Banana Nut Bread is an easy banana bread recipe, perfect for those last minute guests or lazy weekend breakfasts. Made with ripe bananas, pecans, and cinnamon this homemade bread is so airy and moist.
Banana Bread can be made with or without nuts, or made into banana nut crunch muffins. Either way, it will be a family favorite for years to come!
Ingredients in Banana Nut Bread
Bananas: You’ll want bananas that are spotty and brown with a little bit of yellow. Ripe bananas have more sugars and are sweeter, the perfect addition to this bread.
Butter & Shortening: This banana nut bread uses a combination of shortening and butter. Shortening has a higher fat content (and melting point) so it makes a more tender bread. The addition of butter is for flavor. You can use all butter in this recipe if you prefer but I would suggest trying it with shortening too, the results are great!
Nuts: You can use any kind of nuts in this recipe, my go to is pecans or walnuts.
How to Make Banana Nut Bread
- Mix the butter/shortening with sugar until fluffy. This incorporates air into the mixture for a tender bread.
- Mix dry and wet ingredients (per recipe below) just until combined. Fold in nuts.
- Spread into a loaf pan and top with cinnamon sugar pecans. Bake about 1 hour.
Tip for Baking Moist Bread
Banana nut bread is considered a ‘quick bread’ because there is no yeast.To keep it moist, here are a few tips and tricks:
- Use very ripe, soft bananas, they’re extra sweet and moist and impart the most ‘banana-y’ flavor!
- Have ingredients at room temperature before beginning.
- Butter tastes great, but shortening produces a softer crumb.
- Gently fold in the wet and dry ingredients with a spatula and be careful not to ‘overstir.’ A light, fluffy bread that goes into the pan comes out airy, moist, and beautiful!
To Store
Banana nut bread will last at room temperature about 4 or 5 days. Keep it wrapped tightly in a cooler space on the counter.
Can I Freeze Banana Nut Bread?
This banana nut bread recipe is a champion for freezing and can be frozen, thawed, and served (without anyone noticing!) for about 2 to 3 months.
Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then seal in a freezer bag with the date on it. To save freezer space, slice in 1 inch slices and layer in a zippered bag and place the bags flat in the freezer. Once they are frozen, stack them neatly. This also allows you to thaw only the portions you need.
Have More Bananas?
- Easy Banana Bread – perfect every time
- Banana Breakfast Cookies – healthy grab’n’go breakfast!
- Chocolate Banana Bread – deliciously decadent
- Easy Banana Bran Muffins – soft & moist!
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread – packed with fruits & veggies!
Easy Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas about 3 medium
- ⅔ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 1 tablespoon flour
Topping
- 2 tablespoons pecans
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon butter
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or line with parchment paper) an 8x4 loaf pan.
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
- With a hand mixer on medium, combine sugar, butter and shortening in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in mashed bananas.
- Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Toss nuts with remaining tablespoon of flour and fold into batter.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan and top with topping. Combine topping ingredient and sprinkle over loaf.
- Bake 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake.
- Cool in the pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Bread, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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hope to make this before hubby throws the over ripe bananans in the bag for the compost.
Omg this is such a perfect recipe. First time making it and it came out perfect. I just used half white flour and half wholewheat flour. Everyone loved it
hey I made a double batch I used recommended ingredients. I used brown sugar and white sugar mixed and milk and dark chocolate chips, walnuts and 3 tbs of honey. most and so good. I made 2 lists and 6 muffins.
Best recipe
Ever
The best banana bread I have tried and I’ve tried lots. My family said it was the best!
I have made this Easy Banana Nut Bread several times, it is truly the best ever. I made 4 loaves to give to friends as they were traveling to the mountains of N.C. for many days. I used pecans, my favorite nuts. These friends have asked for this recipe, all saying it is the best they’ve ever had and how much their husbands loved it. It is the shortening that makes it so, so good
I was on your site for the Banana Nut Bread, then came to this site, posted my remarks on this site, not the banana bread site. Either way, loved the bread.
Fixed :) thank you Marilou!
I made and followed your recipe to a T, it is so very good. It came out perfect, and had my house smelling really good. My granddaughter asked me what I was baking and she said it smell good. I’m going to keep this recipe as a go to. Thanks Holly.
So glad you loved it!
The best
This is such a super simple delicious recipe! Thank you
Unsalted or salted butter?
Both will work for this recipe. I usually use salted because that is what I have on hand. Enjoy Genesis!
I just made this tonight and it is amazing. I did modify it just a bit, I did 1cup light brown sugar & 1/2cup granulated sugar and instead of shortening, I used the same amount of coconut oil, it tastes so good! Thank you!
Very delicious. I folded dry and wet ingredients into sugar, butter and shortening. It did make the loaf light and fluffy.
This recipe was simple/easy. This was my first time making banana nut bread. It came out great, I’m glad it wasn’t too sweet with me being diabetic. 5 stars