This Best-Ever Moist Banana Bread recipe the only banana bread recipe you will ever need. It is perfectly tender, buttery, and bursting with banana flavor. Learn how to make homemade banana bread with this easy recipe.
This recipe makes the best banana bread ever – seriously. It is so tender, rich in banana flavor and easy to make. You don’t even need an electric mixer – just a fork to mash the bananas and a wooden spoon to mix the batter together.
Its amazing flavor comes from using four whole bananas, melted butter, and less sugar than most banana bread recipes call for. The recipe is also flexible, so feel free to throw in a handful of chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, or dried fruit into the batter if you like.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that I generally like to keep things as healthy as possible. However, I truly believe that pleasure and health go hand in hand. Healthy eating can definitely include consuming a reasonable amount of sweets and carbs. So this is one of those recipes for times when you feel like treating yourself. Frequency and portion size are important concepts to keep in mind, so enjoy recipes like this one in moderation.
What is Banana Bread?
Banana bread is a moist, cake-like bread that is a made using ripe, mashed bananas. It is a “quick bread” which means the leavening agents in the batter are baking soda and baking powder, rather than yeast, which is used in regular bread recipes. No resting time is required, so it is ready to bake right away.
Tips for Making the Best Moist Banana Bread
Here are a few important things I have learned over the years about how to make the best homemade banana bread:
- Use very ripe bananas. The yellow peels should look very freckled or browned and the fruit inside should be soft and browning. In fact, the riper the bananas, the sweeter your bread will be, as the starches turn to sugar. This will naturally kick up the flavor of your banana bread and can help lessen the amount of other added sweeteners you use.
- If your bananas aren’t quite ripe enough, use this trick: Put them in a 300°F oven, unpeeled, for 15 minutes to soften.
- For extra moist and soft banana bread, don’t over-mix the batter! Especially when you add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients – just lightly mix it in. Over-mixing the batter will result in a dense and tough bread, which you don’t want.
Can You Freeze Bananas?
You betcha! Just throw whole, unpeeled bananas directly in the freezer (they come in their own natural storage container!). The peels will turn black with time, but the fruit inside won’t ripen any further once frozen.
Bananas will keep in the freezer for up to six months. Simply defrost on the counter an hour before you want to start baking. You can also heat frozen bananas in the microwave, then peel them once thawed.
How to Freeze Banana Bread
Follow these steps to freeze banana bread and preserve its fresh flavor and texture for months:
- Cool the baked banana bread completely.
- Tightly wrap the loaf or bread slices in aluminum foil or plastic wrap (I usually freeze banana bread in slices, because it thaws much faster that way).
- Place the wrapped bread in a large freezer-friendly storage bag or a reusable container.
- Date the bag and freeze for up to 3-4 months. Thaw wrapped or unwrapped in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
More Easy Bread Recipes to Try
Looking for more simple homemade bread recipes? Here are some of my favorites on the blog:
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread
- The Best Buttermilk Cornbread
- Homemade Flatbread (No-Yeast)
If you make this Best-Ever Moist Banana Bread recipe, let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating ★ below, because I love hearing from you! ♡
Best-Ever Moist Banana Bread (Super Easy Recipe!)
Ingredients
- 4 ripe bananas, peeled
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir in the sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet banana mixture and mix until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and allow it to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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This an amazing recipe!! It’s so moist. I added dark chocolate chips and chopped up pecans.
Thanks Debbie! Adding chocolate chips and pecans sounds delicious!
This was very moist and delicious. Truly BEST EVER!! Added blueberries and walnuts.
Oh my goodness thank you so much Veronica! I’m so happy you liked the recipe!! ♡
I’m making 2 loaves in the disposable pans and also adding one grated, squeeze dried zucchini.
How long so I need to bake them ?
Hi Diane, I haven’t ever made two loaves at a time or added zucchini to this recipe before, so I can’t say for sure if this will work, but here is what I recommend doing: Bake for batter for the same amount of time as the original recipe indicates, 50 minutes – 1 hour, but make sure you do the toothpick test. Around the 50-minute mark, insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf and see if it comes out clean. If it comes out with wet crumbs, bake it for another 5-10 minutes and check again. Keep repeating that step until the toothpick comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Delicious! Every time I bake this bread its a HIT!
Thanks so much, I’m so glad you like the recipe! 🙂
My bananas are already mashed don’t know how many how many cups smashed banana would your recipe call for? Is that about 2 cups?
Hi Melissa! Yes, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of mashed bananas should work just fine in this recipe. 🙂
I made this recipe as muffins as I couldn’t find my loaf pan. It is excellent.
Very moist and flavorful.
Thank you so much, Carol! I’m very happy you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
I’ve been searching for the “best” moist banana bread and I finally found it!! Absolutely wonderful plain but would not hesitate to try it with nuts, blueberries or chocolate. Thank you for the recipe. My search is over!!
Hi Brenda, thank you for your kinds words! I am very happy you liked my banana bread recipe so much! You’re very welcome, and please let me know if you try of my other recipes!
I loved this recipe, mostly because I’m used to there being way too much sugar in recipes like this. I subbed some maple syrup and coconut sugar for the regular sugar, and used like 3/4 of the recommended amount but I really could have used it all, and the flavor would have still been great. I added a few chocolate chips, and also subbed the butter for 1/3 C of coconut oil to make it dairy free. I baked it for about 50-55 minutes and I probably could have done it for 45-50 min and it would have been just slightly more moist. Overall, I found this to be a great base recipe that you can sub things in and out of, super easy and simple ingredients that most people have on hand and can make, and DELICIOUS. Would recommend!
Hi Analisa! Thank you so much for your detailed review. I really like the substitutions and additions that you made to the recipe. One of the main reasons why I developed my own banana bread recipe is because all of the other recipes I tried were way too sweet for me. Please let me know if you try of my other recipes! 🙂