Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread
- Total Time
- About 1½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:1 (9-by-5-inch) loaf
- Unsalted butter, for greasing
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ½cup/120 milliliters vegetable oil
- 2large eggs
- ¼cup/60 milliliters honey
- 1cup mashed ripe bananas (from 2 to 3 medium bananas)
- ¼cup/60 milliliters warm water
- ¼cup/55 grams brown sugar, preferably light brown or Demerara sugar
- 2tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Batter
For the Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment or wax paper, leaving enough paper hanging over the sides to lift the cake out after baking. (This will prevent the topping from breaking when removing the bread from the pan.)
- Step 2
Prepare the batter: In a medium bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, using a sturdy whisk, beat together oil, eggs and honey until smooth. Stir in bananas and warm water. Add dry ingredients to egg-oil mixture and stir to blend. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Step 3
Make the topping: In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon, using your fingers to break up any lumps. Sprinkle evenly over batter.
- Step 4
Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. If topping shows signs of burning, reduce heat to 325 degrees.
- Step 5
Remove to a rack and let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Use the edges of the paper to lift the cake up and out. Place on a rack (leave the paper on) and let cool before slicing and serving.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Laura
Love banana bread in almost all its forms and have baked many over the years. My fav recipe is very similar to this one but with one substantial difference: It uses 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup and 1/3 cup of oil instead of a 1/2. The result is a plenty sweet enough, moist bread that tastes like banana and cinnamon instead of sugar.
Courtney
She's in the oven right now and I also added one cup of chocolate chips because WHY NOT??
Steve
Because I bake banana bread fairly often, I buy one or two more bananas than I expect to use. A few days later, I take the last seriously ripe, bananas, and pop them into the freezer, skin and all. If I want to make banana bread later this afternoon, I take 3 frozen bananas out of the freezer and let them thaw on the counter. Three hours later, I cut the stem off each thawed banana and squeeze it directly into the batter, as if it were a tube of toothpaste.
Matthew
Go completely nuts and add a cup of roughly chopped walnuts or pecans. A hefty teaspoon of vanilla wouldn't hurt either.
Sharon
We baked this with 1/2 cup sugar instead of 1 full cup and it was delicious and still sweet. I would even consider reducing it to 1/3 sugar.
vm
Seems like replacing the water with rum or bourbon would be a great way to introduce a little more flavor into the recipe.
D
We didn’t have honey so we substituted maple syrup. The bread was great!
Kathy
No bananas so used one cup of pumpkin puree. Wonderfully moist and great flavor. Loved the Demerara sugar and cinnamon on top-such an easy topping instead of a streusel topping. In my oven loaf was done at 50 minutes so it is good to keep an eye on it. Highly recommend.
Steve
Soak some raisins or dried cranberries in that rum or bourbon for 30 minutes or so before you bake. Use orange juice if you don't want to use alcohol.
Kyle
Really delicious! After seeing all of the comments about the cinnamon topping, I replaced it with a version of Deb Pearlman of Smitten Kitchen's streusel topping. Worked really well: 1/2 c. flour 1 tb. granulated sugar 3 tb. brown sugar 1/4 tsp. cinnamon Pinch of nutmeg Pinch of salt 3 tb. melted butter Stir all together until slightly lumpy, sprinkled on top before baking (pressed in slightly).
Jody
Love banana bread in almost all its forms and have baked many over the years. My fav recipe is very similar to this one but with one substantial difference: It uses 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup and 1/3 cup of oil instead of a 1/2. The result is a plenty sweet enough, moist bread that tastes like banana and cinnamon instead of sugar.
Deborah
Drop blobs of nutella on top and gently push them down into the batter before sprinkling on the topping.
RJ
I made this gluten free using Bob's Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 flour. The banana bread came out very tasty!
Mary Lou
Just a note for someone who thought wax paper could not go in the over. Not true. Years ago, [40's-50's] parchment paper was not readily available, especially for home bakers. Wax paper was the standard for lining pans. In loaf pans, it can extend a bit on the long sides to make removing the loaf easier. If the oven temperature is really high, the paper may brown a bit on the exposed edges, but it is still safe and works great. Use parchment paper instead if you are concerned.
Brooke Adler
Add chopped nuts, teaspoon of vanilla.
Quinn
I’m a frequent banana bread baker, and this is my new go-to recipe. It’s the best banana bread I’ve ever made and all my colleagues agree. The brown sugar topping is just *chef’s kiss*
TNT3
I had great banana flavor, and the cinnamon crunch on top was a nice twist. That said, it turned out really oily. Next time I’ll cut the oil in half. Definitely making again.
Patsy J
Perfect. Entirely perfect!! I added a bunch of walnut pieces and it was great. Perhaps a tad less sugar in the bread as there is so much in the topping. Maybe I'll leave the time if next time. I will DEFINITELY be making this again
Elissa
I reduced sugar by half, substituted coffee for water, and added a TLBS of cocoa powder to the topping. Love this banana bread. It's light and not too sweet the way I make it!
mimi
Terrible. I was suspicious as I was making it. The amount of sugar/honey was double my usual Mark Bittman recipe, and the batter was way too wet. I added vanilla and walnuts, which was a good call because this tasted dull even with those additions. The biggest issue is that this was so wet that it didn’t cook through. It has the texture sort of bread pudding. The honey flavor is non existent. Not even good enough to put on the work snack table.
Beth
This DID NOT WORK for me at all. It is terrible. Way too wet and too sweet. Just yucky.
Marilyn
Have made this several times (with reduced sugar & oil) and it’s always really great. One issue is that the top of the cake cracks open. Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong?
gus
This is much sweeter than I’d like and will def reduce the sugar if I make it again. Very cinnamon forward and the banana seems like it’s there just for moisture: I detected little banana flavor under all the cinnamon. Tender texture is nice though…
Hanna
Very good. I was worried that it’d be too sweet, but it’s not. Easy too. Will make again.
MM
Next time bake for 48 minutes
HomeChefCooking
Lovely recipe though I did tweak it a bit. First, make sure you measure your banana mash because I’ve lost track of what is truly a medium banana and it took me four bananas to get 1 cup. I also cut the sugar down to 140 grams, omitted the cinnamon sugar topping, and added 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon garam masala, and 80 grams chopped walnuts. Yum!
Lay
Usually, I am not a fan of banana bread. However, baking eliminates the stress of life in my being! This recipe is amazing! The crunchy top made it fabulous!!
Jon
Delicious recipe. I love that it has oil instead of butter. I followed Jody’s suggestion and used 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup of sugar, also added 1 cup of chopped, toasted pecans. It was delicious, great for bringing to a gathering.
Allie
I made a topping that turned out crunchy, covered the loaf well, and didn’t fall off: 1/8 C sugar in the raw, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbs flour, 1 Tbs white sugar, 2 Tbs butter, 1 tsp cinnamon.
Olivia
I have made this probably 10 times, it is my go to banana bread recipe now. I use a little more banana and make sure it stays a little chunky for more banana flavor and use slightly less ripe bananas. I have also halved the sugar every time and it is plenty sweet. Sometimes I up the cinnamon and add other spices. Also mix wheat flour with the white and add walnuts. I am trying it with molasses this time rather than honey. I skip the topping but that is just my personal preference.
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