Homemade Banana Bread is one of the easiest quick bread recipes to make. Made in one bowl with ripe bananas, brown sugar, and a few basic pantry ingredients.
This deliciously moist banana bread is full of banana flavor and also freezer friendly. The perfect recipe for ripe bananas!
Are you looking for a great recipe for ripe bananas? Homemade banana bread takes only a few basic ingredients and three ripe bananas. Best of all, you can use a stand mixer or mix by hand!
I’ve been making banana bread from scratch for years. You can make banana bread with pecans, walnuts or leave them out if you prefer.
This is the BEST banana bread recipe! It’s the type of quick bread that is even more moist the second day. This recipe makes three loaves of banana bread. Don’t worry- it won’t last long! And even if you have extra, banana bread freezes well.
Why this recipe works
- Use up ripe bananas – it’s a great quick bread recipe to use up any ripe bananas you may have!
- Freezer friendly – this recipe makes three loaves. Place the cooled loaves into bread bags with twist ties and freeze for later. They will last for several months in the freezer.
- Easy to make banana bread all mixed together in ONE bowl.
- Made with simple ingredients, readily available in your local grocery store.
- Prep ahead of time – Make this banana bread a day ahead of time. It’s the type of quick bread that becomes even more moist the second day.
Ingredients Needed
- Ripe bananas – Use either fresh or frozen bananas. If using frozen bananas, let them thaw partially on the kitchen counter and discard the extra liquid before adding to the batter.
- Flour – Use your favorite brand all-purpose flour.
- Sugar and brown sugar – I love the combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar in this banana bread recipe. Brown sugar helps create a super moist banana bread!
- Sour cream – Also adds moisture to this quick bread recipe. But, you can substitute buttermilk if needed.
- Eggs – Helps these banana bread rise nicely. I always use large eggs in my baking recipes. (Be sure to always crack eggs into a glass measuring cup or small bowl, then add to your batter!)
- Baking soda & powder – Leavening agents that help this banana bread rise perfectly.
How to make Banana Bread
Step 1: Use ripe bananas.
Step 2: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 3: Prepare baking loaf pans. Spray three 9 x 5- inch loaf pans with cooking spray or line with paper liners. (This makes cleanup very easy)
Step 4: Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl, using either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar and sugar.
Step 5: Incorporate eggs. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally.
Step 6: Add the remaining ingredients. Add the bananas, vanilla extract and sour cream to the mixture and combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stirring to combine.
Step 7: Fold in the nuts. Once mixed thoroughly, fold in the pecans or walnuts, if desired.
Divide the batter evenly into prepared baking pans. Place the baking pans on a half sheet pan, lined with parchment paper. (This helps make it easy to turn the banana bread loaves and keep any possible spills contained.) Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick when inserted comes out clean.
Baking banana bread
Rotate your breads once through the baking process, so they bake evenly. Turn the loaf pans about half way through baking. Be VERY careful not to bang the pans around or the banana bread will fall. Before removing banana bread from loaf pans let cool on baking racks for about 10 minutes.
I’ve learned over the years to work smarter not harder! These paper loaf liners are a time saver! I have inexpensive loaf pans and use these paper liners.
Banana Bread additions
- Pecans or Walnuts – keep nuts in your freezer in an airtight container or freezer zip-style bag so they stay fresh!
- Chocolate chips – we love semisweet chocolate chips in this banana bread recipe.
- Health bar pieces (toffee pieces) – easily locate these in the baking aisle of most grocery stores!
- Hazelnut spread – swirl a spoonful into the batter with a butter knife before baking
- Sliced banana – slice a banana, length wise and place it in the top of the banana bread batter
How to store banana bread so it stays fresh
To keep banana bread moist store the loaves in an airtight container or plastic bread bags with twist ties.
How to freeze banana bread
You can freeze whole loaves, partial loaves or slices of banana bread. Wrap loaves tightly in plastic bread bags or freezer zip-style bags, press most of the air out and seal well. Banana bread loaves will last in the freezer for about 2-3 months.
Freezing slices of banana bread makes it easy to snack on. It will thaw nicely on the kitchen counter naturally. Place the plastic bag on a clean, dry paper towel to collect any condensation from the freezer.
