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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Just out of the oven!
Because of the dark psn I baked for 30 minutes.
Thank goodness I did.
It looks and smells awesome!
I added chocolate chips.
Can’t wait to eat some.
Keeper!
Thank you for sharing your recipe. 💞
Hiya Jenn. This banana bread recipes phenomenal. I’m in my seventies and I’ve been making banana bread for over 50 years, and I really love the way this one turned out. I had three large very ripe bananas that I mashed and I ended up with one and a half cups of mashed banana. Which is one and a half times the amount the recipe calls for. So I added one and a half times every ingredient. Then to bake the banana bread I used my Pampered Chef stoneware mini loaf pan, which makes four small loaves all at once. I baked them at 350° for 33-35 minutes. Thank you so much. I will definitely make this again and the next time I think I’ll add some crushed walnuts. I love banana and walnut together.
I will be using a mini loaf pan (from King Arthur). Did you fill the pans halfway up as the large pan seems to be? Thanks for the cooking times.
Except for using gluten free flour (Cup 4 Cup), I followed the recipe exactly as written. The bread rose beautifully and tastes so flavorful! This recipe is a keeper!
Hi Jenn,
I print so many of your recipes rather than check to see if they are published in one of your cookbooks (which I have both). Is there a way you could mention that the posted recipe is in one of your books? My husband and I LOVE your recipes – I can honestly say I make one to two of your recipes every week…….Thank you in advance for more recipes to follow! BTW, I have purchased your cookbooks as gifts for my “foodie friends” and they love the book!
Hi Cindy, Thanks for your nice words about the recipes and support of the cookbooks! I actually have a “stamp” in the bottom left corner of the main picture for any blog recipe that is also in one of the cookbooks. See the Peruvian Chicken as an example. Hope that helps and keeps you from printing anything unnecessarily! 😊
Well…I’ve been making the same banana bread recipe for 38 years, have tried others, however my husband always prefers the old recipe. Made yours today…he agreed your recipe …is now replacing the old recipe! I’ve been following you for roughly 8 years, and always my go to…you never disappoint! THANK YOU !
My loaf pan is 8×4. Would you suggest adjusting both the time and temperature? If yes, by how much? Thank you!
Hi Jeanne, an 8 x 4 is not large enough for the batter. You’d actually need to use two of them for this (believe it or not, a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan holds double the amount of batter compared to an 8 x 4.)
Jenn
This is a super easy fast delicious
Banana bread recipe the lemon
Is the icing to this recipe made
Three Loaves all the same times
We’re what recipe said
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five stars
Your recipes are awesome
Easy delicious thank you so very much for sharing
This was an excellent banana bread. Having made a few that were less than good, I was quite happy with it! But I did have to cook it longer than 45 minutes – it sunk in the middle my first try. I did use 3 bananas. Also, I used every Pumpkin pie like spice in my drawer with abandon – nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, allspice – the lot. I liked it, I’m sure everyone has their own opinion on such things. My sons finished it off in one hour.
First time ive made a Banana Bread…..whole loaf was consumed within the same day by the family….now I have to bake another 😋
The recipe has become a staple in our house for using up old bananas. I actually make these as cupcakes and bake at 350 for 18 minutes. I few substitutions I’ve done to make these vegan and use unprocessed sugar: sub flax meal for eggs (1 Tbsp meal + 3 Tbsp water per egg) and vegan butter (1:1 sub with regular butter), and sub 1/2 cup of agave nectar for the sugar. Yum!
Hi Jenn, getting ready to make the banana bread and wanted to add pecan, how much can I add to the batter without messing up the recipe. Thanks in advance.
Hi Arlene, I think I’d go with about 1 cup.
Thanks for the reply Jenn. The banana bread was awesome as all your recipes.