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
More Quick Bread Recipes you’ll Love
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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Thanks~ I love this recipe! and it worked well with round baking pan ~ <3
baking time: about 60 min (with walnuts & raisins)
My bread collapsed in the middle – any idea why? I’ve made this bread and a couple others from the site in the past without this issue…
Thanks!
Sorry you had a problem with it! When bread collapses in the middle, typically that means it’s underbaked. You may want to check your oven temperature to see if it’s accurate. Here are some tips for how to do that.
Hey Jenn! I don’t have lemon or lemon juice. Will it ruin the recipe leaving this out? Should I substitute something else instead? LMK!
Hi Kristina, the lemon juice reacts with the baking soda to help the bread rise. You can make it without it, but the bread may be a little flatter. Other readers commented they didn’t have lemon juice and used orange juice or apple cider vinegar successfully. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
Hi, love all your recipes. Was wondering if I could substitute mangoes instead of bananas to make a mango bread
Hi AJ, glad you like the recipes! I honestly don’t know how mango would work here; it may work, but it’s hard to say for sure without trying it myself. For the most predictable results, you may want to stick with a quick bread recipe intended for mangoes.
I only have salted butter on hand. Can I leave out the salt in the recipe to make it work?
Sure – While it varies by brand, most salted butter has approximately 1/4 tsp. salt per stick, so you can use the salted butter and reduce the salt in the recipe as needed. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn, I love this recipe so much with some added choco chips and walnuts. The best!! Today, I have perfectly ripe bananas but no lemon. Can you recommend a substitute for the fresh lemon juice? I have lemon juice in a bottle, apple cider vinegar and white vinegar. Thank you!
Glad you liked this! Lemon juice in a bottle should be fine. 🙂
This is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever baked in my life!!!! So tasty! I’m having to use some serious self control to not eat the entire loaf in one go! I looked around at some other recipes and they all seemed so basic in comparison! The lemon juice and vanilla extract really make it that extra bit special! Wondering though if it’s possible to use this recipe but with self raising flour (Instead of plain) but without adding the baking soda/powder? So hard to get flour with the current situation and I’m running low of plain, but have plenty of self raising if that can be used instead!
Glad you like this Els! This is best with all-purpose flour, but I know that it’s hard to come by right now! Self-rising flour will works in recipes using about 1/2 teaspoon (and up to 1 teaspoon) baking powder per cup of flour, so if you feel comfortable doing the math, feel free to give it a try.
Love the banana bread! A big hit with my family and friends. I just had one question – What is the best way to store the cake? I usually leave it outside for a week in a tight container but as it approaches a week I start to notice mold. Should I be keeping it in the fridge?
Glad you like it! You’re storing it correctly — I store it on a plate on the counter and cover it with foil. It only keeps nicely for 3 – 4 days so that’s why you’re seeing mold after a week. It may last slightly longer if stored in the fridge; just bring it to room temperature before eating.
This banana bread is fabulous. I just made it this morning. I did add about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips for a little kick on a Friday. I added three whole bananas. and the batter seemed a bit more wet than I was expecting. Cooked it on a convection setting at 350 for 45 minutes. However it was very moist and wet. I end up cooking it for a total of an hour and a half before it was actually ready. Besides that it turned out great.
This banana bread is SO good! The texture and flavor are exactly what I was looking for (with the addition of some chopped bittersweet chocolate)! One question, your recipe calls for both baking soda and baking powder. The other recipes I have used before call only for baking soda, so I am wondering what the addition of baking powder does to the bread? I did notice that my bread rose right to the top of my loaf pan, but did not “dome” above the pan. Would it get more rise if I left out the baking powder or would that mess up the bread? Thank you for such reliable recipes!! I enjoy your site 🙂
Hi Marybeth, Glad you liked this! The reason the banana bread doesn’t dome is that it’s more cake-like than bread. If you really want that dome, I’d add 1/4 cup more flour. Keep in mind it will make the texture a bit drier. I would not omit the baking soda as it would significantly impact the recipe. Hope that helps!
Hi Marybeth, Glad you liked this! The reason the banana bread doesn’t dome is that it’s more cake-like than bread. If you really want that dome, I’d add 1/4 cup more flour. Keep in mind it will make the texture a bit drier. I would not omit the baking soda as it would significantly impact the recipe. Hope that helps!
The aroma was wonderful and the texture was perfect, but the bread just lacked what I enjoy in banana bread…nutmeg, cinnamon, and nuts!