banana nut bread

prep time: 10 MINUTES

cook time: 65 MINUTES

total time: 3 HOURS

serving size: 1 LOAF

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.

Equipment (+ Special Tools)

  • 9x5-inch Loaf Pan
  • Electric Mixer
  • Glass Mixing Bowls
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • Cooling rack

    • Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 ½ cups)

    • Directions

    1. 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 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
    2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
    3. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the yogurt, vanilla, and mashed bananas until combined.
    4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts/chocolate chips, if using. The batter should be thick.
    5. Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the pan 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. Cool the bread in the pan set on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pan and cool it directly on the rack until ready to slice and serve.
    6. Store wrapped tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

    Notes

  • 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 what is called for in the recipe), 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 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.

    • Website Links

    1. Sally's Baking Addiction This is the site / recipe I've been using for the last 6-7 years! I even had my mom send me the recipe today just to make sure I had it for this project. And very honestly, I made the recipe today as well haha - so I know the steps and ingredients are correct in precision and taste.
    2. All Recipes As a baker, I've made a ton of recipes before, and a huge number have stemmed from here. They have a 4.7 star rating with 13,589 reviews on just banana bread alone which seems prety reliable for proving the site is good and well trusted.
    3. NY Times Cooking The NY Times is a reputable source of information not only for cooking, but general jouranalism as well. Their viewership alone along with their reputation makes this a pretty trustworthy site to get recipes from.

    Website References

      1. Notion I really like the clean lines, minimalist design applied here. This also might be silly but I really like how they do their dropdown menu with the icons. I think that could be interesting to try and implement.
      2. Noma I really like the margins and the choice of fonts, and I like the white space in the images as well. In their shop they have buttons tonavigate different filters which I think is a nice clean tool.
      3. Liu Michelle Portfolio Admittedly this is a friend's portfolio but I really enjoy the way she uses the pop ups and how the images are framed and are presented in unique angles. There's something super intentional about her use of color and shadows which I really like.