Banana Bread

Updated May 2, 2024

Banana Bread
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time
65 minutes
Rating
5(9,907)
Notes
Read community notes

Here is an easy way to use up the bananas on the countertop, or brown ones thrown in the back of the freezer. Don’t overmix the ingredients, and make sure the bananas are very ripe. —Julia Moskin

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Ingredients

Yield:1 loaf

    For the Bread

    • ¼pound cool butter (1 stick), more for greasing pan
    • ¾cup dark brown sugar
    • 2eggs, at room temperature
    • 2⅓cups very ripe bananas (about 5)
    • 2cups all-purpose flour
    • 1teaspoon baking soda
    • ¼teaspoon salt

    For the Topping

    • 3tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans
    • 1tablespoon granulated or coarse sugar
    • teaspoon cinnamon
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

243 calories; 10 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 168 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Using electric mixer, cream butter until smooth and fluffy. Add sugar and cream together 2 minutes more. One at a time, mix in eggs. Mix in bananas until only small lumps remain.

  2. Step 2

    Stir dry ingredients together and mix into banana mixture just until combined. Pour into prepared pan. If making topping, stir ingredients together and sprinkle over batter.

  3. Step 3

    Bake about 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and let cool completely before wrapping tightly for storage.

Ratings

5 out of 5
9,907 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

My new go to recipe. Add a teaspoon of vanilla, reduce brown sugar to half cup, and swap out half of white flour for whole wheat. Yum.

If your bananas aren’t very ripe, you can place them on a foil covered baking sheet in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 300 until the skins turn black. It releases the sugar and makes them perfect for baking.

I used this metric conversion
110g butter
100g brown sugar
2 eggs
500g bananas - 3 large
240g self raising flour
Grind of sea salt

Topping
30g flaked almonds
20g brown sugar
Shake of cinnamon

Made this for my boyfriend and he can’t stop smiling from ear to ear and giving mad praises for this recipe. I made a few alterations though: added a teaspoon of nutmeg and cinnamon, two tablespoons of freshly grated ginger, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the butter and sugar while creaming. I’ve learned that the spices and flavors are heightened and taste more when it’s added to the butter while creaming instead of adding it/them to the batter at the last minute. Overall, a great recipe

Made a lot of banana bread in my day. I like this recipe BUT I never have 5 overripe bananas on hand. I have more like 2-3. So I've learned that this recipe works very well if you sub in unsweetened apple sauce for whatever volume of banana pulp you are lacking.

I put this into 3 mini-loaf pans and baked for 35 minutes.

It would be very welcome if recipes were written with weights (in grams) as well.

Good recipe ... my banana bread frequently turns out gooey in the center, even when dark brown on top & sides. This recipe yielded bread evenly baked clear through.

I've made many banana breads over the years and this is one of the best. I just happened to have 5 frozen bananas. I let them defrost while my eggs and butter came to room temperature. The banana bread was ready in 55 minutes, not 65. It was so light that it was almost spongy and the aroma of the banana permeated the cake. I think the topping really adds to it, in both appearance and taste. Also, it gets better on day 2 and perhaps day 3, but it was eaten up.

Ajp
Don't over mix the dry ingredients with the wet. Can cause bread to be heavy.

best banana bread ever--moist and delicious. per other's notes, i cut sugar to 1/2c; added 1t vanilla. great

I added cranberry/raisin/almonds/sunflower seeds trail mix (Walmart) for some texture and taste (1/2 cup). If you don't have enough bananas, you can add some yogurt, 1/2 cup as a replacement for a banana. You may need a little more flour.

Delicious and easy to make. I added one cup of chocolate chips to the batter just before pouring into the pan. Bread was moist, firm and tasty.

I wish I paid better attention to this review regarding the cooking time. I baked mine for 60 minutes and while the banana bread is tasty, we found it dry. It is remedied by spreading cream cheese. I would cook again, use a bit less sugar and start testing for doneness at 50 minutes.

This came out of the oven looking beautiful. I took it over to a friends house for nourishment during their Dungeons & Dragons gaming. Received an Email the next day reporting that it was the best banana bread recipe any of them had ever tasted. Now that is an endorsement.

I always cut the sugar in half

I was in a hurry and didn’t convert the measurements correctly to metric. Very runny, thin mixture (far too much brown sugar, not much flour) which turned very dark while baking. And? It turned into a crispy edged sticky pudding cake. It was amazing! Now to try the recipe properly converted.

The bread turned out moist and full of banana flavor. An excellent way to use up frozen bananas!!

If your crew is a little shy about nuts, try 1/4 cup of shredded coconut, 2 tbsp powdered sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon for your topping! The sugar crystallizes on the toasted coconut. Yum! Pre-bake the bananas in-skin at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, unless they are black. Heating the bananas makes the whole loaf baked evenly, even with large banana chunks. This is a great recipe to swap in 1/2 cup of an interesting flour - we used brown rice flour and it was the best banana bread we’ve ever had!

Add tsp of vanilla to sugar/butter

If anyone’s interested, these make great mini-muffins. I found 9-10 min at the same temp was just right

I didn't make the topping but used a liberal amount of walnuts in the batter and on top. I also used 6 yellow/brownish bananas. The result was a beautifully baked and tasty bread that was an absolute crowd pleaser.

1 tsp xanthum gum KAB measure for measure flour

This will now forever be our go-to banana bread. We didn't even do the added topping and it was still absolutely lovely. I did add vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger at the butter creaming phase (measured with my heart). Thanks to the folks in here for the tips!!

Used 3 bananas medium. 4 would be good too!

The recipe calls for baking it too long. Fifty minutes produced a moist but completely baked loaf. At least start checking at 50.

Delicious banana bread. Used light brown sugar instead of dark on accident and it still came out perfect, though it needed around 65 minutes to bake up fully. Would recommend lining pan with parchment paper and some baking spray instead of greasing it for easier transfer.

Brown the butter, mix into bananas, then add the eggs and vanilla. Then sugar and dry.

Fantastic! Used 4 bananas because it’s what I had. Topping was great but a lot came off so might mix in with some batter as someone else suggested. Bananas were REALLY ripe so cut sugar to half cup. I used half spelt flour/half all purpose, which worked really well (as was waiting to try the spelt in something like this). Maybe add some pecans to the mix next time? Maybe not? It was perfect!! (55 minutes for the long skinny bread pan).

Made this exactly as the receipe is written. It is very moist and wonderfu!

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Credits

Adapted from allrecipes.com

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