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
Good recipe! Smelled amazing in the oven. Loved the addition of the pecans. Might swap out for blueberries next time and give that a try.
Another wonderful recipe!! I got your book for my birthday since I have been a long time fan of your recipes added peanut butter (inspired by your healthy BB recipe) and some butterscotch chocolate chips leftover. The result is incredibly good!!!
This is the best banana bread recipe that I have ever tried. I looked for one for years. Fantastic. Thank you!
Followed the recipe exactly and it’s sunk as it’s cooled and looks awful. Worst looking banana cake/ bread I’ve ever tried. Too dense/ moist to cook properly, everytime I checked with a skewer never came out clean.
This is my go-to banana bread recipe and I’ve made it about over a dozen times now. It always turns out so, so good.
Question: I’ve been making multiple loaves in a day so I was wondering: can I bake more than one loaf in the oven at a time? If I do, do I need to extend the time in the oven? I always make one with nuts and one with chocolate chips, but it’s killer to bake one at a time with how long it takes.
Hi Adra, If you bake 2 at once, the bake time may be a little longer, yes. And if your oven has hot spots, you may want to rotate the pans halfway through baking so they brown evenly. Hope this helps!
I have cooked this recipe twice now and have found it to be great, it keeps well and eating it after a couple of days does enhance the flavours.
Good morning, just wondering do you know how many calories are it is per slice?
Hi Kaitlin, 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
The tips here are easy to apply. Your insights really stand out. The real-life examples were my favorite part.
I’ve made this banana bread recipe many times and it has always turned out wonderfully. Unfortunately this time I wasn’t paying attention and used 3/4 cup of yogurt instead of 1/3 and my banana bread is in the oven and I’m terrified of the outcome. Will it be ruined?
Hi Tiana, it may be a little too wet. Let us know how it is!
This came out fantastic. I used exact ratios as mentioned. It does take more than an hour to bake but it is worth it. This banana bread becomes more tasty after two to three days. One of the slice was left by chance for a week and it tasted even more better.. I have tried other recipes as well but this one beats every other recipe for sure. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Hi Sally! Thank you for this recipe, makes delicious banana bread. I have a question though. I have made this recipe a few times before a while ago and I do not remember ever adding sour cream or yoghurt. Is this a new recipe? Thank you 🙂
Hi FW, this recipe has always had sour cream/yogurt—could it be from another website by chance? Or one of our other banana bread recipes, like this whole wheat banana bread? We’re glad it’s a favorite for you!
Hi, do can I get a signed cookbook copy from Sally?
I love this banana bread! However, mine didn’t really rise this time. Do you know why this might have happened?
Hi Mariam, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! 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!
Just made this today – best banana bread I’ve ever made. Dense, moist and delicious! Just wish I’d had walnuts to add. Next time.
Hi!! Love your recipes. How many servings will these one recipe serve for mini loafs. Just one batch?
Hi Denisse, yield for mini loaves will depend on the exact size of your mini loaf pans. Fill about half way. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Enjoy!
This has quickly become a family favourite. I make a mixed batch of muffins with just the banana and some with chocolate chips. They come out perfect every time! The cinnamon adds a nice touch.
This is the best banana recipe yet! Very easy to add nuts or dried fruit to also, chocolate chips. My family likes it plain and add what they like to it after baking. I like it as a snack with cream cheese or instead of toast with my morning eggs.
Hi! Can I substitute bread flour for all purpose flour in your banana bread recipe. Which do you recommend?
Hi Steve! All purpose flour is best.
Hi, love your recipes! Is it me or did you change your website? The function to check off ingredients as you go and toggle for cooking mode are gone now. It really makes following along a lot harder, especially with messy hands. Please go back to how it was!
Hi Jennifer, yes, this is temporarily disabled because the plugin we use for that feature is being updated. It will be back soon!
I waant to make this using mini bread pans. How long should they bake?
Hi Joan, Bake time will vary depending on the exact size of your mini loaves. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
It’s so good. I used dairy free yogurt and it still turned out delicious.
The BEST banana bread recipe
It’s in the oven, I’ll let you know after tasting xx
How was it? I really want to make this recipe but worried that it’ll be too sweet. Is it as sweet as the Starbucks banana bread?
Oooh it was amazing. We couldn’t wait for it to cool. I had to dig in and have a piece. And once I started eating, I couldn’t stop
Your Bananna Bread Recipe is the only one I ever make. Nothing has beat it. Thank you for awesome bananna bread
Thank you for sharing this most delicious recipe!!! I do believe this is my new banana bread recipe!!! The last time I made banana bread I used a recipe from a 1950’s cookbook & a good neighbor. I’m not sure what happened but it was just bad. This recipe was perfect. The only thing I did different was doubles the recipe since I had so many bananas and added much more cinnamon and fresh ginger. So yummy!!!!
Can I use a glass loaf pan instead of a metal one?
Hi Evie, the bake time may be a few minutes longer for a glass pan, but otherwise all baking directions can remain the same. Make sure it’s a true 9×5 pan, not a little smaller. Enjoy!
Does this recipe work well making mini loaves?
Hi Tracy, absolutely! Bake time will vary depending on the exact size of your mini loaves. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Hi Sally,
I’m anxious to try your Banana Bread recipe today. Quite often, I only have 1 banana left. To make up for the other 2 bananas, I’m wondering if I could possibly use about 1/2 c. more sour cream or yogurt (total of about 3/4 or 1 c.?) or maybe pumpkin puree?
Thank you,
Dianne T.
Hi Dianne, your best option would be to use pumpkin puree or even applesauce to make up for the banana. Enjoy!
Hi,
I have used your recipe many times to make banana bread. It’s so good, thank you. In the recipe ingredients it says to use 8 tbsp of butter whereas in the notes it says butter scaled back to 6 tbsp. In my experience 8 tbsp works very well. Thanks again for this of so many delightful recipes. I’m looking forward to getting your cookbook real soon now. Good luck at your book signings
Can I substitute the all purpose flour with gluten free flour?
Hi Aarti, we haven’t tested it, but some readers have reported success using a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour instead. Let us know if you do give it a try.
What happens when you forget he eggs
Hi Karen, eggs add moisture, structure and tenderness to banana bread. The resulting loaf may be a little more dry and dense without them, but should still have great banana flavor!
How do you think chopped hazel nuts would be?
Hi Terri, that sounds great!