Home Recipes Bread Recipes Banana Breads
Lindsay ChampionUpdated: Mar. 23, 2024
When life gives you mushy bananas, make banana bread! Whether you love it studded with walnuts and chocolate chips or prefer a more traditional loaf, these banana bread recipes are total crowd-pleasers.
Banana bread makes every meal better, whether you’re swapping it for toast at brunch, topping it with vanilla ice cream for dessert, or simply snacking on a slice as is. Banana bread is one of our favorite loaf pan recipes.Customize your creation by adding canned pumpkin, cinnamon sugar apples, dried cranberries or baker-approved chocolate chips. Revisit tried-and-true classics or test out delicious new favorites you’ll want to bake on repeat.
If your bananas are too yellow and you’re craving a soft slice of breap ASAP, here’s how to ripen bananas quickly. Not ready to bake just yet? This is how to make bananas last longer. And if you’ve ever wondered can you eat green bananas? the answer is yes.
1/25
Best Ever Banana Bread
We named this the best banana bread because it’s a straightforward recipe that turns out great every time. Use ripe bananas, since they are easier to mash and give off a more intense banana flavor.
Go to Recipe
2/25
Cast-Iron Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Top the bread with dried banana chips for extra texture and crunch. To keep the bread from sticking to the cast-iron pan, make sure it’s properly seasoned and grease the pan generously before adding the batter. Here’s how to season a cast-iron pan if you need a refresher.
Go to Recipe
3/25
3-Ingredient Banana Bread
It doesn’t get any easier than this foolproof recipe. You only need cake mix, eggs and bananas to make it happen.
Go to Recipe
4/25
Special Banana Nut Bread
Chopped pecans—and a bit of rum, if desired—make this bread extra special. Creaming butter and sugar takes time, so use an electric mixer to speed things up.
Go to Recipe
5/25
Gluten-Free Banana Bread
This one’s for you, gluten-free friends. Gluten-free flour and a bit of unsweetened applesauce create the perfect texture.
Go to Recipe
6/25
Banana-Zucchini Bread
This recipe makes two 9×5-inch loaves, so you can eat one now and freeze the other one to enjoy later. The water content in the zucchini helps keep the bread extra moist. Find more of our best zucchini bread recipes.
Go to Recipe
7/25
Makeover Banana Nut Bread
This loaf is light on sugar and butter, thanks to the addition of applesauce, honey and an extra banana. Believe it or not, it’s only 165 calories and 3 grams of fat per slice.
Go to Recipe
8/25
Special Banana Nut Bread
We’ve never met a banana bread we didn’t like, but this extra-decadent version made with cream cheese and a sweet orange glaze takes the cake. Err, bread.
Go to Recipe
9/25
Upside-Down Banana Monkey Bread
You’ll want to dust off your stand mixer for this one. The recipe includes yeast, so you’ll need to knead it like traditional bread dough and let it rise for about an hour before baking it. The results are gooey, sweet and completely irresistible.
Go to Recipe
10/25
Banana Chip Bread
Chocolate chips and banana bread were made to pair together. Make sure you buy the best chocolate chips so the quality shines through in every slice. This recipe goes a step further by adding chopped pecans, but you can leave them out if you don’t like the crunch.
Go to Recipe
11/25
Banana Bread Pudding
If you prefer scooping up your banana bread with a spoon, this ooey-gooey dessert version will hit the spot. Day-old bread and a homemade vanilla sauce give it a decadent texture.
Go to Recipe
12/25
Double Cranberry Banana Bread
A cup of whole-berry cranberry sauce—yep, like the kind you eat on Thanksgiving—keeps this recipe deliciously moist. Dried cranberries add even more texture, flavor and color. Try more of our favorite cranberry recipes to use up any leftovers.
Go to Recipe
13/25
Pumpkin Banana Bread
If you’re like us, you always have an extra can or two of pumpkin puree sitting in your pantry. Put it to good use and make this festive pumpkin banana bread, which is great for snacking, dessert or even gifting.
Go to Recipe
14/25
Moist Banana Nut Bread
You’ll never guess the secret ingredient that gives this plant-based banana bread loaf its moist texture. It’s silken tofu, which also adds 4 grams of protein to each slice.
Go to Recipe
15/25
Chocolate Banana Bread
Mix things up by adding 2 cups of all-purpose cocoa powder to this otherwise traditional banana bread recipe. The rich, sweet loaf pairs fabulously with vanilla ice cream. Keep everything from-scratch by learning how to make your own homemade vanilla ice cream.
Go to Recipe
16/25
I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas Bread
Caramel sundae syrup, apples and shredded coconut make this banana bread taste more like dessert than a breakfast bread. Braeburns, Fuji and Honeycrisp make some of the best apples for baking.
Go to Recipe
17/25
Easy Banana Bread
There’s nothing crazy in this recipe, just basic pantry ingredients and some very ripe bananas. It does call for shortening instead of butter, so make sure you have some on hand if you don’t want to swap for butter.
Go to Recipe
18/25
Moist Pineapple Banana Bread
A can of crushed pineapple, cinnamon, vanilla extract and walnuts make this banana bread an extra special treat. Just combine the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry ingredients in another bowl, then combine them and pour the batter into loaf pans. That’s it!
Go to Recipe
19/25
Microwave Banana Bread
Sometimes you want banana bread…now. Luckily, this microwave mug cake recipe requires only seven ingredients and about two minutes of cooking time. Next, try a chocolate peanut butter mug cake.
Go to Recipe
20/25
Banana Pecan Loaf
While this pecan-studded bread is delicious on its own, the real star of the recipe is the two-ingredient pineapple spread. Combine a package of cream cheese and a can of crushed pineapple, then serve it on the side.
Go to Recipe
21/25
Peanut Butter-Banana Muffins
Move over, jelly. There’s no better combo than peanut butter and banana, and this quick muffin recipe proves it. You’ll have a warm batch on the table in just about 35 minutes.
Go to Recipe
22/25
Blueberry Banana Bread
You can use fresh or frozen blueberries for this flavorful loaf. If you’re using frozen berries, don’t thaw them before adding them to the batter or the whole batch will turn blue!
Go to Recipe
23/25
Air-Fryer Banana Bread
If you’ve never tried baking banana bread in the air fryer, the time is now. As long as it fits inside the air fryer, any oven-safe dish—including a loaf pan—is safe to use.
Go to Recipe
24/25
Banana Bread Snack Cakes
These cute little snack cakes work great for on-the-go breakfasts and packed school lunches.
Go to Recipe
25/25
Walnut Banana Bread
This no-nonsense recipe is so easy to whip up, it’s practically foolproof. One reader recommends doubling the recipe, then eating one loaf and freezing the other.
Go to Recipe
Originally Published: January 26, 2022
Lindsay Champion
Lindsay has worked in digital media for more than a decade, covering topics like food, health and wellness, and life in New York City. Though she now writes for sites like Taste of Home, PureWow and Well+Good, she originally got her start at Broadway.com as a features editor. Lindsay is the author of the novel "Someday, Somewhere" and is working on a second.
When she isn’t writing, you can find Lindsay curled up with a book, spending time with her family or exploring NYC.