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. For delicious meals and desserts like these; check out Publix recipes. 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!
Thanks Joanne for sharing your advice. Happy it worked out!
So I did everything as you said but my bread did not brown up at all! It looks very pale and tastes very bland! Not worthy for bringing for a dessert to a friend’s as I had planned.
I even made this amazing recipe several times now as big muffins. SO GOOD. I’ll never use another banana bread recipe.
This is hands down the absolute best banana bread recipe for me! You’re awesome Thank you, Eva Marie
Yay! So happy to hear that Eva.
whoo hoo Tama! I have some in the oven now and it smells amazing.
Sorry to hear that PW. Do you feel it cooked long enough?
I made this tonight, and it’s tastes so good! But it didn’t brown up at all. Any idea what I might have done wrong?
Hmm… well first I’m glad it tastes good. I literally just ate a piece and mine was super brown. I can’t think of a single batch I had made that didn’t brown. Can I ask if your oven rack is in the middle?
The best banana bread recipe and the only one I’ve had success with. I have to cook it a little longer than the instructions but it still comes out perfect every time. I’ve made it 3 weeks in a row!
Yay! Thank you for sharing Dee.
i’ve been making this banana bread for the last year and I’ve probably made it a dozen times + shared the recipe with multiple friends! this is just such a great banana bread! i usually have to bake it for an extra 20 minutes but I think that’s just the way my oven is. 10/10 would recommend
I’ve made this recipe many times and it’s been great. There was one time it didn’t brown up and was pretty bland, but I used one less banana than I normally do (3 instead of 4). I’d definitely go with 4, minimum.
Thanks Eva!
Thanks for sharing Cindy. I’ve used 2 in the past and it was fine and 4 in the past and it was also fine. I tend to stick to 3 but I’m happy you are experimenting and making the recipe your own. 🙂
Question, how would I adjust this for high altitude?
Absolutely love this recipe!!!! I even add my own twist on it. Using either pumpkin or cinnamon spice. With some cranberries raisins and any nut I have in the cupboard.
I bet raisins are really good- will def try that twist. Thanks Nicole!
This recipe is INCREDIBLE and made the moist delish and moist banana bread. I will DEFINITELY be using it again and would love to get the nutrition details if you have them, as I’m planning to make it a staple in my diet :))
Ha ha! I’ll work on that Ands 🙂
Does anybody know how many calories a slice is?
Making this for first time … Used pecans rather than walnuts. Smell in the house is fabulous and I’m confident the taste will be ohhhh sooo good! Just found you today, making this recipe and it will certainly not be the last… Thanks Charlene for the thought, time and energy you must expend to do all that you do here on your website….
Yay! I hope it was delicious. I love the smell too…. who needs chocolate chip cookies when you have banana bread 🙂
My apologies if I overlooked it, but what size loaf pan is this recipe good for. If it’s a 9×5, would 2 8×4’s work. I realize they would be smaller.
Terri, I use a 9×5. I think you can do smaller loaves or fill your 8×4 and you can make the rest into muffins too.
I bake all my tasty breads in round Bush Bean cans for about 55 minutes. Grease the sides and bottoms and dust with a little flour. The round circles appear most festive.
I have made this banana bread a number of times. I will never use another recipe. I made it for a work event and had requests to make it for people after the event! I added chocolate chips and did another bath with espresso chips. YUM
Oh espresso chips. That sounds excellent. Thank you Alyssa!
Do you spray the pan with Pam before pouring in mix????
Kate if you have a metal pan, I’d spray. I usually don’t in a ceramic pan.
Really loved this recipe! Definitely will keep on hand to make for family and friends.
wheres the pecans, starbucks banana bread has walnuts and pecans?
Cherie,
You can add any nuts you like. Pecans and walnuts are delicious in this recipe.
Absolutely the best banana nut bread!!! I have to make four to six loaf every week as everyone I know keeps asking me for it!!! This recipe is way better than Starbucks!!!
Oh my goodness that is crazy Roberta! Wow!
Best banana recipe EVER! It’s super easy to throw together. Once it cools I wrap it in plastic wrap to stay nice and moist. By doing this, it tastes even better the next day. We love adding mini chips to the batter and then sprinkle some on top. Another favorite variation for this recipe is to add cinnamon to the batter and then top the batter off with an oatmeal crisp topping. SOOO good
That topping sounds amazing Katis.
My all time favorite banana bread recipe. Tastes just like the Starbucks banana bread.
Thanks Paige!
Is it one cup plus 1/8th cup of sugar?
Yes Amy 🙂
This is my go to recipe, it’s just spot on – baked beautifully when I was in the states, and in the UK too. Infact I’ve got one in the oven right now, with chocolate chips, and bourbon soaked walnuts in it. The only alteration I make is half castor and half light brown sugar.
I love Starbucks banana bread so I made this today and it came kinda weird. didn’t taste like Starbucks at all. But perhaps I messed it up, I didn’t have any regular white granulated sugar so I used Zulka pure cane sugar but I didn’t think that would make much difference? It was very hard /crispy on the sides not as moist and had a weird smell. Like you could really smell the buttermilk and I only used the 2 tblspn. Maybe I should just use regular milk? Help
Hmm… well shoot. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. I’ve used buttermilk many times with no issues. I would think the sugar would be ok. How disappointing. 🙁
Oh dang. Bourbon soaked walnuts! Yum!
Ok so every time I make this my bread never turns out light. It is always a dark caramel color. DARK. What am I doing wrong?
This was delicious! I saw this recipe and immediately wanted to make it, but was sad that I didn’t have eggs or milk on hand. I subbed 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce for the egg, and ended up using Vanilla Nutpods for the milk. I had 4 bananas I needed to use, and since they were all on the smaller side I went ahead and used all 4 of them. I plot it between two small loaf pans and topped it off with chopped up roasted salted almond since I didn’t have walnuts. I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix.
Very, VERY good!
Whoa- thanks for sharing your substitutions Shelby. So glad it turned out.
Hmmm… Mine is a darker color too. I actually made some last night. If you want it lighter, have you tried foil over the top?