The Best Banana Bread Recipe

Best Banana Bread Recipe – Moist, tender and so delicious, this recipe is so easy to make and truly makes the best banana bread every time. 

Looking for more quick and easy bread recipes? I think you’ll love my Two Ingredient Cream Biscuits, Cornbread Muffins, banana muffins, and Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

There’s something so intoxicating about the aroma of this delicious Banana Bread baking in the oven. A warm, comforting, nutty fragrance fills the air and starts the anticipation to slice this warm bread as soon as it’s ready! This recipe makes a version of one I remember my Grandmother making often. It’s one of my favorite recipes for bananas and makes a delicious snack, dessert, or breakfast – and it’s such an easy banana bread recipe to make, too!

The Best Banana Bread Recipe

My Grandmother wasted nothing. Even something as simple as a few over-ripe bananas, with a few other ingredients, turns into this delicious banana bread recipe. While I always loved hers, I’ve updated it just a bit to deepen the flavor while using less butter and sugar than called for in her original recipe.

What is Banana Bread?

Banana bread is a “quick” bread made of very ripe bananas, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, vanilla, and a leavener. Since it is a quick bread, it uses baking soda rather than yeast to help the bread rise as it cooks. Once the batter is mixed together, it is ready to bake immediately.

There are a few tricks to making the best banana bread recipe possible with this easy recipe. Here are a few tips:

Tips to Make the Best Banana Bread

Bananas – You’ll want to make sure that you are using over-ripe bananas as the first step. The large bananas should have darker specks covering the banana peeling, letting you know that the banana is overripe and perfect to use in this recipe.

Sugar – We love to use brown sugar in ours. The molasses in the brown sugar deepens the flavor and makes it even more delicious! If you don’t have brown sugar, you can also use granulated sugar (white sugar).

Mixing – Grandmother mixed her batter by hand with a fork or a whisk. I tend to grab the handheld mixer to make mine more than she did. You can mix it either way. Just make sure you do not over-mix the batter, as it can dry your bread.

Banana Bread Ingredients

To make this favorite recipe, you’ll need the following:

• Overripe bananas – Follow the tips above for selecting the best bananas for your bread to have the most incredible banana flavor. 
• Dark brown sugar – I love to use dark brown sugar for this recipe, but if you have light brown sugar, you can also use it. The rich molasses flavor will not be as pronounced. 
• Butter (salted) – I prefer to use room-temperature salted butter rather than unsalted butter in this recipe. If you only have unsalted, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the recipe to adjust. 
• Eggs – I use fresh, large eggs that are at room temperature. 
• Flour – I use a light all-purpose flour for this recipe. You can also use half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour. 
• Baking soda – Baking soda helps this bread rise as it bakes.
• Salt
• Vanilla extract – I use pure vanilla extract for my baking. I do not recommend using imitation vanilla flavoring, as I believe you can tell the difference in the final result. 
• Roasted pecans (optional)

Favorite Add-Ins

Pecans – my recipe calls for chopped roasted pecans. I highly recommend them, but you can absolutely omit them if you do not prefer nut bread.

Chocolate chips – Chocolate chips – stir chocolate chips into your batter for a delicious addition to chocolate chip banana bread.

Raisins – raisins also make a delicious addition.

How to Make the Best Classic Banana Bread

Prep. Preheat your oven and prepare your baking pan. To prepare your 9-inch loaf pan, you can either spray the inside of the pan well with baking spray or you can coat it with butter and then lightly dust it with all-purpose flour. Make sure to shake out any excess flour.

Mix. As I mentioned earlier, you can mix by hand or use an electric or stand mixer based on your preference. Mix together the room-temperature butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Then, remove the bananas from their peelings, mash them with a fork, add them to the large bowl, and mix until well combined. Add eggs one at a time to the mashed bananas, mixing well after each large egg to make sure well blended into the batter. Add the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix until well combined. Stir in the vanilla extract and any nuts or additions that you are adding to the recipe. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean for about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then, turn out onto a board for slicing or a wire rack to cool completely before covering.

How to Make Banana Bread Muffins

To make muffins from this recipe, you’ll need to make a few changes. I’ve tested it numerous ways and finally settled on a banana muffin recipe that is failproof when my son was a toddler – more than 20 years ago now! It is a family favorite recipe that I think you’ll enjoy.

Storage Tips

To store. Banana Bread or Banana Muffins will keep on the counter under a cover for three days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

To freeze. You can freeze a loaf of banana bread, individual slices, or banana muffins. Allow the baked bread to cool completely, wrap well, and place into a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To serve. Remove from the freezer and allow to thaw. You can also remove it from the freezer and reheat in the toaster for a few minutes for toasted slices.

Recipe Variations

Egg-Free Banana Bread – You can use an egg replacer, such as Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer, or even applesauce to replace the eggs. To use applesauce, you’ll use 1/2 applesauce in place of the two large eggs. You’ll also want to add one teaspoon of baking powder to help lighten the bread from the fruit puree added since it can make the quick bread more dense. 

Gluten-Free Banana Bread – To make this recipe gluten-free, I’ve successfully used an equal amount of gluten-free flour in place of the all-purpose flour listed in the recipe.

Dairy-Free Banana Bread – For a dairy-free option, replace the butter with a plant-based butter.

Here’s my Banana Bread Recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

You may also enjoy my chocolate banana bread if you are craving chocolate.

Enjoy!
Robyn xo