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Our classic banana bread recipe will always make a great afternoon snack or quick breakfast. Slather it in a little salted butter for the perfect treat. With this recipe, you can count on it to be moist and delicious!
I have made many many things over the years with bananas. The one banana recipe that always has and always will stand the test of time is my classic banana bread.
Everyone loves banana bread!
I give it out as a gift to new neighbors and co-workers. I eat it for breakfast, for a snack, or one of those midnight escapes to the kitchen. <— This isn’t just a thing they do in the movies right? We all actually wake up and sneak snacks in the dark?
Another favorite is our peanut butter banana bread! Who doesn’t love peanut butter?
Ingredient Notes:
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Bananas – You’ll need 3 medium sized bananas and they should be over-ripe. Extra brown and soft are the way to go!
Sugar – Brown sugar and white sugar are needed for this recipe.
Flavoring – This recipe includes plenty of vanilla extract and also some cinnamon for that delicious classic taste!
What Readers are Saying!
“Delicious!!!! Followed recipe and added walnuts and chocolate chips. Thank you for sharing!!” – Sandra Dee
How to Make Banana Bread:
Mix: Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until smooth and creamy. beat in the eggs and vanilla, Stir in the mashed banana.
Beat the eggs in one at a time until fully combined. Then mix in the vanilla and mashed bananas. Remember, the best bananas for this recipe are over-ripe. This is the best way to use up those brown bananas!
Combine: To finish making the banana bread batter you’ll stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. If you overmix the batter it’ll start to get tough and no one wants that!
Now would be a good time to add in any extra mix-in options you might like such as chopped walnuts. See below for some more suggestions!
Bake: When the batter is ready go ahead and pour it into a prepared 9×5 loaf pan. It’ll only take about an hour to finish baking, or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
Let it cool before slicing and serving! I enjoy mine slathered with a bunch of salted butter. Even better if the bread is still a little warm!
BAKING Tip!
Banana bread will rise a little as it is baking. If it sinks after cooling, it’s no big deal, but it means that your bread likely wasn’t cooked all the way through OR you whipped in too much air when mixing. It’ll still be tasty.
FAQs:
This recipe does not need to be refrigerated if it will be consumed in a couple days. You can freeze banana bread if you first wrap it in plastic wrap, then place it in a freezer bag. It can last 2-4 months this way!
A few brown spots are fine, but a fully brown banana is perfect for banana bread! The bananas get sweeter and softer the riper they are.
Mix-In Options:
When I feel like getting creative I toss in a handful of these extra goodies into the bread batter to change it up just a bit.
- Chocolate Chips
- Blueberries
- Chopped Walnuts
- Raisins
- Dried Apricots
- Shredded Coconut
Classic Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 medium over-ripe bananas mashed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined. Mix in the bananas.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This post was originally published in July 2012. It was updated with new photos in May 2020.
Joanne says
I hate that bananas try to take over my life also! Those yellow bastards. I’ll show them with some of these recipes!
Karly says
@Joanne,
Pretty sure bananas are communists.
Patty Tiesch says
Girl your killing me!! LOVE these recipes!!
Riley says
I wish I had had a slice of this this morning! Looks delicious!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Gotta love a good banana bread, your recipe sounds delicious!
Deborah says
I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with good ol’ classic banana bread. But I’m going to be checking out those other links, too!!
Nikki @Pennies on a Platter says
I have the same relationship with my bananas! And, they go into the freezer when they start getting “sassy”, too!
Kim Stebbins says
Love this! I LOVE bananas! I have a freezer full of frozen, near-rotten bananas. My son detests bananas and its all my fault because I only believed in breast milk and mashed up bananas for the first year of his life. Well, that’s not quite true. He ate organic teething biscuits. But I gave him bananas at least 3 times a day. And he always had a banana in his lunch box at nursery school. Then, one day, he said, “NO MORE!”He is 24 now and even the smell of bananas disgusts him. But I still love them! Thanks for sharing!
Jocelyn says
There isn’t much better than a fresh loaf of banana bread!!! I am loving all the yummy looking banana treats that you shared along with the fantastic looking bread. It’s a good thing I have lots of frozen bananas to use:-)
Maria says
I love it when bananas go bad! Love all of your recipes!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says
I see mine starting to turn and I almost go into a panic! I always seem to forget I can just bake with them.
Karly says
@Rachel @ Baked by Rachel,
Or freeze them! 🙂
Cat Davis - Food Family Finds says
I simply adore a great banana bread. If it would cool off long enough for me to turn the oven on I’d make a loaf.
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel says
How did you know I had perfectly rotten bananas on my counter, begging in their gross blackness to be baked into banana bread TODAY?! I’m sooo stealing this recipe right now so I can make some yummies.
sally @ sally's baking addiction says
Loving all of the banana link backs Karly! And this banana bread… nothing, and I mean NOTHING beats a timeless classic like traditional banana bread. Looks divine!
Glory/ Glorious Treats says
Yum! I just made zucchini bread last night, and was thinking I hadn’t made banana bread in a while! So nice to have around for breakfast and snacks! This looks delcious… as do each an every one of the other beautiful banana recipes you shared!!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
Great bread and thanks for the linkbacks…all of a sudden I have 9 things I want to make!