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Nine of My Favorite Things this Week.
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I made you this nourishing 7 ingredient chocolate chip ricotta banana bread because on Friday’s we NEED chocolate.
And since chocolate plus banana is honestly one of my favorite combos, I decided to make a Healthy January recipe out of the two. You guys are so very welcome. 🙂
In all seriousness, while I may hate these photos, I LOVE this bread. In fact it’s possibly my favorite banana bread recipe. It’s so quick, so easy, so healthy and so good! Wow, that was a lot of SO’s, but honestly, this bread is amazing. What I love most is that, unlike most banana bread recipes, this one is not overly sweet in any way and it has some serious, serious banana flavor happening, which is everything I could want in a banana bread.
I feel like often times banana bread recipes can be so overly sweet that they actually lose the yummy banana flavor. This is probably because I am the world’s biggest banana loving freak, but whatever, bananas are the best. Plus, they’re pretty much the only fruit, other than dates and avocados, that I would ever dare to pair with chocolate.
The second best part to this bread, other than it’s deliciousness? The fact that it has only seven ingredients, yes, only SEVEN! Eight if you count, salt which I am not. AND it would only be six ingredients if you left out the chocolate…but then, I am not sure why anyone would do that.
I was out hiking a week or so ago and thinking about recipes, as I normally do when hiking, when the thought hit me that I had never seen a banana bread recipe that used ricotta cheese. I’m sure it’s been done, but I personally have not seen it, and the idea intrigued me so much. I love anything ricotta, chocolate, and banana, so I knew right away that I had to try it out.
My goal was to create a super moist bread, but use minimal ingredients. I’m all about the whole “less is more” thing right now, and with this banana bread I wanted the banana, chocolate and ricotta to shine.
The ingredients are as follows…
…bananas: a total of four, for some serious banana flavor and moist bread.
…ricotta cheese: for a major protein factor and killer flavor.
…eggs: heart healthy fats and another major protein (maybe I should have called this protein packed banana bread?).
…vanilla: because I simply cannot make banana bread without vanilla…it’s a must.
…whole wheat flour: got to have those whole grains.
…baking powder: for some lightness
…chocolate chips: enough said.
Yes, you guys, you read that right. Zero added sugar. None. I just want to put it out there that this bread is not sweet. I mean, it’s sweet from the bananas and chocolate, but it’s just not overly sweet. It was perfect for my tastes as well as my family’s, so I feel like you guys will LOVE it too. If you really only love a sweeter banana bread, try adding a few tablespoons of your favorite sugar or even honey.
Also, I know some of you might question the ricotta as being healthy, but personally, I see it as a protein packed food, loaded with calcium.
This bread is not only has nourishing ingredients, it’s also nourishing for our souls. Seriously. Especially on a Friday after a grueling long, sometimes seemingly never-ending, but still awesome, week. Yes, it’s safe to say that I am happy it’s Friday! And happy to have some time to make another loaf of this bread. It’s only been a few days, but I’m in need of a chocolate fix and this bread literally takes maybe ten minutes tops to throw together and get into the oven. It’s the perfect sweet and healthy treat for tonight.
I love to eat this bread warm out of the oven, with a side of ice-cold (goat) milk, but it’s still great at room temperature. Since this bread is not very sweet, you can drizzle it with a little honey before serving for a touch of extra sweetness. Honey compliments the flavors of the ricotta really well and is perfect drizzled on while the bread is still warm. SOOO GOOOOD.
Perfect to make tonight or sometime this weekend. Who is ready?
WATCH THE HOW-TO VIDEO HERE:
Nourishing 7 Ingredient Chocolate Chip Ricotta Banana Bread.
Servings: 18 servings
Calories Per Serving: 79 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 4 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat or whole what pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of kosher salt optional
- 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
- honey for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9x5 inch bread pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, ricotta, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt. Mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. I like to bake mine around 45 minutes for an extra doughy bread! Drizzle with honey if desired. Enjoy warm or at room temp...but warm is best!
That would be me!! Let’s do this weekend thing already.
This post was originally published on January 20, 2017
This sounds wonderful. I do not live close to town and only shop about once every two weeks. I do have cottage cheese and thought I might swap that for the riccota cheese. Maybe strain some of the liquid from it. Think that might work?
