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.
This recipe made 4 perfect mini loaves. I baked it for 35-40 min. Delicious, especially with chocolate chips!
OMGness. This recipe made the best Banana Bread I have ever had. Thank you for sharing!!! I used the frozen bananas, sourcream, brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of raw sugar, toasted walnuts. It’s now My Favorite Banana bread
I haven’t tried this yet but THANK YOU for giving a weight for the bananas. I never make banana bread because I have no idea what 2 medium bananas or the like even is,
I actually used 5 bananas! They were fresh from the store, so I had to bake them to get them mushy. 300 degrees for 25 minutes! Worked great! I did not have yogurt so I skipped that step too! Added walnuts and a sprinkle of allspice, because I love nutmeg! Turned out amazing! I did have to bake longer than 65 minutes, probably baked for 80 minutes and then let sit with a towl over it.
Made banana bread muffins today with chocolate chips and they were delicious! Definitely my new go-to banana bread recipe! I did wonder if subbing some of the sugar for maple syrup would work?
Hi Kim, I actually just made this yesterday and did just that! But I only subbed out 1/4 of the sugar for pure maple syrup, and reduced the banana down to 1 and 3/4 cups. It worked nicely. I don’t recommend any more maple syrup than that, because it will add too much liquid to the batter. Let me know if you try it.
Disappointed this banana bread is the worst I’ve ever made. Too many bananas, the yogurt made it cook uneven. It was raw on the bottom. Made it for a meal train, but have to make something else.
I’ve just been diagnosed with a thyroid se and have to go gluten free. Can I use gluten free flour?
Hi Amanda, We haven’t tested this recipe with GF flour, but some bakers have reported success using a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute like Bob’s Red Mill. Let us know what you try!
I’ve been using a different banana bread recipe for as long as I can remember, but today I found myself with more bananas than that recipe called for. So, I made your recipe instead and wow, I will not be going back to the old one! Moist and tender and nice, big loaves. The recipe doubled easily and I made a loaf with pecans for my husband and a loaf with chocolate chips for myself. Fantastic!
how would you adjust the baking time for mini banana breads?
Hi Jessica! Mini loaf pans vary widely in size so we are unsure of the exact bake time needed. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Hi! Can I just ask as to why is there no BAKING POWDER in the recipe? The other recipes I’ve followed all have baking powder but when I tried this the dough became like a pudding texture.
Hi Sophie, we use baking soda, not baking powder in this recipe. You might enjoy reading about the difference in this post.
This is pretty much my recipe, except I use white sugar. I’ll have to give it a try with brown sugar.
I’ve read your comment on why you say to spoon and level the flour. If you want consistency, why not just weigh the flour. I know that many European cooks weigh all their ingredients.
Hi Casey! Yes, weighing is the best way to measure, but not all home bakers have a kitchen scale, which is why we include both.
This is delicious banana bread! I used buttermilk & substituted nutmeg for cinnamon because I love it with bananas. I added mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. This recipe is a keeper!
Can I substitute one cup of whole wheat flour for one cup of white flour?
Hi Deborah, yes, you can but the bread will taste denser than intended.
Thank you!
Can buttermilk be a substitute for the sour cream?
Hi Alta, You can 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.
Ok, thanks!
Can I use a food processor instead of a stand mixer?
Hi Sue! A food processor would quickly over work this batter, we don’t recommend it.
I love this banana bread for some reason the bottom 1 inch is always raw. I test it with a skewer which comes out clean but when sliced the bottom section is raw. Help!
Hi PhilC, try moving the bread to a lower position in your oven when baking, which will allow it to bake more evenly. And make sure you’re using a true 9×5 pan, some loaf pans are 9×4, which would be too small for this amount of batter.
Love it, second recipe for me and it was amazing
I am getting ready to try your recipe! The addition of the yogurt piqued my interest.
Can you use or put cream cheese in this recipe
Hi Betty! Cream cheese will be too thick in this banana bread recipe. A cream cheese frosting would be lovely on top, though!
This is definitely the best banana bread ever! I add 1 1/2 cups of blue berries with the walnuts. I also use coconut oil for the butter and if I have it 1/2 cup of southern cane syrup for the sugar.
I do not eat eggs. Can I skip the eggs in this recipe? Or which substitute can be use?
Hi Gayle, We haven’t tested it with any egg substitutes, so we’re unsure what might work best/how it will impact the bread. If you decide to do any experimenting, please do let us know how it goes.
I’m pretty sure it would work. It would probably be better with eggs. It’s likely to be a little dry, a little chewy, not as flavorful without the eggs.
Try usng aquafaba liquid from canned chickpeas; a great substitute for egg whites for meringues. Whip the aquafaba liquid with sugar for meringue. Fold in last after alternating dry ingredients in 3 portion measures, ending with dry to liquid ingredients.
A drop or two of lemon juice will help in keeping cake fluffy when you use of sour cream as a substitute for buttermilk. Make your own by adding a little lemon juice to the sourcream before using. If using apple sauce to adjust dryness factor, a little oil in place of butter helps too. Since this is a banana bread with yogurt, one needs to be careful not to use too much apple sauce to avoid too much moisture or loss of banana taste. I always use pure vanilla and lemon extracts to all sweet coffee breads
Perhaps you can test the combination and let us know how it goes? It is not appropriate for my own recipes and experiments to usurp your blog.
Lovely recipe. Made it as written first (great result), then lowered the sugar just slightly (130 g) and replaced 4 tablespoons of butter with 4 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce. Added a few mini chocolate chips and topped with a sprinkling of raw sugar. Now it’s perfect for our family. Easy recipe too!
This has been a favorite to so many who I shared with. I make this banana bread recipe a few times or more a month. Thank you!!
This is a great recipe and I made it dairy free! I used true goodness coconut yogurt – I’ve found this has the most similar taste and texture to regular yogurt and country crock plant based butter. They turned out amazing!
I can always trust your recipes to be the best! You are my go to baker.
What would you recommend if I only have two bananas to work with? Recipe looks great and really want to try it !
Amazing recipe. Turned out exactly as advertised. Pretty good idea to use brown sugar, sour cream for extra moist banana nut bread!
Wonderful recipe! Even with all my sugar-lowering tweaks 🙂
I used up some Swerve Brown Sugar (packed), added Lasanto granulated Monk fruit to make about 3/4 cup total, and then topped it with regular granulated white sugar (because I knew I was going to add Bake Believe Dark Chocolate chips (sugar free, Sam’s Club) I wanted the batter a bit sweeter. Also added about 3/4 cup of whole, kinda crushed, pecans. It was rich, dense, MOIST. Thank you!!
As is always the case, your recipes are ! I’m so confident I’m even writing this prematurely, as I haven’t made it yet, but have a question I before I get started:
Would you recommend pre-or-par-toasting the [wal]nuts before adding them to the dough/batter? Just add them in their raw, shelled & cleaned, state and trust that they will be toasted to perfection in the same amount of time it takes for the bread to bake?
Cheers!
R L M
Hi Robert, you certainly can toast the walnuts before adding them to the batter if you wish! Hope you enjoy the bread.
This turned out perfect. The recipe was very clear and easy to follow, and the baking times were pretty exact. I’ll def come back for more. Thanks so much!