Banana bread
A moist quick bread of mashed overripe bananas, melted butter and brown sugar, raised with baking soda and baked in a loaf tin.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Rest
- 1 hr
- Total
- 2 hr 15 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Banana bread is a quick bread, which means it rises on baking soda rather than yeast and takes ten minutes to mix. Very ripe bananas, black-spotted or fully black, are mashed into melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla, then flour, soda, salt and a little cinnamon are folded in just until combined. It bakes slowly in a loaf tin until a skewer comes out clean and the top has cracked down the middle. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and more banana-tasting the bread. Stir as little as you can once the flour goes in, or it turns tough and rubbery.
What you'll need
10 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
Ingredients
- Banana, very ripe, peeled weight, about 3 large350 g
- Butter, melted and slightly cooled115 g
- Brown sugar150 g
- Egg2
- Vanilla, extract4.9 ml
- Wheat flour250 g
- Baking soda4.9 ml
- Salt2½ ml
- Ground cinnamon4.9 ml
- Walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped (optional)80 g
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Heat the oven to 175°C. Butter a 900 g loaf tin, about 23 x 13 cm, and line it with a strip of baking paper that hangs over the long sides.
5 min175°C
Step 2
Mash the bananas with a fork in a large bowl, leaving a few small lumps. Whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
4 min
Step 3
Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together, tip them into the banana mixture and fold with a spatula just until no dry flour is left. Fold in the walnuts if using.
3 min
Watch: Overmixing at this stage makes a tough, tunnelled loaf. Stop as soon as the flour disappears.
Step 4
Scrape the batter into the tin and level it. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until well risen and cracked along the top and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil after 40 minutes if the top is browning fast.
60 min175°C
Step 5
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, lift it out by the paper and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing. It slices better, and tastes better, the next day.
60 min
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 327 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 44.1 g
- Fat
- 14.8 g
- Saturated fat
- 6.6 g
- Fibre
- 2.6 g
- Sugar
- 19.4 g
- Sodium
- 131 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Vegetarian
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Butter → 100 ml neutral oil
Stays moist longer, with a little less flavour, and makes the loaf dairy-free.
Walnuts → Pecans or chocolate chips
Same quantity. Chocolate makes it a dessert.
Tips
- Freeze bananas whole in their skins when they go black. Thaw them, squeeze out the pulp and use the liquid too.
- It keeps four days wrapped at room temperature and freezes well in slices.
- Lay a halved banana along the top before baking for the café-counter look.
History & culture
Almost every American kitchen has made banana bread because of the bananas going brown in the fruit bowl. It is a breakfast slice, toasted and buttered, a coffee-shop counter staple and a bake sale reliable. In 2020, with much of the world stuck at home, it became the lockdown bake and searches for the recipe spiked everywhere.
Banana bread needed two things that arrived late: cheap bananas, which American fruit companies made common in the early 1900s, and reliable chemical leaveners such as baking soda and baking powder. Recipes were common in American cookbooks and flour company booklets by the 1930s. It is often called a Depression dish, made so nothing went to waste. That fits the dates, though the story is told more often than documented.
Traditional — Older recipes often use shortening and baking powder; many newer ones add sour cream or yoghurt. Melted butter and baking soda, as here, is the plain mid-century standard.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Banana bread take?
2 hr 15 min all in — 15 min prep, 1 hr cook, 1 hr rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 10 slices. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Milk, Eggs. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian.
9 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Oven, Kitchen scale.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at ½ tsp.
How much brown sugar?
150 g of Brown sugar.
What can I use instead?
Butter → 100 ml neutral oil. Stays moist longer, with a little less flavour, and makes the loaf dairy-free. Walnuts → Pecans or chocolate chips. Same quantity. Chocolate makes it a dessert.
What should I watch for?
Overmixing at this stage makes a tough, tunnelled loaf. Stop as soon as the flour disappears.
Any tips from this recipe?
Freeze bananas whole in their skins when they go black. Thaw them, squeeze out the pulp and use the liquid too. It keeps four days wrapped at room temperature and freezes well in slices. Lay a halved banana along the top before baking for the café-counter look.
Can I prepare this ahead?
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, lift it out by the paper and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing. It slices better, and tastes better, the next day.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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