Banana Nut Bread Recipe:
This is my husbands recipe which he has perfected over the years and he is known for his Banana Bread. He makes it frequently and it always disappears fast! It is simple to make and our favorite way to use up overripe bananas so they never go to waste. Its super moist and makes a great breakfast on-the-go. We even created Banana Muffins from this recipe.
This loaf stays moist for days and also makes for a thoughtful and delicious gift idea for the holidays .
What Is The Best Banana Bread Recipe
To make the very best banana bread that comes out super moist, it is important to start out with those ugly, overripe bananas! In the picture below you can see the bananas that I used for this recipe post. These bananas are just ripe enough to work with. They need to be a dark yellow with lots of browning. You can use bananas that are even darker than this! The riper the bananas, the more moist your bread will be and the more banana flavor it will have!
Oatmeal Banana Bread Fluffy And Moist Wellplatedcom
Recipe Variations + Banana Bread Additions. Make this banana bread your own! Some of my favorite things to add to banana bread are chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit such as cranberries or cherries, and fresh or frozen blueberries. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Right after youve folded in the dry ingredients in step 4, fold ½ cup
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Mix Most Of Your Dry Ingredients Except For The Sugars
In the smaller of your mixing bowls sift or whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. This will ideally be done with an actual whisk for proper blending, but you can use a fork if need be. Just make sure everything combines well, which you will know is the case once the mixture takes on a light shade of brown thanks to the cinnamon.
Make sure not to add the sugars at this step even though they may seem to be dry ingredients, they’re not at least when it comes to this cookie butter banana bread! The moisture so common in brown sugar can throw off the balance here, making proper mixing difficult. Set aside your dry ingredients and get ready to do some serious mixing.
What Our Readers Are Saying
If you dont believe that our recipe helps you achieve the perfect banana bread loaf at home, take a look at what our readers are saying about the recipe! More reviews are in the comments section below.
Best banana bread Ive ever had. Kalia
I made this today. Definitely the BEST banana bread Ive ever made and Ive made a lot of it. I do a lot of baking, this is delicious! Diane
Super-good! Moist, flavorful, baked in no time! This is my new favorite banana bread recipe Julie
The best banana bread recipe Ive used so far and Ive used at least 10 different recipes. Moist, not too sweet, soft. Perfection! Eva
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Watch How To Make Healthy Banana Bread
- Total Time:1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield:1 loaf 1x
4.8 from 2422 reviews
With this healthy banana bread recipe, youre only a few simple ingredients away from the best banana bread ever! Its made with whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. You can easily make this banana bread vegan or gluten freecheck the recipe notes for details. Recipe yields 1 loaf .
Can You Freeze Banana Bread
Yes! If you’d like to freeze this then allow it to cool completely at room temperature on a plate or wire rack once it comes out of the oven. Once cool, wrap the bread in plastic wrap, then wrap in foil. Freeze the bread for up to 2 months for best results.
To thaw the bread, remove from the freezer and allow it to come to room temperature, covered on the counter. This will take about 24 hours.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
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What Do I Do If The Bread Looks Cooked But The Middle Isnt Done
Sometimes our oven temperatures can be off without us knowing and therefore its a little hotter than our bread would like. If the top of the bread looks well done but the tester is coming out wet, try making a tent of aluminum foil to go over the top of the bread. This should help the middle continue to cook without the top getting well done. Also, make sure to stick a tester deep into the middle of the bread to ensure that the middle of the bread is cooked through.
My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe
With its super-moist texture, buttery banana and brown sugar flavors, incredibly soft crumb, and 1,000+ reviews, this is an undeniably popular banana bread recipe. You need 4 ripe bananas.
One reader, Sharon, says:I have made plenty of banana breads over the years, but by far this one is my favorite!! Easy to make, perfectly moist without being too cakey, and full of flavor! Definitely a keeper!
This is my favorite banana bread recipe, one that Ive cherished for years. Its one of those classic recipes that you start to know by heart, just like a good pie crust or chocolate chip cookies recipe. This bread comes to mind first when I have leftover spotty bananas on the counter and the bread thats on constant rotation in my freezer stash. Its the best ever banana bread recipe and if you havent tried it yet, nows the time.
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How To Get The Best Cream Cheese Flavor
When I first tested this recipe, I used four ounces of cream cheese. However, my husband said it lacked flavor, and I wasnt a fan of how fluffy it was. Since I wanted a richer taste and a creamier texture, I bumped the cream cheese up to a full eight ounces. Go big, or go home! After my husband tasted that batch, his eyes lit up and I instantly knew he approved.
