Banana Bread
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Say hello to your new favorite banana bread. This easy recipe bakes up with a tender crumb, rich flavor, and an irresistibly crisp crust. It’s a keeper.
On the hunt for the perfect banana bread recipe? Look no further—this is the one. Moist, fragrant, and just the right amount of sweet, it’s phenomenal fresh out of the oven and just as good toasted for breakfast the next day. My family loves it plain, but you can easily add nuts (I’m partial to walnuts) or chocolate chips if that’s your thing.
If you’re in the mood to mix it up, I’ve got plenty of options: marbled banana bread, chocolate banana bread, banana coconut bread, chai-spiced banana bread—and don’t forget banana nut muffins and banana chocolate chip muffins. After all, you can never have too many banana bread recipes!
“Best banana bread I’ve ever made! But it’s dangerous—I steal a slice each time I’m in the kitchen! Next up is Jenn’s pumpkin bread.”
What You’ll Need To Make Banana Bread
- All-purpose flour, baking soda & baking powder: These dry ingredients give the bread structure and lift. For best results with the flour, scoop it into your measuring cup with a spoon and level it off with a knife.
- Unsalted butter, sugar & large eggs: This trio brings richness, sweetness, and structure. The butter should be close to room temperature so that it’s soft enough to blend with the sugar. The eggs help bind everything together.
- Ripe bananas: Provide moisture, natural sweetness, and big banana flavor—the riper, the better. They should be dark yellow with lots of brown spots, or even fully brown. (Pro Tip: To ripen quickly, bake bananas in their peels at 250°F for 15 to 20 minutes until soft and blackened. Extra-ripe bananas freeze well too—just peel and store in a freezer bag until you’re ready to thaw and mash.)
- Lemon & vanilla extract: Lemon juice brightens things up and helps with lift, and vanilla adds a warm finishing note.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. It’s important to whisk thoroughly; this distributes the leaveners evenly, so the loaf rises uniformly.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of an electric hand mixer (or a stand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Creaming incorporates air into the batter, which helps the bread bake up light instead of dense.
Step 3: Beat in the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time and beat the mixture well after each addition.
Step 4: Add the bananas and flavorings. Mix in the mashed bananas, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Step 5: Mix in the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Don’t over mix. (Overmixing develops the gluten and can make the bread tough instead of tender.)
Step 6: Bake. Pour the batter from the mixing bowl into the prepared loaf pan, using a rubber spatula to get everything out of the bowl. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 7: Cool and store. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Banana bread will stay fresh for 2 to 3 days; freeze for longer storage.
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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How long would i need to bake mini metal loaf pans of your delicious banana bread? i want to make some and send it to my college-aged daughter ! also, would i need to freeze the banana bread before sending in mail ( 2 day air). many thanks again for an amazing recipe, and i can’t wait to take your next cooking class!
I’d start checking mini loaves at 35 – 40 minutes (and you don’t need to freeze them before mailing). Hope your daughter enjoys! 🙂
This banana bread is phenomenal! I just made it and it’s mostly gone!
Quick question…everything I’ve made from your site has been 5 stars but all the baked goods seem to bake up with a flat top. It’s never as domed as yours. Why could that be? I live in Ontario Canada. Could that be why?
Thanks Jen for another great recipe.
Hi Jennifer, Hmmm, I’m not sure – are you at high altitude? What brand of flour are you using?
Not sure if this is the reason, but American AP flour tends to have a protein content of around 10.5% and Canadian AP flour is around 12.5%. So if we use the AP flour available to us up here, we get more gluten development. I’ve heard some people use a mix of pastry flour (protein content of 8.5%) and Canadian AP flour when they use recipes developed down in the states to combat this protein difference.
Again, I don’t know if this would help in this case, this is just an interesting fact I recently discovered about the protein differences in AP flour. Hope you figure it out!
This is a very nice recipe! Thanks for another winner. I stirred in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts at the end, and it took the full 45 minutes to fully bake. Very moist and tender, thanks again.
