pizza, I tried them all already. But what about banana bread? This banana bread cottage cheese recipe’s quickly become a new favorite. Probably one of my favorite protein desserts to date.
Why you should make banana bread with cottage cheese
- Adding cottage cheese to banana bread makes it extra moist and delicious, without the need for oil or butter.
- Cottage cheese is a healthy, low calorie and macro-friendly source of protein for the diet.
- The cottage cheese replaces cooking fats like oil and butter, making this dessert low in fats and low in calories.
- This recipe is super simple, just stir the cheese into the batter without blending it in advance.
- You can customize this recipe to your own preferences because the taste of the cheese goes unperceived, and anything goes well with banana bread.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Cottage cheese. You can make the viral banana bread with low fat cottage cheese, full fat cottage cheese, or lactose-free cottage cheese. My recommendation is to use 4% small curd cottage cheese, I find that it has more taste and a much richer texture.
- Spotty ripe bananas. Ripe bananas are a must to make a sweet and moist banana bread with no oil and less sugar. Be sure to choose ripe bananas; those with dark spots all over the skin. The riper they are, the sweeter and softer your cottage cheese dessert will be.
- Egg. Choose a large whole egg for more nutrients and a better taste. When baking, eggs are essential in improving both textures and flavors. As a replacement you can use one flaxseed egg.
- Oat flour. I like replacing refined flours with oat flour. Besides being gluten-free, oat flour is a wholegrain flour with plenty of fibers and lots of nutrients.
- Almond flour. For a better taste, texture and nutritional profile, I recommend making cottage cheese banana bread with a mix of oat flour and almond flour. The almonds will give a nutty flavor and soft texture, while adding extra fibers and nutrients.
- Maple syrup. Maple syrup sweetens the cottage cheese banana bread in a healthier and more natural way, without the need for refined sugars.
- Vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Vanilla and cinnamon give this cottage cheese dessert the original banana bread flavor, while salt balances sweetness and brings out all the goodness.
Recipe variations
- Add more protein. Replace the almond flour with a protein powder of your choice, so that 1/2 cup almond flour becomes 1/2 cup protein powder. For a moist cottage cheese dessert bread I recommend vegan protein powder or casein. Whey protein may dry out when heated. Or check out my high protein banana bread recipe.
- Make it gluten-free. Prepare this recipe with certified gluten-free oat flour, almond flour is already GF. As an alternative you can also make cottage cheese banana bread with almond flour only.
- Go wild with mix-ins. For more taste and texture, stir into the batter your favorite mix-ins such as dark chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, pecans, raisins, pumpkin seeds, or a mix of everything you like.
- Try chocolate banana bread. Swap out the almond flour with unsweetened cocoa powder and fold through some good chocolate chips. Or check out my healthy chocolate banana bread recipe.
- Turn it into muffins. Follow the same recipe, but instead of baking it into a loaf pan, place the batter into muffin molds. Also, make sure to adjust the baking time because muffins cook quicker than banana bread.
How to make cottage cheese banana bread
First of all, get everything ready for baking. Heat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and fold a 20 cm (7.9 inches) loaf pan with parchment paper or grease it with oil. This will prevent our bread from sticking to the pan.
Next, make the banana bread batter. In a large bowl, mash the bananas then combine with cottage cheese, egg, maple syrup, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Stir well until you get a smooth mixture. Add into the wet mixture oat flour, almond flour – or more oat flour – and baking powder. Stir the ingredients together.
Time for baking. Transfer your cottage cheese banana bread batter to the prepared pan, then bake in hot oven for about 30 minutes. The bread is ready when a toothpick inserted into its center comes out clean.
Let cool and enjoy. Once it is ready, allow the dessert to cool for a couple of minutes over a wire rack. Enjoy a moist slice of cottage cheese banana bread with a drizzle of maple syrup, nut butter and a cup of coffee.
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Enjoy on day two! As for any banana dessert, this cottage cheese banana bread tastes so much better after it has sit in the fridge overnight. The texture gets moister, while the good flavors become more pronounced. I know it may be hard to resist, but waiting will definitely pay off.
Storing and freezing
After baking, let the banana bread cool completely over a wire rack or a plate. Once it is cool, place leftovers in an airtight food container or ziplock bag.
- To store at room temperature. Keep leftovers in an airtight container, they will last for up to 3 days.
- To store in the fridge. If refrigerated in a food container, this dessert bread will stay fresh and moist for up to 4 days.
- To freeze. For a longer storage, freeze cottage cheese banana bread in zipper bags for a maximum of 3 months. Before serving, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then bake in hot oven or heat in the microwave until warm.
Yes, you can replace 1/2 cup of almond flour with the same amount of protein powder. My recommendations are vanilla vegan protein powder and casein.
I have only tested this recipe with oat flour and almond flour. But I think that regular all purpose flour or whole-wheat flour will also work. Just keep in mind that you may need to adjust the batter with more flour or more milk if necessary. It should be smooth.
A slice of this cottage cheese banana bread provides approximately 131 calories and 5 grams of high quality protein from the cottage cheese. It’s definitely the perfect macro-friendly treat to enjoy whenever you crave something sweet but don’t want to break the diet!
