Imagine a piece of indulgently rich chocolate cake paired with a flavorful slice of banana bread. Here we’re getting two fabulous baked goods together in one. This double chocolate banana bread is extra moist, undeniably fudge-like, and can satisfy even the biggest chocolate craving. It’s easy to make, too!
One reader, Katie, commented: “Amazing! I don’t think I can have banana bread any other way now. You still have the classic banana bread flavor but with the added chocolate. It’s moist and airy. So good! PS: slightly warm with some vanilla ice cream… OMG! ★★★★★“
I’ve made chocolate banana bread a few times over the past several years and have never been “wowed.” I really wanted to develop a recipe that delivered a decadent chocolate flavor with a moist, dense texture. After several tries, I landed on today’s chocolate chip-studded beauty, a loaf that lives up to my very popular and deeply loved classic banana bread recipe.
Here’s Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Banana Bread
- Uses simple, basic baking ingredients
- Batter comes together easily
- Stays moist for days, and also freezes well
- Dense, but not-too-heavy crumb
- Substantial chocolate flavor that doesn’t overpower the banana
- An anytime treat—enjoy with coffee, in the afternoon, or for dessert
Key Ingredients to Use & Why
Let me share a brief rundown of the ingredients you need and the purpose of each. Remember, baking is a science, and the select ingredients play a crucial role in the texture, moisture, flavor, and structure of your baked goods. I use many of the following ingredients in my double chocolate zucchini bread, too.
- Flour: Doesn’t seem like a lot of flour, and you’re right, it’s not. Keep in mind there’s also cocoa powder. Most of the volume in this batter comes from the banana.
- Cocoa Powder: Use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. Natural cocoa is an acidic ingredient and important in this recipe. Read about the difference between Dutch-process vs. natural cocoa powder.
- Softened Butter: Creaming softened butter with sugar provides a sturdy base for this double chocolate banana bread. Make sure your butter is room temperature, and not melted in the slightest. Remember, room-temperature butter means cool to the touch.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: Adds moisture.
- Ripe Bananas: This recipe requires 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas—the riper, the better. You can use thawed frozen bananas, too. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. If you run out of bananas, you can substitute in some applesauce; I’d say up to 1/2 cup is a safe amount that won’t really affect the flavor or texture.
- Hot Water: Kind of random, right? Well, hot liquid helps cocoa powder bloom, or begin to release its flavor. Today’s batter was really thick, too, and I wanted a touch of liquid to thin it out.
You also need some basics like baking soda, salt, chocolate chips, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Behind the Recipe Testing
I originally began making the bread with vegetable oil because cocoa powder can be very drying and oil brings more moisture than butter. I use oil in my chocolate cake and cream-filled chocolate cupcakes (two favorites!), so it seemed like the best choice. Every loaf was simply too light—it’s hard to describe, but the flavor did not match the texture. With the big, bold flavors of chocolate and banana, a light-crumbed baked good just doesn’t cut it! Once I switched to butter, it was easy to make a few tweaks to produce the delicious loaf you see today. I’d say creamed butter, sour cream, and hot water are game changers with this one.
Expect a thick batter and use a 9×5-inch loaf pan; an 8×4-inch pan is too small.
The chocolate banana bread takes about 60 to 65 minutes to bake. Begin checking for doneness at 60 minutes using a toothpick; if it comes out mostly clean with only a few moist crumbs, the bread is done.
You don’t have to wait too long for this quick bread to cool; at least 1 to 2 hours is enough. Just wait until you slice into the warm loaf with all those melty chocolate chips inside.
And my last piece of advice: try a slice with a generous swipe of peanut butter! Then go try this peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread next. 🙂
Yes, you can use frozen bananas in this recipe. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
Yes, absolutely. I have detailed instructions in the recipe Notes below.
There isn’t enough batter, and I haven’t tested scaling the recipe up. Instead, I recommend using my extremely similar, scaled-up recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake.
Other Favorite Banana Recipes:
- Banana Cake & Banana Cupcakes
- Banana Cream Pie
- Banana Muffins & Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Double Chocolate Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (includes slight cooling)
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This double chocolate banana bread is moist and fudge-like, and comes together quickly with a couple bowls and a loaf pan. See recipe Notes for freezing instructions and how to turn the loaf into chocolate banana muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (135g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus 2 Tablespoons (22g) for topping
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60g) plain yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined. Mix in 3/4 cup (135g) chocolate chips. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth 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. Then beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract until combined. Add the dry ingredients and hot water, and beat on low speed until combined. Batter is thick. Do not over-mix.
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top, down the center of the loaf.
- Bake for 60–65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from drying out. 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 around the 60-minute mark, at 5-minute intervals.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for at least 1 to 2 hours before removing, slicing, and serving.
- Cover and store bread at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2 after the flavors have settled together.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled loaf, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving. To learn more details about how to freeze quick breads, see my post called Make-Ahead Baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan or this 9×5-inch Loaf Pan| Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Chocolate Banana Muffins: You can try these whole wheat healthier chocolate banana muffins, or turn today’s more decadent batter into muffins. To do so, preheat oven to 425°F (218°C) and spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Prepare batter as directed above, fill each liner to the top with batter and bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C). Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for an additional 14–15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 12–16 muffins.
