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.
Comments
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Hi Jenn, if I wanted to lower the fat content could I substitute applesauce for the butter?
Hi Christine, If you’d like, you can replace half the amount of butter in the recipe with applesauce. Just keep in mind that the bread will be more moist and dense. I’d love to hear how it comes out if you try it!
The texture is beautiful, but it has no flavor.
I followed the recipe but, because I first zested the lemon before squeezing it for the juice called for, tossed in the zest (figured why not) and also added some finely chopped pecans. Delicious, very light, moist and is now the only banana bread recipe I’ll ever use.
Your recipes, and this website, brings me so much pleasure Jenn; I love to cook and bake and you help make me a super-star with family and friends!
LOVED THIS! Was feeling like making some to start the week and I don’t know if it’s supposed to be light instead of dense but I love it no matter what! I will use this recipe forever now (like most of your recipes!!).
temp?
Hi Anna, the bread gets baked at 350°F/175°C.
Second time I made this and both times the ends cooked middle was raw. Any idea why?
Hi Rebecca, So sorry you had trouble! What type of pan are you using?
This happens to me as well every time I make this recipe! I use a pan with the measurements suggested in the recipe. I never have problems with any other recipes on this site and bake often, so I guess I’m just cursed when it comes to this particular recipe. I think from now on I’ll just stick with the chocolate banana bread recipe and give up on this one.
This also happened to me. The bread was way undercooked. I’ve made several other recipes from this site that have turned out well but this and the choc chip muffins were complete disasters.
I really must thank you for this wonderful recipe with detailed instructions! I made it with (sifted) white spelt flour, and following the rest of the recipe to the letter (metric quantities), after 42 minutes in the new mini oven it came out perfectly! The texture is really light and soft, and the flavour is beautiful. I may try adding some chopped walnuts or pecans next time as well.
Made a vegan version by using a 50/50 mixture of flavourless coconut oil and light olive oil instead of butter, and 2 tablespoons of ground golden linseeds/flaxseeds soaked in 5 tablespoons of water instead of the eggs.
I added 75g of chopped pecans as well (about 3/4 cup, measured before chopping), and again used white spelt flour.
I sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar over the top before baking, to add a little crunch.
Because of the added nuts, I decided to bake it for 45 minutes this time, and though it ended up with a very slight dip in the centre, the cake was fully done and again beautifully moist.
Each version of this recipe has been utterly delicious, and I will definitely be making it again!!!
Best banana bread ever! And I have tried a lot of different recipes. I think the secret is the lemon juice!
This truly is the best recipe, I have made it several times and it never disappoints. I do recommend to use the grams measurements if you have a scale so it comes out perfect!
Silly question but can you do this without an electric mixer? I added this to my daughters first apartment cook book recipes and she does not have one
Hi Nicole, that’s nice that you’re making that for her! It will take a little elbow grease, but it’s doable without a mixer. Here’s some guidance that may be helpful.
I didn’t use an electric mixer – I used a manual egg beater and it came out great!
This is my new favorite banana bread recipe. It replaces my old one, which was almost identical but used vegetable oil instead of butter and did not include lemon juice. I swapped out brown sugar for white sugar and added butterscotch chips, and it was delicious.
This recipe is the best I’ve tried. I like this banana bread because it’s so light in texture. This will be my go-to recipe forever.