The easiest and most delicious banana bread recipe. This banana bread is moist, full of fragrant banana flavor, and uses no fancy ingredients; it’s just your good old-fashioned, classic banana bread.
I know everyone has their own go-to banana bread recipe and I have made my fair share of banana bread over the years. There are so many variations out there. You can make it with nuts, chocolate chips, cream cheese, fruit, etc. All good on their own way, but sometimes you just want a simple classic banana bread – a feel-good comfort food.
The original recipe is from Taste of Home and it is actually called “Best Ever Banana Bread Recipe.” I trust the folks from the Taste of Home: when they say something is the best ever they mean it. I made a few modifications to the original recipe. I added and extra banana for more flavor, I reduced the amount of sugar because 1&1/2 cups was too sweet for my taste, and I rounded off the volume of milk to simplify things. This recipe is quite versatile, so you can adapt it to suit your own taste. For example, you can use melted butter instead of oil, you could substitute brown sugar for white, or you can add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you want to add a little spice. It all turns out delicious.
What I love about this recipe is that you can just whip it up in minutes. There is no mixer required: just mix the wet and dry ingredients separately, then combine and bake – easy peasy.
Little Sweet Baker TVI was in the mood for some comfort food this week as I was feeling a little under the weather due to a cold. Even while the bread was still baking, the house filled with the lovely aroma of sweet bananas, and I started to feel better already.
My kids are a huge fan of this recipe, too. It makes for a tasty and simple snack and is also great for school lunches.
So next time you are in the mood for some banana bread, give this recipe a try and you will be delighted to find how easy it is to make and how delicious it taste. Enjoy and happy baking 🙂
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home Best Ever Banana Bread Recipe. Print
Best Ever Banana Bread
The easiest and most delicious banana bread recipe. This banana bread is moist, full of fragrant banana flavor, and uses no fancy ingredients; it’s just your good old-fashioned, classic banana bread.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 - 9x5" loaf
- Category: breakfast, snack
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 & 3/4 (220g) cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1 tsp (5ml) baking soda
- 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 & 1/2 cups (355g) overripe mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
- 1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9×5″ pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, mix together the eggs, mashed bananas, oil, and vanilla. Slowly add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes
June 1/18 – I’ve recently been making this recipe without the milk and find that it works better. The bread is just as moist and tasty, and it reduces the bake time. The original recipe included 1/4 cup milk and bake time was 70-80 minutes.
Keywords: banana bread recipe, best banana bread, easy banana bread, taste of home banana bread
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Thank you! Loved this recipe! It’s a keeper. I tried many others and always felt I had to keep looking for a better one. Not anymore!. Also, i only had 2 medium bananas and it was still very moist and with tons of banana flavor.
★★★★★
You’re very welcome, Ellie! Thank you for your rave review:)
Can I use canola oil instead of vegetable oil
★★★★★
Yes, you can use canola oil. I hope you enjoy it!
This indeed is the best banana bread I’ve ever tasted. I add a cup of chopped walnuts to this recipe. I have made this recipe multiple times and every one has absolutely loved it!
Great to hear, and thank you for your rave review!
WONDERFUL banana bread!!! Thanks for the recipe! How do you get the middle done without overcooking the rest of the bread? I have always had this problem. Should I use a smaller pan?
★★★★★
Lining the pan with parchment paper helps and covering the top with foil once it’s browned enough helps too. Thank you for your review and have a great day!
Delicious! It was so simple to make and turned out to be very moist- will definitely be trying out more of your recipes, thank you! 🙂
★★★★★
I’m glad you liked it. Thank you for your lovely comment!
This recipe is super easy to make and the bread itself is super moist and perfect! I baked it for my family the other day and it was a huge success! Thank you!
★★★★★
It truly was easy to make and soooo tasty. My new go to recipe! Thanks!!!
★★★★★
You’re very welcome Sharn and thank you for your kind words!
Excellent banana bread. I feel the oil is much preferable to melted butter. I added 1 t. cinnamon and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. If I wanted to reduce the sugar, would I have to add more flour to offset the reduction?
★★★★★
Hi Janet,
Thank you for your wonderful feedback. You can just reduce the sugar amount to your preference. You don’t have to add more flour to offset. Enjoy and have a great day!
I was looking for a banana loaf recipe and stumbled across your blog. I baked it this afternoon and it turned out beautifully-delicious and tender. 😉👍
★★★★★
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your kind words and 5-star review. I’m glad you enjoyed the banana bread and happy Friday!
This is a really solid recipe for banana bread. I added a little cinnamon and ground ginger, and used 1 C all purpose flour, 1/2 C wheat flour, and a scant 1/2 C quick oats–the texture of the oats is really nice, and with the whole wheat and oats, I feel a little better about giving this to my kids for breakfast!
