Banana Bread is one of our absolute favorite treats. My girls love it and honestly I do too. There is something so comforting about warm banana bread, it just makes a perfect after school snack or homemade gift.
Whenever I pop over to a Starbucks I can usually count on the girls starting to ask for the Banana Bread. They just love it.
I have been playing with various recipes for banana bread for awhile now and finally stumbled across one that we really like and that is very, very close to what we usually get at Starbucks stores.
This one is simple to make, packed with banana and is delicious plain, with nuts or add some chocolate chips for a real treat.
This recipe is actually from Starbucks directly so hopefully you like it as much as we do!
For this recipe you can totally omit the walnuts but they really do add so much flavor. You can always substitute chocolate chips for the walnuts which would be delicious.
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1⅛ cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 bananas mashed very well
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt to a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix egg, sugar and oil and stir until well combined
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. The mixture will be thick and dry.
- Next add milk, vanilla and bananas and stir until incorporated.
- Mix in walnuts and pour into a loaf pan.
- Cook 50-75 minutes, checking regularly until a knife comes out clean.
Note the success of banana bread depends on bananas. You really want super ripe or slightly brown bananas for the best flavor.
If your bananas are fresh you can place them in a brown paper bag closed tightly for a day or two to help them brown, keep them attached at the stem for faster ripening or if you need them brown right away, place them in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes and then let cool for 30 minutes. Be sure to place foil or parchment under the bananas before popping them in the oven as they may leak a tiny bit.
If you want an authentic Starbucks experience, add nuts to the dough and sprinkle on top as well.
So give this recipe and shot and come back and let me know what you think! If you want to freeze this bread, it freezes beautifully. Just let it completely cool, tightly wrap in saran wrap and then pop into a freezer bag.
When you are ready to have the bread, simply pull out of the freezer and let it defrost.
This recipe is slightly adapted from Food.com, based off a recipe released by Starbucks directly at a media event.
And here are a few other recipes you might enjoy:
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls – perfect for Christmas morning!
Just made this yesterday and it is the best banana bread recipe I have ever made! Thank you, thank you!!!
Yeah! Thrilled to hear that Tracie 🙂
If made into 12 muffins, do you have any idea how long they should cook?
I’ve made this recipe so many times and every single time it is such a success!! I also made it vegan/dairy free my using egg replacer and almond milk. This is my go to for every event! Thank you!
Oh great to know Ellie! We have vegan family members so I will try that substitution for sure.
turned out super amazing! Didn’t have the oven temp right at first so ended up cooking it way longer. The outside, even after getting a little do done was amazing!
So glad to hear that Amanda!
Made this for my family and they devoured it. Is truly the best banana bread I’ve made. Moist and light.
Happy to hear that Darlene 🙂
This has turned in to my go to banana bread recipe.simple delicious…
I’m making it a day ahead and was wondering if it can be kept at room temperature or does it have to go in the fridge?
You mean the baked bread Raimarie? Room temp is fine in an air tight container or wrapped with saran wrap. 🙂
I work at Starbucks and I’m addicted to our banana bread!! It was costing me too much to go eat it when I wasn’t working even with my discount, so I decided to look. I’m not usually a big baker, but had to at least give this a try to save my wallet. It turned out delicious and dare I say even better than the Starbucks bread. It was easy for a messy guy like me to follow cleanly(the only mess being the bag of flour that my cats knocked off the counter). Definitely making this again soon.
Whoa look at you go Jay! So happy you liked it.
On my second loaf in two days ! Switching to this receipe going forward everyone loved it ! I used chocolate chips which my kids loved
We love chocolate chips too 🙂 You can try a swirl of Nutella in there too and it is wonderful.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it several times, usually with lots of pecans, but last time I used coarsely chopped almonds and that was fantastic too! This is my go-to recipe for dealing with too-ripe bananas now. Bravo!
Yeah! So happy to hear that Carrie.
Very good and very moist. I made it in an iron skillet because I was at my mother in law’s and she did not have a load pan. I buttered the skillet and cooked it for 50 minutes. It was perfect!
Yeah! So happy to hear that Debbie.
Do you use white sugar or brown sugar?
