Easy Banana Bread (video)
This is the easiest and most delicious banana bread you’ll ever make! It’s moist, loaded with banana flavor, and only takes 10 minutes to prepare.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Just 10 minutes to make – There is no mixer required. You just mix the wet and dry ingredients separately by hand, then combine, and bake. It’s easy peasy and works every time!
- Only 8 ingredients – This banana bread is perfectly soft, moist, and dense. The flavor profile is sweet and fruity with a hint of vanilla.
- Very versatile – This recipe can be easily adapted to suit your taste. For example, you can use melted butter instead of oil, you can substitute white sugar for brown, and you can even replace some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat. You can add cinnamon, chocolate chips, desiccated coconut, or chopped nuts. It all turns out delicious.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- baking soda & salt
- vegetable oil
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- overripe bananas
How to make easy banana bread:
(the ingredient amounts are listed in the printable recipe card further below)
- First, you toss together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Then you mash your bananas with a fork.
- Mix the mashed bananas with your eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Pour the batter into a 9×5″ pan and bake at 325F for about an hour.
Expert tips:
- The riper the banana the better. Overripe bananas are ideal for banana bread because they are sweeter and more flavorful. Let your bananas ripen until they’re more brown than yellow. Here’s a post on How to Quickly Ripen Bananas if the bananas sitting on your counter are still too firm to bake with.
- Use a fork to mash. I find using a fork is the best way to mash bananas for banana bread. The consistency when using a fork is nice and thick and there are some small chunks that remain which gives the bread a nice texture.
- Baking at a lower temperature. This recipe calls for baking at 325F instead of the usual 350F which allows the center to cook through without the exterior being overdone.
FAQ:
Banana bread can be tightly wrapped in saran wrap or placed in an airtight container and stored at room temperature in a cool dry place for 3-5 days.
There are healthy banana bread recipes out there but traditional banana bread made with regular all-purpose flour, sugar, and butter or oil is not considered by healthy by nutrition experts.
Yes, banana bread freezes really well. Tightly double wrap in saran wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil, or instead of using foil, place the wrapped loaf in a large freezer ziplock bag. Label and date and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Depending on the temperature of your house, banana bread can last up to 3-5 days if stored in a cool and dry place. Because banana bread is quite moist, if your house is warm, I would say only up to 3 days. During the winter months when most homes are cooler, I would say up to 5 days.
The more brown the better. As bananas ripen, more of the starch gets converted into sugar and there is more depth in flavor. I prefer my bananas more brown than yellow for baking.
So the next time you are in the mood for some banana bread, give this recipe a try. You will be delighted to find how easy it is to make and how amazing it tastes. Enjoy and happy baking 🙂
You might also like:
- Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Homemade Banana Cream Pie
- Salted Caramel Banana Bread
- Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Please kindly leave a comment with your star rating below.
PrintEasy Banana Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 60 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 - 9x5" loaf
- Category: breakfast, snack
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is the easiest and most delicious banana bread you’ll ever make! It’s moist, loaded with banana flavor, and only takes 10 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
- 1 & 3/4 (220g) cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp (5ml) baking soda
- 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) salt
- 1 & 1/2 cups (355g) overripe mashed bananas (about 4 medium)
- 1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9×5″ loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, toss together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes
Leftovers can be tightly wrapped or stored in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days at room temperature.
Banana bread freezes really well. Tightly double wrap in saran wrap and place in a large freezer ziplock bag. Label and date and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home. This post was originally published on Dec 21st, 2014 and has been recently updated with more information and changed from Best Ever Banana Bread to Easy Banana Bread for easier searchability. The recipe remains the same:)
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!