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 love all your recipes, Jenn, and your wonderful teaching style. You provide so much more than just a recipe. You offer helpful tips every step of the way through each recipe, which I appreciate. I’ve made this banana bread recipe several times and always enjoy it. I have two questions for you: 1) You call for a metal 9×5 pan. I have a glass pan of that size, which I used. I also have smaller 8.5×4.5 pans that are metal. How important is it to use a metal pan? And how important is the size when both pans are so close in size? 2) More often than not my bread is done except for the top middle. So I bake the bread longer to finish that middle. My oven runs hotter than your recipes call for so I bake this bread at 340 for 42 minutes. I sometimes turn off the oven for the last minute or two to fully bake the center without drying out the outer edges. But this center issue is a problem. I feel that my bread would be slightly moister if I didn’t have to continue to bake it once all but the top center is done. Looking forward to your reply.
Hi Karen, I believe the issue is the glass pan. In general, when substituting a glass baking dish in a recipe that calls for a metal baking pan, you should lower the oven temperature by 25°F, as glass transfers more heat than metal. And even though 9×5-in and 8×4-in pans are close in size, it’s important to use the pan that is called for. Hope that helps and so glad you like the recipes!
Yes, Jenn, your reply is both helpful and fascinating. I now understand how using a glass pan rather than metal is causing the problem that I asked you about. Many thanks for your help!
Very Good! Added Chunks of chocolate and it was a crowd pleaser…Thanks!
This is a very moist banana bread. I’ve made this recipe many times and it never fails. I sometimes add chopped nuts but never alter the recipes because they work! Loved baked gift also.
I’ve made this numerous times and it’s excellent!! Can the recipe be doubled?
Sure, Lori, just divide the batter between two loaf pans. (And glad you like it!)
incorporate the banana juice into the batter.
This was good but not our favorite banana bread recipe.
It’s a super yummy banana bread as it is but my husband is gluten free. How can I make this recipe gluten free?
Hi Lori, I would try a gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. I’d love to know how it turns out if you try it.
I have tried many banana bread recipes over the years, and this one is the BEST! It’s a little bit more effort than the usual ones made with vegetable oil in that you have to cream the butter and sugar in this recipe; however, I think it is well worth the tiny bit of extra work! I love that it is less dense and oily. I will be making this again and again!
I admit I had low expectations because my bananas, frozen and thawed, were disgustingly brown and slimy. I was afraid they had fermented, but I had faith and made the recipe anyway with my 3-year old daughter. I will never try another banana bread recipe. Until now, I could never get banana bread to bake fully on the inside. Now Jenn’s recipe is my secret weapon!
My edits: I used only 2/3 of the sugar called for (it came out with an amazing caramelly flavor) and I used 25% whole wheat flour, 25% oats, and 50% white flour. I also added chopped pecans. I love a hearty, chewy, nutty texture in a banana bread, and this is exactly what I got. Total win.
Made it but put 1 tsp lemon extract instead of lemon juice.Works as a great substitude! Next time im skipping the baking power…makes it too light and i like heavy amd moist! Other than that…good receipe!