My Grandma’s tried and true Easy Banana Bread recipe is a classic favorite and hands down the BEST! Perfectly sweet, super moist and loaded with delicious banana flavor!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Bananas – Make sure to use very ripe bananas in this! That’s what makes or breaks a good banana bread (in my opinion)
Flour – I used all-purpose flour to stick with my Grandma’s original recipe, but you could use whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour
Baking soda – this acts as a leavening agent to help this bread rise. You could also use baking powder
Eggs – gives this banana bread its structure and height
Butter – this is what makes this bread so deliciously fluffy! You’ll want to make sure the butter is nice and soft (not melted butter). You could also use coconut oil in place of the butter
Sugar – I used regular white sugar in this (again I wanted to stick to my Grandma’s original recipe), but you could cut the amount of sugar in half if your bananas are super ripe as that should add enough sweetness. You could also swap out the sugar for honey, maple syrup or other natural sweetener
Sour cream – this helps keep the bread super moist, you could use plain Greek yogurt as well
Vanilla extract – boosts of flavor!
Salt
How to Make Banana Bread
This particular recipe makes one standard loaf of bread, but you could also make 3 mini loaves (I promise your neighbors will thank you!) or even muffins! See below for the different baking times depending on how you choose to make this.
Mix wet ingredients. Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, mix together softened butter and sugar until well combined. Add in the eggs and mix well. Next add in vanilla, sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and mashed bananas, continuing to blend well.
Add in dry ingredients. While the mixer is on, slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix slowly until completely combined, scraping the sides and the bottom of the bowl with a spatula. If adding any fun mix-ins like chocolate chips or nuts, feel free to fold them in here.
BAKE. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (or loaf pans if making 3 mini loaves) sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. If using one 9×5 loaf pan, bake bread in the oven for 1 hour. If using 3 mini loaf pans, bake bread for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Rest and enjoy! Let the bread sit for 10 minutes then remove from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack (if you can wait that long!) Serve and enjoy!
Tips, Tricks and Variations
Make sure you DON’T over mix the batter. This results in super dense bread which we don’t want. We are going for fluffy and soft!
Feel free to swap out the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour or even gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour if making GF bread. I don’t recommend using almond flour or coconut flour in this recipe.
You can easily swap out the sour cream and use plain Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree or even more mashed banana.
Mix in other fun additions like chocolate chips, chopped nuts such walnuts or pecans for banana nut bread, or even dried fruit or fresh berries.
Add warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg for a more seasonal bread recipe. As I said before, you can even swap out the sour cream for pumpkin puree for a delicious banana pumpkin bread!
Other Baking Methods
If making three mini loaves, bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. When making for friends and family, I like to double this recipe and make 6 mini loaves! Perfect for holidays.
This recipe also makes delicious banana muffins. Simply distribute the batter into 12 muffins cups sprayed with nonstick spray (or muffin liners) and bake at 350 degrees F for 22 to 25 minutes.
Alternatively you can make 24 mini muffins for bite-sized, poppable treats! Just bake these at 350 degrees F for about 18 to 20 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
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INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a stand mixer, or hand held, mix together softened butter and sugar until well combined. Then add in eggs and mix well. Next add in vanilla, sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and mashed bananas then, while the mixer is on, slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix slowly until completely combined, scraping the sides and the bottom.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (or pans). If using one 9×5 loaf pan, bake bread for about one hour. If using three mini loaf pans, bake bread for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the bread sit for 10 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. Serve and enjoy!
Reviewed by EL KATIBI MARIA
on
July 14, 2023
Rating:
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