This really is the Best Ever Banana Bread! Moist, dense and full of banana flavor!
Just about any day of the week – if you looked on our kitchen counter – you would find a bunch of bananas waiting to be eaten. We are definitely a banana-eating family and love to eat them as a snack, add them to smoothies, or bake them up into the Best Ever Banana Bread you will ever eat!
This Banana Bread recipe has evolved over time – and I think we’ve perfected this recipe enough to confidently claim that this really IS the best ever!
How to Bake the Best Banana Bread Ever
Baking the perfect banana bread can actually be a little tricky, because it often over cooks on the outside before the dense banana and walnut-filled batter is cooked in the middle. This is especially true if you are using a darker metal bread pan or a glass loaf pan.
To solve that, my husband Jack shares a method he learned a long time ago – and that is to line your bread pan with parchment paper. Not only does the parchment prevent the outer edges from getting too dark and overcooked, but it also makes it easier to remove the cooked banana bread from the pan!
Another tip – and this is true with any quick bread – is to make sure you don’t over mix the batter. Once you’d added in the flour, mix just enough to combine. If you start to over mix, the gluten in the flour beings to develop – and when that happens – your banana bread will become tough instead of tender.
Reader Review
What do I do with all those ripe bananas?!
This Best Ever Banana Bread is best made with very ripe bananas – because they are the sweetest when they are ripe.
Here’s a helpful tip: When those bananas on your kitchen counter get overly ripe – put them in the freezer. (We don’t even peel them – just put them in a zippered plastic bag.) The skin will get very dark in the freezer, but that’s not a problem at all.
Then, once you have a few bananas saved up – make this delicious Best Ever Banana Bread! Just let the bananas thaw slightly, then slit the skin with a knife and scoop out the inside banana for your recipes.
I love our Best Ever Banana Bread slathered in cream cheese, but it is equally delicious eaten on its own. Feel free to swap in your choice of nuts too (pecans are just as delicious as walnuts), add some chocolate chips – or leave out the nuts entirely if you prefer.
You may like these other banana recipes:
- Banana Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
- Grilled Bananas and Pineapple with Rum-Molasses Glaze
- Chocolate Banana Smoothie (Vegan and Gluten Free)
- Banana Chocolate Chip Granola Muffins
Best Ever Banana Bread
This really is the Best Ever Banana Bread! Moist, dense and full of banana flavor!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 pound very ripe peeled bananas (2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan by spraying lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cut a piece of parchment so it is as wide as the length of the inside of the pan. Press it into the pan with the excess coming up each side and protruding from the top. These will act as handles to remove the bread as soon as it comes out of the oven so it doesn’t get darker. Also place a small piece of parchment on either end so that none of the pan touches batter.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and add oil and beat again. Add sugar and beat on medium for one minute.
- Add eggs and beat on medium for another minute.
- Add bananas and vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda with a whip.
- With mixer running, slowly add flour until combined. Do not beat more than just a few seconds to mix dry and wet.
- Remove bowl and fold in nuts by hand.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and even out the batter.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. If you pull the bread too soon, it will sink in the center as it cools.
- Remove pan from oven, lift the two long sides of parchment and gently lift the bread out onto a cooling rack to cool.
- Ovens vary so watch closely for doneness during the last ten minutes of baking. (Ours took exactly 63 minutes.)
How many mini loafs can I make and how long should I bake them.
Hi Bettie – There are different sizes of mini loaf pans so I don’t know… you might find this conversion chart helpful: https://www.crazyforcrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Baking-Pan-Substitutions.pdf
Very good, cooked beautifully and tastes great. Used pecans , fresh out of walnuts 😊
Thanks Barbara!
I must say this recipe makes one of the best banana bread I’ve ever had. Thank you so much.
Thank you Don! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
My husband eats a lot of bananas and I love them too, we always end up with bananas turning black, so I’ve been baking lately. I’ve been trying different banana bread recipes because all the ones I’ve used so far just seem to have something missing. This recipe was fantastic. I made a loaf last night with walnuts and can’t wait to try the pecans, chocolate chips, and even plain. I’m also very new to parchment paper and finding that I really like to use it, the loaf lifts right out of the pan. Thank you so much for this recipe, I will eventually get around to trying your other banana recipes as well.
Thanks so much Kate! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hello. Can I make this recipe into muffins? If so, what do I change? My family prefers muffins over bread. Any help would be appreciated!
Hi Tiffany – We haven’t tried doing so ourselves with this recipe…but here is an article you might find helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/09/27/make-muffins-quick-bread-recipe
Please let us know how it comes out!
Hello,
Not sure if this question was already asked… would gluten free flour work as well for the recipe? Any other flour recommendations?
Thanks
Hi Jenny – We haven’t tried it ourselves with this recipe, but we do have good luck using some of the one-to-one gluten free flours (Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour brands). Please let us know how it comes out if you try it!
Hi Martha! This recipe is the bomb!! And you are so right…. the parchment paper is the way to go. So much easier to get out of the loaf pan. Have a greeat week , you and hubby! Thanks for another keeper.
Thanks Doris! 🙂 Have a wonderful week too!
Question: When using bananas that have been frozen, they have a lot of liquid. Do you drain the liquid? I’m never quite sure how to measure after they’re thawed.
Hi Susan – I include the liquid!
This looks amazing!
I haven’t made Banana Bread in many years, but when I did, after it was cool, I wrapped
it in Aluminum Foil and left at room temperature over night which allowed the Nut flavor
to spread.
I’ll make this and do the same!
Thank you for a great recipe! 🙂
I’ll have to try that too Jane! I agree – the flavors seem to be better the next day!