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 see that plain yogurt can be used instead of sour cream. All I have is plain Greek yogurt- would that work?
Hi D, that shouldn’t be a problem here.
I made this the other day and everyone in the house has complimented it! It was a big hit, and probably one of my favorite banana bread recipes I’ve ever used.
Thank to sally for this recipe!
I tried your recipe , loved the results !
Trustworthiness is so important specially now that there are dozens of recipes and websites that are not accurate.
Marvelous recipe. I put in a quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and half a cup of pecans. This is a really nicely balanced banana bread.
Made this three times already, a huge fave, sooo good. I only use 100g sugar though and salted butter.
Hello…I’ve made your banana bread twice. Both times I followed exact directions..2nd time baked 5 min longer. When done looks great, but then it falls some and is too moist almost wet inside. I am using EnerG baking soda which is sodium free. I use this in other recipes and seems fine. Any ideas. Thank you.
Hi Ellen! It sounds like your bread could simply use a little longer to bake. All ovens are different, so keep an eye on the bread and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I love the recipe but like Ellen in the comments above, my final results were undercooked on the bottom. I too have made this more than once. I cooked the last loaf 15 minutes longer. I’m pretty sure the bananas were too ripe/moist. Can I increase the flour and baking soda?
And I top it with sparkling sanding sugar. That adds a nice touch.
Hi Cynthia, I wouldn’t add more flour, I would simply reduce the amount of mashed banana if they are too ripe/liquid-y.
This recipe is the best. I’ve tried many, this one is perfect. The bread is moist and full of flavor. I added the Chocolate chips, it didn’t last the day! Thank you!
I’ve done this recipe and it has become a family favourite. The texture is so buttery and it’s easy to cut, it doesn’t even leave many crumbs to clean up! Amazing, love it! <3
This recipe made the most delicious moist banana bread…sooo good! I used the sour cream option since that’s what I had on hand & add crushed pistachios (my husbands favorite nuts). Thank you Sally for sharing another amazing recipe with us!
Best banana bread recipe yet!! Very moist and delicious.
i made this recipe and it tasted a little funky but not. bad
Loved it!
Can this recipe be used for a gluten free alternative or would modificationbe needed? I have GF 1 for 1 flour.
Hi Leah, many readers have reported success with making this recipe with GF 1 for 1 flour. Enjoy!
Made this yesterday, easy, ingredients in the house – amazing!
Tastes even better today
I am going to make this today, do you have a crumb topping that you would recommend?
Hi Cheryl, the crumble topping from either our blueberry muffin bread or peach quick bread would be fantastic!
I can always count on you, Sally! None of your recipes have ever let me down and this banana bread is no exception. I followed it exactly and then added semi sweet chocolate chips and a good amount of pecans. Absolutely delicious!!! I waited an hour+ before eating and it’s worth waiting. I can see this recipe having versatility when it comes to the add ins and that can be fun to explore..
My husband said this is the best banana bread I’ve ever made. I trust Sally’s recipes for all my baking needs. Thank you.
I always go to the store and buy 4 extra bananas to let them go black, then I put them in the freezer until I’m ready to bake this AMAZING banana bread!!!!
Honestly, this recipe is my plan b in every baking situation. Messed up cupcakes? Banana bread. Messed up cookies? Banana bread. Messed up cinnamon rolls? Banana bread. Also, in all of your recipes, i find it quite easy to make vegan just by switching up a few ingredients, so thank you for make failsafe recipes <3
I made this recipe with gluten free flour(Gluten Free Heaven-cake and pastry flour) and egg replacer and the bread was delicious. I only had strawberry-banana yogurt, worked well.
We haven’t even tasted it but I am already giving it a 5! It was easy to make, I was out of my Greek yogurt so it was wonderful that you told us we can use either sour cream or yogurt. My bananas were a little small so I made up the difference with applesauce. All I can say is that the whole house smells amazing and it hasn’t even come out of the oven yet! I am so exited to peruse your whole website. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this recipe with gluten free flour and egg replacer and the bread was delicious. I only had strawberry-banana yogurt.
Hi Sally,
Your recipes are the absolute best! This is the only banana bread recipe I use—it’s moist and delicious every time!
Question: have u ever used mini loaf pans? How many would I use for this recipe and how long would I cook them?I’d like to do one plain and one with c.chips. Thanks!
Hi Rachel, yes, you can definitely use mini loaf pans! Bake time will depend/vary based on the size of your mini loaf pans. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
This banana bread is fantastic. A big hit and we stopped 4 bananas from going to waste! Really appreciate that the measurements are in grams, I find it easier to cook that way. It is not overly sweet which I like, and I did use about 3 x more cinnamon and vanilla. Next time I would add a bit more salt or use salted butter. I’ve been pleased with the recipes I’ve tried on this site, great resource!
This is my only recipe for banana bread, it is wonderfully moist with great flavour. Keeps very well, though it never has to for very long!
This is hands down, the best banana bread recipe. I’ve made it multiple times and it’s always delicious and gets rave reviews. So much banana flavor, high rise, beautiful! My husband doesn’t even like sweets much, but requests this bread sometimes. Just a note, I did make muffins out of the batter on my last batch, and 24 is too many. The muffins were too small. I will probably try making 18 next time instead and see what happens.
Love all your recipes! I don’t have a loaf pan, only a 8×8 square pan. What adjustments should I make?
Hi Nina, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. Hope you enjoy the bread!
Can I not use Yogurt for sour cream
I make alot of banana bread, but the butter in this one makes it even better! I added walnuts and raisins and it came out fantastic! I made a triple batch as I always share with my kids and neighbors!
Hello! I love your recipes:) Have you ever tried making these loaves in disposable foil pans??
Hi Shannon, we haven’t, but that shouldn’t be a problem!
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious banana bread recipe. My husband and I have been enjoying it so much. Your recipe is truly amazing, and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with us!
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious banana bread recipe. My husband and I have been enjoying it so much. Your recipe is truly amazing, and I appreciate you taking the time to share it with us!