For some more great breakfast recipe ideas, be sure and try some of my easy jam recipes including Raspberry Rhubarb Jam and Mixed Berry Jam.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, it makes them mash easier, incorporate into the batter better, and they are sweeter. You can place bananas in a brown paper bag overnight to ripen quicker.
Be sure and try some of my pie recipes including Easy Blueberry Pie, Blackberry Pie, Fried Apple Hand Pies, and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
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Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened) OR vegetable shortening
- 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3-4 ripe bananas mashed
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups full-fat sour cream or full-fat buttermilk
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½-3/4 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
Banana Bread
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9 x 5- inch bread loaf pans with cooking spray or line with paper liners. (This makes cleanup very easy)
- In a large mixing bowl, using either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally. Add the bananas, vanilla extract and sour cream to the mixture and combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stirring to combine. Once mixed thoroughly, fold in the pecans.
- Divide the batter evenly into the prepared baking pans. Place the baking pans on a half sheet pan, lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick when inserted comes out clean. Rotate your breads once through the baking process, so they bake evenly. Let cool on baking racks.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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tim haymond says
there the best I’ve had so far
Jessica Robinson says
Very happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Beverly says
I love baking and giving to my friends and elderly or sick people I know. This recipe should work well for me. I make a lot of mini loaves to hand out too. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica Robinson says
Hello Beverly!
It’s one of our most requested items! Thanks for giving it a try! We love baking all year long, especially during the holidays!
Barb says
My granddaughter has made this recipie three times. The directions are easy for her to follow. This gave her confidence to bake by herself. Everything loves the bread.
Jessica Robinson says
Glad to hear she had such success with the recipe!!
Margareta says
“Absolutely the best banana bread ever” according to family and friends. Made this 4x already. Used finely grated walnuts and thawed, mashed overripe bananas. Added grated walnuts to flour and gently folded in the dry ingredients at once rather than beating them in. ❤ Thank you for a SUPER recipe! 😋🇨🇦
Jessica Robinson says
Margareta,
So happy to hear you love our banana bread recipe!
Tammy Regen says
Perfection! Just made these for my lactose intolerant daughter using shortening and lactose free sour cream. So moist and delicious! I halved the recipe and made 1 loaf and 9 muffins. This will be my new BB recipe!
Jessica Robinson says
So happy to hear that you all enjoyed this recipe!
Donna says
I reduced the sugar in the recipe which I do with all recipes. I put 1 stick of butter instead of 2 because I read the recipe wrong and the breads were still delicious. This will be a repeat recipe for sure.
Jessica Robinson says
Glad to hear even modified, the banana bread turned out well!
Carol Maddox says
Loved this recipe but I only had 3 eggs and it turned out great.Made 4 medium loaves. Will make it again
Jessica Robinson says
Carol,
So glad to hear that you loved my banana bread recipe! Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy says
This has to be the best banana bread recipe hands down! Thank you so much for sharing! This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Jessica Robinson says
Tracy,
So happy to hear you loved my banana bread recipe! It’s something I still make nearly every week.
Marty Swenskie. From OH-IO says
Great recipe, I enjoy baking and sharing. I used 1 tsp banana flavoring and 1 tsp vanilla. I also like to sprinkle the bread with white coarse (sanding) sugar just before they go into the oven…enjoy
Jessica Robinson says
Marty,
Glad to hear you loved my banana bread recipe! White coarse sugar is a great addition!
Naneen says
Really love recipes that make more than 1 loaf. My family will polish off a loaf each day. Also this is exceptionally good bread. I scale 2 loaves and then add nuts to the rest because not everyone here doesn’t like nuts.
Jessica Robinson says
Naneen,
Thank you so much! Very happy to hear you love my banana bread recipe! We love making recipes that give you more than one loaf too! One for us, one for the freezer, and one for a neighbor. Who doesn’t love homemade banana bread!?
Cheryl says
I am just getting into baking. So far not so good. I made 2 different types of cookies yesterday and they both turned out dry and tasteless.
This recipe seems straight forward, so I think I have a chance of making something tasty. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Here it goes.
Jessica Robinson says
Glad to hear you enjoyed the banana bread!
Laina Ewoldt says
I am so happy I tried this recipe…the bread is delicious and the pecans take it to the next level! I only have two large loaf pans, so I made three mini loafs with the remaining batter. I’m excited to hand out banana bread to friends over this next week!
Jessica Robinson says
So glad to hear that you LOVED my banana bread recipe!!