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
This will be my go-top banana bread recipe from now on! I don’t usually have yogurt on hand but begrudgingly bought some to try this out, and I’m so glad I did. I will happily go out of my way to buy plain yogurt for this in the future!
Mine didn’t rise at all
Make sure to check that your baking soda is fresh!
Thank you for this delicious recipe. The bread is just as described, light, moist and delicious. This is my new go-to recipe for banana muffins.
This is the best ever. I used yogurt instead of sour cream and it made a huge difference. The best ever banana bread by far. Thanks for sharing.
Can you add in dried fruit?
Hi Ellie, sure can!
What ratio of whole wheat flour to AP flour can I use?
Hi Patricia, the bread will be a lot more dense if you substitute all ww flour. Try subbing just half, or we also have this recipe for whole wheat banana bread.
I tried your peach pie recipe & had a simi good results. The homemade dough was a long process but it turned out well. When i Bake it the dough was a bit chewy. Taste good with ice cream.
Not a huge pumpkin fan but it is the season and I had pumpkin to use up. This turned out so much better than I thought. I did double all the spices (except the cinnamon) and added a 1/2 tsp of cardamom. No orange juice, but used a pineapple/coconut fizzy drink instead (I was a little concerned but it is all I had). Made half with the chips and half without. This recipe is definitely going in my fall rotation.
Absolute love this recipe! Tried it for the second time yesterday but since my bread pans aren’t quite big enough I baked it in a 9 inche cake pan and topped it with the cream cheese frosting. It’s not often that myself and my 3 daughters all agree on something but everybody loved it and I had to hide a piece in the back of the fridge so o could enjoy it again with my mid morning coffee!!
Thanks for sharing!!
Delicious !!
Thanks for sharing
By far the best banana bread recipe
I love this recipeeeeeeee!!! Whenever we have bananas I immediately think of this recipe. (I have a bunch of banana trees in my yard so I usually septuple the amount of bananas )
Can I use a medium loaf pan for this bread? I have several loaf pans but they are all medium soze 8 X 3.75 will this recipe still work with those pans?
Hi Debbie, this makes just a smidge too much batter for that size pan, but you can certainly use your pan and make a few muffins on the side with the leftover batter. Hope you enjoy it!
I baked this recipe exactly as directed and it turned out perfectly. I love that it wasn’t overly sweet, and it was perfectly baked at 45 minutes, not 60. This recipe is a keeper!
I love this so much because it is good for school
I have a go to recipe but decided to try this…tasty goodness! Cholesterol issue so i used canola oil and came out fine. Kept in fridge as recommended and enjoyed most of the week! Thank you!
Delicious! Did half almond meals and half King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure flour. Hubby loves them!
Love!! Made with your brown butter recipe and sour cream version. Came out AMAZING! TY Sally!!
I love your recipes Sally but this one I’m not a fan of. I followed the recipe and directions and the bottom is dark and over baked from being on the lower third of the oven. It is also extremely dense-I know it’s bread and should have a denser texture but this was too dense. Fresh box of baking soda, so that wasn’t the issue. Not sure what I did wrong
It’s absolutely perfect !!
Mine is in the oven right now… my house smells amazing ♥
The Best banana bread I have ever made, and I’ve been making it for 40+ years! It’s perfect every time!! I had 9 bananas to use up so I doubled the recipe and it was still perfect
I put every ingredient in bowl and used electric mixer to mix all at once. I doubled the brown sugar amount because brown sugar never tastes as sweet as regular sugar in the same amount when baked without regular sugar with it. The batter was light and fluffy. Baked perfectly.
I love this recipe. The banana bread didn’t come out as sweet as the batter however, how can I ensure it is sweeter next time? The bananas were def perfect I think. Thanks!
Hello, can I use buttermilk instead of sour cream or yogurt?
Hi Rose, you can use buttermilk instead of yogurt or sour cream (same amount), but the batter will be on the thinner side and, as a result, the baked bread will end up a little squat without as much rise. We recommend sticking to the recipe for best results.
I would like to make small 6″ loaves to give to some of my elderly neighbors that do not have family and a few friends. Can you provide suggestions on baking time? Thank you
Hi Ingrid, we’re unsure of the exact bake time for smaller loaves, but it will be shorter. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I made this recipe in a 4 bread stoneware pan. I baked it at 360 for 35 minutes. They are perfect.
I loved the recipe. The only change I made, was to add 1/2 t. ground cloves, in addition to the cinnamon.
This is, hands down, my favorite banana bread recipe of all time. We decided to make it as is the first time before we adjusted sugar amounts or anything like that and I’m glad we did. It’s just perfect the way it is. We did add pecans because I love nuts in my banana bread. I will 100% be making this again!
Hi Sally! Can I make this gluten free using gluten free flower?
Hi Lynnie, 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!
We used Namaste 1:1 gluten free flour and it turned out delicious!
I used spelt with the same quantities and the result is fabulous!
Great recipe!!!
Can I double it for a 12” inch pan?
Hi Maureen, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. Here is our banana sheet cake recipe, too!