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.
Hi, Sally. This recipe looks delicious like all of your other recipes! However, I’ve been on the look out for a pineapple coconut banana bread recipe. Could this recipe be modified to include the pineapple and coconut? What would you suggest? Thanks!
Hi Courtney! I’m just seeing your question now. I haven’t tested anything, but you could certainly try replacing some of the mashed banana with canned crushed pineapple. You can also add 1 cup of sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut. Let me know if you test anything!
Thanks, Sally. I decided to omit the coconut, but I replaced 1 of the bananas with crushed pineapple and it was excellent!
Wow! This banana bread rocks! The only thing I changed was that I used vanilla yogurt and omitted the vanilla.
This banana bread is legit! I love that Sally tells you how many bananas in cups because bananas can be such different sizes! I’ve tried a lot of other recipes and this was more moist and flavorful by far.
Perfect banana bread, Sally! I used the sour cream and added a few tablespoons of honey in mine. Very flavorful – and the cream cheese frosting is to die for!
Thanks for the recipe!
Best banana bread ever ! We’ve tried lots of recipes for banana bread over the years and this is by far a favourite. We don’t cover with foil and always use a metal pan. As with all baking must check towards the end – this is partially due to the fact that I use 4 bananas and never Measured to see if it’s 2 cups (oops) so the baking time would be adjusted a bit.
Came out perfect! I had no trouble with cooking time at all, I preheated my oven for about 30 minutes and let it bake without foil on top for 35 minutes (until top popped up and separated). Delicious and easy, thank you!
Best banana bread recipe. I already made this a few times. Sometimes I add some raisins and walnuts. Everyone in my family and at work loves this banana bread
First time banana bread Baker. This recipe was amazing my boyfriend loves me even more! Thank you
In the middle of baking this banana bread. The batter is delicious! I licked the bowl. It’s been in the oven for almost 90 minutes now and it’s still not fully baked. Checked the oven temp and it is at 350 and I was sure to make sure it was preheated before I put the loaf in. Not sure what I may have done wrong? Have made banana loafs many, many times and only run into this problem once before. Any thoughts? I usually use a metal loaf pan, but used a glass one today…
Hi Heidi, Glass pans do require longer bake times. Glass slows the flow of heat between the oven’s air and your batter, until the glass itself heats up. If you have a metal pan that you normally use, I recommend using that one if you try it again!
FANTASTIC! I had doubts about sour cream, but it is the BEST recipe I’ve ever had! Thank You!
Perfect banana bRead! Delicious
5 stars for flavor, – 1 for the baking time instruction. I covered loosely (tented actually) at 30 minutes and ended up having to add 19 minutes to the baking time. Delicious banana bread – we added some dark chocolate chunks, which took it to a whole new level of decadence – and will make this again. Next time I will not cover with foil at all and see if bake times are truer.
I literally just made this… AMAZING!! I have to say i was skeptical, but it turned out perfect! I did add walnuts wish i could show u a photo of how beautiful it came out! It is moist and not too sweet! Just perfect. Truly the best! I used 4 bananas, 1/4 i used dark brown and the rest light brown sugar.
I love this banana bread! It’s always a hit. Going to try with whole wheat flour today because it’s all I have on hand and lots of spotty bananas that need to be used up! 🙂
Just amazing. My kids said it was the best one I had made after trying 5 different recipes.
I thought 1 stick of butter was too much for a loaf, so I used 1/2 a stick with 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce. It’s still too oily for my liking, I think I’ll reduce the butter to 1/4 c. It also needs more spice, so I’ll add 1 t cinnamon next time. It does have a lovely banana flavor. Smells wonderful while baking. On the keeper list for sure. Used Splenda brown sugar, but forgot it’s double sweet, but still tastes great.
I have some vanilla flavored Greek yogurt, would that work?
I used strawberry yogurt. Worked perfectly. Love this recipe. It’s a keeper!
Amazing. I followed the recipe without variation and the outcome was perfect. Always great to find a recipe that exceeds expectations, especially on the first attempt. This is now the ‘go to’ banana bread. Thanks!
New fan to Sally’s Baking Addiction. I will never go anywhere else for recipes and tips. My daughter and I made the snickerdoodles, the caramel stuffed nutella cookies, and the chocolate chip cookies this holiday season. All received rave reviews from family and friends. I told everyone about Sally’s website! I love the tips and the science behind baking! I just put this banana bread in the oven. Can’t wait to taste it!
