Classic Banana Bread
Banana bread with melted butter and chopped walnuts, baked in a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Use very ripe bananas and let the loaf cool before slicing.
- Original yieldYield
- 1 9x5 inch loaf1 9x5 inch loaf
- PrepPrep time
- CookCook time
- TotalTotal time
Includes 10 minutes cooling in the pan and 1 hour on a rack.
Published Updated
Original recipe: 1 9x5 inch loaf
The story behind the recipe
Three heavily spotted bananas can become the reason to turn on the oven. Their flesh mashes easily, their sweetness is welcome in batter, and a loaf gives them a more appealing future than another day in the fruit bowl. Melted butter, vanilla and chopped walnuts make this a straightforward banana bread with a little crunch in each slice.
The loaf that included bran
Banana bread hasn't always meant quite the same thing. In its baking comparison across the decades, King Arthur Baking made the Banana-Nut Bread from the 1930 My New Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It contained a cup of wheat bran and produced a smaller, rougher loaf with less fat and sugar than many later examples.
Fruit and nuts connect those loaves, but the flour, fat and sweetness make a considerable difference. The bread here is a contemporary butter-and-walnut loaf, with the soft banana-rich crumb many people now expect from the name.
Read more about this recipe
Measure the mash as well as counting
Bananas vary enough in size that three won't always give the same amount of fruit. The approximate mashed volume in the ingredient list helps keep the batter consistent. Very ripe fruit is easier to mash smoothly, leaving the walnuts to provide the distinct pieces in the finished slice.
This loaf doesn't need a creaming stage. Melted butter stirs into the banana, keeping the preparation manageable with a bowl and a fork or spoon. The mixing becomes gentler once flour enters: stop when the dry streaks disappear, so you don't keep working a batter that's already combined.
Chopped walnuts give contrast without making a slice difficult to cut. Their slight bitterness also sits well beside sweet fruit and vanilla. There's no need for a complicated topping when the ingredients inside already give you soft crumb and nut pieces together.
A loaf needs time in the middle
The 9x5-inch pan matters. A deeper layer of batter changes how long heat takes to reach the center, which is why a double batch belongs in two matching pans. Keeping the depth familiar gives the toothpick check a sensible place within the stated baking range.
Cooling belongs in the plan too. A brief rest in the pan is followed by the longer wait on a rack, so the loaf can settle before slicing. The aroma makes patience difficult, but a cooled slice is much easier to handle and wrap.
Freeze individual slices if you want to keep part of the loaf for later. Then the next overripe bunch can wait its turn, and breakfast doesn't require cutting into a whole new loaf.
Make it your wayOriginal: 8 servings · Makes 1 9x5 inch loaf
Original recipe: 1 9x5 inch loaf
Ingredients
For 1 9x5 inch loaf. Quantities are shown as written.
Source measurement convention: US customary. Explicit unit definitions take precedence; unconfirmed measures must be checked before conversion.
Original quantities for 1 9x5 inch loaf.
- Medium overripe bananas (about 1.5 cups mashed)3
- Melted butter1/3 cup
- Butter (as needed, for greasing)
- Baking soda1 tsp
- Salt1 pinch
- White sugar3/4 cup
- Large egg1
- Vanilla extract1 tsp
- All-purpose flour1 1/2 cups
- Chopped walnuts1/2 cup
Measurement notes
- melted butter, white sugar, all-purpose flour, chopped walnuts: US cup: 1 = 236.5882 ml (rounded).
- baking soda, vanilla extract: US tsp: 1 = 4.9289 ml (rounded).
Measurement notes
Original ingredients
- 3 medium overripe bananas (about 1.5 cups mashed)
- 1/3 cup melted butterUS cup: 1 = 236.5882 ml (rounded).
- Butter (as needed, for greasing)
- 1 teaspoon baking sodaUS tsp: 1 = 4.9289 ml (rounded).
- 1 pinch salt
- 3/4 cup white sugarUS cup: 1 = 236.5882 ml (rounded).
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extractUS tsp: 1 = 4.9289 ml (rounded).
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flourUS cup: 1 = 236.5882 ml (rounded).
- 1/2 cup chopped walnutsUS cup: 1 = 236.5882 ml (rounded).
Equipment
9x5 inch loaf pan
Wire cooling rack
Instructions
Prepare the oven and loaf pan
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with the extra butter.
Peel the bananas
Peel the overripe bananas and place them in a large mixing bowl.
Mash bananas
Mash the bananas completely with a fork until they form a smooth paste.
Stir in melted butter
Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
Add baking soda and salt
Mix in the baking soda and the pinch of salt.
Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla
Stir in the white sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract until well combined.
Fold in the flour
Gently fold in the all-purpose flour until you can no longer see dry streaks, being careful not to overmix.
Fold in walnuts
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Fill the pan
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
Bake the loaf
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Store the bread
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Estimated calories 320 kcal
Nutrition portion: 1/8 of recipe · Original yield: 1 9x5 inch loaf
Source & assumptions
Ingredient-based estimate using CoFID 2021, USDA SR Legacy (2018). About 320 kcal per nutrition portion (1/8 of the recipe). The nutrition portion is one standard slice, one-eighth of the loaf, using the existing eight-slice count. Includes the walnuts and the small vanilla-extract input. Unmeasured butter for greasing the pan is excluded. Actual ingredients and preparation affect the estimate.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
For a double batch, divide between two 9x5-inch loaf pans. Cooking time does not scale automatically.
Original recipe notes
These notes describe the original recipe. Quantities mentioned here do not change when you adjust servings.
The banana amount is about 1.5 cups mashed; fruit size varies, so check the mashed amount as well as counting the bananas.
Fold in the flour just until the dry streaks disappear. Check the center of the loaf with a toothpick toward the end of the stated baking range.
Measuring the flour with a scale? Choose all-purpose flour in the cups-to-grams converter; a cup of flour and a cup of walnuts need different weights.
Storage
Cool completely before wrapping or putting the loaf in an airtight container. Wrap individual slices for freezing if you want to keep some for later.
Read the scaling guide. Times, temperatures and equipment need their own consideration. Open the recipe tool to review and correct individual amounts.
Recipe details
- Cuisine
- American
- Cooking method
- Oven
- Main ingredient
- Fruit
- Browse category
- Baking & Desserts