This Banana Bread Recipe uses brown sugar and lots of bananas for the BEST flavor. Plus, it takes only 15 minutes to make by hand–no mixer required! Recipe includes a how-to video!
This is it: the BEST banana bread recipe. After over half a dozen recipe tests, I finally landed on a winner. This recipe makes a moist, super flavorful (thanks to our key players: bananas, buttermilk, brown sugar, and vanilla), and easily customizable banana bread, a near cousin to my popular carrot cake recipe.
Want to add nuts? Go for it! Like chocolate chip banana bread? Throw them in too. Or, go a little crazy and add both–this recipe can handle it!
My banana bread recipe is closely based off of my popular banana muffins. That recipe has received nothing but rave reviews, and it took just a few modifications to make it perfect for baking in a bread pan. Serve yours warm with a little bit of honey butter (people do eat banana bread with butter, right?), and you’ve got yourself a slice of pure perfection.
Try it, and you can thank me later!
What You Need
My banana bread recipe is simple and uses basic ingredients:
- Bananas. The browner, spottier, and riper the better and more flavorful your finished bread will be.
- Oil & butter. As with my vanilla cake recipe, I’ve found a blend of oil and butter gives this cake the best texture and flavor. Make sure to melt your butter before using.
- Sugar. I use a blend of brown sugar and granulated for the most flavor. Dark or light brown sugar will work here; dark will give you a richer flavor, slightly more moist texture, and will make the cake darker.
- Eggs. Large, extra large, or jumbo will work here.
- Vanilla extract and salt. For flavor!
- Buttermilk. This adds moisture and flavor to the cake. Real, full-fat buttermilk is best, but if you don’t have any on hand, you can always make my buttermilk substitute instead. To do this, combine ¾ teaspoon of lemon juice (or white vinegar) with ¼ scant cup milk, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes before using.
- Baking powder & baking soda. To give the bread a bit of lift.
SAM’S TIP: Sprinkle a little bit of extra granulated sugar over the batter just before baking for added flavor and texture.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make The Best Banana Bread Recipe
- 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!
SAM’S TIP: Don’t over-mix your batter! Gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined; it’s okay if you see some faint flour streaks when you’re done.
Frequently Asked Questions
VERY ripe bananas are ideal. We’re talking dark brown, spotty, and mushy–pretty much the opposite of what you’d like to eat! Super ripe bananas have the most flavor and will subsequently make your bread super flavorful too.
Absolutely! Stir in 1¼ cup coarsely chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are great choices), chocolate chips, or even raisins at the end. Just remember to not over-mix!
Store at room temperature in an airtight container (or wrapped with plastic wrap) for up to three days. It can also be tightly wrapped and frozen for several months!
First make sure you do not over-bake the bread, as this is the quickest way to make it dry. Once it’s cooked and cooled, store your banana bread tightly wrapped at room temperature and enjoy within 3 days for best results. Do NOT refrigerate–this will dry out the bread!
SAM’S TIP: If using nuts, try toasting them first for added flavor! To do this, simply spread the nuts on a baking sheet in an even layer and bake on 350F for 5-10 minutes, turning halfway through.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook.
The BEST Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (385 g) well-mashed overripe bananas this is usually 3 large ripe bananas for me (355ml)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter melted
- ⅔ cup (135 g) light or dark brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten, room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk¹
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose plain flour
- ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips or chopped nuts² optional
- ¼ cup (50 g) coarse or granulated sugar for sprinkling optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and grease the bottom and ½" up the sides of a 9×5" bread pan. Set aside.
- Combine mashed bananas, canola oil, and melted butter in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.1 ½ cups (385 g) well-mashed overripe bananas, ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil, ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter
- Add sugars and stir well.⅔ cup (135 g) light or dark brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Stir in eggs and vanilla extract.2 large eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add buttermilk and stir until thoroughly combined.¼ cup (60 ml) buttermilk¹
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose, ¾ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon 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.1 ¼ cups chocolate chips or chopped nuts²
- Pour batter into prepared pan and, if desired, sprinkle generously with coarse sugar.¼ cup (50 g) coarse or granulated sugar for sprinkling
- 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
¹Buttermilk
If you don’t have buttermilk in your fridge, you can use my easy buttermilk substitute instead.²Adding nuts
If you have nuts that aren’t already chopped, I recommend toasting them first for an even better flavor. To toast, layer 1 ½ cup of walnut or pecan halves over a baking sheet and bake on 350F for about 8 minutes. Allow the nuts to cool then use a large knife to coarsely chop. I don’t recommend toasting pre-chopped nuts just because they don’t always cook evenly and could end up burned.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. This recipe also freezes well, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and it will keep for several months!Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Related Recipes
This recipe was originally published March 18th 2019.
KATELYNN DAVIS
Oh my goodness!! This recipe is so yummy! I used chick pea flour, and it gave the bread a nice nutty taste!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Katelynn! 🙂
Vicky Roeser
I have baked two loaves past week and the were perfection. Gave one to good friend who is recouping from a surgery…said the best he has ever had. I added a 1/4 tsp. of Watkins banana extract and really was perfect amount to enhance flavor. I toasted walnuts and sprinkled Demerra course sugar on the top. Great receipe. 40 years baking sweet breads and this one will be my go to! Thank you.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Sally
Hi Sam, Just had to tell you, again, you are THE BEST Chef around, every recipe you share with us is perfection bc you put your heart and soul into each one, and it shows, thank you again so much for allowing me to benefit from your amazing talent and for sharing w us all the secrets to a great bake that many ppl dont, youre awesome!
