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!
I have a loaf baking right now.
I have a question about the gas vs. Electric oven baking times. We just moved into a new home that has a gas oven. Do you have any suggestions on the difference in electric vs gas on timing ?
Well shoot. I have no idea Karen. Let us know how it worked out for you.
This is my favorite banana bread!!!
Could I substitute with almond milk? Would that affect how the bread bakes?
Annie- I haven’t tried almond milk but I think it should be fine. I think people have commented before with lots of substitutions and have been happy with the result.
🙂
I have made this bread twice , every one loved it. it is now our family favorite.
Yay! Happy to hear that Carol.
This is my go to banana bread. I’ve made is more times than I can count; it’s always a hit and never lasts for more than 2 days!
Lol totally Jenna. Ours never lasts either. So happy you like it!
Amazing recipe! It was hit in my house. I used coconut oil & almond milk.
Glad you liked it Alex!
Can you use almond flour? If so, what is the ratio?
I love this recipe! Can you sub almond flour? If so, how much?
Allison,
I have not tried Almond Flour outside of making macroons so I can’t say for sure but I believe it is one for one substitution. So instead of 2 cups of flour you use 2 cups of almond flour.
I am not sure how the baking time would be impacted – let us know how it goes. 🙂
-Charlene
I made this today and used half brown sugar and half granulated sugar. I have an electric stove and put it in for about 50 minutes.. The top was nice and crispy, but the loaf didn’t come out as moist as I would have liked. The sides and bottom of the loaf were dark, but not burned. Any thoughts on how I could make this a little moist? and more banana-y? Totally user error of course.
Shoot. I’m so sorry to hear that Karen. I have overcooked mine before and found that it was a little dry. You used 3 bananas? I wonder if you over mixed the dough? That is so easy to do considering how dry this dough is.
Here are some suggestions from All Recipes that might point to an answer:
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/banana-bread-mistakes/
I hope that helps. 🙁 I’m sorry your bread didn’t turn out as well.
I’m trying to just print the recipe but your ‘Print’ link is not working for me. It goes to a ‘Page Not Found’ page. Can you point me to a printable link for this recipe, please?
Thanks!
Hi Julie, It is working for me in Chrome. Sorry you are having trouble. Does this link work for you?
https://myfrugaladventures.com/easyrecipe-print/196228-0/
Do you need to grease and flour the pan ?
Hi Sandra- I don’t but I use a ceramic baking dish. If you use metal maybe just grease it. If I am going to pull the loaf out of the pan as a gift I will take that extra step but otherwise it doesn’t really stick.
Hi
I put 1/2 cup sugar it’s in the oven right now – is that okay? I know your recipe called for more but I thought the bananas will make it sweet on it’s own.
Hi
I put 1/2 cup sugar it’s in the oven right now – is that okay? I know your recipe called for more but I thought the bananas will make it sweet on it’s own. Please let me know!
Sara, I have used less sugar in the past and wasn’t as happy with the recipe but it should still be good. I hope you enjoy 🙂
I’m slightly addicted to Starbucks banana nut bread, so I had pretty high expectations when making this. And I must say – it did not disappoint! It was a little less dense than Starbucks bread, which I prefer.
I’m sure it would have been perfect without modification, but I had 4 bananas and didn’t want to waste any, so I put all 4 in. I also added cinnamon and topped it with streusel at my hubby’s request.
Soooo yummy! Definitely a keeper!
The first time I made this, my family loved it! I made it again this morning and doubled the recipe. All of the loaves turned out perfectly! So if any of you are wondering about doubling, it works great to double the measurements and mix everything together before diving into your pans.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Happy to hear that Sarah!!
Thanks for sharing Liz!
I just made this recipe with a substitute of almond milk. I also added crushed pieces of Reese’s Cereal and salted peanuts on top, accompanied by a peanut butter glaze. Heavenly.
Wow Reese’s sounds amazing. Great idea Portia!
I made this banana bread twice. Great recipe! I used sour cream instead of milk and butter instead of oil. I also used 2 eggs instead of one. It came out perfect both times. Never had this much success with any other banana bread recipe. 5 stars
Wow Diane sour cream? I wouldn’t have thought to try that. Sounds good!
Love this recipe. I added an extra banana and brown sugar since there was no vanilla extract in my home. This bread literally did not last past a day lol. My entire family ate all of it and raves about it ^_^. I actually made this in my muffin pan to try and avoid it getting attacked in one day. It was to good to stay away from lol.
Happy to hear that Jazzy! Never lasts long in our house either 🙂
I have done this recipe tones of times.
With walnuts, chocolate chips , pecans.
It’s always turned out fab.
Hi, I’d like to make mini loaves a d wonder if the temp or time to bake will change for that?
Thanks!
Jennifer- I would def check at about 30 min and keep checking every 5-10 min after that point just to be safe. I can’t imagine you need the full baking time.
Good luck,
My family loves this recipe! Can I bake these as muffins instead of a loaf. If so, what would be the bake time?
I’ve made this in the past and it is fantastic. It slices so nicely. I used about 3/4 cup sugar because I don’t like too sweet. For someone who commented it came out dark on the outside…most banana loafs do that. I lost my notes but I recall I found 325 too low. It look so long to bake at 325.
Thanks Sandy!
I just took a loaf of this out of the over. I make this recipe often, but instead of nuts I add 1/2 cup of cinnamon chips. Right now my house smells amazing and my husband is just waiting for it to be cool enough to cut.
Hi- what size loaf pan do you use? I have an 8 inch and a 9 inch-
Yay! So happy to hear that Janet. Cinnamon Chips sound awesome.
Hi Kristen- the 9in for sure. Some people find the dough is a little too much for the smaller pans.