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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I made two of these loaves last week for a summer party and they were deliciously moist and everyone loved them. I had not tried this recipe before but it will be one I use from now on.
Made banana bread for my first time tonight using your recipe. The only thing I did differently was sprinkled pecans on top. Turned out delicious!
Love this recipe. The first time I made it I only had one cup of bananas so I added 1/3 cup applesauce. It was so good I continued next time. I also added 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup raisins. Extra note: I have had very good luck using other recipes of yours also.
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Cece!
I made this today and everyone absolutely loved it! It is so light and moist! Perfect recipe!! Thank you for sharing it!
I double ingredient, added 3/4 cup of mayonnaise in addition to the butter, used 4 cups of mashed bananas, it made 3 breads, baked for 58 mins.
Best breads ever, moist and delicious ! Finally the perfect balance!
Im 15 and this is my first time making them! with a help from my mom. They turned out pretty good! even though we didnt have any Vanilla extract and accidentally put almond extract instead, lol. even then, it still taste pretty good. moist and tasty. we doubled the recipe because we had so many bananas that needed to be used. So for two batches, it only took about 45ish minutes to bake. (but that just depends on the oven) Would definitely recommend!
I am so happy to hear you loved this recipe Leena! Thank you for trying it!
Good orning. I’m a bit curious as to the use of the .5 cup of sugar! I made it, left that out and was a success!
Thanks and be safe
It depends on the sweetness of your bananas. If they are not as ripe they may require some additional sugar. I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Mike!
is the butter referring to melted butter? The recipe says butter or vegetable oil
I use room temperature or softened butter. Melted and cooled butter or vegetable oil will also work!
This is simply the best!!!!!!
Only have one question. How can you tell if it is done? I took my first attempt out after 55 minutes and it was a bit doughy in the center.
Although I can’t eat it(no sugar for me)I love the aroma that fills my home when I bake it for my guys! They LOVE it. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
You want to bake until a toothpick comes out clean. I am glad you enjoyed this recipe Susan!
I’ve made this recipe several times and I’m not much of a baker! I love it.
came out sooo good
Similar experience to other lower ratings. I found the batter quite thick and the finished loaf had very little sweetness or moistness. This recipe had a very high flour ratio to other recipes I’ve used in the past which could be the issue.
Will have to make another attempt.
Very dry on the outdo and raw in the middle…
This turned out so good! We’ve been doing a lot of renovations and spring cleaning for the last few weeks and I’ve promised my kids that I’d make them each a special treat for all their help. A couple of weeks ago it was redoing our cabinets and this week was getting our carpets cleaned. My oldest asked for his own loaf of banana bread, and he had that thing gone within a day! Needless to say I’ll be making this recipe again! Thanks for sharing!
I love that Jeanie! I am so glad this recipe was a hit!
This is a easy and great recipe. So good that my 1 year old grandson didn’t want to stop eating it. Husband and rest of family loves it!
A friend of mine works in a gas station/ convenience store that sells bananas. She hates throwing out more than half a box a week and asked me if I wanted some. Of course I told her and she filled a huge bag with bananas for me.
Wanting a different recipe than the one I’ve been using for years, I came across this one.
Well, I made a pan of mini mini’s ( has 8 little loaves) and 6 full sized breads. Everyone I gifted these breads to told me they were AMAZING, and to please share the recipe.
I told them I can’t because it’s a secret.
Oh my ! This bread is moist and the cinnamon adds that little touch that makes this bread so delicious. It’s my new go to.
Another thing I do during baking caked breads ( including pumpkin) is I make a foil tent over the top to keep the top from over browning the last 20 minutes of bake time.
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Terri! Thank you for the tip!
The most delicious banana bread I’ve ever made – ratio of ingredients is perfect, and the flavour is so spot on. Not too sweet or dense.
Turns out amazing every time. I used this recipe to make 6 loafs for the bake sale at my kids school and an extra loaf for my friend. It was a huge hit. I definitely recommend.
I was going to try this recipe, but noticed that ingredients call for vegetable oil and instructions state to cream butter and sugars. There is no butter on the ingredients list. Just thought you may want to fix this discrepancy.
The ingredients call for ½ cup butter or vegetable oil. I hope that helps.
The Best!!!we love it!!
Recipe worked great and I experimented by adding banana peels as well ( frozen, rinsed, then completely thawed in microwave). Cooked until toothpick came out clean, no excess moisture from peels hindered the recipe. Added bout 1/4 tsp nutmeg, yum.