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
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 3–4 ripe bananas)
- 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 yogurt, vanilla, and mashed bananas 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 cool it directly on the rack until ready to slice and serve.
- 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
I bought some bananas last week in preparation for this recipe – have never made it but it looks good – and even though I had four bananas, when i mashed them it only made one cup instead of two. Is it possible to salvage this – substitute more sour cream maybe? halving the recipe seems suspect as it’s already only one loaf. Or will it turn out fine with half the banana? You can’t exactly buy overripe bananas nor can you keep the mush good for long so I’m kind of in a bind here. Thanks in advance
Hi Isra, mash up the bananas you have then add enough unsweetened applesauce or canned pumpkin puree to yield 2 cups. Or try our banana muffins recipe which calls for 3 large bananas.
I just made this recipe and it took about 80 minutes to cook. I used chocolate chips instead of nuts. It’s still cooling so I haven’t tasted it but it smells so good. Even my dog sat in front of the oven while it was baking. I used frozen bananas but I think it’s fine.
Hi! How would the baking time and/or temperature need to be adjusted to make mini muffins? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, for mini muffins, we recommend following our banana muffins recipe and bake for 12-14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C). We hope they’re a hit!
Love love love this recipe. It was super quick and easy even though I did it with just a bowl and spatula. It turned out amazing! I package the slices in Saran Wrap straight after baking then freeze after cooled. It keeps them super moist and I pack them for my school lunches. Definitely going to be one of my new favourite recipes and it’s great for using up those black overripe bananas that my family and I always seem to have!
Strange. When I added the sour cream, the egg/butter/sugar mixture curdled. Turned into a bunch of little tiny separate speckss in a wet liquid, and it didn’t come together and become creamy again, even after adding the bananas and vanilla. Did I do something wrong? Maybe I shouldn’t have added and whipped in the sour cream by itself, before adding the bananas. That aside – it still turned out beautiful and delicious!! No noticeable effects on texture, rise, or flavor. So I suppose it doesn’t really matter!
Also, baked at ~7000 ft, and it came out perfect – for any other high-altitude bakers out there wondering if they need to make any adjustments. Made the recipe exactly as stated (measured by weight not volume), and baked in a glass loaf pan, for ~69 minutes. My oven runs about ~25 degrees hot, so realistically it was probably baking closer to 375. But no other changes aside from that, and my loaf turned out picture perfect!! 🙂
Hi Fateh! No, you did not do anything wrong. It’s most likely the mixture curdled because the butter had been originally softened then cooled again (therefore hardened) when the cold sour cream was added. I have had this happen to me too. It really depends on the recipe so for example, this would not be okay with a buttercream frosting, but as you said, it turned out just fine with this amazing banana bread recipe. Hope this helped!
also, your eggs could have been too cold.
Excellent recipe! Curious how I would scale it for 2 small air fryer pans? Thanks!
Hi Anna, we haven’t tested this recipe using an air fryer, but let us know if you do any experimenting!
This is the BEST recipe!!! I made the lot with an electric mixer and it came out so light and fluffy – it tasted amazing!! Defo my go to recipe
FINALLY a moist recipe, that does not come out completely doughy. I even used bob’s red mill egg replacer, & it was still perfect! Definitely try it with the cream cheese frosting, you won’t be sorry.
Perfect banana bread! I doubled the recipe and added walnuts and dark chocolate chunks. I baked half in a standard bread loaf pan and the other half in a Bundt pan. Both came out perfectly!
The best recipe. Most banana bread recipes call for too much sugar no vanilla extract. Also, this recipe uses less baking agent (more is not needed) and the sour cream addtion gives it extra moisture and adds to the flavor. Not to mention that it is super fast easy and appears to be fail proof – so good for both the seasoned and beginner cook.
I’ve been making this banana bread for a few years now and it never disappoints. Great for lunch boxes after school snack and random cuppa’s.
Hi, can I add medjeol dates into this receipe? Thanks!
We haven’t tested the recipe that way, but if you try it, let us know how it turns out!
Made a half-batch as muffins and they came out great! I ended up with 11 medium-smallish muffins. I was making it for someone allergic to nuts, but I think walnuts would have been a fantastic addition.
Comes out perfect every time!! I make it so much I have it memorized. Thank you, Sally!
I made this recipe with gluten free flour and it was delicious!!
