With its super-moist and buttery texture, banana and brown sugar flavors, soft crumb, and 1,300+ reviews, this is a delicious AND undeniably popular banana bread recipe. You need 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos and a few more success tips. It’s one of the most popular recipes I’ve published on this website, out of over 1,200. This recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
One reader, Michele, says: “Perfectly delish every time! Absolutely foolproof. Nuts, no nuts, smidge more or less of sour cream—no problem… bigger bananas, smaller—no worries, perfect, beyond delicious EVERY time. ★★★★★”
This is my favorite banana bread recipe, one that I’ve cherished for years. It’s one of those classic recipes that you start to know by heart, just like a good pie crust or chocolate chip cookies recipe. This bread comes to mind first when I have leftover spotty bananas on the counter, and it’s the bread that’s on constant rotation in my freezer stash.
One reader, Tricia, commented: “I have this recipe on speed dial. LOL. It is so tasty and is always a crowd pleaser. My kids and entire family love it!!! ★★★★★”
Yes, I have this recipe on speed dial too!
I’ve tried dozens of banana bread recipes over the years, and when I baked and originally published this recipe many years ago, I never looked back.
Why You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe Too
- Mega banana flavor
- Not overly sweet, so banana flavor shines
- Dense, but still quite tender & soft
- Buttery & stays moist for days (tastes best on day 2, just like peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread)
- Straightforward, simple recipe
- Freezes wonderfully
- Excellent plain or with nuts or chocolate chips—or a swipe of cinnamon butter
How to Mash Bananas
Did you know you can use your electric mixer to mash bananas? Break or slice the spotty bananas into large pieces and place in the bowl of your stand mixer—or use a regular mixing bowl and your hand mixer. Begin beating on low, then gradually increase to medium-high speed as the bananas break down into mashed banana. Transfer the bananas to another bowl and use the mixing bowl for the butter and sugar. (No need to clean it—some mashed banana remnants is fine.)
I do this when I mash bananas for banana muffins and banana chocolate chip breakfast cookies too.
Other Banana Bread Ingredients
- Butter: Use softened butter for a soft texture and irresistible butter flavor.
- Brown Sugar: Use all brown sugar in this recipe. In the headnotes for this chocolate chip cookies recipe, I explain that brown sugar yields soft and moist cookies. Well, brown sugar works that same magic in banana bread, too. It also adds wonderful flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs supply cakes, cupcakes, breads, doughs, and cookies their stability and structure, as well as a tender texture. You’ll need 2 large eggs for this.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: Sour cream or yogurt adds even more moisture to this banana bread. (You can use the 2 interchangeably in most baking recipes.)
For banana nut bread, add 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to the banana bread batter; I like using either pecans or walnuts. If you’re nuts for nuts (LOL), you’ll enjoy the toasty slight crunch nestled inside the soft crumbs. If you’re not a nut person, feel free to leave them out or replace with chocolate chips. For a whole wheat version, try my whole wheat banana bread. Or for a chocolate version, try my double chocolate banana bread.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with 1 and 1/2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
Can I Turn This Into a Banana Bundt Cake?
I recommend using my extremely similar, scaled-up recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake instead. You can leave out the chocolate swirl in that recipe.
How to Freeze Banana Bread
Freeze banana bread using these instructions to preserve its fresh flavor and texture for months:
- Cool baked banana bread completely.
- Tightly wrap the loaf or slices (individually or grouped) in 2–3 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
- Place wrapped banana bread in a large freezer-friendly storage bag or reusable container.
- Date the bag and freeze for up to 3–4 months. Thaw wrapped or unwrapped in the refrigerator or at room temperature. All methods work like a charm!
I like to freeze the quick bread in slices because slices thaw much quicker than a whole loaf.
Overall, this is an easy recipe for classic banana bread. The batter takes about 10 minutes to throw together, the bread stays moist for days, and nothing beats the smell of fresh banana bread in the oven. (Except for, maybe, zucchini bread or pumpkin bread… try those next!)
Other Favorite Banana Recipes:
- Banana Cake & Banana Cupcakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
- Banana Cream Pie & Banoffee Pie
- Banana Muffins or Healthier Chocolate Banana Muffins & Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
- Baked Banana Oatmeal
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
My Favorite Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With its super-moist and buttery texture, banana and brown sugar flavors, soft crumb, and 1,000+ reviews, this is a delicious AND undeniably popular banana bread recipe. You need 4 large ripe bananas. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 3–4 ripe bananas)
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 3/4 cup (90g) chopped pecans or walnuts, or 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the mashed bananas, yogurt/sour cream, and vanilla until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts/chocolate chips, if using. The batter should be thick.
