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
All my best friends loved it!
I do love the recipe and it tastes lovely but I keep having trouble with it coming out really dense and thick and wet looking and not fluffy like bread at all, it’s definitely been in the oven long enough and I’ve made sure to follow the recipe, I’d love to know where I’m going wrong!
Hi Pearl, were your bananas particularly wet or frozen before using? Too much liquid in the batter could make the bread too moist. If you use frozen bananas, make sure to blot some of the excess liquid before using.
Hi
Have a question
Do you have any suggestions on how to replace the sugar for my diabetic hubby
Hi Laura! We wish we could help more, but don’t have any experience baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Moist and absolutely delicious!
Turned out great! I didn’t have a 9×5 loaf pan so I made muffins and they were perfect – crisp on the outside and moist on the inside after 20 min total (5 min at 425, 15 min at 350). Used 1 cup brown sugar for an additional sweet factor. Will be putting this in the rotation!
Hello ,can I bake this in 2 small loaf pans ?
Absolutely!
I loved BANANA BREAD recipe and it came out so wonderful ! Very delicious!
I added chocolate chips in place of nuts and had no yogurt or sour cream and you said to substitute applesauce and it came out just perfect!
Baking about 50 years and I find your recipes amazing and you have taught an old baker a few new tricks!
Thank you Sally!
I have to do gluten free so I replaced the flour with cassava flour, which I use for 80% of my bking (peanut flour is another favourite) I also used 50g of moasses in place of the sugar and it worked a tread soft moist dark brown loaf which would have lasted longer than 2 days but…. Thanks Sally!
Can I use creme fraiche in place of soured cream?
Hi Laurie, we haven’t tested it ourselves, but a few readers have done so with success. Let us know how it goes!
This was a really excellent recipe
Loved it!
I added dark choc chips instead of nuts as per my daughter’s request, divine. This will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on!
Another winner, thanks for the recipe ❤️
Did anyone else have a problem with the recipe making too much batter for the standard loaf pan? Ours overfilled and we followed the recipe exactly.
Hi LL, were you using an 8×4-inch or 8.5×4.5-inch pan? Make sure you’re using a 9×5 inch pan.
omg the best if you have not try it it you are missing out!
I’ve made this a couple of times. Today I was a bit out of touch and I made an error in adding wet ingredients. I added bananas back with sugar and butter. Failed to cream the sugar/butter first. So I had tiny chunks of butter throughout the batter. But, of course I just baked it, hoping for the best. I also use whole wheat flour, which can make things a little dry. Well, this is simply the most moist, deeply flavored of all the tries on this great recipe. Goofed up, but WOW what a fine end result. Thank you for all that you do to inspire and educate us!
Should I make any adjustments for a glass loaf pan?
Hi DJ, bake time may be a few minutes longer for a glass pan, but otherwise all baking directions can remain the same. Enjoy!
spectacular!! I’ll never make another banana bread recipe. I used margarine and mixed everything by hand. I also threw in some sliced blanched almonds and chopped pecans that were collecting dust in my cupboards. worked amazing. My oven runs a little cold so I didn’t end up needing to cover it with foil; took 70 minutes to bake in all.
Would Greek yogurt work for this recipe?
Yes!
Love this recipe! Would it be possible to use oat flour instead or regular flour? Trying to make it gluten free!
We haven’t tested this recipe with GF flour, but some bakers have reported success using a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute like Bob’s Red Mill. Let us know what you try!
Great Banana Bread, after reading reviews before I made it, I tweaked recipe by using 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp of vanilla extract and I used sour cream and only 3 ripe bananas, baked for 65 minutes on 2nd rack from bottom. Used a potato masher on the bananas, and my Kitchen Aid for creaming butter and sugar and final mix. No need for foil while baking, . The bread is nice and moist, tasty and was not runny, dry or bland.
What do you mean, nuts OR chocolate chips?!? The second time I made this bread I put in both dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts and let me tell you, people were fighting over it.
I didn’t like banana bread before. At all. But this recipe is the BOMB.
Love love love. I like the browning effect. Thank you Sally. Always using your recipes!!!
I love the taste of this recipe so much, but I CANNOT get the banana bread to cook correctly. The sides and top darken so much while the middle/inside is raw. I try the aluminum foil trick at the 30-minute mark, but it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Any suggestions for how to fix this problem? I use sour cream instead of greek yogurt — should I switch that out? Would love any suggestions as I want this to work so badly but CANNOT get it to cook correctly!
Hi Jane! What position in your oven are you baking the bread? They moving to a lower position to encourage the bread to make more evenly – this can make a big difference! All ovens are different and bake a little differently, so it can take some experimentation.
Your oven might be running hot. Get an oven thermometer and check the temperature. Mine runs cold, so I have to increase the temp by 15 degrees. It can really impact baking.
This is the best banana bread we have had! I added walnuts and raisins, but otherwise just followed the recipe and it is beautifully moist and just tastes amazing!
Stunning. Favourite banana loaf recipe. Perfect consistency and Not too sweet!
I tried this recipe today. It turned out to be a success. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I made this completely by the recipe and my husband absolutely loved it. Very easy to follow.
This is hands down THE BEST banana bread recipe I have ever tried. I added a brown sugar pecan crumb topping.
Really delicious, tender, moist and easy. I added some chopped dates 🙂
I love this Banana Bread. I’ve made it 4 times in the last two weeks. As soon as I make it. It disappears.
Thank you Sally for this amazing recipe