A nutritious start for those back-to-school mornings, this delicious mango bread is made with whole wheat flour, protein powder, wheat bran and pecans.
We are a T-minus 9 days and counting until school starts in our house. E-gads! What happened to summer? I feel like we didn’t swim enough, we didn’t go to the beach enough, we certainly didn’t go on our annual road trip, and I certainly didn’t get much work accomplished!
I am always trying to come up with different foods to get my kids excited about eating healthy. I have come to realize that the best way to get them to eat the nutritious stuff is to hide it in something fun.
And that is where this delicious mango bread comes in.
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Recipe highlights
- Healthier: This mango bread recipe uses whole wheat flour, wheat bran, pecans and protein powder. This adds whole grain goodness, protein, vitamins and antioxidants. And mangos are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A and fiber.
- Texture: Even though this quick bread recipe uses whole wheat flour, it is actual tender, moist and fluffy – similar to banana bread.
- Flavor: This quick bread has a mild mango flavor in it. The crunch of the pecans and the nuttiness of the wheat flour and wheat bran all compliment each other beautifully.
Ingredients you need
- Butter: When I bake, I always use unsalted butter. If you want to use oil, substitute with ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil.
- Protein power: You can use any type of protein powder for this recipe. I used whey protein that was vanilla flavored. You can also use a powder that is unflavored.
- Mango: This recipe calls for one over-ripe mango or about 1 cup or mango purée.
- Sour cream: Whole fat sour cream helps keep this bread moist. You can also use plain Greek yogurt.
- Eggs: Large eggs are used in this recipe.
- Pecans: You can skip the nuts or use walnuts instead.
- Pantry staples: brown sugar, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon
Step-by-step directions
- Cream butter. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Mix in eggs until well blended.
- Combine dry ingredients. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, protein powder, wheat bran, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Add dry into wet ingredients. In batches, whisk dry ingredients into the wet, making sure everything is evenly distributed.
- Add mango. In a small bowl, whisk together mango and sour cream. Mix mango mixture into the rest of the batter until just combined. Fold in pecans.
- Bake. Apply non-stick spray to a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350ºF until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. If you want, top with a tablespoon or two of chopped pecans.
- Cool. Let bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely, about an hour before enjoying!
Recipe tips and FAQs
Whole wheat quick breads tend to be dry compared to their white flour counterparts. But the mango purée and sour cream in this recipe keeps it moist.
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If you want to make these into muffins, the same recipe makes about 12 muffins or about 36 mini muffins.
Quick breads are really a great snack cake, lower in sugar than typical cakes. Go beyond banana bread with some of my more unique quick bread recipes:
- Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Olive Oil and Blueberries
- Olive Oil Beet Bread with Walnuts
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
- Whole Wheat Pomegranate Banana Bread with Pistachios
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: I usually store it in foil and keep it on the kitchen counter for up to 4 days, as long as it is not hot. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze slices or a whole loaf. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.
Whole wheat flour has more of the wheat shell than regular all purpose flour. This husk offers you fiber, which is great for your digestive system. But whole wheat flour has a lot of the husk removed, which is why I like to add a little wheat bran to my recipes for a little nuttiness and the extra fiber.
Yes, you can add a scoop or two of protein powder to your baked goods. The additional protein not only adds nutrition to your final bake, but it also adds more structure. You can use plain, so it doesn’t add additional sweetness or flavor, or you can use flavored protein powders.
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Mango Bread with Whole Wheat Flour and Protein Powder
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup butter unsalted
- ½ cup brown sugar light or dark
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup protein powder vanilla or unflavored
- 2 tablespoon wheat bran
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 over ripe mango about 1 cup
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Apply non-stick spray to a 9" x 5" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar.
- Mix in eggs until well blended.
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, protein powder, wheat bran, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In batches, whisk dry ingredients into the wet, making sure everything is evenly distributed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together mango and sour cream. Mix mango mixture into the rest of the batter until just combined.
- Fold in pecans.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.
- Let bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely, about an hour.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
I made this with a few modifications. I used canned mango purée, which made the batter a bit too liquidy, so I bulked it up with some shredded coconut. It turned out delicious. My picky two year old ate it too, and I liked that she was getting protein from the nuts and the milk powder (I didn’t want to use protein powder).
I think this is the second time I’ve purchased a mango. Looking forward to making the bread!
I’m quite ready for the kids to go back to school :-). We’ve been enjoying the beach more these past couple week with the heat, plus I love that ocean temp has finally reached 70. Yay! I don’t envy you the time difference in the morning for getting your kids to school. I have one more hat with both kids a the same school, and since we walk, I can leave as late as 7:50 and get them to school just in the nick office. This bread sounds delicious-Can’t go wrong with mangos and pecans! Enjoy your last week of… Read more »
I’ll bet it was hard to resist the smell of the mangoes and doubly hard to resist this bread! 😀
That looks absolutely delish! I need to bake this for my hubby — he loves mango 🙂
I love mango and could eat it with anything, even inappropriately. 🙂 I love your bread.
Hm, it’s a hard question to answer. I feel I’m ready hoping that I have a few hours of free time in the morning, but now I have to wake up earlier (which means sleep earlier) and spend more time on activities and all the routine and no “relaxing” feelings. At this point, I feel I’m not ready yet!
Mango in bread? How awesome is that! And you make it so healthy that I can probably eat half of it and still tell myself “it’s healthy”. 🙂
Mangoes in a bread sound just perfect, what a gorgeous loaf!
The school year starts so early! Some schools here have already started. If I were a kid I’d be hating that. Mangoes are great! I’m so greedy when we get them I never even bother to make them into a dish – we cut them up and devour them! Bread idea is quite nice though – if I can ever discipline myself not to eat every last mango we buy, I should try it. Maybe the secret is just to buy more mangoes? 😉
I never turn down a mango and your bread looks wonderful. I cannot imagine getting three children ready for school every morning – you deserve a gold medal in advance.
I bought a box of mangoes a few weeks ago and felt like I was eating mango forever haha, I’ve got about 3 left and they are super ripe…. I think I may see this bread in my future!
OMG, it seems only yesterday your kids were coming on their summer break . . . the interim time seems awfully short even to me!! Perhaps not, ’cause our spring is peeping behind the corner: just some late winter gales to go thru’, and . . . Meanwhile good luck to the Professor in Middle School and I’ll be thinking of a Mom on split shifts 🙂 !
This looks delish! What a great idea. Looking forward to trying it!