What Is Banana Bread
Banana bread is a quick bread made of very ripe bananas, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, vanilla, and a leavener. Since it is a quick bread, it uses baking soda rather than a yeast to help the bread rise as it cooks. Once the batter is mixed together, it is ready to bake immediately.
There are a few tricks to making the best banana bread recipe possible with this easy recipe. Here are a few tips:
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Add In The Dry Ingredients And Mix Everything With Care
Now it’s time to add the dry ingredients from the first step into the bowl with the wet. Mix everything together with your mixer setting on low, or better yet do this step by hand with a wide spatula. You don’t want to blend everything fully here, “just mix until all the ingredients are incorporated.” This will ensure the bread bakes properly and will create perfect texture for the final loaf. Blending too much causes the gluten to develop more than you want it to with a quick bread resulting in a loaf of cookie butter banana bread that’s dense and rubbery.
That oven is hot and ready by now, right? Then on to the last steps.
What Is A Flax Egg
Replacing the egg, however, is a bit trickier. When it comes to vegan baking, there are a few ways to replace an egg. For starters, there are companies that make a powder that can work 1:1 for an egg. However, its not always the easiest to find, and I like to use what I have on hand.
Enter the flax egg to make this an eggless banana bread. Flaxseeds, whether whole or ground, morph into a gelatinous mix when combined with wateror as I use in this recipe, almond milk. This mix is a great way to add a bit of moisture to the quick bread and replicates some of the action of an egg.
- Read More! How to Make a Flax Egg
I like to keep whole flaxseeds on hand and grind them in a spice grinder as needed. Flaxseeds have high-fat content, which means once they are ground, they go rancid a bit more quickly, so I recommend storing them tightly sealed in the refrigerator or freezer.
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Get Ready To Make Your Cookie Butter Banana Bread
“You want your ingredients to be at room temperature before you start the prep and baking,” Beahm told us, so plan ahead and get everything that’s refrigerated out of the fridge and on the counter at least a half hour before you start baking your cookie butter banana bread. It’s especially important that the butter is room temp or it may not mix properly.
“This recipe will take a while if you have to mix things by hand, so a stand mixer is really helpful here,” says Beahm. You’ll also need a couple of mixing bowls, a whisk, a masher, some measuring spoons, and a knife. As you get everything ready, pre-heat your oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Then prepare a nine-inch loaf pan by lightly greasing the sides with butter and then dusting the pan with flour. If you don’t have a pan of the exact right size, don’t worry, just know that a larger, shallower pan will lead to faster cooking times.
How To Achieve The Perfect Swirl
I think that the beauty of the swirl lies in its imperfections! No two swirls are alike, and its fun to see how itll turn out with each new batch.
However, there are a few things you need to know to become a Champion of Swirls:
- Pour half the banana bread batter into the greased loaf pan.
- Then add dollops of the cream cheese mixture to the batter, followed by the rest of the batter.
- Take a butter knife and run it through the batter in a swirly pattern. I like to run it in a ribbon pattern going horizontally and then going vertically.
Your swirl pattern may be different from mine, and thats okay! The cream cheese batter is a little on the thicker side, so youll want to swirl the batter a few times.
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What Kind Of Bananas To Use
- The ideal banana for banana bread is BROWN. You want them more brown than yellow. The bananas should be overripe. Brown bananas are what make banana bread sweet and moist.
- Can you make banana bread with fresh bananas? Overripe bananas are best, but if you are in a pinch, you can ripen the bananas by baking them in the oven. Place unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and bake at 250°F until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Let the bananas cool. Peel, mash, and get baking!
- You can use frozen bananas if you are in a pinch, but I do prefer unfrozen bananas. To freeze bananas, peel them and put them in a freezer bag. I lay them in a single layer so they dont stick together and press all of the air out of the bag. The bananas can be frozen for up to 6 months. When ready to use, let the bananas defrost on the counter for about an hour. You want them to be soft but not runny.
- You can also mash overripe bananas and freeze the mashed bananas. I like to freeze them in cup size portions in freezer bags. Make sure you write the date, cup amount, and frozen bananas on the bag so you know what is inside. Defrost before using.
- For this recipe, you will need 1 ½ cups mashed bananas, which is 3-4 bananas, it just depends on their size. Three large bananas or 4 medium bananas.
How To Ripen Bananas:
- Quick Oven Method: If your bananas are a little green and you want them to ripen quicker, place them on a baking sheet and bake at 250F for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the initial ripeness of the bananas.
