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
Can’t wait to try this! This is the EXACT recipe I have used for years, except for adding sour cream or yogurt and MY RECIPE uses 1/2 c. less banana. I am sure it will be great!
Hi! Does this recipe work if I swap AP regular flour with GF flour?
Hi Ryan, We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Delicious recipe!
Sally, I love your recipes! Since I have found you my kitchen , no, my house has never smelled so good! I’ve just taken a banana bread out- smells delicious.
Can frozen bananas be used in this recipe?
Hi Teresa, frozen bananas thawed at room temperature and drained of any excess liquid should work great in this recipe. Here’s everything you need to know about baking with frozen bananas.
All worked out perfectly, I used a glass baking pan and greased it with butter. A perfect banana bread recipe!
How can I adapt all your quick bread recipes to mini loafs. Temp? Time? I’m using a 8 cavities, 3.28 X 2.5
Hi Sylvia, you can use the same baking temperature, but we’re unsure of the exact bake time. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
My friend and I waited patiently for my banana bread loaves to cool, which was superb! Rather than one loaf, I made six mini-loaves for neighbor Christmas treats. I used both pecans and chocolate chips and added a crumb topping. Oh, my, it will be hard to freeze these for gifts! Your site is my go-to for baking.
I tried this recipe than my usual recipe for banana bread and the cake turned out really great and better than my old recipe. My family loved it too. It was perfectly moist and the right kind of sweetness that I liked. Will be using this recipe from now on. Thanks a lot!
Hi! Can I use buttermilk instead of plain yogurt or sour cream? Thank you!
Hi Gabriela, 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.
Absolutely delicious and so moist! I love all your recipes! Success every time.
Hi guys , omg i loved your recipe.I live in turkey i watched a movie and saw banana bread i was wondering it’s taste but I wasn’t sure about making by myself. I searched and found your page. You are the best , thanks again
I gift friends and family with baked goods for Christmas. I am working on my fourth double batch of this wonderful banana bread. I bake it in small loaf pans and freeze. My family and friends all look forward to my gift baskets.
Perfect recipe. I used the Wilton Perfect Results Non-Stick Mini Loaf Pan (8-Cavity, 15.2 IN x 9.5 IN x 1.6) and it was the perfect amount of batter for 8 mini loaves.
I baked for 5 minutes at 425 then lowered the oven temp to 350 and baked for an additional 15 min.
Oh my god! This is the best banana bread Recipie I have ever found!! I used sour cream. It was so soft and moist!! Unbelievable!! Thank you!
I want to make some smaller, 3×5″ and 4×8, loaves of bread. Can you tell me how long i should cook them?
Hi Jonne, 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.
This is a fabulous recipe. My bananas weren’t ripe so I put in a brown bag with an apple
for 48 hours which seemed to help. I ran out of standard flour and made it with 170g plain flour and 70g wholemeal flour. Will try all wholemeal flour next time.
I cooked at 175 C (digital oven) and it took a little longer than specified (I took it out at 70 mins, it was so moist and delicious, could probably have taken another 5 mins). Can’t imagine how it could come out dry.
I would like to make this in mini pans to add to cookie tray. How would I adjust cooking time?
Hi Mary, 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.
Hi can I use oat flour for this recipe?
Hi Maria, We haven’t tested this recipe with oat flour, but expect a more dense texture.
Help! I love your recipes and thorough instructions, explanations. Can you help me figure out why my Banana Bread was dense without a lot of banana flavor? I followed the recipe.
Hi Lisa, I’m glad to help. Did you alter anything in the recipe? With that much banana, there should definitely be a lot of flavor. Were your bananas nice and ripe? Because the flavor really comes through when using super brown/spotty bananas. Also, I find the flavor really comes through on day 2.
Can I use mini metal loaf pans instead? Do I adjust the temperature or bake time?
Hi Karen, 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.
Made this today and it is absolutely perfect. Truly perfect. No need to search for another banana bread recipe ever again, this is it! I used some bio spotty bananas which were extremely sweet and very flavorful, I’m sure that helped a lot. Thanks for this gem of a recipe!
Thank you! Have made this so many times and each a total success. I added
Walnuts apricots lemon yogurt
Idk what I did wrong but my bread was so blonde and tasteless.
Hi Em, were your bananas ripe enough? Spotty bananas are key to the bread’s taste—it isn’t overly sweet, so that the banana flavor can really shine though. Thank you for giving this a try!
Sally,
I just finished a batch of your lemon crinkles and they received rave reviews from my neighbors. The pumpkin coffee cake was also a huge hit. I am so glad that my neighbor recommended your site to me. I’d like to try some of your “quick bread” type recipes but usually bake in mini loaf pans for gifting at the holidays. Usually, a 9×5 in. loaf recipe make two or three mini loaves in other recipes I have used. Can most of your recipes like your banana bread be followed with adjustment for baking times to make mini loaves? Many thanks, happy holiday season.
Hi Ilene, we’re so glad you’re enjoying the site! Yes, you can use this recipe (and most of our quick bread recipes) to make smaller loaves. Bake time will vary based on exact size and recipe, but keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Loved this recipe! I made it a few weeks ago when searching the site for banana bread. My only mess up was I didn’t let it bake long enough somehow. I did exact time you recommended and even did a toothpick test but the verrrrrry peak of bread would not set before it started browning too much. Will be remaking soon though and adding aluminum foil towards the end hoping it’ll come out even more delicious. All of your recipes are so awesome….this may be my favorite! (:
Smelles amazing ! Added chocolate chips, love there are ideas of things you can switch up ingredients . I did use a Bundt pan and it grew and filled it nicely. Just adjusted time to 45 min .Deffinately will make again it’s stunning!
I found this banana bread to be kind of dry and bland. Will definitely try with a full cup of brown sugar and more bananas or add a couple Tbsp butter. Disappointing since I usually love all of Sally’s recipes.
Absolutely delicious . I didn’t have yogurt, so I used extra banana, as per the recipe. Freshly cracked walnuts and milk chocolate chips.
So good and super easy to execute with your amazing recipes and instruction! I’m new to baking and have made a few cakes/cookies including this one and all my friends think I’ve been baking for years. Thank you!