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil halfway through, to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. Cool the bread in the pan set on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pan and place it directly on the rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
- Store wrapped tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Update in 2025: With enough reader feedback stating the bread can often be too moist and dense, and therefore not bake properly, my team and I retested the bread multiple times over the past 2 years; we slightly reduced the amount of mashed bananas from 2 cups to 1 and 1/2 cups.
- Butter: If needed, you can use salted butter in this recipe with no other changes needed. I’ve also successfully reduced the butter down to 6 Tablespoons (85g) with no issue (just as tasty).
- Brown Sugar: This is not an overly sweet quick bread. If you want a sweeter banana bread, increase to 1 cup (200g) brown sugar. Feel free to replace some or all of the brown sugar with regular white granulated sugar.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: This banana bread also tastes fantastic with cream cheese frosting on top! To make it, beat 4 ounces (112g) of softened cream cheese and 1/4 cup (60g) of softened unsalted butter together on medium speed until smooth. Beat in 1 cup (120g) of confectioners sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt until combined. Spread on cooled loaf.
- Banana Bread Muffins: Use this banana bread recipe to make 15 banana bread muffins. Spoon the batter into a lined or greased muffin pan (fill each to the top with batter) and bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C); then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total bake time for the banana bread muffins is about 21–23 minutes. The initial burst of hot air helps those muffins rise nice and tall! Or try my quick & easy banana muffins.
- Brown Sugar: Feel free to substitute the same amount of regular white granulated sugar or coconut sugar. I do not recommend any liquid sweeteners.
- No Sour Cream or Yogurt? Feel free to use 1/3 cup mashed banana (in addition to what is called for in the recipe), unsweetened applesauce, or even canned pumpkin puree.
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
- Chocolate Chips: I love this bread with chocolate chips, too. Feel free to add 1 cup of your favorite chocolate chips. No need to leave out the nuts if you add the chocolate chips. Chocolate chips and nuts are both optional.
- Can I Turn This Into Banana Bundt Cake? There isn’t enough batter. I recommend using my extremely similar, scaled-up recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake instead. You can leave out the chocolate swirl in that recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Pretty decent recipe. Made this last night. Tried it this morning. Yummy! So soft and not so sweet. Will definitely save and make this again. It is a pretty big loaf though, so moreish.
I say, good show Sally. For the past two years since striking out as a beginner baker, I have tried several well known banana recipes from Anna Olson to Gemma Stafford, but yours ends my anguish. Previously the loaves did not acheive a nice brown top, too short ie not nice and tall, granted that I also do not have an oven and make my baked goods on stovetop with a makeshift oven. But even so, the tops of the loaves made by your recipe have come nicely browned, owing of course to the brown sugar. Proportions are perfect, I shant need another banana bread recipe ever again.Thank you my dear
Thank you Sally! Very easy and great result. It’s my first time baking banana bread and it’s so delicious. My husband love it. Thank you!
This bread is fabulous! I used sour cream as suggested and added the walnuts and chocolate chips. It is truly a very special dessert bread. Thank you. I will make this again and again.
This was delicious! I made it wil 1/2 a cup of brown sugar instead of 3/4 cup so I’d feel better about giving it to my 2 year old and it was absolutely perfect! Thank you for this recipe!
I used a glass baking dish (opaque white), and it was under-baked. How much longer should i have baked it?
Hi Mary, Extra moist quick breads like banana bread can take quite a while to cook through. Glass bakeware typically requires an extended bake time over metal — time can vary by oven, but don’t be alarmed if it takes longer than 60 minutes. Adding extra time is completely fine and tenting the loaf with aluminum foil helps prevent the top from over-browning as the center cooks. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. I hope this helps!
I made this recipe without the frosting and it turned out AMAZING
My pan was too small so I filled the pan and put the rest of the batter in a circular shaped pan.
Finally a recipe that’s not too sweet! Perfect amount of sugar and very moist. I baked without foil for a crispy top crust. I also subbed 1/4 cup flour for 1/4 cup processed quick oats to add some fiber, may try upping the oats even more next time. Was delicious!
Made this with the pumkin puree option. It was fantastic!!
Love this recipe I make it in new year night when my family craffing for something sweet and festive but we hardly have anything to bake something fancy. I plan to put some diced apple when making it next time. Thank you for the recipe
Perfect way to use up overripe bananas. This bread is one of the best I’ve ever made. Subbed sour cream for yogurt because I didn’t have any. I baked it into four 5x3inch loaf pans for 35 mins and they came out great. Thanks for the recipe! Will be making again.
thank you for all the educational tips…. really helpful
This is the best banana bread recipe. My whole family loves it! I
I’ve tried so many banana bread recipes but nothing compares to this one! It’s fluffy, it’s moist, it’s soft, it’s perfect! I don’t think I will use another recipe again!
This recipe is great and the prep tips are golden!!
