Best Easy Banana Bread Recipe (with Video!)
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Super moist, EASY, and delicious, this is the Best Banana Bread recipe ever! It’s our favorite way to use up overripe bananas and it freezes really well too! I’ve even got a video in the recipe card showing you how I make it!
If you love classic baking like this, be sure to also try our Best Ever Zucchini Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, or Homemade Breadsticks!
My family goes in spurts of eating so many bananas that I’m always having to go to the store for more, or completely ignoring them so I end up with a bunch of overripe, spotted bananas sitting on the counter. When that happens, the first thing I think to make is homemade banana bread!
This happens more often that I would like to admit, so sometimes we switch things up with coconut lime glazed banana bread or by adding walnuts and making banana nut muffins. But this easy banana bread recipe is definitely my go-to when I’m up to my eyeballs in bananas that I don’t want to go to waste.
Banana bread is as delicious as it smells and this easy banana bread recipe will have your tastebuds salivating while it’s still baking in the oven. A slice of moist, warm banana bread fresh from the oven with a little butter on makes a great snack, breakfast food, or treat.
How to make banana bread
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a loaf pan by spraying it with nonstick cooking spray and lightly dusting it with flour. This will help your loaf to not stick to the pan when baking. You can also use Baker’s Joy (affiliate link) cooking spray, it has flour built-in, saving you one step and a little mess.
- In a large bowl, combine your melted butter and mashed bananas using a large wooden spoon.
- Stir in your sugar, eggs, vanilla.
- Over the top of your batter, sprinkle the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and flour, then stir to combine.
- Add in nuts or chocolate chips last, stirring just until there are no more dry spots of flour and everything is well combined.
- Pour your batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the top with more walnuts or a little sugar if you want a sweeter crust.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick, comes out clean and then remove from oven.
- Allow the loaf to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from loaf pan and transferring to a cooling rack.
- Best served warm or enjoy at room temperature.
How ripe should bananas be for banana bread?
The best banana bread is made with overly ripe bananas. You can tell bananas are overripe when they turn deep yellow and get brown giraffe spots all over them. Even almost completely black bananas are still good for banana bread. My family can handle eating fresh bananas with just a few spots, but once they start looking like this, I know nobody is going to touch them.
Bananas ripen and darken as the sugars inside of the flesh begin to break down, making the banana sweeter in the process. So the riper the banana you use, the sweeter the banana bread becomes.
You can speed up the banana ripening process by placing several bananas and an apple inside of a brown paper bag, closing the top and letting them sit on the counter for a day or two. The gases released will speed up the banana ripening process using this method.
Or if you don’t already happen to have ripe bananas on hand and can’t wait for your underripe (or perfectly ripe, depending on your point of view) bananas to ripen fully, you can help the process along by sticking the bananas in the oven for a little bit. Just place them whole (with peel intact) on a baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees F for about 20 minutes, then cool, peel, and use in this banana bread recipe as normal.
How to store banana bread?
Store your banana bread in a ziploc bag or in another airtight container on the counter for a few days. Refrigerating it will help it last a day or two longer. But after about 5 days banana bread starts tasting stale, even if it has been wrapped tightly or kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Can you freeze banana bread?
Yes! You can freeze banana bread! You can either slice it first and freeze the slices individually so you can easily enjoy banana bread whenever you want, or you can freeze entire loaves for later consumption.
Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes I am left with bunches of overripe bananas, so I will double or triple this recipe and make multiple loaves at a time. Sometimes I give them to friends, but often I will just set some aside in the freezer for later.
To freeze a loaf of banana bread, let it cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container or freezer-safe ziploc bag, then stick it in your freezer. That’s it!
To freeze individual slices of banana bread (something I like to do because it makes it easy to stick into school lunches or give the kids for breakfast on busy days), lay individual slices flat on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for 1-2 hours, then transfer to a freezer-safe ziploc bag and stick them back in the freezer.
