Banana Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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
More Quick Bread Recipes You May Like
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.
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This banana bread is incredible and one of my favourite things to bake. It’s so easy to throw together and so delicious. I find it’s great to share too, loaves are always easier to cut than rounds, and it’s always very popular whenever I take it anywhere. I like my banana bread loaded with goodies so I add chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts and/or raisins, whatever I’m in the mood for, about a cup total. I’ve cooked this in at least 4 different ovens in 2 different countries and I always have to add 5-10 mins to the cooking time (usually 50-55 mins for me), but it comes out perfectly every time. Thanks for this winner, Jenn. I’d give it more than 5 stars, if I could!
This recipe is a keeper. Added some cinnamon and baked for only 50 minutes in glass dish.
Why don’t you use sour cream in this recipe when you do in the others?
Thanks, love all your recipes!
Edie
Hi Edie, I developed this recipe a long time ago so I don’t remember the reason I didn’t use sour cream in this one but I promise it works. 🙂
Moist and can really taste it’s banana as many recipies only use one banana . Will def add to our favourites!
This is my new favorite banana bread mother recipe. I doubled this recipe using the kitchen scale measures, subbing flavorful coconut oil for the butter for a lactose-intolerant friend. I also couldn’t resist subbing most of the volume (not weight) of the sugar for maple syrup, as I wanted a slightly more wholesome version. I even substituted 100g almond flour for the regular flour. The mixture was more liquid, thanks to the maple syrup, but the loaf was a wonderful texture, springy and light instead of dense and muffin-like. It is really a banana-bread, not muffin, recipe, much lighter and more delicate than the more stodgy (yet satisfying!) banana muffins I am used to making. When you use the batter in the muffin tins they don’t dome like muffins (that might also be because of the more liquid dough I used), but they make nice short mini cakes that kids like holding. Oh and of course I added chocolate chips—for the kids (that is my excuse, anyways!).
I’ve made this recipe twice. Both times it is raw in the middle even though the tester came out clean. The end slice was dry. If I bake it longer, the bread will be very dry around the edges. Any insight on what might be wrong? The oven thermometer said the temp was ok. Thanks.
Sorry you’ve had a problem with this (twice)! Are you using a glass pan? Are you making any adjustments to the recipe?
The best banana bread recipe for me, tried it out 3 times already and worked very well every time! I cut up a small banana and put in on top of the batter for extra ”banananess” before baking.
Love this recipe because it’s buttery! It’s simple and doesn’t have diet ingredients like apple sauce. When I want low-cal, I’ll go elsewhere lol I too have trouble with the top being completely baked through because I use a glass pan, but I read on another recipe here to lower temperature and bake longer. I baked at 325 for an hour.
My search for THEE Banana Bread recipe is over! Lemon juice is the secret in this one! For those having problems with under done-ness with baking: add-ins(I do walnuts & chocolate chips, myself) will stretch your batter. You’ll end doing two loaves. Fill your pan ONLY HALF WAY up (I noticed in her photo & after my last loaf was a hard shell on the outside & doughy in the middle) Then the 40 min bake time works perfectly. I tried going towards 45 mins because i didn’t preheat & both loaves ended up a little dry.
Loved it!!