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.
Love, love, and love this banana bread. I want to make it for my sister but she can’t have any kind of wheat flour or oatmeal. Can I replace the all purpose flour with almond flour?
Hi Betsy! I haven’t tested that but here is some feedback from my viewers that may help. One viewer reported using GF baking flour and almond flour (half of each). Another reader left this comment, “ So I made this again and tweaked it some for gluten free. I used almond flour and added appx 1/8 cup of milk and increased the raisins to 1 1/2 cups (to add more moisture due to almond flour). I also used pecans instead, just because I prefer them. It turned out AMAZING! I would recommend this to anyone! Will definitely make this again.” I hope these help.
This is an amazing recipe, I don’t want to disregard that. Definitely delicious… but I believe you have the calories wrong? 350k calories for a loaf of banana bread, did you mean 3.5k calories?
Hi Dakota! The nutrition label is per serving. The servings are listed at the top of the recipe card, it makes 10 slices.
Found it to be delish!
I made the bananas bread, good flavor, but gummy.
Hi Frances! Over mixing the batter is the most common cause of a gummy and dense texture. Mixing just until combined keeps it light.
This recipe was great, moist, delicious and not overly sweet banana bread. Loved it.
This was a tasty banana bread! I had two over ripe bananas and put another banana in the oven to rippen. Next time I will use more honey in place of sugar but it was still delicious.
Thank you for the recipe I made banana bread and added organic pumpkin and crushed cashews! Topped it off with brown sugar and melted butter served with homemade whip cream with little bit of cream cheese in the whip it was a hit!!! Everyone loved it
Nevermind I probably should have looked in the comments below earlier 🤦🏼♀️ they said it was still delicious!
can’t wait to try it!
Can I make this without raisins and nuts? My family doesn’t like either
Yes you can! It’s still delicious without raisins or nuts.
Absolutely Delicious No changes to your recipe. Gonna make for all family members this Christmas. Thank you
Two stars is giving this the benefit of the doubt – this came out so terribly I feel like I must have screwed up. Having said that, I’ve made many banana breads before and never had this result. No idea what happened- I think the bananas may have been overly ripe (if that’s a thing), but even then – this recipe has to take some of the blame. Despite cooking it much longer than instructed it literally fell apart after coming out, and the pieces were cloyingly sweet and overly buttery. Whole thing went in the trash. What a disappointment.
Hi Erin, I’ve never had that experience before and I’ve made this probably 100 times and it’s one of the most popular on my site. Did you make any substitutions or swaps? Was your oven preheated fully?
This was also great topped with peanut butter and chocolate ice cream fresh sliced bananas, hot fudge and whipped cream for dessert .
Amazing. I’ve have used this recipe many times replacing cranberries w raisin; figs or dates. Delicious all the time. My favorite is the original cranberry recipe.
I would like to make mini loaves so I would I do that? New baker, lol
Hi Dee. You can reduce the baking time but keep the temperature the same. It should be done in about 25–35 minutes but start checking 5-10 mins before the finish time.
Didnt use raisins but added a can of pumpkin and an extra egg. Substituted 1/2 cup quick oats for 1/2 cup of the flour. Added chocolate chips the half the mixture. Friends went crazy over it. We usually cut it in slices, dip in egg and fry like french toast!! Yummmmm! Thanks for this recipe!!
Absolutely delicious! I added a little vanilla pudding as Danny had suggested. Then I baked it in a bundt pan and melted some cream cheese frosting to glaze it with. It was phenomenal!
That sounds amazing!
My granddaughter enjoyed making banana nut bread without raisins lol. She 4 i measured out all the ingredients and separate little dishes she one happy girl. Easy recipe it was delicious
Hi Diane! That’s sweet. I’m so glad you got to make memories with her making my recipe!
I made this recipe with pistachios and everyone loved it. People thought I was a baking rockstar. I can’t eat walnuts or pecans so I was wondering what other types of nuts would be a good substitute, as preparing the pistachios was quite the chore.
That’s a great idea! We love pistachios.
Can I double the recipe? And what would the baking time be? I only have one larger loaf pan so that’s my issue
Hi Angie! The recipe will double fine, but baking time depends on the size of your pan and how deep it is. Also- you’ll need to make sure it’s not overfilled or it won’t bake up well. If you have too much batter, you can make it in a smaller pan or even muffin size like our Banana Muffins Recipe.
I doubled the recipe and made one loaf and 8 mini loaves. Started the mini loaves at 15 minutes. Baking now so I’ll let you know.
Mini loaves were done at the half hour mark
If you’re doubling the recipe and want it to be EXTRA EXTRA moist, replace one of the eggs with vanilla pudding (can be store bought) and a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk, truly kicks an amazing recipe up a notch. Also, to enhance the banana flavor (and I know this sounds weird but I have been doing this for years) add a tablespoon of either orange juice or fresca. It does wonders. Thanks natasha for a great recipe!!
Thank you for sharing your experiment with it, Danny!