This banana bread recipe is moist, tender, and packed with rich banana flavor. It’s a great way to use up ripe bananas for breakfast, snacks, or the freezer.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Sweet with brown sugar, cinnamon, and rich banana flavor, baking up soft and tender with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb.
- Budget Tip: This recipe is perfect for using up those overripe bananas so they don’t go to waste.
- Time-Saving Tip: No time to bake and your bananas are turning brown? Unpeel and freeze 4 at a time in a Ziploc bag for easy baking later!
- Freezing: This banana loaf freezes beautifully. Wrap the whole loaf or wrap individual slices for a quick grab-and-go snack.
Banana Basics
- Bananas: Use very ripe bananas with plenty of brown spots for the best sweetness. If using frozen, squeeze out any extra liquid before mixing. How many bananas in a cup? There are about 3 medium bananas in a cup. So for this recipe, you will want about 4 medium ripe bananas.
- Flour: This recipe uses all-purpose flour as the base. You can replace up to ⅔ cup of it with whole wheat flour. Spoon and level the flour for a light, fluffy banana bread.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter in this recipe. If you have salted butter, skip the salt. You can replace some of the butter with oil for an extra moist crumb.
- Sugar: Sugar gives this banana bread its sweet flavor and soft texture, so don’t skip, swap, or reduce it.
Banana Bread Variations
One of the best parts about banana bread is once you’ve got the hang of it there are so many ways to customize it!
- Add nutmeg or swap pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon.
- To make it into a banana nut bread, add toasted nuts such as walnuts or pecans.
- Top the loaf with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
- Add mini chocolate chips, raisins, or shredded coconut.
How to Make Banana Bread
It’s easy to make the best banana bread with just a few simple steps!
- Whisk together dry ingredients (full recipe below).
- Cream butter and sugar. Add bananas, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Combine.
- Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
How to Store Banana Bread
- For best results, keep moist banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freeze loaves or slices by tightly wrapping them in plastic wrap or storing them in an airtight container for up to 4 months.
- Warm slices quickly in the microwave or pop them in the toaster for a soft, cozy bite.
Ripe Banana Recipes
Did you enjoy this Banana Bread recipe? Leave us a rating and comment below!
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cups mashed bananas about 4 small bananas
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened, or vegetable oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or line with parchment paper) a loaf pan.
- Mash the bananas with a fork to make 1 ⅓ cups mashed banana.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, add butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, and mix well. Stir in mashed bananas.
- Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir just until combined, do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Video
Notes
To ripen bananas quickly: Bake in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes or until the peels turn black. Cool completely before using.
Be sure to measure the flour correctly by spooning it into a measuring cup, not scooping it with the measuring cup.
Do not overbake. Ovens can vary; be sure to check your bread at least 10 minutes early. Remove from the pan to cool completely.
Leftovers will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for 4 days. It will also keep in the refrigerator, but wrap it tightly.
This is also great for freezing. Wrap and keep in freezer for 4 months.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 221 | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 269mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 287IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Breakfast, Dessert
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Delicious. Made a loaf and muffins from one batch and added chocolate chips to one batch.
I’m making your banana bread recipe and really wanted to make a 9×5 loaf. No matter if I get the 2x or 3x recipe it still says use an 8×4 pan.
When using the 2x/3x this increases only the amount of the ingredients required, unfortunately it cannot automatically update the written portion of the recipe.
If you make 2x you will need two 8×4 loaf pans. If you make 3x you will need three 8×4 loaf pans. I hope that helps!
Looked at many recipe’s, going to give yours a try. Any concerns with a gas stove. I will let you know. Apparently my, rather my moms carrot cake recipe surpasses all carrot cakes
This recipe was delicious! I added 1 cup of sour cream to the mixture before adding dry ingredients. I’ve always done this, because I feel it helps with the bread to be moist. I used a muffin tin amd baked for 28min at 350 and then put the remainder of the mix in a loaf pan. I cooked the loaf an additional 7min. Everything came out perfect! Thank you for the recipe!!
