This deliciously moist banana bread is the perfect comfort food, with a tender crumb and natural sweetness from ripe bananas. Made with household ingredients (oil only, no butter!), this easy banana bread will be your go-to-recipe!
It’s hard not to love banana bread. It’s tender, sweet, cozy, and somehow instantly brings you back to childhood. Banana bread is like the chocolate chip cookie of the “quick bread” world. A universally beloved treat. The ultimate crowd pleaser.
But let’s be real—even something as perfect as banana bread can turn out bad—dry or lacking flavor.
Everyone’s got their take on banana bread, and like most foods – some of this comes down to preference.
But this really is the best, easy banana bread recipe. It checks off the boxes on my list, and I think it’ll do the same for you. It’s moist, easy to put together, bakes up so tender, and is full of banana flavor.
Why this is the ABSOLUTE BEST Easy Banana Bread Recipe
- Flavor – It’s packed with banana, warm spices, and just the right amount of sugar. The addition of molasses, malted milk powder, and cocoa powder deepen the flavors even further.
- Easy – Besides taking a few minutes to whip up the eggs and sugar, this recipe is so simple to throw together!
- Household Ingredients – With the cost of ingredients nowadays, I like to find recipes that use oil instead of butter, and don’t require a lot of additional ingredients I have to buy. Best of all, this uses up those old bananas you were otherwise going to toss!
- Stays moist for DAYS AND freezes well. At the bakery, we used to freeze loaves. I’m telling you, it truly improves over time!
Key Ingredients for the Best Easy Banana Bread
- Unbleached, all-purpose flour – I use King Arthur.
- Baking Soda
- Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt – Please note, if you’re using Morton’s or table salt you’ll need to cut the salt down in half.
- Spices – Ground Cinnamon and ground cloves (feel free to use any combination here, or omit the cloves if you don’t have them)
- Sugar – I use white sugar, but you can swap out some of the white sugar (1/4) for brown sugar.
- Bananas – So overly ripe, you don’t wanna eat them.
- Molasses – Highly recommended for added depth of flavor.
- Eggs
- Sour Cream – Or creme fraiche if you have it! I can NEVER find creme fraiche and so I always use sour cream.
- Neutral oil – Like vegetable or grapeseed oil.
Success Tips to Make the VERY BEST Easy Banana Bread
- Use VERY ripe bananas: These bananas should be the ones that are beyond the point you’d really wanna eat them (um, just not moldy…). In fact, I typically let bananas get to the point where they’re black, then I freeze them with the skins on. Check out this awesome article for more details:
- Spend the TIME to adequately whip the sugar and eggs, this is critical to ensure a light, tender loaf. Don’t skimp here! Why? It’s where you’ll get a lot of your lift, and the light fluffy texture in the final result. Baking soda expands existing air pockets, and so you want to create those.
- Take care not to under- or over-bake. I know, this can be a tricky one – but lean on your visual, textural, and temperature cues. I’ll be honest, I’ve under-baked this recipe more times I can count, which is why I LOVE to use a thermometer to check to make sure the internal temp (thick part) is between 190 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
FAQ’s and Swaps
- Whole Wheat Flour – I haven’t tried it here. While I can’t recommend a 1:1 swap, what I can do is recommend this AWESOME recipe from King Arthur Baking Company. Don’t sleep on their Recipe of the Year’s.
- Help! I don’t have…
- Molasses – No problem! The original recipe doesn’t call for it. Simply leave it out.
- Malted Milk Powder – Not to worry, leave it out or swap it out for regular fat-free milk powder. The OG recipe doesn’t have it in there.
- Can I make this without a hand or stand mixer? While I advocate for at LEAST a hand mixer, you can certainly do this by hand… it will just take a bit longer to get the eggs and sugar whipped adequately. I’ve made it without a hand-mixer and it’s still delish!
Storing and Freezing Instructions
Let the bread cool until just about room temperature before cutting into it.
Enjoy this banana bread within 2-3 days. You should store it at room temperature, either tightly wrapped in plastic or stored in an airtight container.
This is one of those recipes I’m convinced gets better with a freeze. I wrap it tightly in at least two layers of plastic wrap, wrap that in tin foil. It’ll last about 2 weeks in the freezer (tbh, I’ve frozen it for a month and it’s still awesome). To defrost, simply remove from the freezer the night before.
If you think you’ll want to only defrost a few slices at a time, or part of the bread, you can wrap the pieces individually. This way you don’t have to defrost the whole loaf!
Did you Love this Recipe? If so, you might also like:
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (a healthier take on a classic muffin!)
Moist Pumpkin Bread – A seasonal favorite, but another killer quick bread recipe.
Low Sugar Banana Bread – A healthier take on this classic!
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The Best Banana Bread
Equipment
- 9 x5- inch nonstick metal loaf pan (measured from the top)
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (210g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of ground cloves, the amount you can pick up between your thumb and index finger
- 1 teaspoon dutch processed cocoa powder, see notes
- 2 tablespoons (20 g) malted milk powder, optional (but sooo good!)
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (230 g) sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons (36 g) sour cream or creme fraiche at room temperature
- 3-4 (380g) very ripe medium bananas mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons (20 g) unsulphured molasses
- 2/3 cups optional add-ins: walnuts, pecans, and/or chopped chocolate (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oven and prep the pan: Arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325℉. Coat the bottom and sides of the loaf pan with butter. Line the bottom and two longer sides with a piece of parchment paper, leaving an overhang of an inch or two on each side.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and malted milk powder (if using). Set aside.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a small bowl, mash the bananas so there are no large chunks. Whisk in the sour cream, molasses, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- Whip the eggs & sugar: In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed, until light and fluffy.
- Finish combining wet ingredients: On a low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil. Do not pour it in all at once. Allow the oil to slowly incorporate into the eggs, so it doesn’t defeat the air you just beat into it. Add the banana mixture, and continue to mix on low speed until just combined.
- Fold in dry ingredients: Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the flour mixture (and any inclusions, if using), just until thoroughly combined and no pockets of flour remain. What is folding, you ask? Check out the notes below.2/3 cups optional add-ins: walnuts, pecans, and/or chopped chocolate
- Fill the pan and bake: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours, or until golden brown on top and the center springs back when you press it. If your finger sinks when you poke the bread, it needs to bake longer. If you have a thermometer, the internal temp should read approximately 200 degrees. If the bread starts to brown too much, you can tent it with a piece of tin foil.
- Let cool & remove from pan: Once baked, allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack. To remove, use a pairing knife or a small offset spatula to cut in between the cake and pan along the shorter sides to loosen and use the parchment paper to lift the cake out. Place on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely before slicing. The banana bread can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for three days. Or, the bread can be stored wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to two weeks. Simply thaw overnight at room temperature prior to serving.
Notes
- Calories based on an average of 16 slices (1 slice), no mix-ins.
- No molasses? It's not a problem if you leave it out. I like the added depth of flavor it provides.
- No Dutch processed cocoa powder? No problem, either use natural cocoa powder or leave it out entirely. Likewise, I add this for a deeper color and flavor.
- What is folding? This is the process of combining the two mixtures using a spatula in a circular motion, lifting from the bottom and folding over to avoid deflating the batter or mixture. This technique ensures the ingredients are incorporated without over-mixing.
1 comment
I’ve made this recipe several times already, it’s one of my favorites! I’ve made it with and without the malted milk powder, and I think I prefer the addition of the malted milk!