For best quality, enjoy it within 2 to 3 months, although honestly I’ve dug a loaf out of the freezer 6 months down the road and it’s still pretty darn good.
How do you keep banana bread moist?
With this moist banana bread recipe, you shouldn’t have to worry about your loaf coming out dry unless you overbake it. If that happens, you can cut off a few slices and warm them in the microwave with a damp paper towel to help steam them back to freshness.
You can also prevent your easy banana bread from going dry during storage by keeping it sealed in an airtight container.
But generally speaking, the amount of bananas in the recipe will help keep the banana bread nice and moist for days!
More Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Love
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Passion Fruit Lemon Loaf
- Irish Soda Bread
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Cherry Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Perfect Cornbread
- Apple Carrot Bread
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Best Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Super moist, EASY, and delicious, this is the Best Banana Bread recipe ever! It’s our favorite way to use up overripe bananas and it freezes really well too!
Ingredients
- 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, plus extra for topping if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour an 8.5x4.5-inch loaf pan or spray with baking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas with the melted butter, then add the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir well with a large wooden spoon.
- Sprinkle the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt over the banana mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add flour and walnuts or chocolate chips (if desired), and stir just until no streaks of flour remain. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slice into 10 thick slices and serve.
Notes
If your bread pans are larger or smaller than mine, your bake time might be on the shorter or longer side, respectively.
This banana bread recipe can also be made as muffins. Just divide between the cups of a muffin tin and bake for 20-24 minutes until muffins are done and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 309Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 257mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 3gSugar: 21gProtein: 5g
Very very good recipe! Thank you so much, perfectly domed tops. streamlined procedure is so nice!
Delicious and turned out perfect! I think I will add some nuts or chocolate chips next time. Thanks for the great recipe!
Delicious and so easy to make. I used my Stand mixer. Thank you very much.
In the midst of this uncertain time, the simplicity of comfort food is just what my family needs for breakfast this morning. My kitchen is filled with delightful aromas as the bread bakes.
Recipe came out great. Not too sweet but very moist. I doubled the recipe bcuz i had 7 bananas and i added some almonds and chocolate chips.
simple and delicious. Thanks so much for a new go to recipe.
Very good, easy banana bread. Thanks for the recipe!
I love LOVE Banana Bread!! My husband makes fun of me because I obsess over it! Lol. He just does not understand how simply delicious banana bread can be! With that said, I had a really good recipe passed on from my aunt that was my all time go to. Sadly I recently lost it and so began my search for the next best banana bread recipe. This is it!! My whole house smelled heavenly while the bread baked. And it tasted… ohhh so so good. Really moist! Probably the moistest…( is that a real word?) I have ever had. lol. Even my husband said it was one of the best he’s had! This recipe is a keeper! I could go on about my love and obsession over banana bread but I’ll spare your readers. Thank you for this easy, wonderfully delicious banana bread.
OK I lost my banana bread recipe that’s been in my family forever too. After seeing your comment I’m going to give this recipe a try!! Thank you 🙂
Because of your review, I tried this recipe too. 😊. I have tried SO many different banana bread recipes trying to find the perfect one. THIS TRULY IS IT! Everyone in my family agrees!!
I have made this for the third time I brought it to a group of friends they couldn’t stop eating it so good thanks for sharing
It was Amazing!
Thank you! Perfect easy recipe – turned out yummy and moist. My new go to recipe
This was delicious! My family devoured the whole loaf soon after it came out of the oven. I make banana bread quite often and I don’t even know what prompted me to try a different recipe, but I’m glad I did… this one is a new staple!
I’m glad you tried this one too! It’s our go-to recipe as well!
Hi, can I also use oat flour?
That’s a great questions! I haven’t tried it myself, but I have seen enough other readers using substitutions with great results that it makes me think this would turn out with oat flour. I would be interested in hearing your experience if you do!
