With its super-moist and buttery texture, banana and brown sugar flavors, soft crumb, and 1,300+ reviews, this is a delicious AND undeniably popular banana bread recipe. You need 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos and a few more success tips. It’s one of the most popular recipes I’ve published on this website, out of over 1,200. This recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
One reader, Michele, says: “Perfectly delish every time! Absolutely foolproof. Nuts, no nuts, smidge more or less of sour cream—no problem… bigger bananas, smaller—no worries, perfect, beyond delicious EVERY time. ★★★★★”
This is my favorite banana bread recipe, one that I’ve cherished for years. It’s one of those classic recipes that you start to know by heart, just like a good pie crust or chocolate chip cookies recipe. This bread comes to mind first when I have leftover spotty bananas on the counter, and it’s the bread that’s on constant rotation in my freezer stash.
One reader, Tricia, commented: “I have this recipe on speed dial. LOL. It is so tasty and is always a crowd pleaser. My kids and entire family love it!!! ★★★★★”
Yes, I have this recipe on speed dial too!
I’ve tried dozens of banana bread recipes over the years, and when I baked and originally published this recipe many years ago, I never looked back.
Why You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe Too
- Mega banana flavor
- Not overly sweet, so banana flavor shines
- Dense, but still quite tender & soft
- Buttery & stays moist for days (tastes best on day 2, just like peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread)
- Straightforward, simple recipe
- Freezes wonderfully
- Excellent plain or with nuts or chocolate chips—or a swipe of cinnamon butter
How to Mash Bananas
Did you know you can use your electric mixer to mash bananas? Break or slice the spotty bananas into large pieces and place in the bowl of your stand mixer—or use a regular mixing bowl and your hand mixer. Begin beating on low, then gradually increase to medium-high speed as the bananas break down into mashed banana. Transfer the bananas to another bowl and use the mixing bowl for the butter and sugar. (No need to clean it—some mashed banana remnants is fine.)
I do this when I mash bananas for banana muffins and banana chocolate chip breakfast cookies too.
Other Banana Bread Ingredients
- Butter: Use softened butter for a soft texture and irresistible butter flavor.
- Brown Sugar: Use all brown sugar in this recipe. In the headnotes for this chocolate chip cookies recipe, I explain that brown sugar yields soft and moist cookies. Well, brown sugar works that same magic in banana bread, too. It also adds wonderful flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs supply cakes, cupcakes, breads, doughs, and cookies their stability and structure, as well as a tender texture. You’ll need 2 large eggs for this.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: Sour cream or yogurt adds even more moisture to this banana bread. (You can use the 2 interchangeably in most baking recipes.)
For banana nut bread, add 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to the banana bread batter; I like using either pecans or walnuts. If you’re nuts for nuts (LOL), you’ll enjoy the toasty slight crunch nestled inside the soft crumbs. If you’re not a nut person, feel free to leave them out or replace with chocolate chips. For a whole wheat version, try my whole wheat banana bread. Or for a chocolate version, try my double chocolate banana bread.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with 1 and 1/2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
Can I Turn This Into a Banana Bundt Cake?
I recommend using my extremely similar, scaled-up recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake instead. You can leave out the chocolate swirl in that recipe.
How to Freeze Banana Bread
Freeze banana bread using these instructions to preserve its fresh flavor and texture for months:
- Cool baked banana bread completely.
- Tightly wrap the loaf or slices (individually or grouped) in 2–3 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- Place wrapped banana bread in a large freezer-friendly storage bag or reusable container.
- Date the bag and freeze for up to 3–4 months. Thaw wrapped or unwrapped in the refrigerator or at room temperature. All methods work like a charm!
I like to freeze the quick bread in slices because slices thaw much quicker than a whole loaf.
Overall, this is an easy recipe for classic banana bread. The batter takes about 10 minutes to throw together, the bread stays moist for days, and nothing beats the smell of fresh banana bread in the oven. (Except for, maybe, zucchini bread or pumpkin bread… try those next!)