P.S. Actually I found a large raw area dead center when we got to the middle of the loaf. My toothpick test was clean, but maybe I needed a long cake tester. I had baked it for 45 minutes but will increase the time to more like 50 next time. Perhaps it was the addition of walnuts? Many quick bread recipes do bake for closer to an hour.
Hi Sandy, the walnuts shouldn’t have any notable impact on baking time. Is there any chance you may have mis-measured something?
No, good thought but I measure very carefully and sift my flour after measuring. I did think some more about it, and remembered I used extra large eggs. Normally I don’t have a problem with that. I need to use a longer tester next time and probably large sized eggs. 🙂
I hope you have better luck if you try this again! Also, you may want to keep it in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes longer to ensure it’s fully baked in the center (if the top is getting too browned, you can gently lay a piece of foil over the pan for the remainder of the baking time).
Hi Sandy,
I actually had the same thing happen when I baked my banana bread! The center was still extremely jiggly after 40 minutes so I kept adding intervals of 5 minutes until it was firm. The only thing I could think of is maybe it’s because I actually used an 8×5 pan instead of the 9×5 like Jenn used.
Jenn, do you think that could be the culprit? I love your recipes by the way!
Hi Mel, I definitely think the smaller pan is the issue. Hope you enjoyed it!
question: If I am out of sugar, can I substitute brown sugar? Should I make any other changes?
Hi Mary Ellen, All types of sugar behave a bit differently, so for the best results, I’d stick with granulated sugar. That said, it may turn out OK, I just can’t guarantee it. 🙂 Please LMK how it turns out if you do try it.
This is the best, my favorite banana bread..so moist and flavorful. I’ve never found a banana bread recipe that uses lemon juice, so I had to try it …so happy I did. I added a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Sooo yummy, you’ll want a second piece!!
Thank you Jenn!!
I’m going to make your Pumpkin bread for a gathering so thought I’d try your Banana bread as well since it’s very similar to my grandmothers recipe that I’ve used for years and all have loved. My question is I usually use fresh ripe bananas but all I have are frozen. Do you need to make any adjustments using frozen opposed to fresh? If so, what alternations need to be made? Thank you in advance.
Frozen bananas are perfectly fine (in fact, that’s what I almost always use). Just thaw them so they are soft enough to incorporate into the batter. Hope you enjoy!
thank you for the recipe! the banana bread is light and moist, took 45 mins in the oven. i did 90 grams of sugar as i prefer things less sweet. its a beautiful and easy recipe, the only thing i would want is to have a stronger banana taste – next time will add 1 or 2 more bananas in it! and you really can’t taste the lemon juice!
Just made this banana bread last night and used a gluten flour mix and added walnuts. I was surprised by how well it worked GF! Really lovely texture albeit different from the usual denser banana bread I’ve made in the past. Great recipe and just a tip if overripe bananas are not at hand – pop them in the microwave for a minute or so (skin on and pricked with a fork).
I used this recipe to make 4 mini loaves to add to my bake table at our local craft fair next week. I put three in the freezer for the event, but had to try one as I had never put lemon juice in my banana bread. Incredible! I had two workers here and offered them slices while warm. They said “OMG! This is the best banana bread I have ever tasted”. Certainly not to my credit…..all yours! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful talent and recipes with us!
Do I need to increase bake time if I double the recipe to make 2 loaves? Love your recipes! Thanks!
Yes, I’m guessing you’ll need an additional 10 minutes but definitely keep an eye on it. Enjoy!
Dear Jenn, I have never in my life enjoyed banana bread. I’ve made it from time to time, always trying different recipes, as family members enjoy it. Then came your recipe…as soon as I saw the light and fluffy batter I was hopeful….Then when I ate it warm from the oven, wow! Loved it! Your recipes never disappoint! Thank you! My kids now ask at almost every dinner,”is this from that lady’s site?” Because they love everything I’ve made from here!! 🙂
LOL– I Love that your kids ask for “that lady’s” recipes 🙂 (And so glad you enjoyed the banana bread!)