The Best Banana Bread Recipe

Robyn Stone

on Mar 03, 2025

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5 from 56 votes

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The Best Banana Bread recipe is moist and tender with the delicious flavor of bananas, brown sugar, and butter! Easy to make and is the best banana bread every time.

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!

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. I loved hers, but I’ve updated it just a bit to deepen the flavor while using less butter and sugar than called for in her original recipe.

How to Make the Best Banana Bread

What is Banana Bread? It 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 it rise as it cooks. Once the batter is mixed together, it is ready to bake immediately.

Here’s how you’ll make it.

Banana bread that has been sliced on a white platter.

Ingredients

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

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 for this. 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 Banana Bread Add-Ins

Pecans – My recipe calls for chopped roasted pecans. I highly recommend them, but you can absolutely omit them if you wish.

Chocolate chips – Stir chocolate chips into your batter for a delicious addition!

Raisins – They add a sweet and tasty texture to the bread.

Step-by-Step Instructions

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.

Tips for the Best Banana Bread

There are a few tricks to making the best banana bread.

Here are a few tips:

Bananas – You’ll want to ensure you use 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 – I use brown sugar in this recipe. 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 often grab my handheld mixer. You can mix it either way. Just do not over-mix the batter, as it can make the bread taste dry.

Loaf pan cooling on a white marble countertop.

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. Cover both Banana Bread or Banana Muffins and keep them on the counter 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 or freezer container. 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 it 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 instead 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. Here are more Egg Substitutes for your convenience.

Gluten-Free Banana Bread – To make this recipe gluten-free, I’ve successfully used an equal amount of gluten-free flour instead 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.