Other Favorite Banana Recipes:
- Banana Cake & Banana Cupcakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
- Banana Cream Pie & Banoffee Pie
- Banana Muffins or Healthier Chocolate Banana Muffins & Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
- Baked Banana Oatmeal
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
My Favorite Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With its super-moist and buttery texture, banana and brown sugar flavors, soft crumb, and 1,000+ reviews, this is a delicious AND undeniably popular banana bread recipe. You need 4 large ripe bananas. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 3–4 ripe bananas)
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 3/4 cup (90g) chopped pecans or walnuts, or 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the mashed bananas, yogurt/sour cream, and vanilla until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts/chocolate chips, if using. The batter should be thick.
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil halfway through, to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. Cool the bread in the pan set on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pan and place it directly on the rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
- Store wrapped tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Update in 2025: With enough reader feedback stating the bread can often be too moist and dense, and therefore not bake properly, my team and I retested the bread multiple times over the past 2 years; we slightly reduced the amount of mashed bananas from 2 cups to 1 and 1/2 cups.
- Butter: If needed, you can use salted butter in this recipe with no other changes needed. I’ve also successfully reduced the butter down to 6 Tablespoons (85g) with no issue (just as tasty).
- Brown Sugar: This is not an overly sweet quick bread. If you want a sweeter banana bread, increase to 1 cup (200g) brown sugar. Feel free to replace some or all of the brown sugar with regular white granulated sugar.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: This banana bread also tastes fantastic with cream cheese frosting on top! To make it, beat 4 ounces (112g) of softened cream cheese and 1/4 cup (60g) of softened unsalted butter together on medium speed until smooth. Beat in 1 cup (120g) of confectioners sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt until combined. Spread on cooled loaf.
- Banana Bread Muffins: Use this banana bread recipe to make 15 banana bread muffins. Spoon the batter into a lined or greased muffin pan (fill each to the top with batter) and bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C); then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total bake time for the banana bread muffins is about 21–23 minutes. The initial burst of hot air helps those muffins rise nice and tall! Or try my quick & easy banana muffins.
- Brown Sugar: Feel free to substitute the same amount of regular white granulated sugar or coconut sugar. I do not recommend any liquid sweeteners.
- No Sour Cream or Yogurt? Feel free to use 1/3 cup mashed banana (in addition to what is called for in the recipe), unsweetened applesauce, or even canned pumpkin puree.
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
- Chocolate Chips: I love this bread with chocolate chips, too. Feel free to add 1 cup of your favorite chocolate chips. No need to leave out the nuts if you add the chocolate chips. Chocolate chips and nuts are both optional.
- Can I Turn This Into Banana Bundt Cake? There isn’t enough batter. I recommend using my extremely similar, scaled-up recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake instead. You can leave out the chocolate swirl in that recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Buonissimo!
I made the current version using 345 g mashed banana and weighed the flour and other ingredients where weights were provided. I also added about ½ cup chopped pecans and a small amount of finely ground almonds. I baked the loaf at 350°F for 60 minutes; a toothpick inserted in the center came out clean. I cooled it completely overnight before slicing. The next morning, however, several slices through the center contained distinctly wet, gummy areas that had not baked through. I tried rebaking the affected slices at 300°F, but the surrounding crumb became toasted and dry while those gummy areas remained wet and structurally weak. Since the toothpick test indicated the loaf was done, I wonder whether an internal-temperature guideline might be helpful in the recipe, particularly given the previous issues with an overly moist/dense center.
Hi Diane, It does sound like the loaf was slightly underbaked in the center. If you have an instant read thermometer, the internal temperature should be 200°F to 205°F (93°C to 96°C) when it’s fully baked. Hope this helps for next time!
Do you weigh the bananas before or after you mash them?
The weight will not change, Eme! We weigh them before we mash them usually.
I tried this recipe recently and it was ok but I didn’t love it. The texture was perfect but it was the flavour that just wasn’t to my liking. I’m surprised there wasn’t a note about the cinnamon. I figured since it didn’t say “optional” and there wasn’t a note explaining how strongly the flavour would come through that maybe it was like adding coffee to desserts with chocolate where the taste isn’t noticeable but it brings out the chocolate taste. Anyways you can definitely taste the cinnamon, it’s very strong and I found it to be the primary flavour of the loaf. I felt like there wasn’t enough banana flavour but I know too much mashed banana can make the batter too wet to bake all the way through. I think I’ll try this recipe again with just 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, with the brown sugar adjustment for more sweetness, and I’ll maybe play around with the banana/sour cream amounts to get more banana flavour without it being too wet. I did really like the texture of this loaf so hoping I can just adjust the flavour to my own liking!
