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
Have made this banana bread over 50 times! Thanks, Sally. Just out of curiosity, would it make a difference if the butter was melted instead of softened to room temp? I make your banana muffins all the time too, and that recipe calls for melting the butter. I’m just curious! Thank you!
Hi Melina, we’re so glad this is a favorite here! Creaming the butter with the sugar is key to this bread’s soft texture, so it’s best to stick with soft creamed butter rather than melted butter here.
I’ve made this at least 6 times now. Exactly as directed w 4 bananas. I don’t measure how many cups that is. I’ve never had issues with it not baking through. I leave the loaf in the pan to cool after baking. I also reduce the sugar to half a cup and it’s plenty sweet in my opinion. Great recipe!
I love this recipe! I baked it in a Bundt cake pan, because I like the Bundt design, and I reduced the bake time by about 15 minutes.
It came out beautifully, very moist and flavorful.
Thank you!
Best banana bread recipe ever! It’s so moist and delicious. I like to add chocolate chips to mine; it makes it even better!
Yummy, can I substitute brown sugar with stevia
Can this bread be made with olive oil? Looking for something more compatible with the Mediterranean Diet for health reasons
Hi Carol, in place of the butter here, you could try solid coconut oil or even a plant-based butter. You need a fat that is solid at room temperature so that it can be creamed together with the sugar.
Probably the least flavorful banana bread I’ve ever made. Ice tried atleast 3 or 4 different recipes for banana bread. Perfectly moist, just barely any flavor.
Good morning. I have two questions: What is “room temperature” range? This morning my kitchen was 38°F, the warmest room in the house. Second question: when baking in a oven, what rack position do you recommend when not specified-mid level or bottom, close to the flame position?
Hi Arthur, here’s everything you need to know about room temperature ingredients and room temperature butter. We always bake on the middle rack, unless otherwise specified. Hope this helps!
Recipe states bottom 1/3 of oven. I moved my top rack just above the bottom rack. You want it far from the top so it cooks evenly.
This banana bread recipe is the best I’ve ever made! It’s so moist and flavorful. I used sour cream, which was fantastic! I will definitely make only this recipe from now on. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
WAY too much liquid. You can google this recipe and Reddit forums come up with how many people have failed this recipe despite using a scale for exact measurements. I seriously suggest you review the amounts of liquid as this is the most I’ve ever seen in any banana bread recipe
Hello Sally, just made your beautiful and moist banana muffin’s, just wondering if you have a nutrition information panel for them, l’m doing weight watchers and l need to break them down, l live in Australia, thank you Patricia
Hi Patricia, 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
I added walnuts and it was perfect. I love that it is not too sweet. My family are huge fans of this delicious banana bread!
Could I substitute canola oil for the butter?
Hi Laura, in place of the butter here, you could try solid coconut oil or even a plant-based butter. You need a fat that is solid at room temperature so that it can be creamed together with the sugar.
I didn’t have enough butter so I used 80g butter and topped the rest up with coconut oil.
This recipe is so good!! I can’t wait to finish this loaf to make more
I have made these twice now, really impressed and will be my go to receipt. I have made the recipe in miniature loaf tins and it makes 9 of those. I cook it for 25 mins and then check from there (5 more mins needed). I also fold the wet mixture in with a spatula. Thank you, I love this recipe!
This is my go to banana bread. I’d like to bake this in a mini loaf pan, it has 4 wells. The baking time would have to be adjusted as well?
Hi Glenda, you can certainly bake in mini loaf pans! We’re unsure of the exact bake time (it will vary by recipe and by loaf size), so keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Same baking temperature, though.
Is it possible to use a neutral oil instead of butter for those who are watching cholesterol?
Hi Tanya, in place of the butter here, you could try solid coconut oil or even a plant-based butter. You need a fat that is solid at room temperature so that it can be creamed together with the sugar.
This is wonderful banana bread, but I’m wondering if it’s possible to make it a little bit sweeter? How much additional sugar can I add without ruining the recipe?
Hi L. Anne, You could add more sugar if desired. We also have a sweeter banana cake if you’re interested in that!
Hello,
Just wanted to let you know that I tried the Banana Bread. Well, I don’t think I will make again, because it was sooooooo good that I are the whole loaf of bread as soon as it came out of the oven..Yes, I will make it again, a this time I will not be a little piggy and eat the whole thing. I am going to try the cinnamon bread next. Thank You, for all the bread recipes. I never made crusty bread but with your help anb recipes i know that I can do it.
We’re so glad you loved it, Franny!
FANTASTIC!! Made this with AP gluten free flour. Measured by weight. Did not add anything extra extras such as the nuts or my usual chocolate chips. I find GF needs a little extra moisture. But this cake didn’t need it at all. Baking it again right now and shared the recipe with whomever I could. Go make it now☕️
Hello, I am one of your thousand fans. Would like to know how to calculate the amount of salt for cakes, cookies, bread, etc. in comparisson with the amount of flour used in the recipe. Thanks a lot.
Hi Moira! Thanks so much for making and trusting our recipes. We wish we could help, but there isn’t a specific ratio we follow—rather, it depends on the specific recipe. It usually take a bit of trial and error!
Excited to try this recipe! I live at high altitude (about 5,000 feet), do you recommend making any changes to the recipe for altitude? Thanks!
Hi Jennae, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Can you substitute greek yogurt?
Hi Joanne, absolutely, you can use plain Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.
Amazing. I tried this last night and it has become a family favorite instantaneously. It came out so fresh and fluff, buttery and it just melts in the mouth. Amazing. I love your recipes so much. Much love, from the mother land
Such a yummy recipe, just made this with my toddler
Only had caster sugar but it still came out perfect
Didnt add the cinnamon but thats personal preference
Will use this from now on for a lovely fluffy cake!
Not impressed at all, lacks flavor.
Excellent recipe. Followed exactly, with some modifications.
Melted the butter and mixed ingredients by hand instead of using mixer.
Added 1/4 cup white sugar
Added 1 cup chocolate chips
Used 3/4 cup chopped pecans.
Added the chocolate chips and nuts to the wet part of the batter, then folded in the dry by hand so as to not over mix.
Baked in slightly smaller loaf tins, 4×8. Divided batter between both tins and baked for 45-50min. This banana bread is extremely tender. Enjoyed mine with some butter on it. Going to freeze one loaf and see how it reacts to being used at a later date.
Is an electric mixer necessary or can I just whisk all ingredients together?
I wasn’t a fan of this one. Even with extra banana and vanilla, cinnamon the sour cream canceled out some of the banana flavor and sweetness of the sugar. It lacked in flavor like something was missing. I will be going back to smitten kitchens jacked up banana bread minus the optional bourbon it has in the recipe. It’s the best banana bread out there. I’m a professional baker so I didn’t mess anything up in recipe. I think I’m just not a fan of the sour cream in this one it doesn’t compliment it well with the other measurements. Maybe for people with more bland taste buds.
Excellent recipe! I used 1 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of banana liquor and made a pecan praline topping. I then topped the bread with the praline mixture after the cake came out of the oven and put the cake with topping under the broiler for 1 minute. It came out beautiful and delicious. My go to recipe from now on.