An easy and moist Banana Bread Recipe that is loaded with bananas, tangy-sweet raisins, and toasted walnuts. This is one of our favorite overripe banana recipes with hundreds of 5-star reviews.
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Banana Nut Bread Recipe:
This is my husband’s recipe which he has perfected over the years and he is known for his Banana Bread. He makes it frequently and it always disappears fast! It is simple to make and our favorite way to use up overripe bananas so they never go to waste. It’s super moist and makes a great breakfast on-the-go. We even created Banana Muffins from this recipe.
This loaf stays moist for days and also makes for a thoughtful and delicious gift idea for the holidays (I’ll take banana bread over fruit cake any day).
Banana Bread Video Tutorial:
Watch Natasha make this moist banana bread. You will be surprised at how easy it is. We will never stop loving this recipe. Now go forth and bake!
Ingredients for Banana Bread:
This is everything you need to make the best banana bread: flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, softened butter, eggs and of course very ripe bananas. Adding walnuts and raisins is optional but adds great taste and texture, turning it into a banana nut bread.
Can I Omit Walnuts and Raisins?
YES! The recipe will still work if raisins and walnuts are omitted. We make it nut-free all the time due to a walnut allergy in the family. You will still have the softest, super moist and scrumptious loaf. You can also replace them with some chocolate to make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.
How to Ripen Bananas:
- Quick Oven Method: If your bananas are a little green and you want them to ripen quicker, place them on a baking sheet and bake at 250˚F for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the initial ripeness of the bananas.
- 24 Hour Counter Method: If you are willing to wait 1 day, you can place the bunch of bananas (without separating them) in a paper bag, cover and leave at room temperature. Bananas emit ethylene which causes ripening. Adding an apple to the bag will speed up the process.
Can I Freeze Overripe Bananas?
If you have overripe bananas and aren’t ready to bake with them, DO NOT throw them away!
How to Freeze Bananas: place them un-peeled in a freezer-safe bag, remove any excess air and freeze up to 3 months. You can use thawed bananas for banana bread. You can also freeze them peeled and cut into pieces for easier use in smoothies. P.S. You can also freeze a whole banana bread with the same method!
How to Make Banana Bread:
This is the easiest banana bread recipe. We mix it in a stand mixer because it’s easy, but you can use an electric hand mixer and can even make it work with a hand whisk. There is no fancy equipment required. Watch the video tutorial below and you will be a pro in no time!
- In the mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Mix in mashed bananas and eggs.
- Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda and add to batter.
- Stir in vanilla, walnuts, and raisins, transfer to prepared loaf pan and bake.
Substitutions for a Healthy Banana Bread:
- My sister Anna made this into a honey banana bread; replacing sugar with honey.
- Use organic whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.
- Replace 1 Tbsp of flour with 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed.
- Reduce sugar to 1/2 cup when using very ripe bananas; they add plenty of sweetness
Love Sweet Breads? Try these Popular Bread Recipes:
We love sweetbreads because they are easy to make and are such a treat, especially when you top them with Honey Butter! Don’t miss these reader favorites:
- Apple Bread – a pull-apart moist apple bread
- Pumpkin Bread – so easy and we love it year-round
- Banana Chocolate Chip Bread always disappears fast
- Persimmon Bread – great way to use ripe persimmon
Moist Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas, (medium/large)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (8 Tbsp) at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a bread loaf pan (9.25 long x 5.25 wide x 2.75 deep). Lightly roast walnuts on a skillet, continuously stirring so they won’t burn. Coarsely chop and cool to room temperature.
- In a mixing bowl, cream together 8 Tbsp softened butter and 3/4 cup sugar (or honey if using honey).
- Mash bananas with a fork until the consistency of chunky applesauce and add them to the batter along with 2 eggs, mixing until blended.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together: 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 tsp of salt then add to batter.
- Add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and mix in chopped walnuts and raisins. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350˚F for 55-60 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let banana bread rest for 10 min before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This banana bread recipe was first published in 2009; one of the very first recipes on our blog! It has been a reader and family favorite ever since.
I made this banana bread and it came out so so good, moist, light and not too sweet. Thanks Natasha
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed that!
Outstanding!
Hello Natasha. I love your banana bread recipe.How much honey you suggested I used.
Thank you very much.
Hi Daphne, I’ve had a couple of readers report using honey as a substitute with success, however, none provided details. If you decide to try it, please let us know how it goes!
Hi Natasha, do you think it could work ok if I substituted coconut flour at all for the all purpose flour?
Thanks so much,
Lisa
Hi Lisa, I haven’t experimented with gluten-free flour/ coconut flour so can’t make a recommendation. If you experiment with it, let me know how it goes.
You will need to add xanathan gum to make gluten red with either coconut flour or almond flour
Can I use zucchini instead of the bananas, if not, do you have a recipe for zucchini nut bread?
Hi Potreen, you can find a zucchini version here. or these zucchini muffins here.
Natasha please upload your sisters banana bread recipe with wheat flour and honey
Thank you
I just made this and my gosh it is sooooo yummy..Thank you
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Jovi!
All bananas are all sizes and medium are also different…u get the drift. So 3 bananas is how many cups
Hi Lisa, I didn’t measure it that way but this recipe calls for about 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas. I hope you love this banana bread recipe!
