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 bread came out super delicious and moist! i substituted the yogurt/sour cream for more bananas as suggested and the flavor came out amazing. this will definitely be my go-to recipe from now on! thank you!
Hi Bakers
Can I use mascarpone cheese in the stead of sour cream or yogurt?
Hi Lee, for best results, we recommend sticking with the sour cream/yogurt.
Can this be done without the Yoghurt?
Hi Sarah, you could use sour cream instead, but we don’t recommend leaving that ingredient out of this recipe.
I’ve never made muffins this fluffy, and they are really tasty too!
unfortunately still very most and dense, the bread turned out to be doughy even after using the updated recipe
I’ve tried many banana bread recipes over the years but this one is by far the best. My loaf came out as pretty as it was delicious. I particularly liked your instruction on room temperature butter. Turned out I’d been doing it wrong for decades! The proof of your method was clearly evident in this recipe and the results I got. Thank you so much for your clear, easy to follow recipes!
I like this recipe *a lot*. Other recipes that have oil as the fat often flare up acid reflux (not sure why) but this one doesn’t – so I’m a fan. I love that w/ the brown sugar it’s not overly sweet and that the banana flavor comes through just enough to be a really good sweet bread.
One question I have even w/ the 2025 update, is that my loaf ends up being pretty dark on the bottom and sides – the top looks like the pics that you’ve posted. Could this because my loaf pan is too dark possibly? I’m tempted to try a throw away aluminum pan to see if i get the same result.
Hi Stacey, we’re so glad this is a favorite for you! Darker and thinner pans can make the sides of bread bake faster. A different pan could do the trick for you!
Love this recipe! When exactly was the recipe updated? I made it today & it turned out a little different than previous times. Could have easily been something I mistakenly did though. Was the difference in bananas the only change made?
Hi Sarah, the recipe was updated in February 2025. The reduction in bananas is the only update!
I followed the older version of the recipe with 2 cups of mashed bananas (I didn’t see the update till I returned to the page), and found that the loaf was dense, moist, and very banana-y. However, that’s not a huge problem for my family. 🙂
I doubled the amount of cinnamon and added a pinch of all-spice for more intense flavor and decreased the butter to 6 Tbsp as noted.
Due to the moisture, baking time took a bit longer in my oven (extra 10 minutes), and I’ll definitely decrease the amount of bananas next time.
Can I just say why haven’t I done this before?? Your tip for foil over the bread, I do it for pie crust but I never thought to do it with bread. Genius!! My house smells amazing and this bread is delicious a great way to use overripe bananas. I love that it takes 3-4 of them.
Best banana bread recipe! The bread came out super moist and yummy!
Phenomenal 10/10!!! New fave recipe
I love this recipe – simple, healthy, quick, moist and delicious
I made this recipe this morning and it was delicious, thank you! The addition of Greek yogurt made it more moist than my other recipe for banana bread and we like the addition of cinnamon.
I am going to add a little orange zest to the batter next time and maybe a very little on the tops before I bake them. I used a large loaf pan that makes six small loaves and it was perfect.
Hi Sally, I LOVE this recipe! Since I am vegan, I omitted the eggs, and the banana bread was scrumptious!
Lovely Banana Loaf.
How many carbs. Need to know a my granddaughter has T1 diabetes.
It’s really helpful to know this for all recipes I bake.
Thanks
Hi Amanda, thank you so much for trying this recipe! 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
Hi! Can I use greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt?
Definitely!
I made this banana bread recipe about eight times. Super easy to make and you can’t mess it up.
Is there anyway I could replace baking soda with baking powder?
Hi Riley, those two ingredients are very different and not interchangeable. You can read more about the differences and how they’re used in baking in this post.
Best Banana Bread recipe I’ve tried! Left out cinnamon and used pecans instead of walnuts but just as good if not better. I love sour cream in these recipes but only had plain yogurt and that was fine-quite light. Also reduced sugar by a little and added more bananas than recipe called for. For some people that might not be sweet enough. We lived in Asia for many years so got used to less sugar per their style..
My oven cooks quickly and it still took probably an hour. I put on the foil the first half and then took it off for the second half. It did not burn on the top (left in middle or lower-middle part of oven). Delish!
Could I replace the butter for olive oil for healthier fats? I’d also like to use whole wheat flour, do I need to change the amount to make the texture work?
Hi Cal, we recommend using this recipe for whole wheat banana bread instead of trying to make substitutions to this recipe. Enjoy!
Beth, it would be terrific if you could offer ways to make this with whole wheat flour but without going all the way to the healthy version. I managed to mix and match on my own and it came out great. Just trying to remember what I did! I think mostly replaced all purpose flour with whole wheat flour in this recipe, but used just 1 & 3/4 c because whole wheat flour soaks up more water than all purpose.
Whenever I add chocolate chips to banana bread, they fall to the bottom of the pan – why? I’m wondering if I should use mini chocolate chips so they aren’t too heavy? Or add half way through bake time by throwing them on top? Ideas/advice appreciated. Thanks !
Hi Kate, you can help prevent chocolate chips from sinking by tossing them in a tablespoon of flour to coat them before you add them to the batter. You could also try using mini chips, as you mentioned, or pour half the batter in the pan before adding chocolate chips, then fold chocolate chips into the remaining batter and pour/spoon that on top. Hope these suggestions help!
Love your recipe always a winner in my parish.
Thanks
The best banana bread ever!
I made your recipe tons times! So good I give it as gifts and your recipe. Thanks. I make many of your recipes regularly!
What if I don’t have sour cream
Hi Lois, you could use plain yogurt instead of sour cream here. Enjoy!
Not my usual Banana bread/loaf recipe but now my favourite.
I love that you have both USA and metric measurements (I’m in the UK) Switched up the fibre and used 50% wholemeal rye flour and it still worked perfectly.
Creaming the sugar and flour (I used dark brown soft sugar) gives a beautiful caramel/molasses flavour.
Will be baking this regularly now.
Super tasty – thank you! Its everything you said it would be!
This the best banana bread I’ve made! With that said, I’m currently out of flour.. but I have Bisquick, could I use it in place of the flour? If so would I need to make any changes or adjustments?
Thanks in advance for your time!
Hi KayNichole, we do not recommend using Bisquick here. Best to wait until you have all-purpose flour on hand!
Best banana bread ever! Followed the recipe exactly. Thank you for sharing!
Hi …. Looking forward to making this. Can I make 2 at a time?? Any suggestions? Thanks.
Hi Sonia, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
Moister and tastier than my old recipe. Made as noted, no nuts or chocolate chips. Great with morning coffee!