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 ripe bananas.
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.
It’s one of the most popular recipes I’ve published on this website, out of over 1,200.
One reader, Tricia, says: “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 back in 2013, I never looked back.
Why You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe Too
- Mega banana flavor (from 2 cups/460g mashed bananas)
- Not overly sweet, so banana flavor shines
- Dense, but still quite tender & soft
- Buttery & stays moist for days
- Straightforward, simple recipe
- Freezes wonderfully
- Excellent plain or with nuts or chocolate chips
This bread uses more mashed bananas than similar recipes. Add 2 whole cups (460g) of mashed banana, which is about 4 large bananas. More banana = more moisture and flavor in the finished loaf.
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.
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 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
- 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.
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 yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 cups (460g) mashed bananas (about 4 large ripe bananas)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 3/4 cup (100g) chopped pecans or walnuts
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 metal 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract until combined.
- With the mixer running on low speed, slowly beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts, if using.
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread 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. This may be after 60–65 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 60-minute mark.
- Remove bread from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 1 hour. Remove bread from the pan and cool bread directly on the wire rack until ready to slice and serve.
- Cover and store banana bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2 after the flavors have settled together. See post above for freezing instructions.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- 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 the 2 cups), 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 2 cups of 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.
Hi sally! I always dread trying new banana bread recipes, they never turn out quite the way I like it. On top of it my husband never eats banana bread not even the ones bought from the bakery’s. Yesterday i had 4 bananas that had been laying there for Some time . So I decided since I have tried a few of your recipes and they were all hits let me try this one! I had all the ingredients already so it was perfect. Let me tell you. My husband absolutely loved it! I used some to make cupcakes and then one loaf. I added chocolate chips too. Hubby keeps going in the kitchen every 5min to cut himself a slice. It’s almost finished! He told me you better write this one down because you need to make this again . So thank you!!!!! Your recipes are absolutely amazing!
Thank you so much, this was really wonderful. I used more banana and golden raisins in addition to walnuts but that’s just personal choice. You can really do anything; dates, fig, go crazy! Thanks again!
Hi Sally! I plan to make this tonite but wanted to substitute 1/2 of the all purpose flour for white whole wheat flour. I understand that may make the bread more dense and that is okay:). What I wanted to know is should I be changing the amount of any other ingredient like the butter or bananas to balance it out when I make the flour switch? And what if I switch the entire amount of all purpose flour to whole wheat? I checked out the whole wheat banana recipes you had but I didnt want to use oil, maple syrup and wanted to stick to the original ingredients as much as possible. would really appreciate your input on this!
Hello, You can try substituting whole wheat flour without changing anything else in the recipe but yes, the texture will be a bit heartier and not quite as moist. Or you can certainly try using half all purpose and half whole wheat!
Love this receipe!! It’s easy to follow and yields an incredibly delicious bread. Second time making it, I used five bananas since I had no sour cream or yogurt. Still delicious!!
I have been baking banana bread for over 50 years. I have tried MANY, MANY different recipes and I have never been satisfied with them! The bread is dry, or gooey in the middle, or it cracks into pieces when you cut it. This is THE BEST BANANA BREAD RECIPE I have EVER MADE! And I can cook and bake. Thank you SO MUCH! DELICIOUS! And PERFECT! ❤️
Very good I didn’t have the sour cream or yogurt so I used apple sauce added chocolate chip and nuts in mini muffin so good
Sally, your recipes are amazing! I’ve tried the banana bread, chocolate cupcakes, fudgey brownies, and the French macarons so far. I’m making the chocolate lava cakes tonight and plan to try the croissants next. Each time I try something, it’s the best I’ve ever had! I’m so glad I found your website. Thank you!
Hey sally, This is so delicious & moist! Everyone loved this ..!!! ♥️ It’s very easy to made too. Thank you for sharing this banana bread recipe. I recommended for my friends too.
I made it tonight, and I was a little anxious because it was my first banana bread that I had never made, but it was great! Easy, fast and above all delicious!
So yummy! This is my new go to recipe for tasty and moist (even though that word grosses me out) banana bread! I love that it is not too sweet. Thank you for giving all the notes on substitutions, additions, and freezing. I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!
I have made this recipe several times and the bread tastes amazing each time! My only issue is the color of the bread. It’s more of a light yellow, caramel color- not brown at all. Do you have any clue what I could be doing wrong?
Just try using dark brown sugar.
Yum, yum yum, We made this banana bread at our office today, we did it without sugar and with pecans and almonds. It was so good (and gone very fast). Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I made this recipe over the weekend along with your pumpkin bread and it was a hit. It was delicious! Those two recipes will be my go from here on out. I’m going to try your deep dish apple pie this weekend along with your pie crust. I’m sure I’m going to love it.
Great recipe!!! Everyone in my house loved it!!! Not only moist but very, very tasty!!! Thank you!!!
The crumb on this bread is very moist. The top is slightly crunchy and the flavor is excellent! There was no way to allow it to cool fully. It slices wonderfully when slightly warm. Perfect for a pat of butter to melt in. If you are lucky enough to have a caramel- praline ice cream in the freezer, by all means, indulge. I highly recommend this bread and will certainly bake it again.
Rave reviews from everyone who tasted it. One man said it was as better than his mothers banana bread. I followed recipe but didn’t have the 2 cups mashed bananas. I used 1 1/2 cups bananas and 1/2 cup applesauce to make up the difference. Definitely a keeper recipe!
