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
Turn out disappointing. Maybe I mixed too much, the consistency when pouting in the form was very smooth, but the result was bad. Not thourouglh cooked at all, had to throw it away. Followed otherwise instructions to the point.
Hi Diego, we’re so sorry you were disappointed in this bread. Do you think you over-mashed the bananas? You’ll want to make sure they are still the consistency of, say, a chunky applesauce and not liquid and thin at all. If they’re mashed down too much into almost a liquid, there won’t be enough flour to soak it all up. If you try this recipe again, you can reduce the banana and/or mash them up a little less. Hope this helps.
This was tasteless. Not enough banana, not enough sugar, not enough cinnamon. A Sad waste of time.
Not real happy with this recipe. Too sweet and doughy.
I have made this my go to banana bread recipe. Awesome and so easy.
Sounds wonderful! Glad to see there’s yogurt or sour cream…game changer!
This turned out really nice. I added some chopped chocolates and nuts to the mix and baked it in smaller pans for 40 minutes and it was perfect. Thanks so much!
I substituted 1.5cup pumpkin for the bananas, added ginger and nutmeg and it was great! I’ve made the banana recipe before and it was a hit, very moist. I think the butter and yogurt keeps in the moisture and lightness.
For both recipes I also did 1.5c flour and 1/2c sugar. Makes it less dense and a little less sweet.
Great recipe, thank you!
Can you use this for pumpkin bread?
Here’s our pumpkin bread recipe, Theresa!
Could I replace the sour cream with buttermilk?
I love this recipe and so many of your’s!
Hi Maddie, you can use buttermilk (not regular milk) 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. We recommend sticking to the recipe for best results.
I am notoriously very bad at baking and I’ve made three beautiful loaves of banana bread following this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Eager to try this recipe out!
I have a friend who’s allergic to eggs – do you know of any substitute to eggs I could use for this in the recipe?
Hi Athira, we haven’t tested this bread with any egg substitutes, so we’re unsure what might work best. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
Great recipe. I browned the butter and added extra milk solids to get that deep flavour. Cooled the butter and mixed with the sugar (but did a scant 3/4 cup, as we like things less sweet) and did the rest of the recipe as is with the pecan option. Used texas sized muffin tins and got 9 of them. They came out perfectly.
I’ve made this recipe countless times with terrific results. Mental loaf pan, stoneware loaf pan, yogurt, sour cream, once with only 2 bananas supplemented with applesauce to reach the correct volume (that made a very nice spice cake) – all of them turned out well. This is a very forgiving recipe and it’s my “go to” for banana bread. I have the latest one cooling now – just waiting to slice it up and dig in. Thank you, Sally.
I tried this recipe, but my banana bread turned out super dry. I think it’s because I used 2 medium eggs instead of large eggs, or maybe my bananas were smaller (I used 4 bananas, but I wasn’t able to measure them in cups). Can I use 3 medium eggs as a replacement for 2 large eggs? Could you give me some advice on which ingredients I should adjust to make it less dry? Thank you.
Hi Rissa, the smaller eggs could definitely be contributing to the dry texture. For the future, egg weights can vary but usually large eggs in the shell are about 57g, and 50g out of the shell. If you ensure you’re using the correct amount of total ounces for this recipe, you’ll be all set. Using less banana than called for will result in a drier bread, too. Measuring by cups or weight will ensure you have the right amount of mashed banana for the bread, since banana size can vary greatly. How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can also dry out the bread. Finally, be careful not to over bake, which can also result in a dry loaf. We hope these tips help for next time!
Thank you for the tips! I tried it again for the second time, and my bread turned out better and not dry anymore. I used 5 small bananas (1 ½ cups) and 2 large eggs. I also adjusted the yogurt to 100g. By the way, may I ask if there’s a difference if I use milk instead of yogurt?
Hi Rissa, so glad it helped! We do not recommend swapping the yogurt with milk. Yogurt is best for maintaining the texture and structure of the bread.
My banana bread came out tough and dry on the outside. It was still wet crumb pulling out at 65 minutes. This is like a French bread with some banana flavor not tender banana bread. Not sure what went wrong but it is nasty. I was looking for simple tender banana bread. I omited the cinnamon because I’m allergic. I tented it and it still got dark as could be. I did use a clear glass baking dish with a parchment liner. I won’t make this again.
Second time making this recipe and the flavor is delicious!! But a bit dense for my liking.
I’ve made this one over and over and it always turns out perfect. Just thought I would share that today while making it, I realized I didn’t have any sour cream or Greek yogurt on hand. Rather than run to the store, I decided to try homemade butter milk (1/2 cup of whole milk and a tsp of vinegar, let sit for 5 minutes); I’m happy to report it worked wonderfully.
I made 2 loaves and an entire one is gone already, this is one of my family’s fave recipes!
I make this in a Bundt pan all the time. Doubling the batter makes for a fuller cake, but when I have only three bananas a single batch will do. I start checking the bread around 45 min mark bc it doesn’t take the full 60 min for a single batch Bundt cake.
Can this recipe be doubled and baked in two loaf pans?
Hi Maria, we do recommend making separate batches instead of doubling for best results.
I’m happy you included this recipe in your cookbook! It is our favorite!
This is my now, my favourite banana bread too! Second time I make it and is so good. My daughter and I absolutely love it!
Hi Sally, do you think a Nutella swirl could be added to this banana bread?
Absolutely!
It’s 11 p.m. here in Lagos, Nigeria, and I just baked my very first banana bread using your recipe. It turned out rich, moist, and absolutely delicious! Truly the best banana bread I’ve ever had. Thank you so much, Ms. Sally, for sharing this perfect recipe.
what’s your thoughts on browning the butter and substituting the yogurt for crème fraîche?
Hi Tiffany, We haven’t tried it, but if you want to try it make sure your butter solidifies to room temperature again. Here’s everything you need to know about how to brown butter. A few readers have reported success using creme fraiche. Let us know what you try!
Love, love, love this recipe… super easy, super moist and great banana flavour! I add the walnuts and use Greek yoghurt.
Thank you for sharing your fabulous banana bread recipe, I’ve made it 1 time for a gathering and Every one loved it and raved about it, a grandson asks me to make it everytime he comes over so of course i do. Thank you again Sally.
With the oven as its not specified is it right to assume its a convection oven with no fan? Thanks!
Hi Cale, all of the recipes on this site are written for conventional settings. Convection ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
Delicious♥️ Big thank you for including ingredient weights – so helpful!
you can also get the nutritional info from here, i always use it:
https://www.recipeone.app/recipe-calorie-calculator
Looks like a great recipe, but I would like to know the recommended number of servings and the nutritional value per serving.
Hi Mary, 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 made and accidently forgot the vanilla but regardless this recipe is perfect. Absolutely delicious.