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
This was good. I made it with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gf flour and it came out perfectly. I made regular banana bread at the same time and it was better. Classic for a reason. The extra saturated fat from the chocolate wasn’t worth it in this case as the regular banana bread was just as good, if not better. That said, the chocolate banana bread was a fun deviation.
Can you replace the butter with sunflower oil?
Hi Anne, butter is really best for this recipe since the butter is creamed with sugar.
I made these with the muffin modification and it made 12 full muffins that were amazing! So moist and perfectly chocolaty.
hi sally! would it be possible to make the batter and then bake in the morning?
Hi Zoey! No, we don’t recommend making the batter ahead of time. The raising agents are activated once mixed with the wet ingredients and should be baked right away.
May I use vanilla yogurt to replace the plain yogurt? Thank you! 🙂
Hi C, plain is best, but vanilla can work in a pinch.
Could I make this batter and a batter of “my favorite banana bread” then swirl the batters together in a 9×13?
Hi Nick, we haven’t tried doing that, but it does sound delicious! If you decide to try it, we are unsure of the bake time, so keep an eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Thank you for the recipe! I made some adaptation and it still came out perfect! Luckily I made two loaves.
– 50% almond flour and 50% regular flour
– halved the required sugar
– olive oil instead of butter
Can I replace the sour cream with banana like your other banana bread recipe?
Should be fine, Taz!
Thank you for the recipe! It’s moist and I am surprised with its spongy bread texture. I cut sugar by 1/3 and only sprinkle dark chocolate chips on top, the sweetness is just nice to my liking. It taste even better with sugarless peanut butter spread
Just made this with my two granddaughter’s who are nine and four. It was simple enough for them, to follow the receipe and do by themselves with my supervision. We used cacao powder for the extra antioxidants. Used parchment paper and it was super easy to pull out of pan. We ate while it was warm and the entire family loved every bite, including my six year old grandson, who doesn’t like banana bread. This is our new favorite banana bread recipe and definitely a keeper. Thanks!
Yay! So happy this banana bread is a hit for you and your grandchildren, Liz! Thanks for giving this recipe a try.
Oh Dear God – so excited I found this recipe. You have become this 75 year old woman’s GO TO for recipes!! I also plan to make your pizza dough & will let it sit in the fridge overnight. Plan to make meatball calzones tomorrow. I LOVE your pizza dough recipe. The dough has such a lovely “feel” to it and, of course, it’s delicious!!
Hi Sally,
I just finished over a year of cancer treatment and and survived a long remodel of my kitchen after a flood. I was finally able to bake something again and chose this is the first recipe. Wow! What a way to come back into the world of baking. This recipe was really amazing and was easy to make. I look forward to more baking with you in the near future (trying pretzels next)
This is fantastic, Deborah. I am so glad you are well. Happy baking!
Sally, your recipes never disappoint. Anytime I feel like baking cookies, cakes, loafs, etc., this blog is my go to place. I just made this recipe, but made muffins instead to take to work and what a triumphant recipe this is. The muffins were soft, incredibly fragrant and absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for this incredible blog! You ROCK!
Sally you did it again. This is a perfect recipe. Incredibly moist but light. I made it with 3 bananas and cut the sugar by 1/3. It was so perfect it disappeared in less than 24hrs. Thank you.
Hello Sally, my family and I love this cake and I bake it at least once every two weeks. Now I want to bake it in a 13×9 inch sheet pan and my question is if it’s enough to double the recipe. Thank you.
Hi Vera, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. So glad this is a favorite for you!
Do not sleep on this recipe.
W O W!
This recipe is amazing, moist, super chocolatey, tender. It’s perfect, it’s everything I expected.
Make sure you are weighing your ingredients for accuracy.
I made this yesterday. It was a mess because the banana wouldnt mix with the butter and it ended up exploding all over my kitchen. I had to give up and bake it even though it was all lumpy and weird. When I woke up this morning it had turned to the most perfect moist banana bread ever! It is perfection. The most banana banana bread that ever banana breaded.
I just want to mention that all I had was Dutch process cocoa powder, so I used it and it was decadent. Everyone gobbled it up!
Absolutely divine and delicious exactly as written.
Can I use bread flour? Do t want to have to run to the store again
Hi Sheila, I don’t recommend it. The bread could end up tasting too heavy. Let me know if you try it though.
The bread turned out perfect with a great taste. I think I just used the wrong chocolate chips because the ones I put on top of the batter melted, where in the one you made they were still in tact. Any suggestions on the best type of chocolate chips to use?
Hi Jen, it’s normal for the chips on top that are exposed to melt a bit more. We like Ghirardelli chocolate chips.
Let me tell you something. This is the BEST cake/bread/brownie I’ve ever made. I made it for someone’s birthday and everyone thought it was bought from a bakery. Ridiculously amazing. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for giving it a try, Olivia!
I tried this recipe originally as mini loaves and they were a huge success! A coworker asked if I could make them into cupcakes and I followed your recipe and they were a HUGE success! Since then, I have made them dozens of times and even froze them for future events with great success! Thanks again for another amazing recipe.
Hi! Long time lover of your scone and brownie recipes! Making this for my best friend and my pre-dry ingredient mixture seems to separating?? Any tips for this? Idk why it’s coming out this way, Is it over mixing ?
Hi Lucy, are all of your wet ingredients (particularly the eggs and sour cream) at room temperature? If they are too cold, it will be harder for the wet ingredients to incorporate properly.
Hi Sally, can I make these in a large sheet pan and double the revipe?
Think more looking like a brownie….
Thanks!
Connie
Hi Connie! The texture of this banana bread would be much lighter than a brownie, but you could bake this banana bread in an 8×8 pan for a small banana cake.
So rich and chocolatey. Got rave reviews from the family and will now be my go-to
I have made this recipe well over a dozen times and it’s impossible to mess up. Delicious every time. Made it once with fat free Greek yogurt in a pinch and was still good, but I’ve learned that the sour cream really makes this so delicious. I only have course kosher salt so I’ve learned to double what the recipe calls for. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m sorry. My husband and I both did not like this. I cooked it exactly as the recipe called for and it looked beautiful. But the taste. My husband said do not make this again.
I don’t have a loaf pan nor a muffin pan. I do have 8″, 9 and 10″ springform pans. Could this recipe work in any of these pans?
Hi Kerry, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions.
I’ve never had any chocolate cake this moist, delicious and decadent! I know it’s basically a banana bread but it’s like a wonderful flourless chocolate cake.
Made this today, oh my god, this was the best chocolate banana bread I’ve ever tasted, so moist and chocolatey, fudgy as mentioned. I used baking chocolate wafer for toppings and was truly so good. Thank you for this recipe!