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The Best Banana Bread

The Story:

A good banana bread recipe is priceless, but sadly can be hard to find.  You want that deep dark color and a dense texture as you bite into the slice.  My older Banana Bread Recipe is wonderful and I see it on Pinterest and people refer to it as a Starbucks CopyCat recipe, which I agree with because it’s THAT good.    But this improved recipe is a little better because it uses buttermilk, which you may not have on hand if you decide on the spur of the moment to make it.  But seriously, go get that buttermilk from the store and let your bananas get nice and dark, because this banana bread will make any day better.

5 from 3 votes
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The Best Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup ripe bananas mashed
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk or sour cream
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/4 cup apple sauce
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips optional

Instructions

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a loaf pan by greasing it.
  2. 2. In a small bowl, use a fork to finely mash bananas (I used 3). Set aside.

  3. 3. In a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together. Stir in brown sugar.

  4. 4. In another bowl, use a whisk to combine eggs, buttermilk (or sour cream), oil, applesauce and vanilla extract.

  5. 5. Pour your liquid ingredients and mashed bananas into the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to stir just until combined.
  6. 6. Stir in walnuts or chocolate chips.
  7. 7. Pour batter into prepped loaf pan. (If you want, cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the pan, but leave enough to come up over the edges. Once your bread is baked and cooled, you can lift those pieces of parchment paper to easily remove the bread. See photo)
  8. 8. Bake bread for about 1 hour. Check the done-ness of your bread by sticking a toothpick or knife into the center. It should come out clean. If it isn't, leave the bread in for more time.

  9. 9. Let cool in pan. As always, banana bread is better the next day. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Recipe updated February 2024: Includes tiny edits I have used for the last 10 years.  Recipe no longer includes 1 tsp. lemon juice and has the option of using buttermilk or sour cream. 

Pour you batter over the parchment paper (you may need a little help from a friend to hold it down).

But don’t leave too much parchment paper hanging off the edge because it can start to burn in the oven.