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 read all the great reviews and followed the recipe almost exactly; the only variations I did was I halved the cinnamon. While cinnamon is one of my most favourite spices, I’ve never had it in banana bread and wasn’t sure I’d like it because of my second variation which was to add chocolate chips. That is likely where I lost control and the bread decided I’d gone too far and it was no longer going to cooperate. My loaf was cooked through, and the outside was exactly what I like in a banana bread, crisp and browned but not burnt, but despite being cooked through, it wasn’t moist, it was basically wet. Way too much moisture which I know is not a common complaint, so maybe it’s just me. I should have realized I’d find it too moist after everyone talked so much about how wonderful and moist it was. I’m giving three stars because my family will eat it, but no one will be happy about it .
This recipe is everything promised and omg, yes, so much better on Day 2 as indicated. Tried a lot a lot a lot of banana bread recipes, this one is best by far!
Delicious! The website is too bogged down with ads. I had to screenshot and crop all of the pictures so that I can now remove the tab from my favorites.
Hi Christine, Thank you so much for letting us know. Pop up ads are blocked on our site, so we wonder if there was a spammy ad campaign that somehow got through. Ads should never be blocking any content, so we will let our ad network know.
Incroyable!
After baking banana bread for over 40 yrs, I will say this is the best. It makes a really tall, grand loaf, one that will last all week and tastes so good cold from the frig! I added walnuts and chocolate chips. The size of this loaf is so nice!
The ads on this page from Home Depot are very aggressive. I couldn’t get to the recipe until I scrolled back up and clicked jump to recipe button. I would’ve like to have read the bit before but the ad made it impossible.
Hi Lucy, Pop up ads are blocked on our site, so we wonder if there was a spammy ad campaign that somehow got through. Thank you for letting us know it was Home Depot, as now our ad network can look into it. Appreciate the feedback; nothing should be blocking our content.
Love the taste. Mine came out a lot denser than pictured. What is the typical reasoning for this? Thanks
Hi Jesse! Banana bread is going to be more dense than light and fluffy because of all the moisture from the bananas. It yours is turning out too dense there are a few things you can try. First check your baking soda – we find it can lose strength after just a few months. Also make sure not to over-mix your batter, which can lead to a dense bread. Finally, if you need to extend your bake time you can cover the top of your loaf with aluminum foil so that the top doesn’t brown too much while the center bakes. Hope the next one turns out better!
My favorite banana bread recipe, yum! I also made a chocolate one, by omitting the cinnamon, adding 1/2 cup cocoa and chocolate chips. Amazing!
Can I make this in a regular cake pan or do I have to use a loaf pan
Hi Carlina, this recipe is best as a loaf or even muffins. If you’d like to use a cake pan, we’d recommend our banana cake or layered banana cake instead.
I have made this recipe several times with great success exactly as written. For variety’s sake, in addition to including the suggested one cup of chocolate chips, I was thinking of adding some cocoa powder to make the loaf extra chocolaty. If I were to do this, how much cocoa powder should I use, and should I reduce the flour accordingly and/or increase the sugar (or make any other minor adjustments)? Kind regards.
Hi Dorothy, we haven’t tried incorporating cocoa powder into this recipe, and unfortunately it’s not always a 1:1 swap. We are hoping to share a chocolate banana bread recipe soon. In the mean time, you might enjoy these chocolate banana muffins instead!
Thank you for replying. As you probably know, there are numerous chocolate banana bread recipes online, but I look forward to your version because so far I’ve had great success with all the recipes I’ve tried from your website.
Best banana bread I’ve ever had! so fluffy and moist and tastes amazing.
My husband and 2 year old, and I, absolutely love this banana bread…and my husband is a person who will tolerate banana, yet he will eat this entire loaf in 2 days!! This is the only banana bread recipe we use! It is So moist and delicious, thank you Sally!
Hi,
Do you have recipe ingredients by weight? At least bananas. I could not find it in the comments.
Thanks so much
Hi Bonnie! See the recipe list of ingredients above: “2 cups (460g) mashed bananas (about 4 large ripe bananas)”.
Can you substitiue all or some of teh white flower with whole wheat? If so, what are the best proportions?
Hi Paul! You can substitute some of the flour, but expect a more dense texture. You may also enjoy our whole wheat banana bread recipe.
This is the absolute best banana bread
Thank-you
Wow, best banana bread I have made. Love all your recipes that I have made
My banana bread turned a light yellow colour instead of brown. Any idea why? I used brown sugar and yoghurt
The inside will have a yellow tint, and the outside will brown in most ovens. Could yours have used longer to bake?
I am preparing to make right now but only have glass and stoneware loaf pans. No metal. Glass will be fine, yes?
Hi Cindy, yes, glass will work just fine (as long as it is oven-safe). Bake time may be a few minutes longer.
Forgot to give it a 5 Star rating.
What could I use instead of eggs?
You can use the water from a can of chickpeas. It’s called aquafaba and its used for vegan dishes.
OMG the best banana bread ever! Only thing I did differently was to add a tsp of banana liquor (have always added that). This was absolutely excellent!
I am making your recipe on April 7th,2024. I made your banana muffins already,I had bananas and I didnt want them to go to waste. Thank you
This is now my go to recipe for the best banana bread. This is the first recipe I’ve seen that uses yogurt and I think that’s the secret to making it so moist! I do add toasted walnuts and chop up a chocolate bar (70% cocoa) and it’s divine. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you it’s so moist and delicious
Can I use oil instead of butter?
Thanks
Hi AnnMarie, in place of the butter, you could try solid coconut oil. You need a fat that is solid at room temperature so that it can be creamed together with the sugar.
Your favorite banana bread is the best I have ever eaten, and I’m almost 67 years old. My daughter uses all of your recipes! Wonderful!!!!
If l have less bananas (3) can l add extra yoghurt and if so how much extra?
Thanks
Hi Petra! Add yogurt to your bananas until you reach 2 cups/460g.
Loved this recipe! It was so simple and easy to make and it turned out great! It was good advice to check every once in a while as it got close to the 60 minute bake time because mine got finished sooner than 60 minutes.
Why does my bread always burn around the edges and not get done on the inside?
Hi Sydney! Perhaps your oven runs a little hot – we always recommend using an in-oven thermometer so you know the exact temperature of your oven.
This was SO tasty! Roughly how many calories would this be? Thanks for this recipe!
Hi Linsi, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Oh yes perfect! Thank you!
Seems so yummy, can’t wait to bake! How much yogurt would you recommend if I only have 2 large bananas?
If I use yogurt, do you recommend plain yogurt or Greek yogurt?
Hi Ilene, either will work well here!