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 just made this. It’s so yummy. I added a few more bananas and a tiny bit more flour.
Turned out excellent!!
Thanks for your recipe!
🙂
Gave it a whirl and it seemed to come out fine. I skewer tested it and everything and the skewer came out clean. While cooling on the rack though the top caved in and when I checked inside I found the inside was still not cooked. Not sure why the skewer test came out clean when it was still not fully cooked in the center but sadly there was no fixing it at that point.
Pretty much every other recipe I’ve looked at or used had at least 50 minutes, usually 55 minutes, for a cooking time at 350 degrees. I guess it doesn’t surprise me that this one did not cook after 45 in the oven as that cooking time just seems too low. For anyone trying this recipe I would definitely make doubly sure it’s done before you pull it out.
I am not usually a fan of banana bread but had some that were going in the trash if I didn’t use them, so happy I did. This is a simple recipe and I have to admit I was surprised at the lack of seasonings. I think I figured out why I don’t normally like banana bread. Most recipes have too much added seasonings that just take away from the simplicity of the banana. Thank you for another keeper!
This is everyone’s favorite banana bread recipe in my family. It is different from the stodgy, heavy, sugary banana bread recipes I’ve tried (and liked!) before. This recipe gives a really nice, not too heavy loaf, with a nice crumb and good moisture. The banana flavor and aroma are there but not overpowering, which was a favorite for our adult crowd. I could see it being successful even with a little less sugar. Nuts could be a great addition but I’d pass on chocolate because it might distract from the bread’s delicious flavor. Overall, this is a hit! My favorite part is the crispy crust—can’t get enough of it with coffee or tea!
This cake was very easy to make and I added a handful of hazelnuts to the mix . I adjusted the baking time so that the cake was in the oven a bit longer – 4 m ins or so.
The texture is lovely and moist and its a good sized loaf but I have to be honest it was not my best tasting banana bread as there just wasn’t enough banana – I used exactly what the recipe states I weighted it out – all blackened . It just tasted like a nice cake not banana bread . But toasting it did bring out the flavour a bit more . Question- could I increase the amount of banana – say a third large banana – without messing up the balance of the cake ? That would fix it .
Hi Louise, I wouldn’t add another banana as it would make the bread too moist. You could maybe add a little additional banana but would not add a whole one. Hope that helps!
Recipe was nice and simple to follow. My bread was not done in the middle, as my oven bakes uneven, so it appears darker but not a burnt flavor. I measured out the banana puree to 1 cup, but wished I had added extra. I added walnuts as well. Overall, very pleased!
Excellent recipe! Made double batch today and it is just about gone. Love the the subtle sweetness of it, other recipes usually turn out too sweet. Added some nuts to it too and didnt have vanilla, or lemon juice and it still turned out fabulous!
Perfect recipe! This is the second time I’ve made it because my family loves it so much!
This is the only banana bread I will make. It turns out perfectly every single time.Everyone who I take it to loves it!!
Another winner from Jenn! Take her word for it that this bread gets even better the next day and is out of this world toasted – yummy!