Chocolate Banana Bread
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Rich, chocolaty, and loaded with banana flavor, this chocolate banana bread is as delicious as it is easy to whip up! Enjoy it as a breakfast treat, afternoon snack, or dessert—it’s perfect any time of day.
I usually think of banana bread as a breakfast treat (or, let’s be honest, something you grab a little slice of every time you pass through the kitchen). But this chocolate banana bread is so rich and decadent, you could easily top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and call it dessert. With chocolate chips and cocoa powder for a double dose of chocolate and sour cream to keep it irresistibly moist, this quick bread is always a family favorite.
“Exquisite, fabulous, hands down the most beautiful, moist, decadent, delicious, cake-like, chocolaty, awesome banana bread I’ve ever had.”
What You’ll Need To Make Chocolate Banana Bread
- All-Purpose Flour: The base of your chocolate banana bread. Measure it by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off to ensure accuracy.
- Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Adds a rich chocolate flavor. It’s important not to substitute this with Dutch-process cocoa powder due to differences in acidity.
- Baking Soda: Acts as a leavening agent, helping the banana bread rise.
- Unsalted Butter: Provides moisture and richness. Using it at room temperature ensures it creams well with sugar.
- Sugar: Adds sweetness and contributes to the bread’s tender texture.
- Large Eggs: Bind the ingredients together and add structure.
- Mashed Bananas: The star ingredient for moisture and flavor. Use very ripe, brown bananas for the best taste. To quickly ripen bananas, store them in a loosely sealed brown paper bag. (Overripe bananas can be frozen—simply peel and store them in a resealable bag in the freezer, ideally 2 to 3 bananas per bag, as this is the common amount used in recipes.)
- Sour Cream: Adds richness and ensures the banana bread is moist.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor of the bread.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Add gooey, chocolatey pockets to the bread. If you’d like, you can also add a handful of chopped nuts, like walnuts or pecans for extra texture and flavor. You can also substitute some of the chocolate chips with white chocolate or peanut butter chips for a different twist.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by Step Instructions
To begin, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to mix well after each addition.
Next, add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture.
Beat gently until just combined, then mix in the mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla.
Add the chocolate chips and fold with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated. Be sure not to overmix the batter.
Pour the chocolate banana bread batter into a greased loaf pan and spread evenly.
Bake until done, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Let the chocolate banana bread rest in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. The bread is best enjoyed fresh, but it can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for longer storage.
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Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ¼ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Hershey's (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas, from 2 to 3 brown bananas
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set a rack in the middle position. Grease a 9 x 5-in (23 x 13-cm) loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk until there are no more lumps in the cocoa powder and the mixture is well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients and beat gently until just combined. Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let the loaf rest in the pan for about 10 minutes, run a blunt knife around the edges to loosen, then turn it out onto a 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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This banana bread actually made my son love banana bread! I followed the recipe (don’t alter anything!) And it was so moist, light and delicious. Keeps very well and is a great addition to the lunchbox!
Decadent & the kind of stuff people dream of. I don’t have a loaf pan so I made this in my muffin tin. My whole family, even my hard-to please sister, loves them & always asks when I’ll be making more.
SO GOOD!…this was moist, chocolaty , perfection in a loaf. Jenn, this is another winning recipe. Busy sharing it with my neighbors who love it as much as i do. They say to me, “Do another something from Once Upon a Chef.” Thank you!
I substituted bread flour for all-purpose flour, cacao powder and cacao niblets for the chocolate and granulated sugar from dates. It tasted great, but I do not know the nutritional information. Any calculations would help.
Hi Ronald, there is nutritional information for the recipe as written, but I don’t know how your substitutes would impact the numbers – sorry I can’t be more helpful, but glad you liked the way it turned out!
So I was trying to do this late tonight and use up the ripe bananas I had and I completely missed the note about not using dutch chocolate powder. This is probably a super dumb question but I am not sure if the chocolate powder I used is Dutched or not. I used the Valrhona brand but I don’t see where it would say this. Will it always say on the package if it is Dutched and not say anything when it isn’t or how would I be able to know? In the oven now so hoping I used the right chocolate.
Hi Nancy, The package would specify if the cocoa powder was Dutch processed, so if it doesn’t indicate that, you can assume it’s not. Hope the bread turned out well!
Thank you for always taking the time to reply, so here is what I found on the internet “Dutch-process (alkalized) cocoa may or may not be labeled “Dutch-process,” or “alkalized,” but the ingredient statement should say, “cocoa processed with alkali.” Interestingly, the Valrhona brand only says 100% cacao and doesn’t say dutch processed nor alkali BUT when you google Valhrona cocoa powder on Amazon, it says it is a dutched processed chocolate so I figured I was going to have to dump my banana chocolate bread but it still rose beautifully and tasted great! In any case, I am using Hershey’s as you are recommending next time.
I’m not a huge fan of banana bread, but sometimes its the easiest thing to make when you have ripe bananas sitting around. So, on a really hot summer day I thought I’d give this a try. Doesn’t chocolate make everything better? It really does in this bread! I loved it. I did substitute yogurt for the sour cream since thats what I had and I cooked it in the crock pot. There was no way I was turning on the oven in the 100 degree heat. I put it in a loaf pan, placed the loaf pan in the crock pot on the rack and cooked on high for 3 hours.
Just made this today. It is delicious!!! I did not add chocolate chips but added a little more cocoa powder. I also added a little less sugar. Will definitely make this again! Thanks a million!!
This banana bread is absolutely amazing, very rich. It is almost more like a dessert than a breakfast bread. I followed the recipe exactly, except I used dark chocolate chips since that is what I had on hand. Absolutely wonderful, this will be a regular recipe.
Love this recipe and have made it often. One friend said her son and his friend liked the bread so much that they thought they would open a store and just sell this bread.
I do make some substitutions coconut oil for the butter, homemade yogurt for the sour cream, and dark chocolate baking chunks instead of chocolate chips.
Any banana bread recipe that gives me permission to top it with ice cream is a winner in my book! Thank.You.Jenn. This is soooo good, but the true gem in this recipe is the tip about the natural cocoa powder. I’ve never used it and so many of my other recipes just don’t have this wonderful texture. Definitely a keeper!