We made this yesterday and it was delicious! I didn’t have vanilla extract so I did a half teaspoon of almond extract and it came out amazing. Easy recipe, so yummy 🙂 thank you!
Love this Is very easy and delicious. Mine turned out perfect. Thank You ❤️
This banana bread is easy and delicious!! Baking time was too long and mine was done baking in 33 minutes!!
Might want to fix your page. I’m sure 11 cups of flower was a mistake. more like 1/12.
Otherwise this is good. Second time I’m making it today.
It’s 1 and 1/2 cups of flour.
This banana bread recipe is perfect. I had to use a flax egg and gf flour because of my allergies. (Flax egg: 1 tablespoon ground, Brown organic flax seed mixed with three tablespoons of very warm water. The very warm water helps activate the transition to an egg-like goey concoction.). I also used 1 to 1 gf flour mix w/o milk powder. I used a greased bunt pan and sprinkled a mix of cinnamon, sugar and carob powder in it until all surfaces were well covered. I also sprinkled it over the top for extra flavor before putting it into the oven. Lastly, I stirred in chopped walnuts, a hand full each of organic raisins and chocolate chips. I baked it for about 35 to 45 minutes. It was amazing! Thanks for sharing your recipe. I hope you will try my extra touches.
This recipe did not create a wet batter for me and I was very confused as to why it was so dry
can you substitute almond flour instead?
I haven’t tried that, but yes, I think based on my experience with almond flour in other recipes that this would work!
With a couple of changes this is my absolute FAVORITE banana bread recipe. I used 1 cup of sugar, 3 bananas and no nuts(my family prefers no nuts).
Quickest and absurd BEST recipe for banana bread! It came out so perfect! Light crisp on the edges, moist center and just great flavor. I’m definitely saving this to use again in the near future!
Just made this! Everyone loved it and wants more! Banks for sharing it with us!😘
I’ve made this twice and the first time exactly as listed with the exception that I only used 1/2 cup of sugar, I’m diabetic so I have to watch it. Came out great and I got two slices before the rest of the family cleaned it out.
Made it a second time but made one other change. I substituted ground oatmeal (quick oats in my blender) for half the flour. Again came out great and again it disappeared quickly. Going to try all ground oatmeal the next time.
Have to get more bananas
Oh I LOVE the idea of using ground oatmeal for half the flour! Thank you for your comment because now I’m going to have to try that variation as well!
Hi Amy,
I’m not much of a baker, however, your banana bread recipe because of its simplicity has managed to get me baking. I have baked this recipe for the third time now with great ease.
It’s beyond tasty and perfection.
LOVE! ❤️ 🍌🍞❤️
I’m so glad this recipe has become a favorite for you!
I just baked this and holy shit is it delish! Because I have a severe corn allergy though, I left out the baking powder which made it fluffy and light yet moist. I also didn’t have any cinnamon at home so instead used cocoa powder. Worked well since I added chocolate chips and walnuts. This recipe is a 10/10!!!
Baked this bread today and hot damn it is yummy! Such a simple and easy recipe too, thanks!
It was little dry and I had to add 10 minutes of baking time but nice for one bowl.
My husband said this was the best banana bread he’s ever had! I substituted with dairy free butter, all purpose gluten free flour and coconut palm sugar.
Can I simply double this recipe in the future to make a second loaf?
Absolutely you can double this recipe! I do that sometimes and freeze extra slices. I’m so glad to know it worked so well with your substitutions!
Just made your banana loaf. Perfect way to use bananas as we would hate to waste anything while in lockdown here in South Africa. Thank you for the recipe.
Stay safe and healthy
Regards Connely
This is just the best and easiest bread ever! made it for breakfast and did it in a loaf pan… it is almost all gone and there are only 3 of us! Will be making this over and over forever! Thanks for the great recipe!
meant to say i made it in a bundt cake pan…
Do you think I could sub vegetable or canola oil instead of butter? If so, do you know roughly how much?
Yes! You can do an equal amount as a substitution.
