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
what would the bake time and oven temperature be?
Hi AB, see step 1: “Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).” and step 5: “Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread 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. This may be after 60–65 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 60-minute mark.” Enjoy!
could i make these into muffins?
Definitely, or here’s our reader favorite banana muffins recipe.
Best banana bread I’ve ever made!
Can I use bread flour instead of AP flour? Would it be the same amount?
Hi Dawn, we don’t recommend bread flour, it would yield a dense and chewy banana bread. It’s best to stick with all-purpose for banana bread!
Tastes good but greasy. Way too much butter.
I love this recipe and make it often. Since my husband loves it and thinks it’s the only banana bread that actually tastes like bananas I keep the banana amount at two cups. Once my batter in my bread pan is 2/3 full, I use excess for one or two muffins.
I have a question – does this bread bakes better on the last or middle rack of the oven? Thanking you in advance.
Hi Fauna, we bake it on the middle rack, but you can certainly lower it if your oven seems to brown baked goods faster. Bake time may vary every so slightly.
Can I use a cast iron pan? I like how evenly my cast iron pan bakes things.
Hi Barb, we haven’t tested it in a cast iron pan, but let us know if you do. This cake pan sizes and conversions guide should be helpful.
This is the third time I have baked your Favorite Banana Bread. It is the perfect recipe. It comes together quickly, most of the time is hands-off time, it has a rich buttery, not too sweet flavors, works with or without nuts (some lightly toasted chopped pecans are brilliant in this), is excellent toasted and buttered and looks like a professional bakery loaf. This is now my go-to recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Sally you ate with this recipe. So moist and tasty. I definitely recommend including the walnuts and adding some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips!
Delicious!!
I have a favorite recipe I’ve used for years. But love your recipes use volume (grams, love the way you write, and that your recipes are tested (and adapted based on feedback. I’m going to give this recipe a try!
This was a delicious recipe!
All the tips were very useful.
Like others here, I tried this recipe several times and always found it far too wet; the loaf always needed MUCH more time in the oven and came out with no crumb near the bottom, rubbery like a hockey puck. I found that it works better with a bit less yogurt/sour cream, and a scant tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of soda, rather than a full tsp of soda. Still takes 5 minutes longer than the stated bake-time, but the end result is very good! (I also reduced the sugar quite a lot too)
It may be your oven. I have the opposite situation. I start checking at the 45-50 min. mark – usually done in 50 – sometimes 55, but I’ve never gone the the full 60 min. I get good results
The best moist banana bread recipe ! Thank you!
This is such a yummy recipe!
I’m allergic to eggs and substituted the eggs with vinegar and it still came out yum
Definitely going in my recipe book.
Can you substitute the yogurt with cream?
Hi Edelweiss, The next best liquid substitute would be 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. Best to stick to the recipe.
My kids are asking for 3rds and my husband isn’t up yet … this is the only recipe from now on
Goodmorning
Love your baking and the way you explain your formulation of all your recipes.
YOU look so young, but you have all the wisdom of baking.
thank you very much
your recipes will be my go-to whenever i need to bake
keep up the baking.
my regards to a wonderful TEAM
Hi Sally,
I made both your banana bread and cake yesterday and both were very dense and gummy. The bread did not forma a crust and looked glossy/wet even though it was cooked thoroughly. Flavor was fantastic so I know this must user error based on all the positive comments. I thought I measured everything properly, but I did add the excess banana (not a lot) and may have overpacked the brown sugar, so aside from that, what would cause the dense / gummy outcome? Can you over beat when adding the eggs and what parameters can you provide to prevent over mixing when alternating the buttermilk and flour?
Thank you for any feedback you can provide.
Hi Beth, This is denser bread and is quite moist thanks to all the bananas. Is your baking soda fresh? We find it starts to lose its effectiveness after about 3 months, even if it’s not technically expired. Be careful not to over-mix the batter, too, as that can cause the bread to bake up squat and dense. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
Hi Beth!
This has happened to me before with the gummy texture, and wet and glossy top with no crust forming. I made the mistake of using over-ripe bananas instead of ripe bananas. The over-ripe bananas created way too moisture in my batter. The the next time I made it, i was careful to only use ripe bananas and I ended up with the perfect crust and texture. Hope this helps! Happy baking!
Best banana bread hands down! It is so moist and the banana flavour is really strong. Some banana breads I find have a hint of banana whereas this is real banana bread where the banana is the hero and the cinnamon flavour really comes through. Even after 5 days it is still just as good (if not better). I am allergic to nuts so I added half a cup of white chocolate chips nestle ones and it was delicious. I want to try it with milk choc chips next time. This is my go to, thank you for creating and sharing this recipe Sally I am obsessed! x
Best banana bread hands down! It is so moist and the banana flavour is really strong. Some banana breads I find have a hint of banana whereas this is real banana bread where the banana is the hero and the cinnamon flavour really comes through. Even after 5 days it is still just as good (if not better). I am allergic to nuts so I added half a cup of white chocolate chips nestle ones and it was delicious. I want to try it with milk choc chips next time. This is my go to, thank you for creating and sharing this recipe Sally I am obsessed! x
Unfortunately we had to throw this away. I was surprised because everything else I have made from this website has usually been pretty good – I don’t recommend this one. The bread was so dense + it never raised
This turned OUT AMAZING!!!! I prefer baking it in a cake tray rather than a bread tray, and I must say, it raises well and the crust is amazing. The banana bread is soft and fluffy. And extremely light!!!! The flavors come together very well. It’s a family fave!!!
We had a banana emergency at work (fruit basket that got misdelivered and was way past its prime by the time it got to us) so I took home some of the nearly-gone bananas to make my first ever banana bread. And holy smokes. This is life-changingly good.
Sally your cup to gram ratio is mad. 250g is 1 cup not 2.
Hi Marwa, we use both volume and weight measurements in testing all of our recipes, and we consistently measure 1 cup of flour at 125g.
Great results. Bread was soft and baked all the way through. I used a metal pan, and had to leave it in for 10 more minutes with the foil on the ends, leaving the middle open to bake through.
So good and so simple. Ive always bought store bought sweets but since really finding out all the preservatives and junk in so much of the store bought things and how i feel after eating those foods i wanted to try to make my own sweets more often. Cant wait to explore your website and make even more good treats ❤️
Just made the updated version of this recipe and it’s incredible! I did it years ago and got compliments about it but it’s better than I remembered. So moist, sweet but not too much. I used regular brown sugar, not packed because it’s not sold where I’m from (France) but it still turned out very good.
packed isn’t a type of brown sugar. it means fill into measuring cup so tightly that it’s “packed” in there
Hi Mary, you can use your glass pan at the same temperature, but bake time may be a few minutes longer. Keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.