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):Â 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.
I made a couple test runs, loved the recipe. Last evening, I made 2 loaves for Valentine’s Day, my hubby is delighted. I too had to cook longer but I had the 2 loaves and a pan of roasting mixed vegetables also in the oven. We will be exploring more of your recipes…Thanks and Happy Valentine’s Day!
I love your recipe and is the only one I use for banana bread!
Thanks! Third time making this and it is perfect every time. To those who don’t have a mixer (like me) please know that you can also beat all the ingredients with a spoon. It just takes a little longer.
I’ve been trying different recipes for banana bread since we always have plenty of brown bananas , so far this recipe is the BEST. I used 1 c flour + 1 c wheat flour . So moist & the sweetness is just perfect . Thank you, We have snack to go with tea on this cold weather .I will surely keep this recipe.
Wonderful recipe! Thank you for it, Sally! Delicious, a keeper and we all loved it! Turned out perfectly. Never had made banana bread before so was so grateful this turned out. Will use your other recipes for sure!
Hello! Can I use self-raising flour instead of all-purpose (plain) flour in this recipe, if I leave out the baking powder maybe?
This is my go-to banana bread recipe, but I am all out of plain flour.
Thanks so much! 🙂
Hi Amy, we don’t suggest using self raising flour for this banana bread unless you test different amounts. The bread won’t rise properly with a 1:1 switch.
Just used your recipe because I love baking recipes using sour cream. I only had 3 very ripe bananas, so reduced flour by 1/2 cup. Used the addition of walnuts liking the added crunch. Baked additional 6 min with the loose foil on top. This bread came out just perfect. Thank you for a great recipe! Cal in Ohio
I need to use up my over ripe bananas…my mil does this but not as she fractured her radius..but am making it with whole wheat flour, as am diabetic, but leaving in the butter and sour creams and most of the other stuff, am not using apple sauce…as I don’t like it in a recipe. Will be making tomorrow morning.
Your recipe was delicious, I had all of the ingredients on hand, but I added a cup of coconut to the batter also……thank you very much for your delicious and yummy banana bread recipe
Thanks ,sons a dieabitc, used almond flour, coconut brown sugar, plant butter, and the rest of ingredients, so good…
Oh my, this banana bread is amazing! Had a bunch of ripe bananas in the freezer, so I made 1.5x the recipe and am soooo glad I did. Mixed in some crushed almonds for the crunch and it’s soooo gooood!
Just finished it up. I made it real quick. I made it with my hand and spatula. Dry ingredients one bowl, wet ingredients the other bowl. Mixed together with spatula. Worked out great! Glass loaf dish. Now it’s baking. The secret really is to NOT overblend!
I love this recipe! I made this last week with no change, except to add chocolate chips instead of nuts. I just made it this afternoon as muffins with no add-ins. Spot on! For muffins I increased temp to 375 and baked for 25 min or until the muffin tops started to brown. This is my new go-to. <3 <3
I baked them in a brownies pan for 30 minutes. Perfect breakfast muffin
I just finished making these and oh my god! I’m loving the flavour and the texture so much! Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe!
wow wow wow…..it was great to have a first bite with little butter on top with my afternoon tea…I baked banana bread after few years…I have tries many different ways but I would say nothing compares to this.I am waiting for my husband to come and have a slice after his busy work and want to have his reactions as he is my best critic .By the way have I ever said before that I am your fan and have tried many of your recipes?Thank you very much
Wanted to show you the picture of my slice
Just completely amazing!! I use a little almond extract to bring in a bit more flavor, but it is wonderful just how it is!
Just amazing! Really great recipe, I threw a half cup of chocolate chips and it was delicious!
I love this recipe in a classic loaf pan!
Any ideas for baking temp./time for a mini loaf pan?
Thank you!
Hi Paige, we’re unsure exactly how long a mini loaf will take but use a toothpick to test for doneness. A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean when the bread is done. Use the same baking temperature. So glad to hear you love this recipe!
The best banana bread I have ever made. I misread and used baking powder for baking soda and it turned out great.
So perfect! Thank you so much. Used 3 bananas and strawberry yogurt, because that’s all I had on hand. Amazing.
Followed the recipe faithfully—amazing! We are never disappointed with your recipes. Thank you!
Really great recipe. My loaf pans are glass so I reduced baking temp to 325F and it worked perfectly. Moving the loaf to the bottom third of the oven for baking I think really helped it cook uniform and not have soggy bottom.
Just made this recipe with my daughter and we love it! We had no issues other than not having enough butter so we added a little canola oil to the mix. Spot on. Will be a lunch box staple for sure.
I don’t usually use cinnamon in any recipes except Apple or pear when I do a mock apple crisp. But I did use it in this recipe and I did not find the cinnamon overpowering. It came out really good and moist. And the cinnamon is even low enough in dose to give to my dog. Because the cinnamon we receive here in the US is actually cassia. Which have higher levels of coumarin which is not good for dogs but great for humans. There are other recipes that call for cinnamon that I omitted in the past. I may go back and try them with the cinnamon. Thank you for a good recipe.
Best banana bread ever. This is a definite keeper. Thanks
When I first followed this recipe, the result seemed a bit bland. So I doubled the ground cinnamon to 1 tsp and added 2 – sometimes 4 🙂 – tbsp of grand marnier liquer (found an old bottle languishing in the cupboard, so why not?). You can definitely smell the liquer but it doesn’t overpower. I love that the result is just sweet enough. Now I hunt constantly for ripe bananas at the grocery store because when I bake it, it NEVER lasts 24 hours at our house. Thank you, Sally! 🙂
I followed the recipe exactly, using sour cream, it is the BEST banana bread I have made or bought. Your website is my go to site for baking.
Thanks
I tried this recipe and I loved it! I substituted the baking soda for 4 teaspoons of baking powder and did a little less than a third of a cup of vegan yogurt and added condensed milk for the rest of the measuring cup. Although these may sound unusual it actually turned out really good, definitely recommend!!
Love, love, love this recipe. It is perfect!!
This recipe was PERFECT!!
I didn’t have yogurt but I substituted with buttermilk and it was moist and incredibly delicious
Wow fantastic, I was searching for a classic banana bread without chocolate chips. This was fantastic, I added a bit of Peanut butter, and it came out great. Thank you.