Hi, after an hour and a half, my Toothpick was not coming out clean when testing it in the middle. Is that normal?
Hi Lisa, There are several things that can change the bake time of this recipe. Sometimes when we add add-ins, the bake time is a bit longer since there’s more volume in the pan. A glass pan can take longer to heat up, and/or your oven temperature may be slightly different. Don’t be alarmed if your bread is taking longer than 90 minutes. You can tent it with aluminum foil to prevent the exterior from over-browning.
I didn’t change a thing – unbelievable!
Thanks so much for the recipe! Even my no-thanks-I’m-on-a-diet mom couldn’t resist. Though I will probably only use half of required sugar next time.
For anyone wondering in the future – food processor works just fine.
Thanks for the update! Good to know!
Hi! First of all, I love ALL of your recipes! I was just wondering if there was anything I needed to change with the baking time if I’m using mini-loaf pans? They are about 2x6in. Thanks!
Hi Jackie! No changes necessary, though you’ll want to reduce the bake time. I’m unsure of that exact time, but start checking them with a toothpick at 20 minutes. They’re done once a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Hi Sally, just wanted to say that your recipe is pretty close to what I’ve been using with a “few additions”. I’m something of a banana bread connoisseur/fanatic, iow I DO LOOOVE me some BB, lol, so I’ve been tweeking and adding/subtracting things to try and get to the Holy Grail as it were.
Also I’m trying to make it healthier, since I eat so much of it ;?), so here’s a list of things you might like to try yourself.
1) Add 2-4 Tbsp of brewer’s yeast – it’s nutritional, not a leavening agent, and adds a nice nutty taste.
2) Add 1/3 cup of wheat germ, again good for you and tastes great. Adjust dry ingredients a bit or add more bananas or a bit of milk depending on the amount.
3) Definitely use pecans but I also like to add a couple of Tbsps of poppy seeds (I’ve also substituted chopped macadamia nuts, but finding good, non-rancid ones are sometimes a bit hard).
4) A great taste and texture/moisture changer is apple – for a loaf I’ll add a smallish apple cut into cubes (3/8″-1/2″) – moist bread is THE BEST, but there’s a fine line and you can get gooey bread that won’t cook through at all, lol, so may need to add a bit more flour.
5) I find that in addition to the 2 tsp of baking soda, that an additional tsp of baking powder helps, and I think that’s due to the extra moisture of the other ingredients I use, without which I think it might make it too airy and a bit dry.
6) Finally I have also like to add 1/4 tsp of mace, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp of almond extract, adds a bit more complexity to the taste imo ;?)
So moist!! It was awesome. I found it slightly bland though, even after adding a few dashes of nutmeg. Next time I think I’ll double the cinnamon and do 1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg.
Whow… Thanks for this lovely recipe. Its wonderful. My family loved my soft banana bread for the first time… Lovely and many thanks.
We love this bread, I make it any time we have extra bananas and I get extras on purpose sometimes 🙂 Every time I make it I think I’ll get to freeze some but there’s never any that makes it in the freezer. I have a mini loaf pan (about the size of two muffins) that I make along with the regular pan so that we can have some in 30 min for breakfast! We do pecans and chocolate chips in ours. So good!!
Everyone that knows me knows that I hate baking. But we had some rotting bananas and no food in the house, so I decided to give it a shot and can I just say…. Go me! And Sally! I didn’t have eggs so I used greek yogurt, and then when it came time for the yogurt I used sour cream. I also don’t have an electric mixed but my stirring was fine! And it came out amazing. I also added cocoa powder and almonds with chocolate chips. Five stars.
Oh, very good. Let’s just say I am known for making very good Nana Nut Bread and this recipe is a winner. Very light, not too dense . I add to add a little applesauce to round out my bananas, I didn’t quite have a full cup. Otherwise I followed the recipe. I do put pumpkin pie spice in my recipe, tho. First time I have used sour cream. I would make it again. My usual recipe I put half oil or butter to half applesauce to cut down on the fat. You can use totally applesauce in place of oil for a healthier bread. Noone will know when you do this, trust me I have done it many times. lol I wanted to follow this recipe to give it an accurate rating. Thank you for sharing!
I thought I made good banana bread until I tried this. This is the best banana bread I’ve ever had. I just made a double batch with chocolate chips. Just amazing! I was planning to give a loaf away but now I kinda want to keep it!
Moist and great flavor! I’ve tried lots!! Of recipes of banana bread and Sally’s is by far favorite!!!
Well done sally! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I used half whole wheat flour and it was still plenty delicious and moist – didn’t feel like I sacrificed anything! Not sure I’d go full WW, but I think it would still be darn good.
Now my favorite too! I even did a bunch of things which might have made it less delicious, and it was still fantastic and better than any other recipes I’ve tried. I used half whole wheat flour, plus added about 1/4c of wheat bran (soaked in the sour cream for bit, maybe unnecessary). I used half butter and half neutral oil (safflower). And then my bananas only came to 1.5 cups, so I reduced the overall flour quantity by 1/4c, and sugar by 1/8c, and left everything else the same. Added about 2/3c of chocolate chips because someone around here whines if I don’t, but the bites without any chocolate are plenty great – next time I’m leaving them out!
Thank you for this recipe! This is definitely a keeper! I’ve made it twice in two weeks and it is delicious. The cake is so moist and not overly sweet. I added a handful of Lilly’s chocolate chips and pecans, soooo yummy! 🙂