Banana Bread Recipe

Try my favorite Banana Bread for a sweet, rich, quick bread with a wonderfully tender and moist crumb.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Cool Time 20

Total Time 1 20

Servings servings / 1 loaf

Calories 274kcal

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with butter or baking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar and butter together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape down the bowl between each. Beat in the vanilla extract. Mix the mashed bananas in and then add the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Measure the flour. One of the main causes of dry, crumbly banana bread is an overuse of flour. The best way to use the correct amount of flour is to measure it with a kitchen scale. If you don’t have one, fluff the flour before spooning it into a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
Softened butter works best. Softened butter, when creamed, yields a springy, light bread with a soft crumb. Set the butter out at room temperature about 1 hour before you start baking so that it softens. If you forget to set the butter out in advance, see my post for how to soften butter in just a few minutes.
Use room-temperature eggs. They bind everything together better if they are not straight out of the refrigerator.
A note on mashing the bananas. While you can mash the bananas until they form a smooth puree, I prefer leaving a few chunks in the batter. I love biting into a fresh slice and getting a chunk of banana! Use a fork or potato masher for the best texture.