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
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 3–4 ripe bananas)
- 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 yogurt, vanilla, and mashed bananas 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 cool it directly on the rack until ready to slice and serve.
- 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
Just made this this morning….Couldn’t wait for it to cool completely before diving into it! It was perfect. Not too sweet, moist with a nice crumb. You are always my go to. Thanks!
This is seriously the best thing i have ever made in my life. I added milk choc & dark choc chips, and it is DELICIOUS
True to its title, it is indeed the best banana bread recipe ever. I doubled the ingredients thinking I could freeze some but when I woke up this morning its almost gone. Thank you Sally for the recipe.
Thank you so much for replying, I’ll do that.
This truly is the best banana bread ever,. I discovered the recipe during Covid 19 lock down and this has been my go-to comfort food and will continue to be a favourite from hereon.
Truly the BEST banana bread EVER. I will never make another. This banana bread recipe brought me to you and now you’ve gained another loyal follower. Thanks Sally! I’m excited to try more of your recipes.
Can you use oil instead of butter?
Hi Amy! Solid coconut oil would be the best alternative. Or try my whole wheat banana bread!
I made this banana bread yesterday and had a slice for breakfast today. You did not oversell it with the title — it is the best banana bread I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely be making this again. And now I’m going to have a look around at your other recipes. I have a feeling I’ve stumbled into a treasure trove. 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe! First time to bake a banana bread and my family loved it. Will sure to bake more! Thanks Sally!
Great quarentine recipe! This recipe made quite a large loaf! It was moist and extremely edible:). I only had 3 bananas, so added half a cup of applesauce to get a full two cups. I also added pecans and shredded coconut. The pecans were a win, but I don’t think the shredded coconut improved the situation. It wasn’t bad, just did not add to the flavor or texture in any meaningful way. Will totally make this bread again!!
I’ve made this recipe before and loved it! I’ve only got two bananas this time round, does anyone have any suggestions to substituting in something else/more of another ingredient?
When I don’t have enough cups of mashed banana, I usually make up the difference with pumpkin purée or unsweetened applesauce. Both work wonderfully.
It really is the best banana bread recipe!!! Moist and delicious!!! My first time to ever make banana bread and it was a hit! My husband and kids love it!!! Thank you for sharing some pocket secrets for making the best banana bread! I love how you try to perfect each recipe you have! You’re a gem to a newbie in baking like me!!!
This is the BEST banana cake recipe EVER! I used coconut Greek style yoghurt and hazelnuts and my whole family went mental for it! Definitely keeping this bookmarked!
Hi Sally
We have about a million bananas ripening in our garden at the moment, all the same time so I thought I’d try out a few banana bread recipes from various blogs. I made yours yesterday and I will not be trying any other recipes. It is just so delicious that the search has ended with the first recipe I tried!
Yes, this banana bread is that good. Easy to put together and absolutely perfect. Instead of nuts, I add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and my family couldn’t be any happier to see those over-ripe bananas have a higher purpose!
Fabulous recipe. Big hit among everyone in my family, specially my grandmum who went for a third slice.
I made this yesterday and everyone loved it! This will be my go to banana bread recipe from now on. I followed the recipe to the tee and also made the cream cheese icing…yummmm!
Best banana bread ever.
Your the best Sally I have been cruising around your blog for years. I love your videos because you also mention things in your videos that I was thinking about. I have made this recipe many times. I highly recommend cooks or bakers to cruise around your blog. I am a dummy though about one thing, I researched about how to soften butter in a jiffy. I found a spot Thar said right out of fridg use 40 sec. omg. I melted my butter. Then, for some reason I noticed you had a tip on that! Why didn’t I check you out first???? I learned the hard way. I did what you said and it worked beautifully, I would of never thought of that trick. In past though, I would soften butter at 10 sec increments. But, I like your way much much better!!! Love ya Sally!
Oops. I live in Markleeville, CA. I just noticed the time said three hours difference. Hope I didn’t wake ya. Haha
I’ve made probably dozens of banana bread recipes in my life, and this one is probably the best. I added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cups of pecans, and it came out perfect! I also added sour cream instead of yogurt-(My sister has a thing for sour cream, guac, and tortilla chips, so we bought 3 lbs of it)- it’s perfectly moist!
Thanks for this recipe!
Beautiful!! I didn’t have chocolate chips so I added some butterscotch chips and a cinnamon crumb topping. Outstanding! Thank you for sharing this recipe, definitely a keeper. Peace and blessings.
Very good banana bread, it took a lot longer to bake because I live in high altitude, but it comes out delicious, great with a cup of coffee in the morning.
Really moist and delicious! We just thought it could stand to be sweeter so next time I will adjust that. This recipe is a keeper though.
This is my 4th time making this recipe, it is the best banana bread I’ve ever made or eaten and those I’ve shared some with say the same. Definitely a go to recipe for a great banana bread!
Perfect banana nut bread. I added pecans and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, they are light and delicious perfect for a brunch muffin – I’m going to ice half of them for a dessert.
This recipe is the holy grail of banana bread! I only had 2 large ripe bananas on hand but the results were still amazing! Turned out ever so slightly more cakey rather than dense, but man it didn’t even matter! Flavor and crumb were on point. My forever go-to!
Can I make mini loaves with this recipe? Approximately how long would they cook compared to a regular loaf?
Yes, you can make mini loaves. Mini loaf pans vary greatly in size so I’m unsure of the exact bake time you will need.
First time baker and tried this recipe for banana bread – came out perfectly and absolutely delicious.
Thanks Sally,
I tried this recipe and it came out exactly as the photos. So delicious.
I got a craving for banana bread the other day and decided to try this recipe out. I just had a slice out of the oven and it is delicious! I used dark brown sugar and everything else at the recipe instructs. I also added 1 (heaping) cup of peanut butter chips and semisweet mini chocolate chips (no nuts).
I am going to cut into slices and freeze so that they can be thawed one at a time – thanks for the tip!