This is it, the BEST Banana Bread Recipe. I’m so excited to share this one with you! My recipe is made with brown sugar, is loaded with bananas, has a subtle vanilla flavor, and includes tips for including nuts or chocolate chips if you would like. The prep is easy (less than 20 minutes, no stand mixer) and the results are divine. You’re going to want to save this one!
Do you butter your banana bread? I never have before but as I warmed up a slice this morning my eyes kept fixating on the European butter I just bought over the weekend. Is it normal to butter banana bread? I googled that question (really) but I’m still not sure. Breakfast this morning was butter-less and still excellent, but I think my next slice is going to be an experiment. Everything is better with butter, right?
Anyway, even without butter on top, this is exactly what this Monday morning needs. Moist, loaded with flavor (thanks to our key players: bananas, buttermilk, brown sugar, and vanilla), this really is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried. And I’ve tried a lot, it took over half a dozen recipe tests before I landed on this recipe.
It’s actually based off of my popular banana muffin recipe. That recipe has received nothing but rave reviews, and it only took a few simple modifications to make it perfect for baking in a bread pan.
How to Make The Best Banana Bread
- Mash your bananas. The riper the better!
- Stir together bananas, oil, and butter, then mix in sugar, brown sugar, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) separately.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients gently.
- Pour into a greased bread pan and sprinkle generously with sugar (optional, but not really).
- When your banana bread is a beautiful golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, it’s finished baking!
Tips
This recipe is pretty straightforward, but I do have a few tips that might help you out.
- The riper your bananas are, the better and more flavorful your bread will be. The browner and spottier the better!
- You can use light or dark brown sugar in this recipe, I just use whichever I happen to have on hand, which is usually light. Dark brown sugar will lend a bit more moisture, richness, and a slightly darker color to your banana bread. You really can’t go wrong either way!
- My recipe uses buttermilk for a moist texture If you don’t happen to have buttermilk in your fridge, you can use my buttermilk substitute instead (3/4 teaspoon of lemon juice + 1/4 scant cup milk).
- Chocolate chips and/or nuts go great with this recipe! More on that below…
Mix it Up
This is a classic, no-frills banana bread, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go a little crazy with it. Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or chopped nuts all go great in this recipe. Chopped pecans or walnuts are especially great. And yes, adding chocolate chips to banana bread is my idea of going crazy. It gets wild over here, guys.
Here’s a quick tip if you want to add nuts: Toast them first! I don’t really recommend toasting nuts that have already been chopped (they won’t cook evenly and you run the risk of burning them), but if you have walnut or pecan halves then layer them evenly on a baking sheet and toast at 350F for about 8 minutes. Let them cool then chop them up and toss them into your banana bread batter.
More Great Banana Recipes:
Just a few of my other popular banana recipes!
Enjoy!
The BEST Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups well-mashed overripe bananas this is usually 3 large ripe bananas for me (355ml/385g)
- 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil (60ml)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted (60g)
- 2/3 cup light or dark brown sugar firmly packed (135g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100g
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten, room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup buttermilk 60ml¹
- 2 cups all-purpose plain flour (250g)
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips or chopped nuts optional²
- 1/4 cup coarse or granulated sugar for sprinkling optional (50g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and grease the bottom and 1/2" up the sides of a 9x5 bread pan. Set aside.
- Combine mashed bananas, canola oil, and melted butter in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.
- Add sugars and stir well.
- Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add buttermilk and stir until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and carefully, gently using a spatula (not an electric mixer) fold ingredients together until just combined. Don't overmix the batter or your banana cake could end up dense/dry. If adding nuts/chocolate chips, stir them in here.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and, if desired, sprinkle generously with coarse sugar.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) oven and bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted all the way into the center of the cake comes out clean or preferably with a few moist crumbs. Do not over-bake your banana bread or it will be dry.
Notes
Nutrition
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
Celina says
Hi Sam!
I tried your banana muffin recipe earlier and they were a big hit! Gone within 30 minutes! I have some leftover streusel and I was wondering if it was possible to use it on this banana bread recipe as well?
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Celina! I think the streusel would definitely work on top of the banana bread. 🙂
Sherlynne says
Hi Sam!! This is the best banana bread!!!! It was a hit! I was requested to make a bigger portion next time I make it😁. I have a question though, is it okay to use 4 bananas on a single loaf? I have 1 excess overripe banana and I don’t want to waste it 😆.
Sam says
Hi Sherlynne! If they are smaller bananas 4 will work, but make sure not to add too much more than the 1.5 cups needed in the recipe. If you add too much banana, you end up introducing too much moisture and that could be detrimental to the outcome of the cake. 🙂
Miri says
I made this a few weeks ago for work, they LOVED IT! I hade to make another one the following week. And yesterday I made one fro my family in Puerto Rico and they loved it so much i had to make a new one today! And they asked me to make another one on Monday before i fly back home to Kansas! This one is an absolute WINNER!! I used the bananas from our back yard and it was amazing!
Sam says
I am so glad everyone enjoys it so much! That is so cool that there are bananas in the backyard to use. 🙂
Miriam says
Yess!! They are a lot sweeter than the ones you buy in the local grocery stores in the US! Also, i have to admit that in the first banana bread i made back home i went super light on the sugar in top, thanking that it would be too much, now i go crazy with it’ lol! It create such a yummy crust that it’s everyone’s favorite part of the cake!! Thank you sooo much, Sam!!!!
