Name: Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 3/4 cup Sugar; 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil (softened ); 1 Egg; 1 tsp Vanilla; 4 Bananas (over ripe); 1/5 cups All-Purpose Flour; 1 tsp Baking Soda; 1/4 tsp Salt; 1/2 cup Walnuts (chopped, optional)

Don’t let those bruised and battered bananas go to waste – use them to make delicious banana bread with this easy recipe!

All you need are some overripe bananas and a few basic ingredients you probably already have on hand. And the great news is… you do not need a bread maker! Just make up the batter, pour it into a loaf pan, and into the oven it goes.

A slice of banana bread on a white plate with the loaf sitting in the background

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What Is Banana Bread?

Banana bread is a type of sweet or quick bread that is made with old or overripe bananas. Some people add nuts to the bread; some leave them out. People eat it for breakfast, snacks, or desserts.

A “quick bread” doesn’t require any yeast to rise (leavening). The baking soda will do the job, along with the bananas and the salt, of making the bread rise. Note that using very ripe bananas will increase the moisture in the mix, and baking times will be longer.

Why Use Overripe Bananas?

The thing that makes banana bread so good is that by the time the bananas have become a few days old, or “overripe,” the starch level lowers from about 40% to around 10%, while the sugar level rises to almost 90%. This is among the highest levels found in any fruit.

What You Need

Here’s what you’ll need from the store. The exact amounts are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Kitchen Tools

Ingredients

Sugar
Canola or vegetable oil
Egg
Vanilla
Bananas over ripe
All-Purpose Flour
Baking Soda
Salt
Walnuts chopped, optional

Mixing together oil, sugar and egg in a large glass bowl

How To Make Banana Bread

Banana bread is such an easy thing to bake that you can make it in the morning and enjoy fresh sweet bread all day! Here are some tips that will help you.

Mashing overripe bananas with the wet ingredients to start an easy homemade banana bread

Use Butter Instead of Oil

We opted for vegetable or canola oil as our fat of choice. However, you can also use 1/4 cup of softened butter. We went for oil because it allowed us to skip the step of softening our butter.

Adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients for easy banana bread

Add Chocolate

Another family favorite is to fold in chocolate chips to the batter to give the banana bread a chocolate-y kick.

How To Know When Banana Bread is Done Cooking

The best way to tell if banana bread is done is to use the toothpick test. Stick a toothpick into the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, it’s done! If it comes out with batter on it, let it bake for another 10 minutes.

What To Eat With It

For a really rich an indulgent chocolate treat, try our Hershey bar banana bread recipe or this pumpkin banana bread!

Nuts Are Optional

This recipe uses walnuts which are excellent in banana bread. But feel free to leave them out if you prefer.

Serving It

I love to serve it warm with some whipped butter and a nice cup of coffee. It’s perfect for a quick breakfast or a wonderful after-dinner dessert.

If you really want to get crazy, try a nice slice of cheddar cheese on a slice . This isn’t a taste for everyone, but my family loves it!

Storing It

Wrap the bread in parchment paper and keep it at room temperature for up to three days.

You can also freeze banana bread. Wrap it tightly in aluminum foil and store it in a freezer bag. It will stay fresh in the freezer for up to six months.

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