- Can I Use Whole Wheat Flour? Yes, you can replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour with no other changes needed. The loaf will taste denser.
- Cocoa Powder: Use natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. See Dutch-process vs natural cocoa powder for more information.
- Chocolate Chips: Don’t leave these out! They sweeten the bread and give the bread more chocolate flavor.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: I usually use sour cream or nonfat plain Greek yogurt. For the yogurt, you can use full-fat, low-fat, or even vanilla Greek yogurt instead. Or use regular plain yogurt.
- 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 2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally, I’ve tried this recipe and omg it’s so divine , the bread so soft and moist ,loved it.. I’ve also tried the banana bread and it came out fab .. thank you for sharing
I absolutely adore this recipe! I’ve been a devoted fan of Sally’s for 10+ years & have made hundreds of her recipes and I think this may be my favorite! I made them as muffins & they were perfect! I made a few alterations: used half AP flour and half whole wheat flour; and subbed light brown sugar for the granulated sugar. Highly recommend!!!
I’ve made this recipe as written and it’s fantastic! Love the texture and the chocolate chips throughout.
Question though, I have buttermilk that’s about to expire. Can I replace the Greek yogurt with buttermilk?
Hi Jacqui, I’m sure that would be fine though I have not tested it.
Hi Sally! Love your recipes so much and looking forward to trying this one. Can I use 2 Tablespoons of hot coffee instead of the water? Thought it might be nice for enhancing the chocolate flavor. Thanks!
Hi Erin, absolutely! Enjoy.
I liked texture and the chocolate, but didn’t care for the banana. I would like to make it without the banana, but what would I use in place of it?
make it without it. I loved the texture and chocolate.
Hi Joit, you may enjoy our chocolate zucchini bread more!
hi sally!
I made this cake and the texture was awesome. thanks alot..
Can I reduce the amount of cocoa powder? The cocoa taste was too strong and the banana taste was weak..
(sorry for poor english. I am not native speaker)
Hi Farzaneh, if you try reducing the cocoa powder, you’ll likely want to add a bit of flour back in its place—but use caution, as it isn’t always a 1:1 swap. Thank you for giving this one a try!
Came out beautifully moist and fluffy! I used dutch process Guittard cocoa powder and kept everything the same and it still turned out great. Although when I weighed my 3 large bananas it was closer to 400g. The perfectly suited my desire for a rich chocolate cake when I had overripe bananas in need of attention as well!
This is SO good!! We just cut into it and my kids keep asking for another slice. The chocolate and banana flavors are the perfect combo and the bread is so incredibly moist. Reminds me of the triple chocolate cake. YUM!!
Your recipes are awesome! Thank you for sharing.
What a great timing ! I had two very ripe bananas waiting for me to cook them. So I decided to check out Sally’s recipes because they never let me down, and I see this recipe, all the ingredients are in my pantry – I’m never blown away by the banana breads I’ve made because they always turn out too thick for me, but I’m happy I gave this one a chance. (I only had two bananas though so I divided the recipe by two) So chocolate-y and the inside just melts in your mouth ! This might become my go-to recipe to use those mushy bananas ! Thanks Sally !
Made this tonight with my daughter and it was a big hit! So moist and delicious! It’s a chocolate lovers dream.
Hi Sally,
I can’t wait to make this recipe this coming weekend. I usually add walnuts to regular banana bread. Would that be a good addition here, and if so, how much?
Absolutely. About 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts would be great, around 100g.
I made this bread, and boy was it delicious! So moist and chocolatey. I brought it into work and my co-workers loved it. I did add the walnuts. I didn’t quite have enough ripe bananas, so I made up the small difference with applesauce.
This bread was sooo moist! It’s so delicious! I want to try to make them in muffin form, bake time wise should I follow the same times/temps you use for the regular banana muffins?
All the chocolate baking recipes I’ve seen on your site call for not Dutch process, but Dutch process is the only cocoa powder at my local grocery store. Would it be very complicated to include a note adapting for Dutch process? I believe the general idea would be to swap baking powder for the baking soda but would be great to know exactly what you’d recommend. Thanks!
Hi Liz, thank you so much for the feedback. It wouldn’t be work to include the note, but every recipe is different and the chemical leavening will require adjustments that vary between each recipe. Baking powder to soda isn’t a 1:1 swap. For this recipe, you may have luck using 1 teaspoon of baking powder with a reduced amount of baking soda, such as 1/4 teaspoon. I have not tested this yet though. I will keep this in mind while working on new recipes. I always find it helpful when recipes offer substitutions.
Hey Sally,
I tried subbing half of the cocoa powder for dutched and added an additional 10g of black dutched cocoa powder. I used 1 tsp Baking powder and 1/2 tsp Baking soda and it came out perfect! I am sure you could make an awesome dutched cocoa banana bread 🙂
Love this recipe snd I’m going to make it !