It was amazing and I made it gluten free too. So yummy
4 stars because I believe theres always a way to improve things
Mine came out AMAZING other than the fact that I put it on the wrong rack and had to cook for a little longer
Mine came out gummy but I think because I used a ceramic pan 🙁 Are there any tips for making this gluten free?
Hi Alastair, if it came out a bit gummy, be sure that the batter wasn’t over mixed and that it was completely cooked through before removing from the oven. We haven’t tested a gluten free version of this banana bread, but let us know if you do.
I substituted gluten-free flour and it came out amazing!
I only have glass and ceramic loaf pans. Is there a reason you specify “metal” in your banana bread recipes?
Hi Darlene, metal or glass is great. We do not recommend ceramic because it takes awhile for the batter to heat properly, extending the bake time and even over-cooking the exterior before the center can cook.
Followed the recipe exactly except that my bananas weren’t large enough to make 2 cups. Weirdly had too much batter for a 9×5 pan so it took a long time to cook. Tasty but over browned on the sides. I will make again but with less in the loaf pan.
I have no idea what I did wrong. I followed the directions exactly but it never rose and it turned out soggy like even though the tooth pick came out clean. I wanted so much to like this but it was a fail unfortunately.
Hi KH, it sounds like perhaps your baking soda may be old and not working properly. We find it can lost strength after just a few months. Also make sure not to over-mix your batter, which can lead to a dense, rubbery texture.
I make this banana bread a lot! At least once a month. I have made it as gifts and taken it to breakfast meetings all with rave reviews. It is the only banana bread recipe I use. Just the right amount of bananas and sugars, to make a great breakfast, snack or dessert.
This bread is amazing! It turned out nice and dense (but not overly dense or hard). The 2 cups of banana makes this bread naturally sweet without over-doing it on the sugar. I’ll definitely be making this again 🙂
Beautiful recipe, thank you! Almost every time I make banana bread, there’s an inch-high layer of overly dense bread at the bottom of the loaf. Any suggestions to prevent this? Thanks!
Are you using a ceramic or glass loaf pan by chance? I find metal works best for quick breads with long bake times. The texture you’re describing is likely a streak of under-baked banana bread. To fix, you can tent the bread with aluminum foil, lower the oven temperature to 325°F (163°C) after 30 minutes, and then extend the bake time by at least 10-15 minutes. A slightly lower oven temperature can help the bread bake more evenly.
I tried reading comments first, but… this recipe has SO many comments, I am reduced to just asking! Apologies if you have already responded to this question. Can I add apple chunks to this recipe without it being too moist?
Hi Mary! That shouldn’t be a problem. I wouldn’t add more than 1 cup of finely chopped apple.
I loved this recipe. Can I check if I could use olive oil instead of butter? Will it change / affect the taste?
Hi Pallavi, you can’t cream liquid oil, so it’s not a replacement for butter here. You can try coconut oil instead, when it’s solid at room temperature (not melted).
Unfortunately these didn’t come out as expected.
Little to no banana flavour.
And it came out quite dense.
It looked and smelt perfect though!
I’m not sure if it was because of possibly over mixing. (not sure when mixing becomes too much)
Also could’ve been using the bananas too soon, and they weren’t ripe enough.
Hi Chris! You want to mix the batter until just combined. Any longer will lead to a dense banana bread. Using ripe bananas is key to the bread’s flavor. Ripe bananas offer more sweetness and banana flavor.
For this recipe I didn’t have enough bananas, but I had leftover sweet potato. So I used that with the bananas. I didn’t have plain yogurt so I used strawberry flavoured Greek yogurt.
The recipe came out amazing!! I’m definitely going to use sweet potato more often in my baking.
Best ever !!! I don’t understand why people have bad reviews ! 2 cups of banana is perfect . Sometimes that means 3 or sometimes 4 bananas. If it’s gluey it’s over mixed or cut when warm. Perfect recipe!!!
I’ve made this recipe many times with a glass Pyrex loaf pan and it has worked out so well. I love how moist and delicious it is after 2 or 3 days. Perfect banana bread recipe!
Best tasting banana bread for sure, but my texture is never quite right, underdone only in the centre, but if I bake it for longer it’s less moist everywhere else. Should I maybe use the convection feature on my oven? Would it make a difference and what temperature would you recommend for convection?
Hi Kat, if you find the edges are browning too quickly before the center is finished, feel free to tent the pan with aluminum foil part way through bake time. This will allow the center to continue baking while preventing the edges from burning. We don’t typically recommend using convection settings, rather we always recommend conventional settings for baking. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do want to try using your convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Hope this helps for next time!