Moist, deeply banana-flavoured loaf with caramelised top — the only banana bread recipe you need, ready in 75 minutes.
Banana bread became the unofficial bread of the 2020 pandemic, with Google searches reaching their highest level in history during March-April 2020. This recipe sits at the sweet spot: moist enough that it never feels dry, banana-forward without being mushy, slightly nuanced through brown butter and brown sugar. The only real secret is using the most overripe bananas you have — black-spotted, almost embarrassing.
Serves 8
Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes, swirling, until deep golden-brown and nutty. Off the heat, transfer to a bowl to cool 10 minutes.
Brown butter is the single biggest upgrade to banana bread. Don't skip it.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until mostly smooth — small lumps are fine for texture.
Whisk the cooled brown butter and brown sugar into the mashed banana. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet — DO NOT OVERMIX. Stop as soon as no flour streaks remain. Gently fold in the nuts and chocolate chips if using.
Pour into a buttered 9×5-inch loaf tin. Bake at 175°C / 350°F for 55-65 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs (NOT wet batter). The top should be deeply golden-brown.
Cool in the tin 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Slice with a serrated knife. Keep covered at room temperature; banana bread tastes BETTER on day 2.
Black-spotted bananas are essential — yellow bananas don't have enough flavour or sweetness.
Don't overmix the batter — that's what makes banana bread tough and gummy.
Browning the butter takes 5 minutes and dramatically improves flavour.
Chocolate Banana Bread: replace 30g flour with 30g cocoa powder; double the chocolate chips.
Healthy-ish: substitute half the butter with Greek yogurt; reduce sugar to 100g.
Espresso Variation: stir 1 tbsp instant espresso into the wet ingredients.
Cream Cheese Swirl: swirl 200g sweetened cream cheese mixture through the batter before baking.
Room temperature, covered, 4 days. Refrigerated 1 week. Freezes excellently for 3 months.
Banana bread emerged in the United States during the 1930s as baking soda became widely available — the first published recipes appear in Pillsbury's 1933 cookbook. It exploded in popularity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic when home baking surged; Google searches for banana bread hit their highest level in history during March-April 2020.
Most likely overmixing. When you fold in the flour, mix only until no streaks remain — about 8-10 strokes. Excess gluten development from overmixing makes banana bread tough and gummy.
Yes — and they're often better. Thaw overnight, drain off excess liquid, then use as normal. The freezing process breaks down the cell walls and concentrates the banana flavour.
Black-spotted to almost completely black is ideal. Yellow bananas don't have enough sweetness or banana flavour. Some bakers freeze yellow bananas to ripen them faster.
Brown butter has a deep nutty caramelised flavour that regular melted butter cannot match. The 5 extra minutes of browning is the single most impactful upgrade you can make to a banana bread recipe.
Per serving (95g / 3.4 oz) · 8 servings total
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