Banana Bread
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This banana bread recipe bakes up light and tender, with rich banana flavor and a crisp, golden crust.
If you prefer your banana bread light and tender rather than heavy and dense, this banana bread recipe is for you. Creaming the butter and sugar gives the loaf an almost cake-like crumb, while very ripe bananas provide plenty of banana flavor and moisture. The outside bakes up beautifully golden with a crisp crust that’s especially good against the soft interior.
You can add walnuts or pecans or chocolate chips if you like—see the recipe card notes for the details. And if your bananas aren’t quite ripe enough, I’ve included an easy trick for getting them ready to bake with. If you have leftovers, try a slice lightly toasted; it’s one of my favorite ways to eat it, and it brings that crisp crust right back.
“I feel like I’ve tried every banana bread recipe on the internet and none even comes CLOSE to this one. Usually banana bread is too dense or too sweet for me, and this one is just right.”
What You’ll Need To Make Banana Bread
- All-purpose flour: Spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly from the bag; too much flour can make the bread dry and heavy.
- Baking soda and baking powder: Work together to give the banana bread plenty of lift and a light, tender crumb.
- Unsalted butter: Make sure it’s softened so it creams properly with the sugar, incorporating air into the batter and helping create that light texture.
- Very ripe bananas: Provide moisture, natural sweetness, and plenty of banana flavor—the riper, the better. Look for bananas that are heavily spotted or even fully brown. If yours aren’t quite ripe enough, bake them in their peels at 300°F for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft and blackened. Extra-ripe bananas also freeze well; see my post how to freeze bananas for baking for details on freezing and thawing.)
- Fresh lemon juice: Provides acidity to react with the baking soda and help the bread rise; you won’t taste lemon in the finished loaf.
- Vanilla extract: Rounds out and enhances the banana flavor.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Banana Bread
Mix the dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. This distributes the leaveners evenly, so the loaf rises uniformly.
Cream the butter and sugar: Beat the softened butter and sugar until noticeably lighter in color and fluffy. This step incorporates air into the batter and helps give the banana bread its light, tender crumb.
Add the eggs and bananas: Beat in the eggs, followed by the mashed bananas, lemon juice, and vanilla. The mixture may look a little curdled or separated at this point—don’t worry; that’s normal.
Finish the batter: Add the dry ingredients and mix just until no streaks of flour remain. Avoid overmixing, which can make the bread heavier and tougher. If you’re adding nuts or chocolate chips, gently fold them in now.
Bake: Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. The bread is done when it’s nicely golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool briefly in the pan, then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely.
Variations
If you’re in the mood to mix it up, try marbled banana bread, chocolate banana bread, banana coconut bread, or chai-spiced banana bread.
Video Tutorial
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Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas, from 2 to 3 large bananas
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13-cm) metal loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well. It will look a little curdled at this point; that’s okay.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I am a great cook ! I am a horrible baker !!! Since finding your website nobody is secretly throwing away my baked goods. Yippee. Thank you!!! I tried the banana bread in a loaf pan exactly as written. Perfect. Today, JUMBO Muffins. Exactly as written. Used pan with paper liners(sprayed). Baked up perfectly in my oven for 28 minutes.
This is my go to banana bread recipe and like Jen I never know how the consumption of bananas will turn out from week to week.
I have made this with a mixer and a whisk when I’m lazy and it turns out the same. I make muffins and keep them in the freezer. Sometimes I throw in a handful of oatmeal so they are a bit heartier for breakfast or toasted pecan as well as chocolate chips.
My favorite though is I just used the muffin top pan I have had for years and hadn’t used. OMG! So good to toast these babies in the toaster!
Just one more of Jen’s recipes that is always a winner.
If you read this and haven’t purchased her book you should. It has so many interesting stories and makes a person not so interested in cooking a bit more enthusiastic!
I have made this banana bread several times and it gets rave reviews every time. Next time I make it, I plan on adding chopped pecans.
Only banana bread I will make! I have tried the coconut one as well and they are both so yummy and irresistible. Very easy directions. Thank you chef Jennifer!
I’ve made a few of Jenn’s bread recipes and each has come out great, as did this version of banana bread. Like others, I often end up with overripe bananas and I freeze them whole. They defrost in no time at all. For this recipe, I needed three whole bananas to yield one cup. I didn’t have fresh lemons, so I substituted lemon juice. I also added one quarter cup each of chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips. The bread is moist and delicious. I’ve cut it into slices and frozen them and that has worked well too. Question: The recipe says to use melted butter, cooled, but the directions and photo seem to indicate using softened butter. I melted the butter and cooled it, but when I added each egg, I could not beat until light and fluffy as one would in a cookie recipe. Regardless, it came out great.
I would like to use mini bunt pans to make individual loaves. Any idea on the bake time?
Additionally how long does this bread last and what’s the best way to store it
Hi Penelope, I haven’t made these in mini bundt pans, but I would start checking them at 18 – 20 minutes. And they should keep nicely for 3 – 4 days in an airtight container or just covered with foil. Hope you enjoy!
Great recipe, thank you! I made it vegan using a vegan margarine and Egg Replacer. I added 2 tbsp. Tofutti sour cream and the results were perfect! Definitely a hit!
Hi Jenn-
We adore this banana bread recipe- turns out perfect every time! My 10 yr old wanted to ask you if it would be possible to modify the recipe to make a bundt cake, as she’s craving bundt cake;)
Hi Mindy, glad you like this! I think you could bake this in a bundt pan; just make sure to grease it very thoroughly so it doesn’t stick. Also, I think you’ll need to make 1.5 times the recipe to have enough batter. Baking time should be an hour give or take, but keep a close eye on it!
I tried making Banana Bread the other night and your recipe was the perfect guide. The bread came out so good !! It did take over an hour for it to completely cook but it was well worth the time. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try out your other recipes.
This recipe has turned out consistently good each time I have made it. It is moist, flavorful and has an evenly browned crust. It is great just the way the recipe is written. For a higher calorie treat, I have added s crumble to the top and a drizzle of brown sugar glaze. It gies extremely well with the banana bread and I have received raves and requests for the recipe. You can’t go wrong with this banana bread!