I doubled the recipe because I had 8 Black bananas and I switched out liquid sugar in the raw. And can I just say these freaking muffins are so gooey and moist. Delicious! I made more than enough and freezing them. I will make again
I doubled the recipe because I had 8 Black bananas and I switched out liquid sugar in the raw. in place of white sugar. And because of high blood pressure I did not add any salt, at all. And can I just say these freaking muffins are so gooey and moist. Delicious! I made more than enough and freezing them. I will make again
Absolutely delicious. Made this today with my 9 year old son!
This was great and turned out so beautiful!!! Thank you, I am saving this one for sure.
This banana bread was amazing!! I
Made a 2nd one with chocolate chips and it was super yummy too👍🏻
It’s sooo bomb!!
I’ve tried making a couple banana breads and this one is the best one of all !! It was fully cooked and tasted amazing!
Very delicious. I omitted the nuts but this is yummy!
I made this last night. It was so delicious? Mine took the full 60 minutes baking time. I added pecans since I didn’t have walnuts! Delicious!!
My family loved this Banana bread, it’s so moist. . I’m making some for friends.
Precious Amy💕,
You have saved the day🤗
We are camping and barely have any internet.
I had these plump, extra ripe bananas that needed to be made into bread! But NO recipe.
Tried to pull up your site, but could not. Then I thought to check my emails and There you were WITH a Banana Nut Bread recipe available‼️
And, I could pull it up❣️Praise God🙌 Because no
country girl, can throw away useable bananas…
not during these times, anyway!
Thank you Amy for posting recipes that I can TRUST to be yummy! ( I used to trust Southern Living’s but no more. Not sure what happened to them) Anyway, I have Amy Nash now❣️❣️💝
Thank you darlin’❣️💘💘💘
Your comment made my day, Marsha! I’m so glad you loved this recipe and that it was there for you right when you needed it! I agree that you just can’t throw away useable bananas!
Okay, but this recipe is seriously amazing. I made some a week or two ago, and loved it. I currently have three more loaves in the oven to share with family. I will be making this recipe again and again! I love it! I’m gonna try some with chocolate chips next time!
Thank you, Niki! That makes me so happy to hear!
This is the best Banana Nut Bread I have ever made. Thank you!
So delicious! I drop some almonds on the mix and decorated whit chocolate chips. It was sooooo Good! My neighbors asked me for a slice because of the great smell!
I’ve made this recipe and it’s AMAZING. want to make it tomorrow but don’t have butter – only margarine. Do you know if it will work the same?
I’m so glad you love it! I haven’t tried it with margarine, but I think you’ll be just fine!
I made it with Becel and turned out great, never use butter.
Was just wondering, when you say butter is it safe to assume salted butter? Or should I use unsalted butter?
Yes, I use salted butter.
Thank you for such and easy and great banana bread recipe! I have never made banana bread before and this recipe was just so easy and it turned out great.
Very dense flat loaf. Was looking for a more crumbly loaf.
Super yummy! I tried to make it healthier by switching normal butter to vegan butter, granulated sugar to coconut sugar, and flour to whole wheat flour. It tasted amazing! super moist and really really good 🙂
Turned out great! Nice and moist.
This is a great recipe! I had used it in the past and lost the recipe and when I saw this I knew I had found it!
I made it today, put a little peanut butter into it….great flavor, very moist, but it crumbled when I cut it….any ideas why?
I made this today. It came out perfectly! It’s delicious. And such a simple recipe to follow. Thanks for sharing.
Simple and perfect! I added chocolate chips and (to my 1/2 only – for me!) white chocolate chips, walnuts, and toasted macadamia nuts. Yum!! I also used a round cake pan and it turned out perfectly. Thank you!
We love your banana bread, freeze it and use it later – like if someone stops in. Of course we like it best fresh from the oven.
