Easy Classic Banana Bread

There’s a reason that Homemade Classic Banana Bread is everyone’s favorite thing to bake! It’s quick, comforting, and fills the whole home with sweet, nostalgic aromas like a bakery. This is the easiest version I’ve ever made, and comes out perfectly every time

Want more recipes like this? Check out:

The Best Pumpkin Bread Ever

Tahini Banana Bread

Chocolate Halvah Zucchini Bread

How to make Classic Banana Bread

This is a one-bowl wonder! No fancy equipment required, using only pantry staples that probably already have right now.

Start by mashing your ripe, brown speckled bananas in a bowl. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to mash, until the bananas are completely broken down, and almost liquid.

Next, add the eggs, vanilla extract, and avocado oil. Whisk well to incorporate thoroughly.

From there, just add the unbleached all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon. Use your clean fingers to lightly mix the dry ingredients together, then whisk it all together. Make sure that the dry ingredients are mixed in well, with no dry streaks of flour.

Make sure not to overmix your banana bread batter – which will leave you with chewy banana bread, instead of a tender crumb. Whisk just until the ingredients are combined.

Ingredients

Flour – it’s unbleached all purpose flour for me, specifically King Arthur Baking Company. I really appreciate their attention to quality and detail, and fair business practices.

Eggs – for all of my recipes I use large AA organic eggs. Better yet, try to find some fresh local eggs. Their yolks should be bright orange, and they add incomparable richness to any bake.

Avocado Oil – avocado oil is a neutral oil that I love to use in my baking and cooking. It is a cleaner oil that actually has a lot of health benefits, has a high smoke point for cooking, and adds incredible moisture to all of my quick breads and muffins. If you don’t have avocado oil, feel free to substitute grape seed oil, extra light olive oil, or canola oil.

Baking powder + Baking Soda – these are both chemical leaveners that are activated by heat and acid. Both leaveners help your banana bread rise. This recipe calls for both so don’t leave them out!

Dark Brown Sugar – dark brown sugar is regular granulated sugar with added molasses. The Difference between dark brown and light brown sugar is the amount of molasses. Since molasses has a deep caramel flavor, I always love more of it! That being said, if you prefer light brown sugar, feel free to go for and use that here!

Ripe Bananas – the perfect bananas for this recipes are the ones that have little brown speckles all over their peels. Usually, this happens about 4-5 days after I’ve brought them home from the grocery store. When the brown speckles appear, the banana sugars are intensifying and developing.

Pure Vanilla Extract – always always always use pure vanilla extract. I know it’s pricier, but the flavor it adds is so worth it. Some great vanillas are from Madagascar and Mexico.

Cinnamon – I like just a hint of ground cinnamon in this banana bread. It adds warmth without overpowering the flavor of the ripe bananas.

ingredients

Baking with oil

I love baking with oil because it adds a lot of moisture to the finished product. It’s also a sort of baking shortcut! Since you add oil straight to the batter, it can save time instead of melted then cooling, or creaming butter for 5 minutes.

In this recipe, I’m using avocado oil which is a neutral tasting oil. Some possible substitutes for avocado oil are grape seed oil, extra light olive oil, and canola oil.

How to prepare your loaf pan for baking

We can all agree that the most frustrating thing is baking a whole recipe through, only to have the final product get stuck in the pan. I never let this happen because I love using parchment paper, and a little nonstick cooking spray to line my pans.

Cut a sheet of parchment paper in half and lay it in your 9×5″ loaf pan, like a sling. Spray the two exposed sides with non stick cooking spray to ensure that the loaf of banana bread will release easily.  After the banana bread has baked and cooled, lift the sides of the parchment paper up to easily lift the whole loaf out of the pan.

Storage – Can you freeze Banana Bread?

This recipe makes one loaf of Easy Classic Banana Bread. You can absolutely double the recipe, and freeze one of the loaves. Once the loaf has cooled completely, I like to wrap the banana bread tightly in parchment paper, then place it in an airtight container or ziptop bag. When you’re ready, simply let it thaw at room temperature.

You can even place it in a preheated 300 degree oven to warm it through, and give it that “just baked” taste.

Substitutions

As with most of the baking recipes that you find on this site, I don’t recommend making any substitutions. Baking is chemistry, and these recipes have been tried and tested countless times to get the formulations just right. If you want to substitute avocado oil for canola oil, that’s fine! But, changes the ratios and proportions of the recipes will yield different results.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do at my house!

You’ll probably make this Easy Banana Bread over and over again, so be sure to Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board by clicking the “Pin It” icon on any of the images.

Make a loaf, and bring it along with you to picnics, bbq’s, or as a nice hostess gift. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my recipes come to life in your kitchens, so if you make this Easy Classic Banana Bread, make sure to tag me in your pics @lions.bread on Instagram, xo

Happy Baking – LeAnne

Did you make this recipe? Please rate and leave a comment! I love to hear from you

5 from 4 votes

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Easy Classic Banana Bread

There's a reason that Homemade Classic Banana Bread is everyone's favorite thing to bake! It's quick, comforting, and fills the whole home with sweet, nostalgic aromas like a bakery. This is the easiest version I've ever made, and comes out perfectly every time!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword banana bread, cake, classic, easy cakes

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Servings 1 9x5 loaf

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup avocado oil or any neutral oil, 112 g
• ½ cup dark brown sugar 100 g
• ½ cup granulated sugar 105 g
• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour 245 g
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 7 g
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 3 g
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, I use Morton's 4 g
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for the top

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven 350° F. Line a 9x5" loaf pan with parchment paper (see tips above for making a parchment paper sling). Set aside.

2. To a large mixing bowl, add the 3 ripe, peeled bananas. Use a fork or a pastry butter to mash the bananas thoroughly, until they are almost liquid. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, avocado oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to the bowl. Whisk very well until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

3. Add the 2 cups of all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and cinnamon to the bowl of the wet ingredients. Use your clean fingertips to lightly toss together the dry ingredients (no need to get another bowl dirty). Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until they are completely combined. Make sure there aren't any streaks of flour.

4. Pour the banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Smooth out the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar on top for a crunchy crust.

5. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top is deeply golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean and feels warm to the touch. Let the banana bread cool for at least 20 minutes, the remove from the pan and allow to cool completely.

6. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

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