★★★★★
Hi Beth,
I love the idea of adding oats to this recipe for texture and extra goodness – definitely going to try that with my kids!
Thank you for your wonderful feedback and have a great evening:)
Bake today & it taste awesome. I reduce the sugar portion by adding walnuts, chocolate chips & cinnamon into the mixture & it turn out great with banana aroma & sweetness. Thanks for your never fail recipe. Look forward to try on yr next batch of soft bake chocolate chips oatmeal cookies. 🤗🤗
★★★★★
I have four loaves of this bread in the oven. I added mini chocolate chips to one, chopped walnuts to another and left the other two plain. I sprayed the pans with Baking Pam and then tossed in cinnamon and sugar before I put the mixture in…this creates a sugar coating to the bottom of the bread! Yummy!
★★★★★
Thank you for your comment Jacky and I love the idea of tossing cinnamon and sugar into the pans. That would make the bottom crust oh so much better!
Hi lily, first I want to say thank you so much for your recipes. I’ve made this bread a few times, I’ve also made your blueberry muffins and chocolate chip muffin recipe a ton of times. I was wondering what adjustments I would use to make this into muffins. I’ve made your banana muffin recipe before and it’s good but I love the taste of this so much more
Hi Teresa, thank you for your kind words. I suggest reducing the mashed bananas to 1 cup, so the texture is less dense. Bake it at the same temperature for 20-25 minutes or until the top center springs back when lightly touched. Try that and let me know what you think:)
Thank you, I’m going to make them later and will definitely let you know ?
Made these today, they were awesome. Thanks for all these great recipes Lily ?
You’re welcome and have a lovely day Teresa:)
Dear Lily,
Just wanted to thank you for your best ever banana bread recipe. I baked it yesterday, reducing the sugar, adding cinnamon powder and walnuts. My husband and I love the texture of the bread (i think it tasted more like cake than bread) and it was delicious.
Been visiting your blog every now and then for the simple and easy recipe. Your muffin recipe has become our regular teatime snack. I’m going to try your mango pudding recipe next.
★★★★★
You’re welcome Rachel and thank you for your lovely feedback. I really appreciate it:)
Like you I have made many banana breads and I have to agree this is the best ever. I made a couple of additions adding cinnamon, mixed spices and coconut. So quick and easy to put together and soooooo delicious. In fact I am about to make some now.
★★★★★
That’s awesome to hear Angella. I love the addition of coconut. I’m going to try that next time I make this recipe. Thank you kindly for your feedback:)
After a HUGE success with your muffins for work I had to make your banana bread for my husbands 12 hours drive back to work out of town. I used whole wheat instead of white flour and added a cup of walnut and chocolate chips. (Actually not chocolate chips but chopped up chocolate from the abundance of end of school year chocolates I got from my students) and it turned out wonderful! I sliced them up, and wrapped them individually and was perfect snacks for his trip! Thanks!!
★★★★★
You’re welcome Stephanie, I just made some banana bread too, with half ww flour, blueberries and a touch of cinnamon. I’m glad your husband enjoyed it. Thank you for your lovely feedback:)
After falling in love with your chocolate chip muffin recipe (seriously, I make them bi-weekly for my fiancé and take them with me to every friend or family gathering… I have it memorized), I am excited to give this a shot. I was curious though how substituting butter for oil would change the taste. I’m pretty new to baking from scratch. Also, would you substitute the butter for the oil equally? I have no problem with oil but the thought of buttery banana bread sounds delicious.
Third question: do you have much experience with gluten (and oat) free baking? I have a family member with a severe wheat /oat/ squash allergy and would like to make something for them.
Thank you so much.
You’re welcome and thank you for your lovely comment. Using butter instead of oil in this recipe will give it a richer and of course more buttery taste. It’s quite nice and yes substitute equally, so 1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter to replace the 1/2 cup of oil.
I don’t do much gluten-free baking, but I was told by another reader Christina that she made my chocolate chip muffins using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF Flour and it was amazing.
Let me know how the buttery banana bread turns out for you and have a wonderful weekend:)
This looks so delicious! Could I also put walnuts in it!? 🙂
yes, feel free to add a cup of walnuts to the recipe, enjoy and thanks for stopping by Mary:)
I can almost smell the aroma of the freshly baked bread just looking at your pictures.
Thank you so much Hilda, have a Happy New Year:)
Same to you Lily.
This looks so yummy! I love banana bread and would love to try this recipe 🙂
Thanks, I hope you try it, have a wonderful day:)
This is beautiful recipe- and there is nothing like a homemade bread! Thank you for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome Marta, hugs:)
I love banana bread & love trying new recipes! Gonna try this soon! Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome Naina, enjoy!