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Banana Bread

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Updated Jul 16, 2024
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Looking for the perfect way to impress family and friends or satisfy your own craving for homemade comfort food? We've got you covered with our delectable banana bread recipe. Whether you're a baking beginner or a seasoned pro, you'll appreciate the simplicity and the homemade tradition it fosters. This banana bread recipe couldn’t be easier to make. Just combine the ingredients and stir, which means anyone, from a novice to an experienced baker, can pull together a loaf in a snap.

Classic banana bread is a baked good that most of us have been enjoying since we were kids. That’s because it’s so easy to make. With bananas, flour, sugar, eggs, and butter as its primary ingredients, making a loaf of banana bread is a straightforward and rewarding process that can be made with ingredients you’re likely to already have on hand.

Just as no two bakers are the same, your banana bread doesn't have to be either. One of the joys of baking a loaf from scratch is the freedom to personalize it.

While banana nut bread is a go-to variation to basic banana bread, there are loads of add-in options you can use to make your banana bread recipe your own. You can add chocolate chips, spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg, or experiment with different flours and sweeteners to make a loaf that truly suits your taste.

But baking banana bread is not only about the end result. It's about the process—the blend of sweet, warm aromas filling your kitchen and the satisfaction that comes from making something out of love and care in your own home. It's a nostalgic tradition you share with the people who matter most.

So, heat your oven, pick out your ripest bananas, and break out your mixing bowl and loaf pan. It’s time to make some banana bread! Use our How to Make Banana Bread guide to help make the process even easier.

By sharing this simple, adaptable, and homemade banana bread recipe, we hope to bring a piece of warmth into your kitchen and your hearts.

The History of Banana Bread

Discovering the Banana

Once upon a time, very few Americans had ever seen a banana, much less eaten one. The 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia showcased a 40-acre display of tropical plants, including banana trees. During the exposition, individual tinfoil wrapped bananas were sold for the princely sum of ten cents. By the turn of the century, refrigerated steamships and railway cars were bringing bananas to all parts of North America. It took enterprising home cooks a few years to realize the baking potential of starchy, sweet bananas in quick breads, but soon there were many versions of homemade banana bread and banana nut bread featured in popular magazines and cookbooks.

The Rise of Banana Bread

Every decade the world has changed, and those changes have been reflected in our cooking, and homemade banana bread is no exception.

Due to the Depression households didn’t want to waste anything, even a “rotten” banana. By the early 1930s, you could find a banana bread recipe—using very ripe mashed bananas as the main ingredient—in many cookbooks.

After the Depression, the start of WWII brought about food rations and introduced buttermilk, a less expensive option than regular milk, to banana bread. The 1950’s brought moms back into the kitchen in full force and "Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook," gave them the Banana-Nut Loaf, a low-fat, low-sugar recipe that fed a crowd.

In the 60’s and 70’s we all learned more about healthy eating, and the vegetarian-based Moosewood Cookbook gave us a dense, flat loaf studded with sesame seeds.

The next two decades brought bold flavors, like spices and different flours to our classic banana bread. In the last twenty years, specialized diets have come into the forefront, and we’ve all learned much more about gluten-free and paleo banana bread recipes.

How To Make Banana Bread

This homemade banana bread recipe is so easy to put together. The exact steps are found below, but here’s the scoop on how this classic banana bread comes together.

Combine the Wet Ingredients

Start by mixing together the softened butter and sugar. Next add the ripened bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Look for bananas that are too squishy and soft to enjoy eating on their own. The darker the banana the sweeter the flavor.

Mix in the Dry Ingredients

Mix in the dry ingredients, including nuts or other mix-ins you might have opted for, then mix until moist. The batter will be thick, so you’ll need to spoon it into the greased loaf pans.

Bake

Bake the loaves until a toothpick inserted into the center of your banana breads comes out clean and your home smells like your favorite bakeshop.

Storing Your Banana Bread

Moist banana bread is ideal for anyone looking for a make-ahead banana bread recipe, because it keeps well in both the refrigerator and the freezer.

To make-ahead, cool the homemade banana bread completely on a cooling rack. Once the loaves are cool, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. They will store well in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. To freeze the loaves, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then place them in resealable freezer plastic bags and freeze for up to 3 months. This will help keep the loaves from drying out and prevent them from getting freezer burn.

Banana Bread

  • Prep Time 15 min
  • Total 2 hr 30 min
  • Servings 24
  • Ingredients 10
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups Gold Medal™ All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Make With
Gold Medal Flour

Instructions

  • Step 
    1
    Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
  • Step 
    2
    Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended.
  • Step 
    3
    Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
  • Step 
    4
    Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.
  • Step 
    5
    Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.
  • Step 
    6
    Serve with butter, if desired. Tightly wrap bread and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Nutrition

70 Calories
2 g Total Fat
1 g Protein
12 g Total Carbohydrate

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Slice
Calories
70
Calories from Fat
20
Total Fat
2 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
95 mg
Potassium
40 mg
Total Carbohydrate
12 g
Dietary Fiber
0g
Protein
1 g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
2%
2%
Vitamin C
0%
0%
Calcium
0%
0%
Iron
2%
2%
Exchanges:
1 Starch;
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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