More desserts with cottage cheese
- Cottage cheese brownies
- Chocolate cottage cheese ice cream
- Cottage cheese pancakes
- Cottage cheese cookie dough
Cottage Cheese Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, about 200 grams (7 oz)
- 180 grams (⅔ cup) cottage cheese
- 1 large egg
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) maple syrup, or honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅙ tsp salt
- 150 grams (1 ½ cup) oat flour, or preferred flour
- 50 grams (½ cup) almond flour, or more oat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F (180°C) and fold a 20 cm (7.9 inches) loaf pan with parchment paper or grease with oil.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas then combine with cottage cheese, egg, maple syrup, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Stir well until you get a smooth mixture.
- Add into the wet mixture oat flour, almond flour (or more oat flour) and baking powder. Stir the ingredients together.You may need to adjust with little flour more if the batter is too liquid, or with a splash of milk if it is too dry. This depends on the size of the bananas used.
- Transfer your cottage cheese banana bread batter to the prepared pan, then bake in hot oven for about 30 minutes. The banana bread is ready when a toothpick inserted into its center comes out clean.
What can I use in place off the egg?
Hey Jill,
you can replace egg with a flaxseed egg. It works as well 😉
Have a great day,
Matteo
Perfect healthy version of a treat I love. I happened to have 2 very ripe bananas and cottage cheese so this recipe was perfect. The only thing I used that was slightly different is sugar free maple syrup. This actually reminded me a lot of oatmeal cookies I make. I did add maybe 1/2 a handful of unsweetened cocoa nibs.
Hey Chani,
thanks a lot for your feedback! I’m happy that you tried and liked my recipe for cottage cheese banana bread. The addition of cocoa nibs is great, I have to try it myself soon.
I wish you a great day,
Matteo
hey, whenever i make the recipe the bread rises in the oven, but sinks when i take it out. it looses about half of it size and ends upp very dense. the only difference is that i use some applesauce instead of mapple syrup and som stevia.
Hey!
Thanks for your feedback, I am happy to help you out.
I am not fully sure about it, but I think that the issue here is substituting maple syrup. The (natural) sugars of maple syrup react with the baking powder and help the banana bread rise better. Additionally, applesauce tends to add extra moisture, which indeed creates an overly dense texture. I recommend trying it out with maple syrup, I think it should work. If not, are you using a loaf pan with the same size as recommended?
I wish you a great day,
Matteo
Hey Matteo, thanks for the tips. I tried switching out the applesauce for maple syrup, but it stil sinks after I take it out the oven. Allthough, I have been using a bread pan (10 * 30)cm. Though increasing or decreasing the batter does not make a difference.
I will say tho, with the maple syrup it did not sink as much (still lost almost half it size). Likely do to the batter not being so moist from the applesauce, as the texture didnt feel as dense.
Hey,
thanks a lot for your feedback! I am so sorry to hear that the bread still sinks…The last thing that comes to my mind is: Have you removed any liquid on top of the cottage cheese before mixing it into the batter? That could be another point that may cause some issues.
Have a great day,
Matteo
I figured it out! The issue was that I was blending the cottage chesse to avoid clumps. When I didn’t blend the cottage cheese, the bread wouldn’t sink at all. Using applesauce and stevia worked fine as a substitute for maple syrup too, though the applesauce makes it a little more dense and the bread sinks slightly, but nowhere near as much as last time.
Do you have any tips for a workaround? Where I can still blend the cottage cheese without making the bread sink. Just not at big fan of all the white clumps in the bread.
Thanks for the help so far Matteo.
Hey!
What a great pleasure hearing from you.
I am incredibly happy that you were able to finally pinpoint the problem 😉 Definitely, blending the cottage cheese tends to add excess moisture.
Great it worked also with your substitutions of applesauce and stevia. Thanks for getting back to me, I highly appreciate it.
I wish you a fantastic day, and for anything you may need on any of my recipes, I am always here to help you out as much as I can!
Best regards,
Matteo
I just made this! Instead of a loaf of bread I turned it into 12 mini-muffins. As noted in the recipe muffins bake quicker than bread, so I took my muffins out of the oven after about 20-25 minutes. Turned out great! I made half the batch with full-fat cottage cheese and half with zero-fat greek yoghurt. Honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference between the two, so probably just going to go with the yoghurt next time because that’s something I always have in the fridge (eat it for breakfast every day!). I skipped the maple syrup and just added a bit of semi-skimmed milk instead. And I used hazel nut flour (that I ground myself) instead of almond flour. The bananas on their own (mine were *very* ripe) made the muffins sweet enough for me. Not a dessert level of sweetness, but great for breakfast or as a snack. I had two muffins with a cup of tea as an evening snack and that was perfect! One thing to note is that I found the banana flavor to be a little bit lacking. Next time I will make sure to have an extra banana at home, so I can place a banana slice on top of each muffin for more banana goodness 🙂
Hey dear Tobbe,
thanks a lot for your kind feedback! I am glad that you tried and liked my cottage cheese banana bread recipe. Regarding the banana flavor, topping the bread with more sliced bananas sounds perfect if you want a more pronounced banana taste.
I wish you a great day,
Matteo
Banana bread one of my favorite food for breakfast. Thanks Matt
Hey dear Constantino,
same here! There is nothing better than banana bread, especially if it is healthy and high protein with cottage cheese. So moist and delicious 😉
Kind regards,
Matteo
I don’t have oat flour. Can I replace it with regular flour?
Hey dear Lori,
thanks a lot for your comment. Yes, of course! Any flour will work.
Have a great day,
Matteo