Hi! Yes, I do think cottage cheese will work! I think straining any liquid off is a good idea. Let me know how it goes. Hope you love this! 🙂
HI – made this bread last night.
Taste is excellent, but we couldn’t get the center to firm up.
We baked it for 50 min – then popped it back in oven for another 20 min covered with foil, then 10 more uncovered. Center was still the same – wet and like it’s raw. But doesn’t taste raw. Sides and ends are perfect.
Thanks for any suggestions. Would love to make it again, but get the center right.
Hi! Wow, I am not sure what the problem is. Are you sure it’s still raw? Sometimes it might just look that way, but I don’t see how it could be after so much time in the oven. Maybe try using a large bread pan? What size is yours? sorry for any trouble!
Is it possible to use something like Pamala’s gluten free pancake mix instead of the flour?
HI! I have not tried that so I can’t say. Let me know if you do. Hope you love this!
You should be proud of your pictures…they always make me want to try your recipes. This one is on my shopping list for tomorrow and I love ricotta cheese with honey..it is like peanut butter and jelly. Can’t wait to try this.
Awh well thank you so much Jill! I really hope you love it!
Making this tonight. Can’t wait to eat it.
Hope you loved it Karen, thank you!
I love that is this oil free. And I agree, the more banana, the better. I recently made banana muffins with banana as the only sweetener and they were perfection! And plenty of dark chocolate too, because banana + chocolate = killer combo! Thanks for another superb recipe =)
Oh my those muffins sound amazing! So happy you liking this recipe Ashley, thank you!
I don’t know how I stumbled onto your blog, but I’m so glad I did. I started my weekend making your banana bread. You are spot on. This bread is not only easy to make, it’s delicious. I even got my 7-year old son in on it. He mashed the bananas.
What I love as much as the taste is the lack of added sugar. I also used mini chocolate chips (since that’s all I had in the house) and reduced the amount to 3/4 cup. I probably could have used a 1/2 cup and still have the yummy chocolate flavor.
This will be my new go-to banana bread recipe. You have a new fan!
So happy you found my blog Lori! I love that your 7 year old enjoyed it (:
You can totally loose some of the chocolate to your liking. Thanks so much!
Looks delicious!
Thank you Sara!
I was sold from the moment I saw that honey! You really have that touch! Would you be willing to share what kind of “table” backdrops you use?
Heck yes we need chocolate on Fridays! I love this bread (and your photos!!). That honey drizzle is pretty much everything! 🙂
This was exactly what I needed lol! Thanks so much Laura (:
I was literally just thinking about how I wanted to use up my extra ricotta, and then poof, this showed up on my feed. Much more excited about the weekend now, tbh.
Haha, how perfect! Hope you love it Megan (:
What’s wrong with these photos?! I think they are great- shows off those melty chocolate chips and so pretty with that drippy honey. Ricotta is such a great ingredient and I love the idea of putting it in a banana chocolate chip bread. And I completely agree- sometimes banana bread is just too sweet! No added sugar here is such a bonus.
I was just having trouble with them for some reason, but thank you!
So happy your liking the ricotta (:
YUMMMMM!!! SO going to try this but adding walnuts to it–gotta have walnuts in banana bread, right!?!?
Yes that will be amazing, I hope you love it!
I need chocolate every day! I definitely think I need double chocolate this Friday in particular,though.
Also, T…..you’re photos are famously gorgeous. <3 <3 <3
Haha yes! Chocolate is a necessity. Thanks so much Annie!
I’m going to try making this with gluten free baking mix, do you have any suggestions for the best one?
Bob’s GF cup-to-cup in the blue bag is awesome. They also have GF in a red bag, not half as good. Be sure to sift the heck out of it, otherwise it comes out kinda gummy 🙂
Hey Kim! I am not familiar with many gf baking mixes, but I heard great things about Bob’s Red Mills mix. Hope you love the bread!
Hi! Love your blog! I recently had to become gf 🙁 any chance I could use almond flour, cup for cup? Or less? I did see that you’re not familiar with gf mixes, neither am I. I wasn’t sure if alternative flour was considered a mix since I will still make your recipe as called. Just trying to work with this new “diet” I would just love to eat a delicious gf baked good.
Hey Amanda! I am not sure, but i think it would be OK. I haven’t tried it, but I do use almond flour with good results. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love this!