Banana Bread Recipe That’s Really Good

This banana bread recipe makes an awesome snack, breakfast or even dessert. This one has chocolate chips in it, but if those aren’t your thing, you can always leave them out.

This recipe is a spin on one that a buddy of mine at work used to make. He was bringing it to the office about every three months until the pandemic struck in 2020, so I figured I’d take matters into my own hands and bake one myself. There’s no affiliate links in this recipe yet.

What You Will Need for the Banana Bread

What It IsNameWhere To Find
Cookware3 Bowls – 2 medium, 1 largeAmazon
CookwareSpatulaAmazon
Cookware9 x 5 inch (or similar) baking panAmazon
CookwareMeasuring spoonsAmazon
CookwareMeasuring cupsAmazon
CookwareButter knifeAmazon
CookwareMason Jar or something to smash the bananasAmazon
CookwareBasting brush for adding olive oil to baking panAmazon
CookwareCooling rackAmazon
Ingredient2 cups all-purpose flowerStore
Ingredient1 teaspoon baking powderStore
Ingredient1 teaspoon baking sodaStore
Ingredient1 teaspoon saltStore
Ingredient3 ripe bananasStore
Ingredient1 tablespoon skim milkStore
Ingredient1/2 cup soft, unsalted butter (typically 1 full stick)Store
Ingredient1 cup white sugarStore
Ingredient2 large eggsStore
Ingredient1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chipsStore
IngredientSomething to grease the baking pan, like olive oil, Crisco, or just a non-stick panStore

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Let’s Make This Banana Bread Recipe

Grab your 9×5 baking pan.

baking pan for banana bread recipe

Grab something to grease the pan. I used olive oil (1 teaspoon).

Another time I made this, half a teaspoon almost worked, but some did get really stuck to the bottom of the glass dish I was using. You’ll want 1 teaspoon. It turned out really well this way and slid out of the pan smoothly once it was done in the oven.

olive oil and baking pan
greasing pan for banana bread recipe

I decided to use a basting brush to really move everything around in the 9 x 5 pan.

greasing the baking pan

Wash your hands after if you just use them to grease the pan for the banana bread.

mixing bowl for banana bread recipe

Grab the flower and a 1 cup measuring cup, along with the medium sized mixing bowl. You’ll also want a butter knife for this part.

pouring flour into mixing bowl

Pour the 1st cup of flour into the bowl.

pouring flour into mixing bowl

Then get the second cup of flour in there.

baking powder

Throw 1 teaspoon of the baking powder into the bowl with the flower.

baking powder

Mix it around a bit.

baking soda and measuring spoons

Grab the baking soda for this part of the banana bread recipe.

putting baking soda into the bowl

Toss a teaspoon of the baking soda into your mixture.

salt

Next, grab your salt.

salt

Throw a teaspoon of salt into the snow-like mixture that you have at this point. Mix it around a bit.

Set this bowl aside with the greased baking pan and grab the other medium bowl.

small bowl for bananas

Grab some skim milk. Pour a tablespoon of milk into the bowl. You can probably also just do a splash of milk, that’s what I did.

putting a tablespoon of milk into a bowl

Start peeling your bananas and putting them into the bowl.

bananas in bowl

Make sure your peels get in the trash, nobody wants to slip and fall in the kitchen.

smashing bananas for banana bread

You will need something to smash up your bananas like I did. I suggest using a mason jar to smash the bananas up or a small glass, but other things like forks can also work.

Before smashing the bananas, now would be a good time to pre-heat your oven to 325F.

preheating oven to 325

You can also cut up the bananas with a spatula before smashing them with the mason jar (or comparable smasher, maybe even your fist).

The bananas should look something like this after smashing:

smashed banana for banana bread recipe

Grab the butter

Then, set the bowl of bananas and milk aside and grab a third bowl. Make sure that this bowl you use is the biggest one that you have since everything is going to get dumped into it in a few more steps.

Grab one stick of unsalted butter (or 1/2 a cup’s worth). It would help to leave a stick of butter out on the counter for an hour or two before starting this banana bread recipe. Since an hour wasn’t enough time to get it soft, I threw it in the microwave.

In case you need to microwave it, grab a little bowl and throw the butter in there for 15-30 seconds.

butter in large mixing bowl

Dump one cup of sugar in the bowl.

pouring sugar into bowl

Then, mix it all around until it looks like this:

mixing butter and sugar

Grab some eggs. Crack the first one in there.

cracking egg into large bowl for banana bread recipe

Then, crack the second.

cracking second egg into large bowl

Mix all of that around really well.

mixing eggs

Then, go and get the banana/milk mixture to dump in with the sugar/butter/egg mix.

dumping banana bread mix into large bowl

Mix all that up really well.

mixing banana bread recipe ingredients

Once that’s nice and mixed together, it will be time to grab the third bowl. You may want to use a butter knife to scrape the spatula off and put all the batter back into the bowl. Don’t lick it off, you might get salmonella because of the raw egg.

Dumping flour into large bowl of banana and other ingredients

Make sure you use a big bowl. I’ve made this recipe in the past with bowls that were too small and lost some of the dry ingredients when mixing them.

mixing wet and dry mix for banana bread

Once the wet and dry mix is combined thoroughly, get the chocolate chips.