Thank you!
I’m so happy to read this, Leslie! Thank you to you and your daughter for making my recipes!
Hi,
When I make banana bread for my mom (she lives alone), I make a whole loaf and cut it into thirds. Then give her 1/3 fresh and wrap 2/3 to freeze. It freezes well and then she can thaw and enjoy the other pieces another time.
This recipe is incredible and we’ve been enjoying it tremendously. If gifted it to several neighbors at Christmas and everyone loved it and asked for the recipe. My husband loves raisins and would like me to add them for a bit of something different. Sally, how should I do that? Do I moisten them first? How much? Do I have to leave out the nuts (which I love)? Thank you for your help and Happy New Year! Deanna
I’m thrilled that you have been enjoying it so much, Deanna! I recommend keeping the total amount of add-ins to 3/4 cup. You can do half raisins and half nuts or any ratio you would like. No need to soak the raisins first. Enjoy!
Thank you so much!
Wow! Great recipe and super easy to follow. Next time I make it, I may increase the sugar by 1/4 cup. I used 3 very large and super ripe bananas, but just needed a touch more sweetness. I increased the nuts and made the cream cheese frosting. It was heavenly! This is now my go to banana bread recipe. Thank you!
Fabulous recipe! I want to share with friends and family!
Should I use the muffin cooking temps for mini loaf pans?
I included the walnuts and added 1 cup of dark chocolate. I also sprinkled the top of the batter with turbanado sugar. This is now my go-to recipe! Thank you SO much! I’ve been looking for a great banana bread recipe for years!
Hi Sandi! Thanks! Mini loaf pans may need a couple extra minutes to bake, but check them for doneness with a toothpick to be certain.
This has been my go to recipe for the last 2 years. Have had rave reviews every time I make it. Even with the omission of cinnamon. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!
Hi Sally,
Can I use salted butter and reduce or eliminate the salt? Thanks. Appreciate you making everything so easy to follow and all the extra notes and tips!
Hi Karen! Thanks so much. My pleasure. You can make the banana bread as written with salted butter with no other changes to the added salt. The bread won’t taste salty.
Thanks so much. I did see later as I was going through your recipes about how to adjust for salad and unsold butter, but that was after I left this comment. Still good to know all my options!
I love that you give weight measurements but in this recipe you don’t give a weight amount for the bananas. Reading through the comments, I see others have used up to five and still fallen short of two cups and some used a smaller amount of bananas. Since banana sizing can be subjective, have you ever filled your two cups worth, then measured to get a number of grams? Thanks!
So, I had medium-ish bananas and it took 6 of them to make 2 cups: I mashed the bananas very well, then spooned the mixture into the 2 cup measure and leveled off with a knife – they weighed 524 grams. The rise on the cake and texture was very good, but the very center had some trouble fully baking without the rest of the cake getting too dark. I think cutting back on the bananas will help because using all brown sugar, which is yummy, plus all the banana moisture may have been a bit too much for 2 cups of flour. Thank you for the recipe.
Just got it out of the oven! And I made some small muffins too! The whole house smells delicious! I wish I could send you a picture! Thank you! Greetings from Croatia!
I love banana bread and this recipe. if you want the most intense banana flavor , roast your bananas. put them on a small sheet pan with the peels on , in a 350 oven for 15 minutes then turn them over for another 10 minutes. you are looking for a very dark color on the peels. take the peel off and put in recipe. you will see a sort of liquid and include that because that is banana gold. give it a try.
I have made this twice now. Once with fresh bananas and once with frozen. The fresh banana one ( to which I added fresh blueberries, made muffins with your streusel topping. This one was sooo delicious!!! The one with frozen bananas never got done. I did not know I should drain off the excess liquid! .
This has become a massively requested Christmas tradition I have spread out throughout the year! So many of your recipes have become my family’s favourite. Big fan for a long time!
I’m so happy to hear it, Victoria! Thank you for including my recipes part of your family’s Christmas traditions!
This is very similar to other recipes I’ve used in the past, however I was looking for a recipe using sour cream since I had a gallon left over from a misguided CostCo run. This is my new favorite! The bread is a lighter color than I am used to, I’m assuming because of the sour cream. It seems to be too moist when eating straight from the oven, but after a day of resting, it’s absolute perfection. I prefer larger bits of banana in my bread, so I use a wisk to hand mash them and add them to the batter at the end of the mixing.