Sam says
You are very welcome! I’m always happy when everyone is enjoying their baked goods. 🙂
Sarah Shivley says
Oh my word! I made this yesterday, and just had a slice for breakfast… SO GOOD!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sarah! 🙂
jamie says
i also wanted to say that when the people reviewing this are saying this is the best banana bread they’ve ever tasted, i don’t think that’s quite good enough a description! i thought that meant, this banana bread is as good as the best banana bread they’ve had in the past. but oh no. this is BETTER than any banana bread i’ve ever had. and this is coming from someone who LOVES banana bread. we made this recipe this morning and now we just have a tiny bit left. i ate it for breakfast and lunch and just now again for a snack, and not sure i’ve got room for dinner and i don’t care. yum yum yum yum yum!!!
Sam says
Thank you so much, Jamie! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! 🙂
jamie says
yes yes yes!!! okay, so this recipe is really, really amazing, but i think you need to rename it ALSO to the worst banana bread recipe because it’s too good and it will have me eating entirely too much sugar. your whole website should be called the worst recipes because they’re all too amazing. i don’t know about everyone else, but when i’ve searched the internet at random for recipes, they are VERY hit-or-miss, and the results are very spotty. i don’t know how you’ve done it, but we can’t seem to go wrong with any of your recipes! they all turn out amazing, even for we who consider ourselves not good at baking, who in the past have tried to follow recipe instructions to the letter and still had so many epic failures. yours just WORK! it’s not enough for a recipe to be good in theory, like, it will be delicious if you don’t screw it up, but you have to have crazy skills to accomplish that. a recipe has to actually work when you follow the steps as written, and your recipes do. we’ve basically stopped searching the web for recipes now, and we’re searching your site first every time. i can’t wait to try your worst chocolate chip cookies, your buttermilk pancakes, your strawberry cake, and your cheesecake. we want to try one of your blueberry recipes, but 6 cups of blueberries are a bit pricey right now, so maybe in a few years when we can go pick them ourselves for a reasonable price. 😉
Sam says
Thank you so much, Jamie! I am so glad you enjoyed it so much. I take pride in my recipes being delicious and easily duplicated so I put lots of time and effort (and MANY, MANY test runs) into making the perfect recipe so I am glad it turned out so well for you. 🙂
Annabel says
Truly the best banana bread I have ever had. All the other ones that I have made or tried have left me cold, but this one is super moist and full of banana! No offense to the other recipes or anything but this should be the most popular banana bread recipe!
Sam says
Thank you so much, Annabel! I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Tania says
I loved this bread!! It literally will last less than 12hrs 🙂 Had a quick question… If I want to make a chocolate banana bread – Not chocolate chip- Just a chocolate banana bread, is there a recipe you can share or a suggestion.
Thanks so much for all your amazing recipes!!
Sam says
Hi Tania! I don’t currently have a chocolate banana bread recipe but I will certainly put it on my list of things to do. There would be a few alterations that would need to be made to make it a chocolate banana bread. 🙂
Diana says
I made this banana bread twice so far, and it is the very best banana bread I’ve ever tasted. I’m an old baker (72) and really didn’t care for the old banana nut recipes with all the oil as they were very heavy and oily. So I haven’t made any for years. This one is absolutely awesome! I will be trying the vanilla cake one soon and others that I have printed off. Keep the great recipes coming as I really enjoy your website.
Sam says
Thank you so much, Diana! I am so glad you enjoyed it so much. 🙂
Debbie says
Wow, I have made a lot of good banana nut bread, but this one is wonderful, delicious and everything you want in a banana nut bread! I love the sprinkle of sugar on top…..that is great. And I bake a lot and never knew that about greasing only 1” from the side of the pan. My bread was excellence, I will try more of your recipes for sure.
10 star
Debbie
Sam says
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed so much, Debbie! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out for you, I appreciate it!
Toni Brown says
Sam,
Again, another hit! B
But I mistakenly used 1/2 cup melted butter vs. 1/4 cup, so I added an addl (less than) 1/4 cup of oil in hopes the bread wouldn’t be too dry. It tasted good but was a bit dry and rubbery (if there’s a thing.) Either way, I was surprised it tasted good in spite of the mistake.
Question: After cooling in pan for 10 minutes, is it advisable to store in the cake holder? Was it rubbery because it sweat in the container (plastic holder used vs. glass cake holder.)
Thanks much
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Toni! I have never heard of this bread become “rubbery.” It could be the because of the container it was stored in. You also want to allow it to cool before storing it. I am sorry that this happened but happy it tasted delicious. 🙂
Michelle Magsumbol says
This is the best banana bread recipe I’ve made. I’m glad that I did not settle for the recipe I found before on the net. I kept looking for another recipe and I found yours. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I am currently trying you Carrot cake recipe. This site will be my go to place whenever I need to bake something special. More power!
Sam says
I am so happy to hear this, Michelle! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how you are liking the recipes! <3
Barbara Rinaman says
Look no more! It was so moist and hubby agreed it was the best one yet! I’m so glad you recommended stirring in the flour which I did and will always hand stir in the flour for all my recipes in the future. Thanks for this great recipe, will be trying more of yours!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so happy to hear how much you and your husband enjoyed this recipe, Barbara. Thank you for trying it and for commenting. I can’t wait to see what recipe you try next! 🙂
Patty says
Great banana bread. It’s the best!!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Patty! 😊