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 haven’t made this yet but it sounds amazing. Can you add raisins to this?
Absolutely!
I’ve been testing different recipes for a year with the aim of finding the best one …. and this I’d definitely it! I followed the instructions and recipe exactly except for using only three bananas because that’s all I had. I added chopped pecans at the end and also sprinkled some granulated brown sugar on top before putting in the oven. This gave me a lovely sweet crispy crust. My search has ended ! Husband confirmed this is the best one yet . Don’t waste your time looking for any others !
Really good recipe. Banana bread is super yum following all the steps here. Thank you!
Best recipe I have ever tried!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! My quick breads have been sinking in the middle 🙁 Any tips to prevent this? Thank you!!
HI Libbi! If your quick breads are deflating, double check the freshness of your baking soda. (We find it can lose strength after just 3 months.) Additionally, try baking for a few extra minutes. Sinking is usually because the baked good is under-baked. Make sure to use a toothpick to test for doneness!
This banana bread recipe has turned out perfect every time. My husband has diabetes so I used Splenda/brown sugar blend. I was a little concerned but it turns out great.
Sally has the best recipes! Baking is not the skill I am proud of but I have followed your recipes and sll turned out very good ( cookie cream cake- it’s a hit at work and received so many compliments ☺️ muffins, bread)
This is definitely my favourite banana bread recipe
I’ve been using this recipe for three years and it turns super moist and fluffy every time. I like to add chocolate chips and marble some peanut butter on top
This is truly the best banana bread recipe I have personally made. Thank you for all of your recipes. It is an inside joke between my daughter and myself that a new recipe we made is “Sally’s baking addiction, of course”. Keep testing and tweaking! We appreciate all of your effort to make your recipes perfect
Thank you so much for making our recipes, Danielle!
Yum! Turned out perfect! I used Greek yogurt, and baked for 21 min total. I added walnuts and it was the perfect amount of crunch. I will try choc chips next time! These are not too sweet- so adding choc chips will be the perfect amount of sweet!
I really love Strawberry Banana bread and plan to add 1 and 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed, dried, chopped, and tossed in 1 Tablespoon of flour like you do for your Glazed Strawberry Bread. Any Suggestions on how better to attempt it and things to watch for?
Hi Jim, we haven’t tested this banana bread with fresh strawberries, but following the instructions in the glazed strawberry bread recipe is definitely where I’d start too! Let us know how it turns out!
I changed the sugar for powdered sweetener (I think that’s the term, this is not my mother tongue), and I cut the butter to 85g as well, following your steps. I’m sooo grateful! Not only did I love it, my family as well and my mom went almost beast-like just to have more slices for herself. I had to translate and write by hand your recipe just so mom could keep it in her recipe book and make it again if I’m not available… So, you can imagine how much of a winner this bread was.
Tender, moist, sweet but not too much, and delicious!
This is hands down the best banana bread recipe. I’ve made many & Sally’s is the best. I add chopped nuts just to the top before baking… So delicious!
I specifically searched for a banana bread recipe that used yogurt. I had another recipe from Family Fun magazine that I lost. I was happy to try this recipe out. My husband loved it and I love it. I used an expensive sweet whole milk yogurt and the recipe did not disappoint me. I also made a chocolate chip loaf. I am holding off on trying the chocolate chip bread and froze it to see how it would taste when it was defrosted. I will let you know.
Glad you enjoyed this bread, Maria!
This was a total hit!!! thank you so much for putting up such an accurate recipe for us , appreciate all the hard work. I used 3 bananas and a little less brown sugar though which was the perfect sweetness for me, I wish Sally considers stepping into Keto baking as well given how successful her blog is for general bakes.
Thank you for sharing. Very good.
I love this recipe so much,Sally I’m quite impressed. I didn’t know before but now I know I even subscribed in youtube
I was wondering if I could sub GF flour (like a 1:1 Blend) in this recipe?
Hi Tristan, we haven’t tested this bread with gluten free flour so we’re unsure of the results. Some readers have reported success doing so with a 1:1 gluten free flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. Let us know if you give anything a try!
I finally tried this recipe out and it was amazing! I threw in some toasted walnuts. Will definitely use this again.
So yummy! Can this recipe be made in a bread machine under the bake option? Would it still be the same time?
Hi Paulina, we haven’t tested this recipe in a bread machine. Let us know if you give it a try!
It’s in the oven now. Earlier I made your cinnamon and apple bread. Both are for church gathering of pastors. So I don’t know yet how they will go…
Just made this recipe today for family movie night. It was a COMPLETE HIT!! So delicious! I cut the brown sugar in half and substituted the rest with allulose and added pecans.
Give the recipe a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Looking forward to toasting a piece in the morning with a cup of black coffee.
My son asked me to make banana
Bread the other day. I only have a glass loaf pan. Do I have to make adjustments?
Hi Elaine, a glass pan will work just fine. Bake time may be a minute or two longer, but keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
THE best banana bread recipe! My kids beg me to buy extra bananas so I can make this for them. I’ve been making it for ages, and it always comes out great!
I am not a fan of banana bread, but I had 2 ripe banana and used your recipe. 2 bananas worked well for me, they out come out not too banana-ee., which was perfect for me. I upped the walnuts just a bit and added a small hand full of currents. (I am a very picky foodie). At the last minute I decided to make banana muffins, they were great, not too sweet and so good with a dab of butter and a cup of coffee.
Taking some muffins over to my 2.5 year old grandson..
I will make these again!
As always, another great recipe! I have tried a few banana bread recipes in the past year and so far this is my favorite. I added pecans to mine and it turned out perfectly. I mixed by hand instead of using my stand mixer and it worked out great.
Hi Sally! Love love love the recipe! IT was an absolute hit with hubby last night! Gone in a blink of an eye. Anyways thanks girly Also can this recipe be quadrupled for a party? Thanks a bunch and more!
Hi Suzy, for best results (and to prevent over or under mixing) we recommend making separate batches rather than quadrupling. So glad you love this one!
I followed the recipe to the letter but my loaf has ended up like a “bread pudding” rather than the loaf cake I was so looking forward to. Do you have any suggestions as to why?
Hi Ann, it sounds like your loaf may have been underbaked. Additional time in the oven will help, but if you find the edges are browning too quickly, you can tent the pan with aluminum foil to prevent the edges from burning while allowing the middle to continue baking through. Be sure, too, not to over mix as that can create a squat and dense bread. Hope these tips help for next time!
Omg this is the best banana brd ever!!!!! Delishus!!!!! Delicious!!!
FINALLY!!!! This is by far the best banana bread recipe! I used sour cream, added walnuts and mini choco chips. Made this two hours ago and the bread is half gone already!