Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Master the perfect Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by following our easy recipe! This is a great way to use up leftover bananas too!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is one of my all-time favorite quick breads. I just love how the semi-sweet chocolate chips perfectly balance the natural sweetness of the bananas – all together in a firm, dense, and very moist bread.

As quick and easy as this recipe is to make, banana bread in general, can sometimes be a very finicky bread to bake.

Quite often, the outer edges of a banana bread loaf will over-brown, while the inside is still under-cooked. You can tell the center is under-cooked, even before slicing, because the center sinks once it’s out of the oven. This happens for two reasons:

• First, the natural sugars in bananas – plus any added sugar in the batter – easily caramelize and brown in the oven.
• Second, banana bread batters tend to be very dense from the mashed bananas so it just takes some time for the inside to bake through. Add chocolate chips to the mix, and this exaggerates the issue even more!

So what’s the trick to making perfectly baked Chocolate Chip Banana Bread? Read on in the recipe below…we share all of our tips and tricks from baking many, MANY loaves until we got it just right!

Why You’ll Love Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

• This bread bakes up evenly cooked throughout
• Each slice is super moist and loaded with chocolate chips and sweet banana flavor
• Served slathered with cream cheese, it’s a fantastic option anytime the craving strikes.

Key ingredients and Substitutions

• Soft, ripe bananas – Chose extra ripe, very soft bananas. If you have frozen bananas on hand, you can use those as well – including the liquid once thawed.
• Eggs – For baking of any kind, you should always bring your eggs up to room temperature unless specifically stated otherwise. Large eggs are the assumed size in recipes as well.
• Two kinds of sugars – You’ll use both granulated and brown sugar in this banana bread.
• Vanilla –Use a real vanilla extract, not a vanilla-flavored imitation (it definitely makes a difference in flavor).
• Dry ingredients – All-purpose flour, sea salt and baking soda make up the dry
• Fat – You’ll include a combination of melted butter and canola oil in the batter.
• Chocolate Chips – We used semi-sweet morsels in the batter and sprinkled over the top before baking. You could also use dark chocolate chips.

Special supplies needed

• Stand mixer with the paddle attachment. (A hand mixer can also be used.)
• 9.25 x 5.25-inch metal loaf pan (read more below – don’t use glass loaf pans)

Should I use a metal or glass loaf pan?

We suggest a metal loaf pan – and our recipe below is sized for a 9.25 x 5.25-inch loaf pan like this one. (If your pan is smaller, you’ll have too much batter.)

Why metal? Metal baking pans conduct heat very well – so they heat up quickly AND cool down quickly once the bread is out of the oven.

Glass loaf pans tend to be thicker and heavier than metal, plus it takes glass longer to heat up. But – glass pans retain heat more than metal, so even after coming out of the oven, your foods may continue to cook and brown in the pan.  

Which is best? Constant low heat baking, or high/then low baking temp?

You can take either approach for this chocolate chip banana bread recipe, but we found that you’ll get the most rise from a high/low baking heat approach.

An oven set to a high heat when you first put the bread in the oven will activate the leavening agent in the batter – so your quick bread will rise up the sides and start to dome up in the middle. Then, reducing the oven to a lower heat will allow the bread to bake through more evenly, without over-browning the outside of the loaf.

We’ve tried the lower, steady baking temperature as well – but the banana bread will bake up flatter.

Chef’s Tip – We also took two other steps to ensure even baking of our Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. First, we lined the metal pan with parchment paper “handles” so we could remove the banana bread from the pan as soon as it was done baking. Then, we wrapped foil around the outside (bottom and sides) of the pan so less direct heat would hit the pan. Use shiny foil side out to reflect the heat. As the baking time went on, we also added a piece of foil, loosely tented over the top, to prevent too much browning while the inside still cooked through.

How do I make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread?

1. Prepare a metal 9.25×5.25-inch loaf pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray, then cutting parchment paper strips to set into the pan to create a sling. The handles of the sling will make it easy to lift out the bread after baking – which stops the residual heat in the pan from continuing to bake the loaf.
2. Peel and mash the bananas well with a fork.
3. Beat eggs with both sugars for a full five minutes on medium high speed – this adds air to the bread batter and gives the baked chocolate chip banana bread a nice texture.
4. Mix in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
5. Sift the flour and baking soda, then mixing on low, slowly add to the batter along with the sea salt.
6. Melt the butter, then add to the batter along with the canola oil. Mix to combine.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
9. Sprinkle more chocolate chips over the top of the loaf.
10. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.
11. Lower heat to 325 degrees F and continue baking until done. (Total bake time is about 90 minutes.)
12. Move the pan to a wire rack, then use the parchment “handles” to lift the bread out onto the rack. Cool completely.
13. Slice and serve with softened cream cheese or butter.

Frequently asked Questions

Can I make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread ahead of time? The bread must be baked once the batter is mixed together, but it stores nicely once it’s baked – and we think the flavors taste the best the following day.

How do I store leftovers?   Store tightly-wrapped and at room temperature once the bread is completely cooled.

Can I freeze?  Yes, this bread freezes well as long as it’s wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

You may enjoy these other quick bread recipes:

• Best Ever Banana Bread
• Lemon Loaf Cake
• Sweetened Condensed Milk Pumpkin Bread
• Lemon Iced Tea Loaf
• Apple Streusel Bread

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