This moist and flavorful Easy Banana Bread is a family favorite! If you’re looking for a way to use ripe bananas, give this recipe a try.
Today I’m sharing how to make our favorite banana bread, all my tips and tricks for the perfect loaf, how to speed up the ripening process for bananas, and how to freeze/store any leftover banana bread.
Easy Banana Bread
I firmly believe having a reliable (and delicious!) recipe for making homemade banana bread is a necessity! Whenever you start to see the freckle-y spots cover those bananas sitting on your counter, you can whip out that very recipe. And let’s be honest– you likely bought them in the first place because you wanted them to get overripe, right? So, give or take a few minutes, in an hour you can have a home filled with the smell of freshly baked banana bread; and a few minutes after that, you can be eating a slice of freshly baked, warm and moist, sweetly spiced banana bread.
Is there anything better in life that you can get from overripe speckle-y fruit? Not that I know of.
This recipe is all that and more –not only will you have your home smelling a bakery, but it’s easy and reliable!
I told you this bread is EASY to make. Below is a quick breakdown of the steps.
How do you make Easy Banana Bread?
- Sift dry ingredients: Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat wet ingredients: Use a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment to beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy. The beat in oil, butter, bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix till it’s all combined.
- Combine wet and dry: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until JUST combined. Over-mixing will result in dry, dense banana bread.
- Bake: Fill a greased and lightly floured bread pan with the batter and bake!
Easy Banana Bread Add-Ins
If you’re looking to “spice” up your banana bread you can add one of the following ingredients:
- Chocolate chips: Stir in one cup with dry ingredients. I like to use a mix of regular and miniature chocolate chips (1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup semi-sweet), but add your favorite type of chocolate to this recipe.
- Nuts: Toss a cup of coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds with the dry ingredients.
- Dried fruits: Add one cup of cranberries or raisins with the dry ingredients.
- Flaked coconut: Mix in one cup (sweetened or unsweetened) coconut with the dry ingredients.
When adding in one of the previously mentioned ingredients, make sure to mix it with the dry ingredients. This will dust the ingredient with flour; this helps it get evenly dispersed throughout the bread, rather than sinking to the bottom of the loaf.
Easy Banana Bread FAQs
How can I speed up the ripening process for bananas?
Simply place a few bananas on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 6-12 minutes (depending on how ripe the bananas are, to begin with). They’re ready to go when the skins turn black.
What do you eat with banana bread?
I personally love banana bread by itself, but if you’re serving it as part of a brunch, it would go well with this Bread Pudding recipe and this simple Ham and Cheese Quiche. Here are some other ideas for what to pair with this bread.
Can I turn this recipe into an easy banana cake?
Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t convert to cake super easily. Luckily, though, I have a recipe that does: give this simple Banana Cake recipe a try! And if you’re looking to make cupcakes, these Banana Cupcakes are a favorite on this site! And finally, if you’re looking for muffins, try these Banana Muffins.
Can I make this bread healthy?
While there are some swaps you can make, I recommend trying this Healthy Banana Bread recipe instead. It’s quite a bit healthier than this recipe and it’s received glowing reviews — definitely a reader favorite!
Storage
- Keeping it Fresh: Wrap your banana bread well and keep it at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want it to last longer, put it in the fridge after the first day. Heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds before eating.
- Freezing: Cool the bread completely, then wrap it tightly and put it in a sealed container or bag in the freezer. It’ll stay good for 3 months. Thaw slices quickly at room temperature when you’re ready to eat them.
More Delicious Baked Goods:
- Perfect Pumpkin Bread
- Zucchini Bread (reader favorite!)
- Bakery Style Chocolate Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup canola oil (vegetable oil works)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 and 1/2 cups mashed bananas (~3-4 overripe bananas)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla full-fat Greek yogurt (or use sour cream)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 2/3 cups white all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Optional topping: 2 tablespoons brown sugar + 1 tablespoon white sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and arrange the rack in the center. Lightly grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Remove the peels and place the bananas in a small bowl. Thoroughly mash the bananas with a fork. Melt the unsalted butter and allow it to return back to room temperature.
- Use a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to beat together the brown sugar, white sugar, and eggs on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Switch the mixer speed to low and slowly drizzle in the oil, then drizzle in the butter (making sure it's cooled down from being melted). Add the mashed bananas, yogurt or sour cream, and vanilla extract. Continue to mix at low speed until just combined.
- In another large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and using a spatula (don't use the mixer), gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. Don't overmix this batter; just fold until you don't see any streaks of the dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. If desired, sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon white sugar evenly over the top of the bread.
- Place the bread on a baking sheet. Bake for 50-70 minutes (wide variance, depending on the actual pan you used, actual heat of your oven, humidity, etc.), until lightly golden brown on top, and bread springs back when you press it, and a toothpick, when inserted in the center, comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Remove the bread and allow it to cool in the pan for 8-10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack to finish cooling and then slice with a sharp serrated knife.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My hubby always says any desert I make must contain nuts and coconut, so I add one cup of each in this recipe. He says this is the best banana bread he’s ever had!
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much Teresa! 🙂
I like my old banana bread recipe because it calls for ingredients that I already have on hand when my bananas are past their prime. It’s a decent recipe, but I always wanted to up my banana bread game. Well, this recipe does just that! (No buttermilk required.) The directions are very different from my recipe which is pretty much a dump and stir version. This one takes a little more time to throw together, but Oh My Goodness, it’s SO good! Thank you, Chelsea, for a banana bread I can be proud to make and share! This recipe is a WINNER!