- 24 Hour Counter Method: If you are willing to wait 1 day, you can place the bunch of bananas in a paper bag, cover and leave at room temperature. Bananas emit ethylene which causes ripening. Adding an apple to the bag will speed up the process.
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Tips For Making The Best Banana Bread:
- Properly measure your flour or use a kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients.
- Dont over-mix the batter! It will make your banana bread dense and chewy. Once you add the flour, be sure to mix the batter JUST until its combined. Its ok if you can still see little streaks of flour, it will get mixed in after you add the bananas.
- To make gluten free banana bread, swap in your favorite GF flour blend for the AP flour in this recipe. Be sure to over-mix your batter and let the batter sit for at least 30 minutes before baking for best results.
- Ingredients at room temp mix together better! Set your cold ingredients ahead of time.
- Bang your loaf pans on the counter before putting them in the oven. This brings any air bubbles that are trapped in the batter to the surface.
- Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar on top of the batter once its in the pan to create a caramelized and crunchy top!
- Press a sliced banana into the batter before its baking to make each loaf even prettier.
Cookie Butter Banana Bread Recipe
Some of the best recipes out there are made with ingredients you likely have on hand. This sweet and delicious bread is dressed up with cookie butter but aside from that, chances are you have everything you need to bake up a loaf already.
Sweet and tempting, this cookie butter banana bread is great after dinner, with morning coffee, or any time you need a treat. “It’s a relatively easy recipe as long as you have a stand mixer or good hand mixer,” says baker and blogger Mark Beahm, of the Sunday Baker.
American ex-pat Beahm’s recipe was inspired by peanut butter banana breads, but with a European twist. He decided to create this spinoff inspired by Dutch Speculoos-flavored cookie butter, Speculoos being the sweet and spiced cookies traditionally baked and served around the holidays in the Netherlands and several other European nations.
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Make The Banana Bread Batter
Mix the dry ingredients: the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix the brown sugar into the brown butter, then combine this doubly brown mixture with the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Combine the dry ingredients with the banana mixture, stirring until the batter is just combined. You don’t want to over-stir here as too much air won’t give the proper texture.
The Best For Toasting: The Best Banana Bread
- Fast Facts: Developed by Libby, has 1,330 reviews with a 4.5-star rating
- Allstar Review: “This is such an easy and delicious recipe! I added the 1/2 cup chocolate chips as the video suggested, but I also added 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. The outcome was a tender cake with a crunchy top. I really like to eat it warm, slathered in butter.”Paula Roten
Similar to the Banana Banana Bread, this recipe uses the creaming method, which gives it a delicate, almost fluffy texture. It also calls for the second highest amount of mashed banana, which lends great banana flavor that doesn’t overpower. With its golden color, domed top, and quintessential banana bread flavor, it’s certain to be a crowd pleaser.
Due to its cake-like texture, this loaf cuts cleanly into thick slices that are perfect for toasting. If you’re someone who enjoys a slice of banana bread for breakfast slathered with salted butter, almond butter, or even a dollop of Greek yogurt, I highly recommend this recipe.
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Simply The Best Banana Bread Recipe
This Banana Bread Recipe uses brown sugar and lots of bananas for the BEST flavor. Plus, it takes only 15 minutes to make by handno mixer required! Recipe includes a how-to video!
This is it: the BEST banana bread recipe. After over half a dozen recipe tests, I finally landed on a winner. This recipe makes a moist, super flavorful , and easily customizable banana bread, a near cousin to my popular carrot cake recipe.
Want to add nuts? Go for it! Like chocolate chip banana bread? Throw them in too. Or, go a little crazy and add boththis recipe can handle it!
My banana bread recipe is closely based off of my popular banana muffins. That recipe has received nothing but rave reviews, and it took just a few modifications to make it perfect for baking in a bread pan. Serve yours warm with a little bit of honey butter , and youve got yourself a slice of pure perfection.
Try it, and you can thank me later!
Bake The Banana Bread
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Cook the bread for 55 minutes to an hour, checking to see if it’s done by sticking a toothpick into the middle. If it comes out covered in damp batter, the bread needs more oven time. Once the bread is done, though, you will need to let it cool before you slice it.
If you don’t plan to eat all of the banana bread straight away, you can always freeze it for later as such dense, unfrosted types of baked goods tend to freeze pretty well. Morone suggests that you wrap either the full loaf or individual slices in plastic wrap before freezing.
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