The chocolate we’ve all been waiting for in this banana bread recipe:

putting chocolate chips into banana bread recipe

Pour one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the large mixing bowl. Mix those around really well so they get evenly spread out.

Grab the greased baking pan from earlier.

Pour the banana bread recipe ingredients in there, smoothing it out with the spatula.

pouring banana bread batter into loaf pan

You don’t want it to be overflowing since it will rise past the top during baking.

It should look something like this before going into the oven:

batter in pan

Scrape out any remaining banana bread recipe mix from the bowl and put it in the baking pan.

Set the baking pan in the oven.

banana bread cooking in oven

Your oven should be preheated to 325 degrees Fahrenheit by now.

Set the timer for 70 minutes on your chocolate chip banana bread

Or 1 hour and 10 minutes, same thing.

110 minutes on the oven

Once it’s done, it should look like this:

finished banana bread

Another shot:

finished banana bread recipe

Let the chocolate chip banana bread cool for 10 minutes.

Setting another timer helps. Also, if you have a cooling rack, get that setup on the counter.

cooling rack

After that, find a toothpick

If you can stick a toothpick in the center and pull it out clean, you’ll know the banana bread is done. I didn’t have a toothpick, so I grabbed a meat thermometer. It worked just as well.

Use a spatula to take the chocolate chip banana bread out of the baking pan and set it on a cooling rack. I did this when it was about 5 minutes into cooling. It’s probably best to wait the full 10 minutes because mine did feel like it was about to fall apart while I moved it.

It will be tempting to start eating it right away, but let it cool.

banana bread recipe

Once it’s done cooling, dig in! This banana bread recipe has a great “outer-crust-to-moist-insides” ratio.

banana bread

This serves 10, but those are generous servings. You can really consider it around 10-20 servings depending on the size of the pieces you cut.

Store it in some foil:

banana bread in foil

Card

Banana Bread Recipe That You'll Love

Recipe by Bob Buckley, greatfoodandmore.com
Servings

10

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 

10

minutes
Calories

376

kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

  • 3 large ripe bananas, smashed

  • 2 cups flour

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 1 stick of butter, softened

  • Olive oil, 1 teaspoon

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1 tablespoon of milk

Directions

  • 1. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and basting brush.
  • Mix 2 cups flour, 1 TSP baking soda, 1 TSP baking powder and 1 TSP salt together in a small-medium sized mixing bowl.
  • Smash up 3 bananas and 1 TBSP milk (any milk, but skim is good) in a second mixing bowl. Mix that around and preheat the oven to 325 F.
  • Mix 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy and fluffy (looks a little like grits). Mix in the two eggs, 1 at a time. Mix thoroughly between each egg.
  • Dump banana mixture into the butter/sugar mix. Stir that all together well.
  • Dump the dry mix into the large bowl with the banana / everything else and mix all that together. Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, dump in the cup of chocolate chips and mix those in there.
  • Pour the mix into the greased baking pan, using the spatula to get as much mixture into the pan as possible. Bake at 325 F for 70 minutes. When it’s done, you should be able to stick a toothpick in the center and pull it out clean without batter or anything on the pick.
  • Take it out of the baking pan carefully with a clean spatula or a bread slicing knife and let the banana bread cool on a rack or a plate for 10 minutes before cutting. I was able to slowly slide it out of the pan on to the cooling rack.

Notes

  • See end of recipe on website (here) for full explanation of calorie calculation. Calories are an estimate, but I added up the numbers for all the ingredients to figure that out.

The Recipe – about an hour and a half total

1. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (or similar baking dish)
2. Mix 2 cups flour, 1 TSP baking soda, 1 TSP baking powder and 1 TSP salt together in the first bowl.
3. Smash up 3 bananas and 1 TBSP skim milk in a second bowl. Mix that around and preheat the oven to 325 F.
4. Mix 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup sugar in the third bowl until creamy and fluffy (looks a little like grits). Mix in the two eggs, 1 at a time. Mix thoroughly between each egg.
5. Dump banana mixture into the butter/sugar mix. Stir that all together well.
6. Dump the dry mix from the first bowl into the third bowl with the banana / everything else and mix all that together. Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, dump in the cup of chocolate chips and mix those in there.
7. Pour the mix into the greased baking pan, using the spatula to get as much mixture into the pan as possible. Bake at 325 F for 70 minutes. When it’s done, you should be able to stick a toothpick in the center and pull it out clean without batter or anything on the pick.
8. Take it out of the baking pan and let the banana bread cool on a rack or a plate for 10 minutes before cutting.

How The Banana Bread Recipe Calories Were Calculated

Banana bread calorie calculations
Calories for each ingredientCalories
Chocolate chips (1 cup) calories1120
Flour (2 cups)880
1 cup of sugar720
1 stick of butter800
Olive oil, 1 teaspoon30
Bananas, 11 ounces277
2 eggs140
Total3967
Weight
Bread weight (in ounces)42
Calories
Calories per ounce94
Calories
Calories for serving size of 4 ounces376
Number of Servings
Amount of servings10.5

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