Is there anything more comforting than homemade banana bread? Not to me. Happiness is slicing into a warm loaf of banana bread, fresh out of the oven.
I have a plethora of bananas in my freezer at all times, probably because I like buying those big bundles of bananas at the grocery store and can never eat them fast enough. I’m very picky when it comes to bananas – they need to be perfectly ripe, otherwise I won’t eat them. I like them when they just turn from green to yellow, when they’re still a little tangy. Once the skin starts to brown and they go soft…no thanks. I stick them in my freezer instead so I’m always able to whip up some banana bread when I’m craving it.
Which is often, especially at a time like this when the seasons start to change and the weather gets a little cooler. I like to have a loaf of banana bread on my counter at all times; when one loaf gets eaten, I make another, then another, and so on. A slice of banana bread is the perfect on-the-go breakfast, and incredibly satisfying on those happy mornings when I wake up extra early to hit the gym before work. (Which doesn’t happen as often as I’d like anymore, thanks to the pooch! And also I’m lazy.)
I first started out with a classic recipe from the Joy of Cooking, but over the years I’ve modified it to my own personal tastes. I’ve tried additions of pecans, raisins, zucchini and even coconut, but this combination of walnuts and chocolate chips is my absolute favourite.
This recipe produces a loaf that’s dense but incredibly moist and full of flavour. If you take your bananas straight from the freezer, let them thaw until they are a mushy consistency. If you’re using bananas from your counter, make sure they’re as ripe as you can get them, and mash them as best you can. The hardest part is waiting for the loaf to bake, since it makes the house smell amazing!
If you’re like me, sometimes you just need your baked good GLAZED! This loaf is wonderful topped with a classic vanilla glaze. See the notes section of the recipe below for a how-to.
| Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Bread | | Print |
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¾ stick of butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a loaf pan; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar and butter until fluffly. Add in eggs, bananas and vanilla, beating until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 parts, mixing until smooth after each addition. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
1½ cups confectioner's sugar
2½ Tbsp milk
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter, melted
Mix all ingredients until creamy. Drizzle over bread and let harden for 20 minutes.
I made this yesterday with half chocolate/half peanut butter chips and it was ahhhmazing! Heck yes, banana bread!
That’s an awesome idea! Yum!
Thank you for this recipie! I made it last night, it was so moist and delicious!! Love your photos xx
Thanks Kat! I’m so glad, and thank you for the feedback!
Baking this now…. looks amazing! (The batter tasted great) You have a beautiful blog, I can’t wait to try out more recipes!
Thank you so much Ali! It’s so nice hearing from our readers and the people who actually try out our recipes! I hoped you liked the banana bread! It’s one of my faves 🙂
I seen this trick on how to make a banana go from disgustingly brown to perfect ripeness again. If you take it out of the freezer put it in a bowl of rice and cover the banana with rice on top for about 1-2 min then take a blow dryer press the cool button and go up and down on the banana it will turn it very rip again
Good tip, Ashley!
So glad I found this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Hope you enjoy!
Finally! The perfect banana bread recipe after trying so many for so long. Thank you so very much for sharing this.
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s such a staple in my house, I make it every other week! Cheers!
Baking it right now! The batter tastes amazing and the house smells like heaven. So glad I found this recipe.
Thank you Jennifer! Doesn’t it just make your house smell amazing?! Hope you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this twice now and I always have to cook it over 1 hour! Is it my over? 🙁 Please help!!!!!
Sorry, I meant oven****! The middle is still quite wet after 1 hour…
Hi Mirielle, sorry to hear that! It could possibly be your oven – I make this recipe all the time and it always takes an hour to bake through. You could try increasing the temperature to 375°F, or just bake for a bit longer until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
I am going to try this out tomorrow after the reviews I can hardly wait!!!
Let me know how it turns out!
Wow! This has been the BEST banana bread I’ve ever made, it is so rich! Loved it, I will definitely be saving this as my all time favorite for banana bread, thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you!
Made this on Saturday night to take along as a snack for the Women’s March 2018 in Los Angeles. It is delicious! What a great recipe, thank you for sharing it! I used mini chocolate chips since I had them on hand, 2/3 cup instead of the full cup called for, and walnuts for the nuts. It needed 1 hourand 15 minutes in my oven. Will definitely be my go-to recipe for banana bread now, thanks again!
So great to hear it was a hit, Sara! (Especially great to hear it was a hit feeding hungry ladies at your local Women’s March- YES!!! 😀 <3 )
This was by far the best banana bread I’ve ever made or ate! And the icing was the perfect amount of sweetness!
Yay! So great to hear, Kimberly!
Thank you, Kimberly! It’s so good, isn’t it!
One of the best recipes I’ve found on line. It comes out looking exactly like the picture and delicious every time I make it, I highly recommend this recipe.
I’ve tried a few banana bread recipes, and this one is the best. It’s delicious and so moist. Everyone who’s tried this, raves about it
I made this cake according to your recipe and I had a wonderful cake. Thank you!
Made this for the first time today – it was absolutely perfect! Thank you!!
Amazingly Delicious So easy and fast to make. Thank you for your wonderful inspiration. Makes my life easy to plan ahead!!
Easy to make, crowd pleaser. I have been looking for a banana bread recipe forever that would turn out moist and have some extra “pizazz”, like the flavor from the chocolate. This is definitely a winner, and if I can make it, anyone can!
What size loaf pan do you recommend?
This is my FAVORITE recipe I,ve ever found! Lost it for a whole year and Thank God I found it again! Just made two loaves and added coconut! Delious! Next time cranberries! Please tell me what size loaf pan you recommend as I’m planning on making many more of these during the holidays! Also, is it advisable to double the recipe ? Thanks for your reply! A fan forever! Sincerely, Rebecca D
I love this recipe! I tried it yesterday, subbed coconut oil for butter and used only 3/4 cup of brown sugar as total sugar content. It was great.Not too sweet and moist.
This recipe worked out really well as muffins. I baked them for 22 minutes at the prescribed temperature. Very moist and fluffy. We’ll make them again. 🙂
This recipe is sooo easy to do and sooooo good! I cooked mine in a 11x5x3 jumbo loaf pan and i used 5 bananas. Still its good. I used half brown and half white sugar. Its a bit too sweet hihi but its okay for us. . Next time i will use 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/2 brown sugar. Thank you for this no-fail recipe!
I was looking for a really good banana bread recipe and this one was perfect! I decided not to add any chocolate chips or walnuts just because I was looking for something simple- and this was still amazingly delicious! I will definitely be making this in the future!
Hi! I live in Florida and will be using small Florida bananas from my tree. Do you have an estimate of the weight of three regular mashed bananas? I’ll have to use more than 3 small bananas and just was wondering about how many grams or cups 3 regulars weigh. Thank you!