Hello, I should not have butter as I have gerd.
Can avocado Becel work in this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Tammie, we have not tested that swap but let us know if you do!
Does this Banana Bread double easily or do I need to make adjustments to any of the ingredients? Thank you, Sally!
Hi Judy! For best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
For me, the sour cream/yogurt is a key ingredient. Makes such a difference!
I use parchment paper in bottom of pan rather than other methods that works great for me with the breads I bake.
I haven’t made this Banana Bread recipe yet. I do make your Browned Butter Banana Bread a lot! It’s always a huge hit!
What would be your preferred method of banana bread?
I will be trying this Banana Bread as soon as I have brown bananas.
This is the best banana bread recipe I have made. I weigh each item where a weight is given. This gives the same results every time. Also, I reduced the brown sugar to 110g with no noticeable change in taste.
Hi! Can i add ground flax seed for added nutrition?
Hi Kayla, we have not tested adding ground flax seed to this banana bread but let us know how it goes if you do!
Is there a charge for subscription.? If so negate my subscription
Hi Susan, there is no charge to subscribe to our email list or for any of the recipes on our website. Hope you enjoy them!
My go to banana bread recipe. I have made this a handful of times and it always a huge hit.
I will be making this soon. This and the chocolate marble banana bundt cake are two of my favorite recipes, and I have a frezzer full of over-ripe bananas at this time of year!
I made half the recipe as I only had two bananas. Still used a 5×9 loaf pan, baked at 350 like the recipe calls for, but just for 30 min. It’s a short loaf, but I think I prefer this as it fits perfectly in one of my plastic containers! I also added chopped 70% dark chocolate, and measure that with my heart of course.
Banana bread recipe. I read your step 9 message about pouring the liquid away from the thawed out bananas. Read that message too late, already used it, and enjoyed the recipe. Mmmmm still tasted great.
I made this today with some minor changes according to what I had in the house already – wholemeal flour (total 225g), slightly reduced brown sugar (125g), half and half butter and margarine and I added a handful each of chopped dates and pecans. Delicious!
Hi, if I don’t have a mixer can I use a substitute for the butter like vegetable oil?
Hi Allison! Butter is really best for this bread. An electric mixer is helpful for creaming the butter and sugar, but you can do so by hand. It will just take a bit longer and require some arm muscle!
This is the BEST recipe ive tried. I just shared it to my friend, I love it.
Never used foil before and man what a game changer. Thank you for sharing this.
Hey! I don’t have any sour cream or greek yogurt on me; do I have to sub it with something or can I bake without? Thanks!
Hi Celine, you could use buttermilk instead of yogurt or sour cream (same amount), but the batter will be on the thinner side and, as a result, the baked bread will end up a little squat without as much rise. We recommend sticking to the recipe for best results.
This is without a doubt, the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried. Moist, not too sweet, and with the addition of chopped walnuts, it has some real depth of flavour (yes, I’m Canadian).
Sally’s is my go-to baking recipe site!
I bake often but stay away from breads because I’ve never been good at them. But this recipe was easy to read and follow and I kinda knocked it outta the park I added extra cinnamon then nutmeg and ginger. Topped it heavily with sugar and it came out with the most beautiful crust. I had a lot of fun making it and am very proud to serve it Thanks, Sally!!
Hi Sally, I followed the recipe exactly and made banana bread muffins using chocolate chips, they came out amazing. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I see that most of your cookie recipes suggest chilling the dough for few hours. Can you suggest some cookie recipes that do not require chilling.
Hi Elsa, we’re so glad you enjoyed the muffins! Here are all of our no-chill cookie recipes. We hope you find a few to try!
Is the oven temperature ok for a fan oven or should I reduce it? Can this be frozen?
Hi Chris, We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Yes, you can freeze the baked and cooled bread for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
Question
If I don’t have a loaf pan can I use an 8 inch square
cake pan?
That should work just fine, P.M.! We’re unsure of the bake time needed.