When we eat it at home, we slice off a couple of pieces and drop them into our toaster slots. THIS makes the BEST treat EVER. When it pops (watch it) …they will be toasty with a bit of a crust on the slices!!!! We also put some choc chips in and pecans, so your chips soften from the toaster and the pecans toast!!! Really encourage you to try this – it is far past the most delicious banana bread – in this world…SO yummy❣️
I love this recipe! Whenever I have leftover bananas I store them in the freezer and whenever I have 3 or more I’ll make some banana bread 🙂
One tip: I would mix the flour in BEFORE mixing in the walnuts. Nothing’s more annoying than biting into a walnut and tasting the flour in the crevices.
Overall, amazing recipe! Me, my husband, and my friends think it’s yummy 😋
This is my favorite banana bread recipe! I make it all the time. I put coconut in mine and it was delicious!
Great recipe!
Easy to make and it came out perfect. I used chocolate chips and it was delicious.
Excellent! Made as muffins and it is seriously the best banana bread I’ve ever made.
I made it with my Grandma and it was delicious I couldn’t stop eating it!!!!👍😍😘
Very good. I made one yesterday and swirled cinnamon sugar on the top of it, so moist and so fast to make. Today I doubled the batch and am baking 6 mini banana bread as I review this. Will continue to make this recipe.
Great and easy recipe. I added maybe a 1/4 cup shredded coconut (I tend to add coconut to a lot of my baking) and a handful of walnuts. Super tasty. I love banana bread toasted, so that’ll be breakfast tomorrow!
Um HELLO I’ve made this recipe at least 10 time it’s perfect in every way and taste😩😩😩🤤
It was a very easy recipe to follow. I added mini chocolate Chips to it. It was a big hit.
My mom makes delicious banana bread, but using her same recipe mine never turns out. I have been looking for a recipe that turns out well for me. I have made this one twice in two weeks. The first time my kids ate the entire loaf in one day! My second batch (a double batch this time) is in the oven now, and my whole house smells amazing! This is my new go-to recipe for banana bread. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it, Stacy! This makes my day!
Perfect banana bread! Moist and delicious! One bowl process is fantastic. You have replaced my Joy of Cooking banana bread recipe that I have used for 30 years!!! Family loved this, and prep was super easy! Thank you!
I just made this and it’s really good! Thank you!
I’m glad I lost my regular recipe for banana bread, because this one not only is tastier, but easier to put together. Family loved it. Made it yesterday and it’s gone…Oh and added chocolate chips – so, so yummy! Thank you! 🙂
I have made this about 5 times now and made them into muffins once. This is the easiest and best recipe I have tried. It comes out so moist and yummy.
I’m making these for the second time. They are so delicious. I make muffins so I don’t have to have the oven on so long in this heat!
Amazed at how great this turned out as written! It went over well with the whole crowd.
Easy, delicious and comforting. Love this recipe. I will make it again!
I tried this today, since I had three large bananas trying to die….Made it in my Kitchenaid , so quick and easy. I added walnuts and it was really good and not overly sweet, thank you!
My loaf is baking now, and it smells amazing! This was super easy to pull together!
The recipe at the bottom is missing the flour in step 3, by the way. I figured it out, but it’s probably a good idea to add that in 😉
Looking forward to tasting it!
This banana bread was Amazing. I used half cup whole wheat flour with 1 cup all purpose flour. The loaf was still moist and delicious. I used walnuts and plan to try raisin next. As we say in Jamaica the banana bread “tun up!” ( meaning- it taste good).
This is a great little recipe. Used 3 bananas and pecans because I didn’t have walnuts. It baked up beautifully and tasted great. Will make again. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this recipe! It is super moist and delicious. My family and I really enjoyed it.
Absolutely love this recipe. So easy to make and tastes delicious. I ran out of walnuts so substituted for pecans 2nd time around. Work great. Thank you for this
Should the butter be salted or unsalted? Thanks!
I always use salted butter.
