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
Have you used coconut milk rather than yoghurt/sour cream? I have that as part of my recipe. Nutmeg also adds an awesome flavour.
Hi Justin, we haven’t tried coconut milk in this recipe, but let us know how it turns out if you do!
This banana bread is absolutely incredible. I opted for the 200g of brown sugar and chocolate chips suggestions. Mine took an extra 30-40 minutes to bake, but I removed when the center was 205 degrees F and it turned out perfectly. It was very well-received and I will definitely be making it again.
This is my go-to recipe, especially when I have left over sour cream sitting idly in the fridge. I always add in a couple handfuls of rolled oats, a bit of unsweetened shredded coconut, a couple tablespoons of hemp hearts, and lots of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I add a couple extra grams of banana or sour cream to help compensate for the extra moisture the oats need. So indulgent and convenient as muffins!
This recipe and reviews are why I decided to make this recipe. I want to make 2 smaller loaves in 8″x4″ loaf pans to give to neighbors. I no longer have the algebraic skills to figure out the scale. Do I make 1 1/2 times the original recipe? Thanks a lot for your answer.
Hi Linda, 1.5x recipe should work–the loaves will be on the shorter side. This cake pan sizes and conversions guide will be a helpful resource, too. Hope the bread is a hit!
Thank you for your help! This kind of help is why I love Sally’s Baking Addiction recipes. So grateful for many yummy recipes!
I like this recipe. I think I would use more sugar next time. This bread is very moist, which is good, but it falls apart when slicing. Any thoughts on that? Thanks for all the thorough notes and tips!! I finally got my butter to cream properly by following your instructions!!
Hi KJ, we’re so glad you enjoyed the bread! Was it still warm when you sliced it? Warm bread can crumble a bit when slicing. Otherwise, if it is too moist, it may need a few additional minutes in the oven next time.
Hi Sally! Totally thought that I had enough bananas to make this recipe but now that I’m weighing them, I’m only at 388g. Can I still make it but add in more of something else? Thanks!!
Hi Cait, you can add a bit of pumpkin or applesauce to help make up the difference. Enjoy!
I have made the banana bread a few times, I would like to add raisins what do you think?
Hi Anita, you can replace the 3/4 cup of nuts with raisins instead. Enjoy!
This recipe works every time and has become a favourite go to when I have over ripe bananas.
Baking in austere conditions…I am a US citizen who has been in Ukraine since the war started, with a break for Christmas, I returned on 1 January of this year. I recently found some bananas at the market, took them back to my place and forgot about them…we can jump to the end, I found your recipe and made this banana bread. I had to overcome the following; no vanilla extract, no brown sugar, no mixer, questionable oven. The first batch I made I found brown sugar cubes at the market, they weren’t actually what we know as brown sugar but white sugar dyed brown and formed into cube, don’t ask why, there is no answer. So the moisture we needed from the brown sugar not there. Smashed the cubes with a wooden mallet in a paper bag into a fine powder. I found a vanilla flavored sugar packet. I was the mixer. Got distracted mixed the sugar with the dry ingredients, and added an extra egg. Room temperature here is much cooler than what we are used to, the butter never really got soft. The oven is a large toaster oven, the lower position is too close to the lower element, the bread was overcooked on the bottom. Regardless, I offered it to my interpreters for their opinions. They are crazy for it! Never had such a thing.
Easy and Delicious!
Hi Sally, I made this banana bread and it is awesome. I made four small loaves that baked in 40 minutes perfectly. I left a message for appreciating your zucchini bread but didn’t notice the recipe rating stars so I’m sorry that I did not press on those stars. It would’ve been five stars, of course. Anyway, thank you so much for your delicious recipes. Blessings, Sharon
I am not a fan of bananas, but I thought I’d give it a try since I had three ripe bananas. This bread is over the moon. It is the most delicious bread I’ve ever made-not too sweet, very moist and the flavor is great, not over banana flavor. Gave some to my neighbor and she raved about it! Thanks for this!! Wonderful!
This bread receipt is truly at the top of my list. This morning when I once a week made this banana bread, my partner asked if I could add some almond. So I added almond extract to my badder with the vinella. It is a little different and we like it. Also still has the walnuts of course. Sally your recipes are amazing just the way they are. Thank you for
Sally all of your recipes rock your banana bread is one of the best I have ever made. Thank you because all of your recipes always keep my house smelling delicious.
