Deliciously Moist Banana Bread Recipe

This moist banana bread recipe is golden brown on the outside and sweet and fluffy on the inside.

And it’s just what you need for a mid-morning snack!

Plus, it’s the perfect recipe for when you have bananas that are just a little too ripe.

In fact, the riper they are, the better your banana bread will turn out!

Spread some butter on top, pour a cup of coffee, and you’ll have the perfect weekend treat.

Pin This Recipe

Ingredients

To make the best banana bread, you’ll need:

• Butter. Butter adds flavor, moisture, and overall richness to the bread.
• Sugar. Regular granulated sugar is fine. It adds a sweet touch.
• Eggs. The eggs hold everything together and add moisture. They also help with the leavening process.
• Vanilla extract. It’s hard to beat the rich warmth vanilla extra provides.
• Lemon juice. Lemon juice will slightly acidulate the batter.
• Flour. All-purpose is fine.
• Baking soda & Baking powder. These will help the bread rise.
• Salt. Salt is always an excellent flavor enhancer.
• Sour cream. Here’s the secret ingredient for ensuring the bread is as moist as possible.
• Chopped walnuts. You can toast them first for extra flavor. You can also substitute your own favorite nuts if walnuts aren’t your thing.
• Ripe bananas. If you have overripe bananas, those will work even better.

Other Banana Bread Ingredients

Besides those things listed above, here a few other things you can add to banana bread to make it taste great:

• Chocolate chips/chunks
• Raisins
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices
• Dates
• Almond extract
• Berries
• Brown sugar

How to Make Moist Banana Bread

1. Prepare.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and a grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.

2. Start the batter.

First, you’ll combine the butter and sugar. Then, add the eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix well.

Use a separate bowl to mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix these ingredients well, then fold them into the original mixture with the butter.

Mix until smooth.

3. Mash the bananas.

Use a hand mixer, fork, or potato masher to ensure smoothness.

4. Add the remaining ingredients.

Add the sour cream to the batter. Mix it in gently, then add the walnuts and mashed bananas.

5. Bake.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, and pop it in the oven. Bake for approximately 60 minutes until the bread passes the toothpick test for doneness.

6. Cool, serve, and enjoy.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then, remove it from the pan and transfer it to a wire rack to cool.

Serve while still warm, and enjoy!

Tips & Tricks

Here are more ways to make your banana bread even better! 

• Use overripe bananas. When it comes to banana bread, the blacker the peel, the better. These mushy bananas give off a much sweeter flavor. Previously frozen ripe bananas work great as well!
• Measure properly. When you make banana bread, be sure to measure ingredients accurately. Don’t pack your measuring cup because you might end up with too much. Use a spoon to place your dry ingredients into the measuring cup. Then, use the back of a knife to level it.
• Use whatever nuts you like best. Walnuts’ hint of bitterness provides a nice balance to the bread’s sweetness. However, any nuts you like will suffice.
• Mash the bananas thoroughly. You can use a fork, potato masher, or hand mixer. This is particularly important for those who do not like munching on slimy and mushy banana bits. 
• Check on the bread early. The recipe calls for 60 minutes of cook time, but check it as early as 55 minutes in. You’ll know it’s done when you see some moist bread sticking to your tester toothpick. Remove from the oven right away!
• Combine dry and wet ingredients with a spatula. Fold them very gently for extra tender bread.
• Remove the bread from the pan quickly. You can give the bread about 10 minutes to cool. But after that, you need to get it out of that hot pan. If you leave it in too long, the bottom will become soggy.

For even more tips and tricks, check out this recipe for Paula Deen’s banana bread. If anyone knows how to do it right, it’s her!

Can I Use Frozen Bananas?

Frozen bananas are an excellent choice for making banana bread! Once thawed, they mash more easily and add extra moisture to the batter!

Simply thaw your frozen bananas at room temperature. If you need to speed up the process, place them (wrapped or in bags) in a bowl of warm water.

You can use them as soon as they’re soft enough to mash.

Can I Freeze Overripe Bananas?

You can absolutely freeze overripe bananas. They’re the perfect choice for banana bread, so definitely freeze them when you can!

Here’s how:

1. Place them (peel and all) in a freezer-safe bag.
2. Press as much air out of the bag as possible.
3. Seal the bag.
4. Freeze the bananas for up to 3 months.

See the above section for tips on thawing them out.

How to Ripen Bananas

To make the best banana bread, you’ll want to use bananas that are overly ripe. Of course, sometimes you just won’t have ripe bananas on hand.

There are a couple of easy ways to ripen green bananas:

1. Leave them sitting out on the counter for a day or two.
2. Pop them in the oven and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

How to Store Banana Bread

Even when you follow all the recipe tips mentioned above, banana bread tends to dry out when storing it overnight.

Here are some storage tips to keep your banana bread moist and delicious:

• Allow your bread to cool on a wire rack or a plate before refrigerating it.
• Slice your bread in thick and even slices. 
• Eat to your heart’s content and avoid leftovers!

In the unlikely event of leftovers, pack the remaining slices in plastic wrap while they’re still a little warm. This will prevent the bread from going dry.

Tin foil and airtight containers also work well at preserving the quality of the bread. Make sure that it is wrapped nice and tightly.

Place the wrapped slices inside a freezer bag. Press the bag to get rid of excess air, and gently close the seal completely.

Wrapped bread left at room temperature will last about 3-4 days. Refrigerating it will extend its life for up to 7 days.

How to Freeze Banana Bread

If you need to store your bread for an even longer period, freezing it is also an option. Doing so will make your banana bread last for 3 whole months!

Just make sure that the bread is completely cooled first. Then, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place it in a freezer-safe bag.

To serve, simply thaw it out in the fridge or at room temperature until it softens.

Moist Banana Bread Troubleshooting Tips

In case your banana bread doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, here are some things to check for.

The banana bread didn’t rise.

There are several possible explanations behind this.

1. You may have added too much or too little baking soda to the recipe. Or maybe your baking soda has already gone bad.

Baking is an exact science, so little mishaps like this could be detrimental to your bread!

2. Another possibility is that you’ve over-mixed the mixture.

Apart from resulting in a dry loaf, over-mixing can also cause your bread to be flat. The key is to fold the batter very gently to mix the ingredients together.

3. Lastly, you also could have added too much of the wet ingredients.

The wet ingredients in the recipe tend to weigh your bread down, resulting in flat banana bread.

The middle part of the bread sunk.

If your banana bread has sunk at the center, there’s one primary culprit. It probably wasn’t cooked all the way through when you took it out of the oven.

While it may have looked done on the outside, it needs at least 50 minutes to cook.

When your bread starts to turn brown, it’s completely understandable to want to take it out right away. After all, no one wants burned bread.

But that doesn’t mean you should take it out prematurely. Your batter of flour and mashed bananas will need plenty of time to cook completely.

To avoid this from happening again, a good trick is to leave it in the oven for a good 2-3 minutes after it’s cooked.

Don’t forget to leave the oven door wide open, too! Doing so will give your bread time to tighten up as it settles. 

More Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Love

Chrissy Teigen Banana Bread
Strawberry Bread
Lemon Blueberry Bread
Bisquick Banana Bread