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This easy banana bread is made with 10 common ingredients and takes less then 10 minutes to prep. Your family will use this recipe for moist banana bread over and over!
Any good homemade banana bread starts with ripe or (even better) over ripe bananas! You want to mash those babies well. Use a potato masher, electric mixer or blender for this step. You need about 1 & 1/3 to 1 & 1/2 cups mashed bananas. It’s important to actually measure the mashed banana since bananas vary so much in size.
I normally put my bananas in my mixing bowl and use my electric mixer to blend them. I like this method since I’ll be using my mixer to combine the batter anyway – no need to get something else dirty!
Topics We’ll Cover..
- How to Quickly Ripen Bananas
- How to Properly Measure Flour
- Making Gluten Free Banana Bread
- How to Freeze Banana Bread
- Total Time Required
- Tips for Making Banana Bread
How to Quickly Ripen Bananas
Spotty, over ripe bananas make the best banana bread! If your bananas aren’t ripe, you can fix that! Place the bananas on a foil lined baking sheet in a 300ºF oven for 30-40 minutes, until the peels become black and shiny. Roasting them in the oven causes them to become sweet and mushy.
Ingredients
- bananas: adds banana flavor and moisture
- vegetable oil: adds fat and moisture
- granulated sugar: adds sweetness and flavor
- egg: binds the batter together by providing structure
- vanilla extract: adds flavor
- all purpose flour: flour is necessary to build structure
- baking soda & baking powder: helps to leaven and lift the batter
- cinnamon: banana bread benefits from cinnamon!
- salt: just a pinch to balance the sweetness and enhances the other flavors
How to Make Easy Banana Bread
- In a mixing bowl combine the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, stir together with a spatula or mix on low, just until combined.
- Spray a loaf pan and spread the batter evenly in the pan.
- Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Check for browning at 45 minutes, tent if needed. If you didn’t tent at 45 minutes, check again at 55 minutes, then tent, and bake for 10 additional minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
How to Properly Measure Flour
- Fluff the flour with a fork
- Use a spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cup
- Use a butter knife to level off the flour in the measuring cup
Sticking the measuring cup straight into the bag of flour will result in too much flour to be packed into the cup, which can result in dry bread.
Banana Bread with Nuts
If you love banana bread with walnuts or pecans, add 1 cup chopped nuts to the batter when mixing in the flour.
How to Make Gluten Free Banana Bread
I have made this bread multiple times with King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour with great success. You can also try another brand of gluten free all purpose flour. Be sure to measure the flour properly.
How to Freeze Moist Banana Bread
To freeze the whole loaf: allow it to cool completely, then wrap well in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Place inside a ziplock bag. To thaw, place the wrapped bread in the fridge overnight.
To freeze individual slices: allow the loaf to cool completely and slice. Wrap each slice in plastic wrap then in aluminum and place inside a ziplock bag. To thaw, place a slice in the fridge overnight. Or unwrap and microwave for 30 second intervals.
Total Time Required
- 5-10 minutes to prep the batter
- Bake for 55-65 minutes at 350ºF
- 20 minutes to cool
Tips for Making Banana Bread
- Be sure to measure the amount of mashed banana. Bananas vary in size so much, for accuracy measure it!
Do Not Over Mix the Batter
- I have been guilty of this myself and I am learning to be okay with lumps in my batter. For quick bread, do not use your electric mixer to beat in the dry ingredients, using a spatula and mixing by hand will give you more control. “Mix just until incorporated” means mixing the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until you can just no longer see any flour streaks. Yes, you should still scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, but do that as you’re mixing in the flour.
Be careful to not over bake the bread
- Sometimes the bread can trick you, it can look done on the outside but still be doughy in the middle. That’s when tenting the bread with aluminum foil comes in handy. It protects the top from becoming too brown, overcooked or crusty.
Know what size loaf pan you have
- There’s two popular loaf pan sizes – 9×5 and 8.5×4.5. Even though the numbers are similar, the pans actually differ in size by 15%. The 8.5×4.5 pan will yield a tall, more domed bread and will take 5-10 minutes longer when baking. The total suggested bake time for a 8.5×4.5 inch pan is 55-65 minutes and 9×5 inch pan is 45-60 minutes.
More Banana Recipes
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Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 4 over ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 & 1/3 – 1 & 1/2 cup mashed)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Mash the bananas in a blender, mixing bowl with mixer or with potato masher. Be sure to actually measure the mashed banana, you want about 1 & 1/3 to 1 & 1/2 cups mashed banana. This might be 3 large bananas or 4-5 small bananas.
- In a mixing bowl combine the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Stir to combine with a spatula or mixer on low.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, stir together with a spatula or mix on low, just until combined.
- Spray a loaf pan (either 9×5 or 8.5×4.5) with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the batter to the pan and spread even with a spatula.
- Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes check to see if the bread is browning too much. If so, tent the bread with aluminum foil and bake for 10-20 more minutes. **If you didn’t tent at 45 minutes, check again at 55 minutes, then tent, and bake for 10 additional minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- The total suggested bake time for a 8.5×4.5 inch pan is 55-65 minutes and 9×5 inch pan is 45-60 minutes. Be sure to know what size your pan is.
Video
Notes
- Banana Nut Bread: add 1 to 1 & 1/2 cups of nuts to the batter when mixing in the flour
- Banana Chocolate Chip Bread: add 1 to 1 & 1/2 cups of chocolate chips to the batter when mixing in the flour
Easy to follow, always turns out good 😍
Made this for the first time yesterday and it’s not only beautiful, but delicious! Moist, but the center was cooked through. I’ve had problems with other banana bread recipes not cooking all the way through. I followed the recipe to a T but did add walnuts inside and on top.
The result of this banana bread is soo yummlicious!! 😋 i n my family enjoyed every bite of it…thankyou beth really loved your recipes!!