Hi Sally. I really love your recipes!! I was wondering whether I can add peanut butter to this recipe please? Would love to hear from you.
Hi Sascha, we’re so glad you love our recipes! It would take a bit of recipe testing to successfully add peanut butter to the batter. How about spreading peanut butter on top or even using peanut butter chips in place of chocolate chips? Let us know what you try!
I bet powdered peanut butter would work great! It doesn’t add any extra fat either!
I am signed up for your emails and you have some great sounding recipes I going to try. I would love it if you had the nutritional values for the recipes.
Hi Linda, we hope you enjoy our recipes! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Ok.. I made this today and these are the changes that I made to it. I added 1/2 cup of oil and use 2/3 cup of Greek yogurt. It’s amazing! I’ve been looking for so long for a very dense moist banana bread like I used to eat as a child, I also split this recipe into loaf pans so it only had to cook approximately 40-ish minutes! I will now throw out all my banana bread recipes! Thanks!
I am tempting to try this. Did you swap out the butter for 1/2 a cup of oil and 1/3 more cup of Greek yogurt, or that is in addition to the butter?
EXCELLENT!!!! My go to banana bread recipe from here on in. Thank you for sharing.
I always manage to get two loaves because otherwise my oven gets batter all over the bottom. But if two loaves is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
The best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried ! I added chocolate chips and it was simply divine.
Great recipe! This my first time making Banana Bread from scratch, and it turn out beautifully!!! I wrapped it in foil, then cellophane for 24 hours after it cooled! Tastes delicious! Next time, I’ll add the cream cheese frosting. For now, we’ll eat some, freeze the rest!!!
How would you adapt this recipe to make in high elevation? Around 5,000 feet? Thanks for info you can provide!
Hi Dana, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Do you have the macros for this recipe as 24 muffins?
Hi Janine, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
This recipe was okay, didn’t have the distinct sweet and buttery flavor I love in banana bread. It also completely fell apart when we took it out of the bread pan 🙁
Excellent banana bread! I made it exactly as the recipe. I added toasted walnuts and the bread was totally delicious!
A hit with the whole family!! I had to omit the eggs due to an allergy and replaced them with flax. Instead of using water with the flax meal, I subbed in the brown liquid from my frozen bananas. I wish I had a picture to share, but I didn’t get a chance to take one. It went so fast!
So going off of the note, if I used salted butter, I should still use the same amount of salt? I just wanted to double check since I have also read the page about how I should reduce the amount of salt in the recipe if using salted butter and I want to make sure my bread doesn’t end up too salty.
Hi Stephanie, You can make the banana bread as written with salted butter with no other changes to the added salt. The bread won’t taste salty.
Tastes great, but it’s a little rubbery. I was being very careful to stop mixing once everything was combined. Did I do something else incorrectly?
This should give you a laugh: I went to Pinterest and typed in Sally’s Baking Addiction Banana Bread…and I kept getting a message about suicide prevention instead of a recipe! Ha!
Hi Gail, were your bananas particularly wet or frozen before using? Too much liquid in the batter could make the cake rubbery. If you use frozen bananas, make sure to blot some of the excess liquid before using.
Hey sally, thanks so much! Can you make a chocolate banana bread? Also, is there a strudel topping?
Hi Laura, we haven’t tried adding cocoa powder to this recipe, and it would take a bit of recipe testing to find the best amount. Unfortunately, it’s not always a 1:1 swap with an equal amount of flour. If you decide to do any experimenting, let us know how it goes! You may love these chocolate banana muffins. You could add the streusel from this zucchini bread if you would like – happy baking!
Amazing!!! Best banana bread I’ve ever made!!
This is my go to recipe for banana bread. I’ve been making it once a week for my family. I’d like to switch it up and bake mini loaves. What would be your recommended bake time and temperature(s) for splitting this recipe into an 8 mini loaf pan?
Hi Jess, we’re unsure of the exact bake time for mini loaf pans, but you’ll use the same temperature. Time will be shorter. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. So glad this recipe is a favorite for you and your family!
Made the Banana Bread yesterday. I added 1 teaspoon maple extract, did not have enough sour cream, so I added 1/2 cup whipping cream. 1 teaspoon allspice and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. The additional ingredients were added to the recipe. Turned out great. Thank you