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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I had extra lemons and overripe bananas and was looking for a recipe where I could use both things. I followed one of your comments/suggestions and used enough ingredients for 1 and 1/2 times the recipe and made it in a bundt pan. We really didn’t taste the lemon, but my husband, son, and I all agreed it was the best banana bread (or bundt cake) I’ve ever made…and I’ve made lots of banana breads over the years. Thanks for the recipe!! 🙂
Following the complete instructions it came fabulous. I like that I can place it in the freezer.
Thanks Jenn for this recipe.
Well…..how good is it? My two year old granddaughter is snorting like a piggy and saying, “Bite, Bite!” It has the perfect sweetness and the banana flavor is not overwhelming. Crunchy outside and moist inside. Excellent!
Thank you, Jenn.
LOL — Glad it was a hit! 🙂
Thanks to this wonderful recipe, my first banana bread was a success! It was moist and crusted well. Just a minor issue I’ve noted was the slight metallic taste in some of the bites. Likely, this is baking soda. I do remember mixing it well into the dry ingredients. How could I prevent this in my future banana breads? Thank you!
Glad you liked this! Yes, I suspect the metallic taste was a result of the baking soda. If you feel confident you thoroughly combined the dry ingredients you may just be very sensitive to the taste. I’d suggest trying an aluminum-free brand of baking soda like Bob’s Red Mill or Rumford. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn,
This banana bread is a winner and definitely a keeper! Love the lemon juice addition, it adds a layer of flavor and smells heavenly. I used olive oil instead of butter to make it dairy free – came out great. Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Jenn,
We made this delicious banana bread last week. It was great. Everyone enjoyed it at home.
Can you please tell me why it’s not soft in the middle? At the bottom of the bread and in the middle, it was hard otherwise it was perfect. Is it because I added too much butter? Thank you for your recipe.
That’s strange Raji – did you make any changes to the recipe? Any chance that it was underbaked?
Hi Jenn,
I baked it at 325F for about an hour. I have a convection Oven. It baked well. Thanks!
I have searched for several years after my Grandmother passed for a banana bread recipe with lemon juice that matched hers. Most people thought I was crazy when I said she added lemon juice. I will say that this was an easy to follow recipe and pretty much spot on from my grandmother’s recipe. Thank you for sharing ❤ my grandchildren will now be able to enjoy a delicious bread that I grew to love.
So glad you found what you were looking for – I hope it brings back great memories. ❤️
Have you ever substituted sugar for coconut sugar? Trying to be a little health conscious and I know coconut sugar does not rase your glycemic index like refined sugar. Also, I love your cookbook. I preordered before it was released. Good job!!! 🙂
Thank you
Thanks for your support with the cookbook – so glad you like it! 🙂 And I don’t have any experience with sugar substitutes so I can’t say how it will impact the recipe – sorry!
I made it with refined sugar, enjoying a slice with my morning cup of tea 🙂 It’s a winner!!! I will let you know how it turns out when i make it with coconut sugar.
👍
Hi! All I have is bread flour and some really ripe bananas. Will it work for this recipe? Thanks much!
Hi Happy, Bread flour isn’t optimal here but in a pinch, it should work (just keep in mind that the texture of the bread won’t be as tender). The batter may be a little thicker; if it appears to be too thick, add 1 to 2 tsp. of water per cup of flour. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
Hi Jenn! I used 1 1/2 cups of bread flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch. And 1 1/4 cups of mashed bananas. Unbelievably, the bread was tender and moist and tasted heavenly thank God! Your recipes are so awesome that even my lack of basic ingredients didn’t mess it up lol. Thanks much ❤️
So glad it came out nicely – thanks for reporting back! 🙂
Hi Jenn, I use bean flour instead of regular flour and add a 1/2 teaspoon of Xantghan gum.
Bet you can’t tell the difference!!
Hi Jenn, I don’t have a bread pan, do you think I can use a round-hole pan instead?
Thank you! Mapi.
Hi Mapi, I’m not familiar with a round-hole pan, but you can bake this in an 8-inch pyrex or square cake pan (bake time would be 35 min).
This is about perfect. The problem was saving enough for the next day to then fry in a pan with butter. Fried banana bread is so good. This version was lighter and fluffier than my own recipe. I guess I have a new one now. Made a load without walnuts for grandmama since she’s allergic and she wouldn’t share LOL.
Hi Jenn, I don’t have a 9×5 loaf pan. All I could find in stores were the aluminum 8×3.75. Nothing on Amazon Prime either. I read through all the reviews, and I see that one person used the smaller loaf pans and it was fine, but another person had the batter overflow. I also have a glass 8×8 pan. What do you think I should use, and should I change the temp & cooking time? I’m not a confident cook so I don’t want to put it all together and just guess…plus, if it doesn’t turn out, I’ll have some disappointed family members.
Thank you! I really enjoy your cookbook and getting your weekly emails. I’ve had great success with your blueberry muffins and baked ziti with sausage.
Hi Melinda, you can bake this in an 8 x 8-inch pan at 350°F for about 35 minutes. (And glad you like the recipes!) 🙂