I had to add about 1/3 of milk when I made it, hope it turns out well!
I made this today, my first time. It came out so good, I made muffins because I don’t have a loaf pan.
Oh my goodness. This is the easiest and best banana bread I’ve made. So far I’ve made it three times , with a little less sugar and it has turned out perfectly every time. I freeze it and slice it and my husband takes a piece in his lunch every day. I’m going to try it next time with oat flour and see what happens!
I made it at home it’s very nice every one enjoyed it
I have made this several times and love it.
I would love to make mini loaves to share.
Any idea how long to bake?
Oh it’s been a while since I did mini loaves! I need to do them again and include better timing, but I think it’s around 25-35 minutes. Unless you have one of those mini loaf pans that are almost more like jumbo cupcakes, in which case I think it might be more around 20-25 minutes.
Amazing ! This is legit grannies recipe! Don’t lose it!!!
This is the best banana bread recipe. The only changes I made were that I increased the cinnamon to 1 tsp, added a 1/2 stick of salted butter, no salt, and 2 tsps each of vanilla, butter, and banana extracts.
best recipe thus far!!!! LOVE, love, luv this banana bread. did i mention i love it!??? 😋
Awww, thank you!
Guess who forgot the cinnamon…facepalms…
I just got it in the oven when I realised, so i sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar.
I’m sure it will be good.
I made this for my family and they LOVED it. I substituted the white sugar with 1/4cup Stevia and 1/2 cup brown sugar ( Hubby is diabetic). I also sprinkled a very light dusting of brown sugar on top before baking. Thank you so much .
I want to make this recipe tomorrow with my class. How do you adjust the time for muffins?
It’s 20-24 minutes at 350 degrees F for muffins!
Doubled the recipe and made one without nuts for the kids to take for school one with walnuts for the big kids , really easy and a great success
The recipe was so simple. Made them into muffins and they were so moist delicious! The whole family devoured them. We will make them again for sure! Thanks for the great recipe!
Does it matter the size of the banana? I have these big Costco size banana. Can you give the aprox. weight of the mashed 🍌 ? Thanks!
If they are really big bananas, I would only use 3 of them. If they are more regular size, use 4.
Trying recipe with walnut, peaches and cranberries. We will see what happens. Sounds good. Waiting game 50-55 minutes.
I’m making this now, and it’s smelling amazing! Just need advice on one thing, and that is that I’m running into the same problem I always run into with banana bread. The timer is done (60 minutes), using the size pan you mentioned, outside is beautifully dark and center is wet. 😩 HELP!!!
If you are finding that the outside is dark but the center is wet, try either decreasing the temp by 25 degrees F and cooking longer (this will hopefully help the loaf cook more evenly instead of the outside cooking more quickly than the inside) or try tenting the banana bread with foil to prevent it from browning so much on top.
I so want to make this but I only have 2 bananas 😫
Amy, this is not only the BEST banana bread I’ve ever made but it’s the BEST banana bread I’ve ever had!!! It is incredibly moist and sticky and so so tasty. I’m very impressed!
I had to bake mine closer to the 60 minute mark and kept checking the temperate with an instant read to ensure the core was 200 degrees F. The results were great!!! Thank you for this recipe! I’ll be printing it out and adding to my recipe book!
I’m so glad you loved it, Sarah! Thank you for your comment!
This is an EXCELLENT recipe- really one pot, zero fuss. Thank you for this new go-to recipe for Death Star Bananas.
Lol – I have never heard them referred to as Death Star Bananas, but I love it!
Very delicious and easy to make. Perfect Banana Bread recipe! Love your additional notes on how to store and suggestions to make them as muffins. Thank you so much.
I came across this recipe like I do other banana bread recipes and tried This recipe by far is the best banana bread recipe I have ever made and tasted all of the other banana bread recipes in my Pinterest post have now been deleted and only this banana bread recipe is the only recipe I will ever make.
Thank you, Debra! Your comment made my day!