This extra easy banana bread has the best moist texture and amazing flavor thanks to bananas, brown sugar, and butter. You need three ripe bananas for my favorite banana bread recipe.
Watch the video
I’ve tried a lot of banana bread recipes over the years. Still, I always return to this easy recipe with its incredibly moist texture and rich buttery banana flavor. We love this banana bread recipe so much that we’ve shared a few variations, including this chocolate chip banana bread and a lighter banana bread made with olive oil and less sugar.
So many of our readers have deemed this their forever banana bread. Our recipe below makes 1 loaf, but to be honest, whenever I make it, I double everything for 2 loaves. Then, I keep the second loaf in the freezer for another day (I’ve provided freezing instructions below).
Key ingredients for banana bread
- Bananas: For the best banana bread, use over-ripe bananas. I’m talking brown and speckled bananas. They are sweeter and make the baked bread soft and moist. I have shared tips for quickly ripening bananas below.
- All-purpose flour: I like the texture of AP flour, but this recipe works with whole wheat or white whole wheat flour (whole wheat makes the bread a bit denser). A few readers have used 1:1 gluten-free flour in our recipe with success.
- Baking soda: Helps the bread rise and brown.
- Salt, vanilla extract, & cinnamon: Add flavor to our banana bread and make it taste amazing.
- Butter: Makes the best banana bread! It adds a buttery flavor to the baked bread. We use olive oil when making lighter banana bread, which I love, but I still give the edge to butter on taste.
- Brown sugar: Keeps our quick bread flavorful and moist. You can swap other sugars, but the texture of the bread may change.
- Eggs provide structure and stability to the bread. We use two eggs. To make this recipe egg-free, use 2 flax eggs or aquafaba.
How to make banana bread
We call this easy banana bread for a reason. It’s so simple to put together. To start, whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Toss your ripe bananas into a bowl and mash them with a fork. There’s no need for a stand or electric mixer when mashing bananas, especially if they are nice and ripe.
When the bananas resemble a chunky paste, whisk in melted butter (yum), brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. These are all of the ingredients that make our banana bread so moist and delicious. I love the brown sugar and butter combination. We use the same ingredients when making banana muffins and banana pancakes.
Fold in the dry ingredients until you no longer see streaks of flour, and then add extras like chocolate chips or nuts. I’m adding walnuts to the banana bread batter in the photos. They are optional!
Bake banana bread in a preheated 350 °F oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, usually taking 55 to 65 minutes.
How to tell banana bread is done
Bake banana bread until the top is golden brown, and a thin knife (like a pairing knife) inserted into the center comes out clean. If you have an internal thermometer, you can check the temperature by inserting it into the center, and it should read between 200°F and 205°F.
Ripening bananas quickly
- Ready in 1 to 2 days: If you can wait a day or two, throw the unripe bananas into a brown paper bag. Bananas release ethylene (a ripening hormone). After a day or two, they should be ripe enough for banana bread. If you place the bag in a warmer area of your home, the process will go even quicker.
- Ready today: Try baking them in their peel to speed up banana ripening. This method works best when the bananas have already started to ripen and are not green. To do this, place unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and bake them in a 300 °F oven until they become shiny and black, usually taking 15 to 30 minutes. Don’t worry if some banana flesh or juices leak out during baking. After baking, let them cool in their peel before using them in our recipe.
More tips
Promote even baking: Grease your loaf pan and place the pan on an insulated baking sheet, or use two regular baking sheets stacked on each other. We picked this trick up years ago from Dori Greenspan. The insulated sheet (or two baking sheets on top of each other) helps the bottom of the bread bake evenly.
Cool banana bread before slicing: Since the loaf continues to cook as it cools, it is best to allow it to cool to room temperature. I cool the bread in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack where it can cool completely.
Storing tips
- Room temperature: Wrap banana bread or place it into an airtight container and store it for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerator: Wrap individual slices or the entire loaf (place them into an airtight container) and store them in the fridge for up to a week.
- Freezer: Double wrap with one layer of plastic wrap and one layer of aluminum foil, then freeze for up to 6 months. Freeze whole loaves or individual slices. Thaw on the counter for a few hours, remove the plastic wrap, rewrap with foil, and then bake in an oven preheated to 350 °F. You can also reheat in the microwave, but remove the plastic wrap and foil before microwaving.
Extra Easy Banana Bread
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PREP
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COOK
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This is our favorite banana bread recipe. It’s so good that you’ll want to make two loaves. For the best moist banana bread, your bananas need to be ripe. It is even better if they are overripe, brown, and speckled.
Makes 1 loaf, approximately 10 slices
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 ½ cups (195g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 medium bananas or 1 ½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas are best
8 tablespoons (115g) butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature, see tips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (60g) walnuts, toasted and chopped, optional
Directions
1Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (176 °C).
2Butter and flour an 8 ½-inch by 4 ½-inch loaf pan. Or grease the pan and then line it with a sheet of parchment paper (as shown in the video). See tips for pan sizes.
3Optional: Place the loaf pan on an insulated baking sheet or two regular baking sheets stacked on the other to promote even baking.
4Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together and set aside.
5Use a fork to mash the bananas into a chunky paste in the bottom of a large bowl.
6Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla into the bananas until well blended.
7Switch to a large rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then add the dry ingredients in two parts, stirring until the flour disappears and the batter is smooth. Fold in the nuts if using.
8Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. If you have an internal thermometer, you can check the temperature by inserting it into the center, and it should read between 200 and 205°F.
9Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the bread and cool completely before slicing.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Best pan: I use an aluminized steel 1-pound loaf pan, which is 8 ½” x 4 ½” (from USA Pans). For glass loaf pans, consider decreasing the oven temperature by 25 °F and baking a little longer. Stoneware pans may also need temperature/time adjustments, but it is hard to say without testing the specific pan. If using a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, the banana bread will not be as tall, and the baking time will be less by 5 to 10 minutes.
- Butter: Use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe. I like my banana bread when made with salted butter, which adds an extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the batter.
- Room temperature eggs: To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, add the cold eggs to a bowl with lukewarm water for a few minutes. Drain and repeat.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 slice
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Calories
254
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Total Fat
10.5g
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Saturated Fat
6.1g
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Cholesterol
61.6mg
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Sodium
276.2mg
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Carbohydrate
37.4g
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Dietary Fiber
1.5g
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Total Sugars
19g
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Protein
3.7g
