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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Used frozen bananas, doubled the recipe and baked in an angel food pan–what was available in a kitchen not my own. Came out perfect, delicious. I added walnuts, too.
Your article does not have the ingredients you just talk about it. You show a picture but you don’t have the actual measurements.
It sounds like you are just looking at the portion of the page that has the pictures with some instructions above. If you scroll down a bit to under the pictures, you’ll find the full recipe. Alternatively, at the very top of the page, to the right of the recipe name, you’ll see an orange/red button that says Jump to Recipe – if you click on that, it will take you directly to the recipe. Hope that clarifies!
I made this on Friday for a Saturday brunch. My whole family gathered at my son’s apartment in Brooklyn. It was perfect and I’ve made many banana loaves. I will definitely make again and again!
Delicious! Best banana bread recipe I have ever made.
I topped it with the walnut mixture from your banana nut muffin recipe.
AMAZING! Best Banana Bread ever!
OK, not great. Not a lot of flavor.
Easy and delicious banana bread recipe! Used 2 little loaf pana and it worked out great. Which is how I find many of your baking recipes! Will start tryimg some of the meal recipes soon!
Thank you for the recipe Jenn! I make this banana bread every 2 wks or so and my family loves it! Today I made it into muffins and it turned out great. Keep up the great work!
This is the first time that I buttered and dusted my pan and this step created crust magic. Golden in color, evenly fluffy, crispy, buttery, banana delight. Fabulous recipe. Thank you, Jenn!
I made these according to the recipe. Very good! As others suggested, they could use more sugar. I did sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top along with sliced almonds before baking which yielded a lovely crunchy top. Instead of a loaf, I made 12 big muffins. They took only 15 mins in my oven. Delish Sunday breakfast.