Sam
Thank you so much, Sally! 🙂
Maria Donahue
I just made the bread. It says add dry to wet. Usually it’s wet to dry. Batter was lumpy. Tried not to over mix. Was this correct
Sam
Hi Maria! The recipe is correct. You do add the dry to the wet ingredients. Adding the wet to the dry could actually lead to more lumps in this case. You can see a picture of the batter in the post and you can see how it looks when I pour it into the pan in the video. It could still have some small lumps but shouldn’t be really, really lumpy. I hope you enjoyed it! 🙂
Heather
Just made this and it’s excellent. Better than my mother’s, but don’t tell her.
Sam
🤣 I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Heather! 🙂
K
This is the best recipe i used, thank you! Quick question tho how can i make it a vegan recipe?
Sam
So glad you enjoyed! Unfortunately I am not familiar with vegan baking so I’m really not sure, but maybe someone else can chime in!
Kim
I made this at work today for the seniors at the senior center because my go to recipe was at home. It was a hit but it did require 97 minutes exactly for the center to fully cook. I didn’t find the oil until after the fact and we were out of brown sugar so I used granulated sugar and all butter.
Mike
Delicious!
Jill
Moist banana bread has been my nemesis in the kitchen forever until today! This recipe was fun to make and ohhhhh so good! My oven runs hot, so I started checking the center at 45mins and still managed to get the underside still a bit overdone but I have an idea of when to pull it next time. Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Jill! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you! 🙂
Sandy
This recipe is amazing! Although I’ve tried it twice and both times the middle of the bread always seems to come out with raw batter (especially where the crack is). Do you have any idea why this might happen and how can I fix it?
Sam
Hi Sandy! I’m so sorry this is happening! It sounds like it may just need to bake a little bit longer. If the edges of your bread is burning try checking your oven temperature to make sure it isn’t running too hot. I hope this helps. 🙂
Patrick
Best banana bread, ever.
And very easy to make.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Patrick! 🙂
Patrick
Hi Sam, thank you for Sharing.
I did make a small change, I used brown butter, and toasted the nuts and used two smaller pans so I could gift them . And you are correct you need to change the cook time.
Dori
Best banana bread ever! It’s delicious with butter. It’s also delicious with cream cheese!!
Patrick
Best banana bread, ever
Bruce
Butter it? That’s for amateurs! Here’s what you do with banana bread or any quickbread. Butter it (one side or both) and slap it onto a hot griddle or skillet. Cook until the surface is nicely browned. If you want to go all out, then spread it with whipped cream cheese (whipped, so the bread won’t fall apart when you’re spreading it).
Note: This is why I’m fat. 🙂
Sam
This sounds AMAZING! Definitely trying this next time!
Bruce
The buttering and grilling trick is also great for dense cakes like pound cake and hot milk cake.
Patrick
Bruce, not fat, Husky
Amanda R
I am extremely picky. And I love this banana bread. I add 1 tsp of cinnamon. I also made these edits, and I have a question. Instead of butter, I just doubled the oil. And instead of buttermilk (I had none) I used whole milk + cream of tartar as a substitute. It tastes amazing and the texture is good BUT it could be just ever ever so slightly more moist. Is one of my subs causing a drying issue?
Sam
Hi Amanda! The oil should actually make it more moist. You will just lose a little bit of flavor from the butter. The buttermilk substitute isn’t the best option here and it could have maybe been a little more moist with the real buttermilk, although it shouldn’t be dry. The most likely culprit of a dry banana bread would be slightly over-baking it. 🙁
Dori
This is the best banana bread ever! I used splenda and splenda brown sugar blend otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. My husband and I loved UT! Than you!
Sam
So happy to hear this, Dori! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you, (especially with the substitutions, I appreciate that and know that others who want to try with splenda will, too!).
Dori
You couldn’t tell any difference with the splenda!
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Violeta
Love this recipe. I’ve made it several times, since we are lucky enough to have banana trees in our yard, so I have to do something with them! I love giving slices away!
Sam
That is so awesome! I’m so glad you enjoy it so much! 🙂
Karlee
Can this batter be separated into smaller bread pans? I have 5.75in x 3in bread pans.
Can’t wait to try!
Sam
Hi Karlee! That should work, but your bake time will vary. 🙂
Patrick
Karlee, yes you can but you will need to shorten the cook time by 10 minutes or so.
I used 2 small pans today and they were great.
350 temp @ 45-50 minutes but check at 40 minute mark not all ovens are the same.
Thrat
I was worried about making this as I’ve tried another banana bread recipe in the past that didn’t go so well… But I tried this a few days ago and absolutely loved it! It went way better than last time although the middle of it was a bit gummy-like even after putting it in for a few extra minutes. Still had a super good flavour though and will definitely be trying this recipe again!
Sam
I’m glad you still enjoyed it. It may have needed a few more minutes in the oven. Your oven may be running a little bit cold. Did you test it with a skewer to see if it was cooked all the way through?
Kalila
This banana bread was perfect! Soft, tender crumb, flavorful, everything I want in a banana bread. I didn’t have buttermilk or whole milk so I added a squeeze of lemon juice to some almond milk and it worked just fine.
Sam, thanks so much for sharing your recipe and tips!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kalila! 🙂