This is definitely a moist banana bread, and it did taste better today than yesterday when I baked it (as noted). I found the flavors to be a little lacking, though. I have used another recipe (gluten free, delicious, but not everyone has those ingredients) and it uses more salt and cinnamon, plus adds ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and orange zest! I’m going to try this recipe with those ingredients added and will let you know how it tastes.
This recipe was okay, it’s definitely missing something extra but I can’t put my tongue on it. It’s very fluffy and soft, not very dense. My family enjoyed them but it’s not a favorite and won’t make again. Thank you for sharing this recipe though! (:
Thanks so much for the recipe! Even though I’m from Russia, it was so easy to follow all the instructions!
And the bread was awfully good! I thought I would eat one slice but I actually ate way more!
Added this recipe to my favorites
My toddler’s favourite cake, the cake is moist and fluffy. I have made this recipe about 10 times and will do the other recipe for his birthday cake. X
Hi Sally,
I love your recipe and it makes the banana bread so moist and soft. I was just wondering if you knew how many calories are in one loaf?
Loved this recipe. Will never throw away bananas in the trash again. My banana bread and muffins are good when I try other recipes, but this recipe is a keeper.
This is the moistest banana bread I’ve ever had! It’s like melt in your mouth good. I didn’t foil it and it had a nice crunch that went well with the deliciousness inside. I substituted vanilla for coconut extract. It was amazing! Great recipe!
I make this recipe all the time. It never fails! It’s perfectly moist and oozing with flavor. Thank you so much Sally!
I don’t know what the heck I’m doing wrong but I’ve made this twice now following the recipe word for word and the end result is a non-rising pan of banana pudding. I thought maybe my baking soda was bad the first time but a used a new box and got the same result. I’ve made it before using other recipes and turned out good but can’t seem to get this recipe to work.
Hi Ryan, this is an extremely moist banana bread and it could take longer in your oven to bake through. It sounds like the banana bread wasn’t cooked long enough if it was so wet inside– an easy fix if you ever try the recipe again. Make sure you’re using 2 cups of mashed banana, which could be less than 4 bananas depending on size. And make sure the butter isn’t too soft, which will create an overly wet batter. Room temperature butter is still cool to the touch. Thank you for trying the recipe and for your feedback.
Hi, do you a dairy free version for this recipe! I would really love to try this but my 2 sons are very lactose intolerant.
Thank you!!
Mel
Hi Imelda, We have not tested a dairy free version of this bread. For the butter you can try a vegan buttery stick like the Earth Balance brand, or even solid coconut oil (the flavor will be different of course) and you can you use a dairy free yogurt. You may be interested in browsing all of our vegan/dairy free recipes.
Delicious, as is every recipe of yours. I did these as muffins and added chocolate chunks instead of nuts. Perfect. Thank you Sally!!
I made this delicious loaf today, using 55g each of dark and light brown sugar. Substituted ground ginger for cinnamon and added chopped crystallised stem ginger (2 chunks), a handful of sultanas, 20g dark choc chips and a good handful of chopped walnuts. All other ingredients/measurements as per the recipe.
Cooked at 155 Celsius (fan oven), for 1.5 hours; covered with foil for the last 30 mins. It turned out beautifully and is SO light and moist. Thank you for the recipe, Sally.
Doesn’t sound much like the original recipe but I can see you had fun with it.
My search is over for a banana bread recipe(I’ve tried a lot of different ones). I’m an avid baker and this recipe did not disappoint. I’m really happy with the end result! I will be adding this recipe to my recipe box.
The tin foil tip really helped the bread not burn too.
I loved this banana bread. I want to use your recipe in the little 5” loaf pans so I can share with friends. Can you give me some tips and baking times? Would I still need to cover with foil halfway through?
Thank you so much 🙂
This is the best banana bread I’ve ever made! At first I thought it might have burned around the edges, but it wasn’t! I think it’s the brown sugar ( I use dark), that makes it appear burned, it’s delicious! I’m going to make it today again. I have a few fresh blueberries in the fridge, I’m going to add just before I put it in the pan!
Hi,
First off, the banana bread is delicious!
However, it took me more time than I wanted to spend in getting it ready to put into the oven.
One reason was that using the recipe directly from the computer, I had to keep scrolling up and down to know where to put the ingredients as I measured them. It would have been helpful if the recipe had the ingredients grouped by the bowls each were going to be mixed in, for example, A for the mashed bananas, B for the dry ingredients and C for the other wet ingredients.
Another reason was that the butter just wasn’t getting soft enough at room temperature to ever get “smooth and creamy” when mixed only with the brown sugar. Once the first egg was added, though, it mixed well, and the other ingredients went in fine.
Finally, did you ever try actually baking it with the metric units? 150 grams of very well packed brown sugar was a lot more than 3/4 of a cup, so I’m thinking of reducing the amount of sugar next time, since the bananas are themselves so sweet.
There will be a next time, though! As I said, it is delicious, and the moistest I’ve ever eaten.