I want to use whole wheat flour instead of regular flour. What measurements should I use or can I use it the same way 1/1.
Hi Laurel, I honestly haven’t tested it with whole wheat but 3 or 4 of my readers reported great results using whole wheat flour. I am assuming they used an equal amount: 1:1 substitution because they didn’t state otherwise.
The taste is great but for some reason it didn’t rise very much. Went back to check the recipe to see if I missed baking powder or put in the wrong amount, but no. Will try again because like I said the taste is really good.
Hi Charlene, I haven’t had that happen before but I am always happy to help troubleshoot. My first though is to make sure the baking soda is fresh and still active and also to make sure you are using the correct amount and not substituting it with anything else (like baking powder which has 1/4 the strength of baking soda). Any other substitutions might affect the rise or baking on a different mode such as convection without making the necessary temp or time modifications. I sure hope that helps!
Made this so many times. The only banana bread recipe I will use
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Alex!
Thank you for your quick response. I am going to make it again and put the baking time down to 45 to 50 minutes and see what happens. I follow the directions to the T so I think it’s the altitude or maybe my oven might be off, I’ll check with an oven thermometer. Thanks again, Diane
I don’t know what I am doing wrong with this banana bread recipe, I’ve made it many times and it keeps coming out very dry. I do live at an altitude of 10,000 above sea level so I don’t know if that has something to do with it.
Hi Diane, I haven’t had it come out dry following the recipe – the only thing that comes to mind is – did you possibly use a convection oven setting which would cause it to over bake? Or does your oven tend to run hot? Or did you possibly use a larger pan which would require less baking time? I hope that helps to troubleshoot. Altitude may have something to do with it also, did you adjust the bake time any?
I LOVE this recipe! It’s so easy and 99% of the time, I already have all the ingredients I need. It’s moist, sweet, and SO delicious! I leave out the raisins and walnuts (I like simple banana bread) and it’s still amazing! I have Celiac so I also substitute a gluten free flour in there. It’s hard not to eat it all in one sitting!
This is definitely a favorite around here! Thank you for that great review, Tayler!
Thanks for the recipe.what should I substitute eggs with.pls state the quantity as well.pure vegan
Hi Akanksha! I don’t think it would work the same without the eggs but again, I haven’t tested it without the eggs.
I made this but it came out real dark tasted ok what type of bread pan is best dark or light?
HI Sylvia, a darker pan will make your bread darker and a lighter one will be lighter in color but the flavor and moisture will be the same so I would suggest using whatever type of pan you have. Here is our chocolate chip banana bread – the same banana bread base baked in a lighter pan.
Natasha, I made your banana bread and it was wonderful!! I never cared for banana bread until I tasted my sister’s and fell in love with it. She gave me your recipe and I passed it on to my other sister. Next I want to make the lemon blueberry cake! Can’t wait. Love all your recipes.
Judy W.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Judy! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
I’ve tried this recipe twice and both times, the batter was boiling after 60 min in the oven. It looks like there’s too much butter? I measured the flour correctly. Is it because I skipped the nuts? The bread tasted fine after I poured out the excess butter, but the top was burnt. Not sure why this keeps happening 🙁
Hi Bex, I’ve never seen banana bread boil to be honest but I am always happy to help troubleshoot. I wonder if possibly more butter was used than is called for in the recipe? Also, make sure the butter is softened (not melted) so it incorporates easier into the sugar. If the butter is properly blended into the batter, it should not pool at all at the top. Also be sure you are using the bake mode and not the convection setting. Hope that helps!
I have made this recipe about a dozen times, all times 100% great. Today I failed to make the sugar+butter paste to then mix with all other ingredients. Outside is over cooked and inside is slightly under cooked. We’re all eating it anyway because this banana bread is always a huge hit here.
Again, if you did not mix the right amount of butter with the sugar to make a sandy paste, then that is likely the issue (if all other recipe details were followed).
My opinion & observation! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Chivi!
Made this today, absolutely delicious! I used coconut oil in place of the butter due to needing dairy free, used 1/2 cup honey rather than sugar (however in hindsight I would have reduced further as the bananas I used were super ripe and very sweet), omitted the walnuts as didn’t have any on hand. Thanks for the amazing recipe 🙂
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us Sheena!
Hi Natasha,
I made this Banana bread using a slightly larger loaf pan which is dark in colour. I baked the Banana bread for 60mins and the centre of the bread was just Lovely and moist but the bottom and the outer sides were very dark and slightly burned is there anything you could advise that I should do for next time?
I baked it at 175c. My oven rack was more towards the bottom of the oven, do you think that could have anything to do with the burning on outer parts of the bread?
Thankyou
Cathy x
Hi Cathy, I am more than happy to troubleshoot! Was anything altered in the recipe? Is your ocen rack towards the middle of the oven and your oven temperature is calibrated?
Hello 👋🏻,
Using the proper size pan, this recipe comes out beautifully. I have substituted 1 grated carrot 🥕 for the raisins and sprinkled some toffe bits and/or chocolate chips on top. Delicious 😋
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed that Rita!
I tried this bread recipes it came nicely as my son liked very much….here I like to thank you for sharing such a simple way explained recipe.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that!