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 have a question, what is the baking time if I want to make the same recipe but with mini loaf pans 5.75 x 3 in?
Hi Giselle, I’d start checking them at about 35 minutes. Enjoy!
Hi Jenn – thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
I have made this banana bread twice now and both times it did not rise in the middle like your picture. The top was flat. What am I doing wrong?
Annie
Hi Annie, I don’t think you did anything wrong – this particular banana bread doesn’t dome much in the middle, if at all. It has a tender, cake-like texture and bakes up more like a cake than a traditional bread. But if you want to get more rise in the center, you can increase the flour to 2 cups; the bread will just be a bit denser.
Not only is This Recipe and every recipe I’ve tried here wonderfully delicious, but cooking with you is such a joy, your presentations are just my happy place, thank you!!!
💗
Hi Jenn! Your cookbook and website are my go-tos whenever I’m looking for a recipe or menu inspiration. Thank you for years of delicious meals! I’ve made this bread dozens of times, but wondering if you have suggestions for making it healthier? For example, oatmeal or oat flour as sub for white flour? Thank you!
Hi Tess, Thanks for your kind words — so glad you like them! If you’d like to use a healthier flour, I’d suggest white whole wheat. White whole wheat flour is lighter and milder tasting than regular whole wheat flour (yet just as nutritious). Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
Great recipe, I have now made these several times. I do them as muffins. Instead of making it as bread I cook them as muffins to eat and freeze for later. Recipe yields 18 muffins, 350° for 25 min, rest in pan for 10 just like bread then transition to a cooling rack.
Thank you for an easy recipe that tastes great. I also add cranberries and crushed walnuts in mine.
truly the best banana bread. the lemon, as an ingredient was surprising, added another layer. I also microwave my bananas, peel them and set them over a sieve, and press to remove the liquid, if the liquid is thick I fold the bananas back in, if the liquid to thin I will reduce the liquid to thicker constancy, cool and then fold back into the bananas, for me, helps deepen the flavor. I have tried several of your recipes, this is the first baking recipe. loved it!!
I usually love the taste of lemon but not too fond of it in this recipe. Otherwise very good and easy to make once all ingredients are set out.
It’s a keeper ☺️
Hi Jen,
Can I cover the top with foil to prevent the sides from getting too brown or can I put those strips that u wet around the pan?
Thank you
Lin
Hi Lin, I wouldn’t keep it covered the whole time but if you find that the top is browning more than you’d like, you can loosely lay a piece of foil on top of the loaf pan.
Love this recipe! I do lightly tent mine after the allotted baking time is up and I still feel it made need a few more minutes. Comes out great!!
Same here. I usually bake the banana bread for about an hour, but I tent it loosely with a foil by the 45-minute mark, sometimes earlier. Bread is done but still moist, and the top is nicely brown, not burnt
Hi Jen,
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now, and love it each time! Sometimes I also change it up by adding in 1 tsp of cinnamon and a cup of crushed almonds/walnuts for extra flavour and texture.
A friend of mine can’t have butter. So I would like to ask if I am able to change up the butter in the recipe to a neutral oil like Canola oil? So for example, rather than creaming the butter and sugar, I will be whisking the eggs and sugar until it is light and fluffy, before adding in the other wet/dry ingredients in. And if so, should I replace the butter and oil in a 1:1 ratio? Thank you again!
Hi Patrick, so glad you like this! If you need a replacement for butter, I’d suggest (solidified) coconut oil. You really need to cream the sugar and the fat and solidified coconut oil will do the trick. And you should use the same amount, so ½ cup. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn,
Can I use lemon juice in a bottle in place of fresh lemons.
Thank you
Lin
Sure, Lin, that will work. Enjoy!
When I use lemon juice in the bottle, do I use 2 tablespoons of the bottled lemon juice?
Thank you
Lin
Yes, you’d use the same amount.