Absolutely perfect banana bread. I followed the recipe as directed.
Best banana bread I ever made
Just made your banana bread recipe. However, I was kind of surprised that you didn’t mention baking powder on the ingredients list. I think it is a necessary element to any kind of cake batter, no? So, I did add it anyway just to be sure. Have not tried it, but it looks and smells deliciously!
Hi Caroline, we use baking soda in this recipe instead of baking powder and it turns out delicious every time! We would love to hear how it turned out for you with baking powder as well!
It would be nice if you put the degrees for a confection oven for cooking this banana net bread. It would be nice if you could tell us how to convert from regular oven to confection cooking.
Hi Marlene, the general rule when switching to a convection oven is to reduce the temperature by 25°F to accommodate. You will still want to check as it gets closer to the final baking time to ensure it doesn’t overcook!
Great little recipe. Never fails. I add blueberries.
Oh my! I made it with vegetable oil and it came out wonderfully moist and delicious. This will definitely be my go to recipe for banana bread. Was easy to make all I had my 5 and 8 year old do all the mixing. Thanks so much!
So happy to hear that, Bee! Such a fun way to get the kids involved in the kitchen.
Followed the recipe to a T. Even when mixing the consistency did not seem right. It was thick and dry. I measured out the bananas after mashing them. There was not a very “banana” taste to the bread, turned out very dry. I made two batches, lined dishes with parchment, both were a bust. I felt it Needed more banana and less flour.
Sorry to hear that, Katie! I make this recipe all the time and love it as written. You can check out our flour guide to ensure you aren’t adding too much flour. Also for the banana flavor make sure to use ripe bananas. The riper the banana the strong the banana flavor will be. We also have this delicious banana bread recipe that may work better.
Operator error.Don’t blame it on the recipe.4.93 average out of 231 votes?Its you not the recipe
Delish ! It was yummy I overbaked it 5 or 10 mins but it was still yummy ! Instead of salt I used lemon juice instead of white sugar I used brown sugar ! Thanx !
So happy you enjoyed it, Alice.
Hi Thank you for your banana bread recipe .
My daughter loves it and she always requested to make it for her snacks at school. It was very soft and moist.
So happy to hear that, Mary!
Honestly I’m not one to write reviews and I love a lot of your recipes but this was not it for me. Maybe it was the brown sugar that made it taste off, not sure but didn’t taste very good. I followed the recipe to a T too. Disappointing but maybe it just wasn’t for me! :) again love other recipes you have!
We do love this recipe as written but if this one wasn’t for you we have some other bread banana bread recipes that you might want to try! This easy banana bread has been on repeat in my house these past few weeks , or for some fun try this chocolate chip banana bread recipe!
Was good! I made three mini loaves filled 3/4 full and baked for about 40 minutes and they turned out perfect!
Not very flavorful. Took MUCH longer to bake than the recipe said. Definitely NOT a make again. Very disappointing.
Sorry to hear that, Delene. This recipe is usually a reader favorite and a personal favorite of mine! For extra flavor, be sure to use well-ripened bananas.
This is probably the BEST banana bread recipe I have ever tried. I make it ahead of time, freeze it, and thaw it out when we have overnight guests. It’s so easy to make, too!
Can i substitute whole wheat flour for this recipe? Or would I have to make adjustments?
Thank you!
While I have not tried it for this recipe, so can’t say for sure, my experience is that substituting one-quarter whole wheat for all purpose flour will work well. More may also work for some recipes, but I haven’t tried it. Some readers have made this banana bread with whole wheat with success!
For me this is the best banana recipe ever. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I made it. And i added some cubed cheddar cheese and it’s so good. I did need to cook my bread for about 55 minutes. It’s perfect
Cubed cheddar cheese! I would have never thought to add that, Heni. I will have to give it a try, thanks for sharing.
This was absolutely amazing banana bread! Very moist and sweet! I added an extra 1/4 cup of sugar and some chocolate chips and it came out perfectly! However, I did need to cook my bread 70 minutes to get the center completely cooked and used tinfoil to prevent the top from burning.