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 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. 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 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.
I think the Ingredient measurements for all purpose flour is a little misleading. It says 2 cups and 250g. So I ended up using 500g instead. Hopefully it still out well
250g total is correct. Here’s more on measuring baking ingredients!
Great recipe. I made some small adjustments since I didn’t have some ingredients (vanilla and plain yogurt), I used vanilla Greek yogurt instead. It turned out great, I definitely will make it again since I always have bananas and am always on the hunt for what to do if my little ones don’t eat them fast enough.
Can’t stop making this when the bananas are ripe! So good!
Be careful not to overmix the batter, I’ve made this twice and it’s been very dense to eat. I think you don’t need to use the electric mixer, after you add the flour. I would just mix the flour with a spoon.
Hello! I made this and it came out great except the edges surrounding the pan became pretty browned after cooking 60 minutes in the oven. I had the cake on the third rack, but was wondering if this is normal? Would you recommend I drop the temperature next time for a slower cooking time?
Hi Amanda, it’s certainly normal for the edges to brown more than the middle, but if you find them browning too quickly, you can tent the pan with aluminum foil part way through bake time. This will help the middles to continue cooking while preventing the edges from burning. Hope this helps!
This banana bread smells, looks and tastes amazing! Will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on.
Hello Y’all’s,
I discovered a great hack for softening butter in the microwave! After testing it two or three times, i found the perfect way to make not too soft and not too hard. The trick? Cut the stick of butter in half and set it on a glass plate, then after 15 seconds of full power in the microwave, flip them over for the remaining 15 seconds. I’ve done it a bunch of times now, ad it works like a charm!! 🙂
So do you bake it 30 mins then add the foil for the last of the baking
Correct!
This bread turned out very flavorful and moist. I used 4 frozen bananas and drained out the liquid after thawing like Sally suggested. It turned out fine. I’m going to be taking some to a New Years eve potluck ! Thankyou , this is a keeper
I added 1/4 of cup of milk because I noticed the mixture was kind of thick, and the bread still was a little bit dry.
I made this for my neighbor as a thank you. Her and her husband said it was the best and most delicious banana bread ever. They asked me to keep making this for them. All of your recipes are just so delicious and so easy to follow. You are my only chef to use for whatever I choose to bake or cook. Thank you.
We’re so happy to read this, Linda. Thank you for making and sharing our recipes with others!
I’ve made this banana bread quite often before and I love it, but I have a question, is the oven temperature for the regular or the fan-forced setting?
I forget each time how I did it before and have to experiment with the baking time again.
Thank you!
Hi Z! All of the recipes on this site are written for conventional (regular) settings. Convection ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. 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.
This is going to be my new go-to recipe. It is so moist and rich, with great flavor. I was short ~120g of banana so subbed in the same weight with unsweetened applesauce – worked perfectly. I added walnuts this time (~75g). I received a ceramic bread pan for Christmas and used this – if others are taking this route, you will need a longer cook time, and I may attempt lowering the temp slightly next time I use this pan as the edges got a bit too browned vs the remainder of the loaf as with the thicker/slower heating pan the loaf took about 85min to bake. Saving this one to make again and again. Thanks Sally!
This is the best recipe!!! It was gone within hours from kids and husband. Making again, but making 2- can I just double everything for the recipe?
Hi Jaclyn, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! For best results (and to prevent over or under mixing), we recommend making 2 separate batches rather than doubling.
Hi, I am new to this site but recipes look amazing. Can you tell me if your oven temperatures are for a fan oven or do I have to reduce them. Thanks
Hi Freda, We always use and 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. Hope you enjoy our recipes!
Simply the best!! I have spent years looking for the perfect banana bread recipe. This is it! I stopped searching once I found this.
Hi, this is my Christmas must have for breakfast! Like all your wonderful recipes they are over the top! And those blueberry muffins are my next item to make for Christmas morning. Thank you, thank you. Merry Christmas
Never does me wrong! I have modified this recipe so many ways, so many times and have never once had an issue! My favorite is the addition of toffee chips (tastes like banoffee pie) or I like to sub out the sour cream for apple sauce and add 1/2 cup cinnamon chips. Got my Christmas loaves in the oven as we speak and the house smells amazing!
Hello, I’m excited to try this recipe but am wondering if I can use oat flour instead of regular flour? I always make your recipes as written and they have all been amazing but I want to make this for a friend that has a gluten sensitivity (and then later I’ll make the original recipe for myself).
Hi Autumn, We haven’t tested this recipe with oat flour, but expect a more dense texture.
Delicious! I made mini loaves and was able to get 3. Two to gift and one to eat. I baked about 40 minutes. I added walnuts and chocolate chips. Will make again. Thank you!
This is the lightest banana bread I have ever made. Great flavour, gorgeous texture and is delicious toasted and slathered in butter. Everyone who has tried it has loved it.
i’m cooking in disposable bread pans…3 at a time…does cooking time increase or should i just rotate pans half way through? i haven’t tasted the cooked bread yet but the batter was amazing!!!!
Hi Jessica, bake time should be about the same. Rotating the pans is definitely helpful to promote even baking. Hope you enjoy the bread!
I haven’t made this recipe yet, but can this be made into smaller loaves?What would the adjusted baking time?
Hi Monica, You can definitely use mini loaf pans. Bake time will depend/vary based on the size of your mini loaf pans. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Our family’s favourite recipe. My husband is now famous amongst families and friends for this delicious banana bread
I’m about 50g short on the bananas. Will that make a big difference or is there anything I could sub for it? Thanks!
Hi Erin, you can sub applesauce, pumpkin puree, or even crushed pineapple in its place. Enjoy!
This recipe is so yummy! The banana bread is so moist and my kids loved it! I would have never thought to add sour cream to it.
I’m new to baking but have made banana bread the most historically…this is the best one I’ve ever made! I didn’t use the nuts in mine but I will next time.
I’ve made this before and loved it! This time I added cranberries, dark chocolate, unsweetened coconut and roasted walnuts. Oh my, so delicious!
I topped the loaves off with honey roasted sunflower seeds and sanding sugar. I split the batter evenly between two of my smaller pans, and baked for 55 minutes.
Thank you! (Again) 🙂
I love this recipe! It turned out perfectly! I also made it into muffins using her tips and they were wonderful!
Super excited to try this recipe! Can I substitute the moisture from the yogurt/sour cream with milk?
Hi Rebecca! Milk will not be a thick enough replacement.