Chocolate Banana Bread
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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.
You May Also Like
Chocolate Banana Bread
Deeply chocolaty and wonderfully tender, this chocolate banana bread is the perfect way to use up your ripe bananas—comfort food at its best!
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
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas, from 2-3 brown bananas
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch 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.
- Note: There are two types of unsweetened cocoa powder: natural (such as Hershey's) and Dutch-processed. Dutch-processed will not work in this recipe.
- Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The bread is best enjoyed fresh, but it can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you'd like to keep it longer, the bread can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, wrap it securely in aluminum foil, freezer wrap, or place in a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (12 servings)
- Calories: 273
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated fat: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 37 g
- Sugar: 24 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Sodium: 327 mg
- Cholesterol: 58 mg
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.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
This is the best banana bread ever. It’s quite simply addictive and now my go to recipe for banana bread.
I would like to try this cake . I find the taste of sour cream a bit acidic even though the texture is lovely and moist . Sometimes I swap it out with buttermilk in some recipes . Can I do so here ? Do I need to make any adjustments to the rising agent or is it just a straight swap ? Thanks
Hi Louisa, The baking soda in the recipe should neutralize the acidity of the sour cream. Did you find this particular bread acidic or are you referring to other recipes or sour cream in general?
I made this recipe a few days ago to use up some overripe bananas and it was outstanding. The bread was fluffy and the outside was a little crusty, almost like a perfect brownie. I love a good banana bread like this because it tastes like cake but since you call it bread you can eat it for breakfast guilt free!
Yum, yum, yum! What a tasty way to transform banana bread! This is my young daughter’s new favorite snack, and the rest of us are enjoying it too. It is moist and, well, I just want to say, “yummy.” I’ve used both Hershey’s regular cocoa powder and dark cocoa powder, and while both breads were good, we preferred the one made with dark cocoa powder because it elevated the chocolate taste. Thank you Jennifer!
This is a reliable standby for when I can’t decide between chocolate cake or banana bread.
Hybrid winner! I make it regularly to bring to friends/family and in fact pre-Covid would
make it for church funeral receptions. (we have a committee that volunteers for this, and
after making it once or twice, it became a requested item)
In fact, especially in the winter when bananas do not ripen as quickly as the summer months, or when I don’t plan ahead or have run out of frozen ripe bananas (I keep a ziplock bag in freezer for just this reason), I buy bananas and bake at 300F for about 30 minutes. They turn a scary black color and the peel is very shiny (so, weird!) but let them cool and then use for baking. (be sure to line baking sheet with foil or use a disposable pan to bake the bananas or you will have a mess to clean up).
The flavor is good but the texture is more like a tender cake than a banana bread.
Delicious moist chocolate banana bread! I have made this recipe a few.times now to great reviews. My husband likes to serve it warm topped with whip cream. I recently purchased a tea loaf pan which yields a longer loaf that takes a little less time to bake and is easier to slice. Thanks for another winner Jenn!
This banana bread is so moist and chocolaty, almost like chocolate cake!
This recipe is absolutely fabulous!! I made in miniature bundt pans and it turned out perfect.
Doubled it and made two. Delicious! My bananas were not ripe enough so I baked them in the oven in their peels for 30 mins. I think it helped. Have you ever tried this method Jenn? Thanks for all of your delicious recipes!
Glad you liked it! And I can’t say I’ve ever tried that method for speeding up the ripening of bananas. I’ll try it when I’m in a pinch!