Hi Vicki- when it says sugar that is just white granulated sugar. If it is brown sugar I always specify brown sugar. In this recipe I use white but I think brown would be fine if that is what you have. 🙂
I love this recipe and have made it several times! This time it came out a bit dense and didn’t rise as much. Has anyone experimented by adding slightly more milk? I did substitute baking soda for fresh baking powder, as I didn’t have fresh baking soda at home, but don’t think that should be the issue as both have sodium bicarbonate to make it rise. Any thoughts appreciated! It still came out super delicious, just but more dense than we like.
I love this recipe! When I make it everybody in my family that I don’t live with is already claiming it. I sometimes make it in cupcakes, loaf pan and even in the little square to get 2 loafs! lol … One thing I sub is pecans for walnuts because that’s what we do in texas!
Peanuts sound wonderful! Thanks for the tip Michelle.
Wow, so delicious! The only things I did differently was to add a little butter to the pan because I wasn’t sure if it would stick and then added nuts and chips on the top. A little background information, I have never been able to make a good banana nut bread. They either don’t taste good, or they don’t cook in the center. My husband said this is the best banana nut bread I’ve ever made, said “it’s competition quality”. I thank you so much for sharing, this will be my go-to recipe from now on!!!
Jessica I don’t have trouble with sticking but better safe than sorry and a little extra butter never hurt anyone 😉 I’m so happy you liked it!
-Charlene
Banana bread has always been hard for me, despite using practically black bananas. I’ve always had to use a mix (don’t judge haha). I can make complicated desserts that sometimes rake days but can’t get a decent loaf of banana bread.
This is an amazing recipe! I’ve finally found a recipe that tastes delicious!
So happy to hear that Wendy! Thank you for coming back to comment.
-Charlene
At first when making the batter I was a bit skeptical but trust me when I say this please. It turned out AMAZING. Not going with any other recipes but this one. Enjoy everyone.
Ha! It is very thick. My daughter made some tonight too with white, dark and milk chocolate chips and I think I ate half the loaf. 😉
-Charlene
Added chocolate chips and cinnamon! I also add an additional banana. This turns out amazing! I’ve made this at least 10x!
Wow four bananas? Glad to hear that works. I have used two but never tried four.
I love this recipe. I make it often. I usually add a little ‘baking spice’ (a blend from my favorite spice company) and some cinnamon. Otherwise, I follow the recipe exactly. Excellent every time.
I have to try cinnamon next time too. Have heard that recommended a bunch of times. Thanks Chris!
My bread has an after taste.. any ideas why? Thank you
I have made this several times now as well! I find myself with bananas fixing to go bad so I peel them and put them in a ziplock bag then place in the freezer until I am able to make this bread! It is a favorite by many…
I haven’t used frozen bananas so I’ll remember that it works just fine. Thanks for sharing Tricia.
I made 6 loaves of this banana bread tonight!!!! I received A LOT of bananas recently and needed to do something with them other than banana pudding . THE KIDS AND HUBBY LOVED THE BANANA BREAD !!! I did have to trouble shoot a little and thought I would share that experience in case anyone else might find it helpful.
The first loaf did not turn out so well, due to my oven. I have an older gas stove that seems to cook hotter and faster. I never cook anything as long as directed. I turned the oven down to 300 degrees and cooked the loaves for an hour. MUCH better.
I also felt like the bread was a little dry on the edges and bottom – again probably due to my oven. I changed the recipe to include 4-5 bananas and I turned the oven down more. I cooked the loaves for 1 hour and twenty minutes at 250 degrees. PERFECTION ❤!!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thanks for sharing Anita! So glad you thought to make those adjustments. Happy it worked out.
Would you change the temperature or cook time for a silicon bread pan? I don’t have a metal one!
I’m not really sure on the difference between silicone and metal… I did a quick google search and it looks like the bread might not bake evenly or brown as well in silicone. You know what I would try G is only putting half the mixture in your pan, put the other half in the fridge and just bake smaller loaves. Check after 30 min and bake as long as needed. I bet a smaller loaf might work out better in the silicone… Let us know how it turns out for you!
-Charlene
Thank you for this recipe my kiddos say it’s better than Starbucks and seeing we live well over an hour from a Starbucks it’s great to have this recipe!
Whoa!! Lol Mireya I had no idea there was anywhere in the world an hour away from a Starbucks. So glad you liked it.
Question. You didn’t mention anything about baking spray on loaf pan. Should I put some anyways?
I don’t use it but you can if you like.