Looks fabulous, but some of us may struggle to get natural cocoa powder. If we have to use dutch process, what change should we make to the leavening?
We haven’t tested a version with Dutch process cocoa, and it would take some tinkering to ensure the same results. Dutch process cocoa is typically paired with baking powder, while natural is paired with baking soda (like this recipe) and may not always be a 1:1 swap. If you decide to do any experimenting, please do let us know how it goes!
I recently signed up for your e-mails and love the variety of wonderful recipes. Would a ganache on top of this bread be too rich if I omit the chips on top?
Hi Barbara, thank you for signing up for my email list! The bread with ganache would be quite rich, yes. But you can certainly give it a try.
Thank you for your prompt reply. After reading all the rave reviews, I think I’ll follow your recipe and skip the ganache.
My three year old grandson loved the regular banana bread recipe. His mom asked me yesterday if I could put chocolate chips in it. I saw this recipe this morning and thought what a great idea and great timing. Made it today and it was a big time hit. His mom said it was the best. Thank you Sally.
Glad you tried it and enjoyed it!
This recipe is exactly what I’ve been waiting for! (See my April 11, 2024, comment under your My Favorite Banana Bread recipe.) Quick question: how mashed should the bananas be? Should they be completely smooth, or are some small chunks okay—or does it matter? I’ve always wondered which consistency is preferable, and how it affects the final result.
Thank you for creating this recipe; I can’t wait to try it, though I will have to wait until I procure natural cocoa powder (all I have on hand is the Dutch-processed kind). Kind regards.
Thank you for creating this recipe; I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Dorothy, so glad you’re excited about this recipe! We like the mashed bananas to be pretty smooth, but a few chunks are perfectly fine. We prefer to have the flavor or banana, but not actual pieces. Happy baking!
Thank you for your prompt and helpful reply. I’ll post another comment after I’ve had a chance to make the recipe!
I made it today—wow! Very yummy! The only adjustments I made were to (1) dissolve a bit of espresso powder into the hot water, and (b) bake the loaf for longer than the recipe instructed. For some reason, whenever I bake with a loaf pan, I almost always have to keep the cake in the oven quite a bit longer than the recipe calls for. I rarely have this problem when using other pans (8 x 8, 9 x 9, 9 x 13, Bundt, etc.)—strange, eh? Anyway, this double chocolate banana bread is divine. Next time I may include some white chocolate chips, for variety’s sake and colour contrast. Oh, and I ended up using an immersion blender to mash the bananas. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this chocolate banana bread, Dorothy! For your loaf pan, is it exactly 9×5 inches? Some of my “9×5-inch” loaf pans aren’t actually 9×5 inches; they’re closer to 8.75×4.75 which doesn’t sound like a big difference, but with a slightly smaller pan, the loaf is taller and therefore takes longer to bake.
I’m pretty sure my loaf pan is indeed 9 X 5 inches, but I will measure just to make sure. Thanks!
Thank you so much for posting! I love your recipes, they always seem to turn out. Quick question regarding this one, where does the water come in. I don’t seem to see it in the instructions
Hi Lily! You add it with the dry ingredients in step 3. Happy baking!
This recipe is divine. If there is heaven- and I believe there is- Sally better be the main pastry chef. I made muffins because they are easier for my kids to grab on the go. They are so fudgy and yummy and I don’t even like banana flavored baked goods! I used a mix of mini chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips since that was all I had.
This looks amazing! Do you think you could try hot coffee instead of the hot water here to enhance the chocolate flavor?
Definitely!
This looks great! Since coffee or espresso are often used to punch up chocolate flavor, would it be OK to sub in hot coffee for the hot water? Or would that overpower the banana flavor?
Hot coffee would be great!
Can I use oil instead of butter in this recipe
Hi Shana! Butter creamed with sugar is the base of this recipe, and gives it that lush, rich flavor. Oil won’t substitute perfectly. You may enjoy these chocolate banana muffins that use oil instead.
Question: I am not good with the toothpick test for doneness. My regular banana bread recipe is done when a digital thermometer reads 200-205 degrees F. Would it be the same for this Chocolate Banana Bread?
Hi Mary! Yes, that would apply here as well.
Very good! I added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla.
Looks like a great recipe and I’m looking forward to making it. I have a question, in the ingredient list it says –
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter. I thought 2 sticks, 8 ounces each is a 1/2 cup.
Thanks
Hi Barbara, the amount of butter per stick can vary by brand, but 8 Tablespoons of butter is 1/2 cup (or 113g) of butter.
This bread is amazing! Absolutely delicious and decadent. It gets rave reviews anywhere I take it. Easy to whip together and hard to stop eating it.
Hi Sally, I love your recipes!!! Can I substitute applesauce or something else for the eggs? I have an egg allergy. Thank you!
Hi Bitsy, we haven’t tested an egg-free version of this recipe, and it would take some tinkering to get similar results. Let us know if you do any experimenting!
can I use gluten free flour with this reciepe?
Hi Kirsten, I haven’t tested it. Let me know if you do!
Can you post nutritional stats, looks relly good.
Hi Linda, 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