Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread
Updated March 1, 2020
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Nonstick spray, as needed
- 4very ripe medium bananas, peeled
- 6tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters plain Greek yogurt
- 1cup/220 grams light or dark brown sugar
- 2large eggs
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons baking soda
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1cup/135 grams finely chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips (see Tip)
- ¾cup/130 grams coarsely chopped toasted nuts, such as almonds, walnuts or pecans (optional)
- Coarse sanding or turbinado sugar, as needed for finishing (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, mash the bananas coarsely using a fork. They should be fully broken apart, but it’s OK if some larger lumpy pieces remain. Whisk in the melted butter, yogurt, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined.
- Step 3
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt to combine. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir to combine using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Scrape the sides and base of the bowl well to make sure the mixture is uniformly combined.
- Step 4
Gently stir in the chocolate until combined, then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread into an even layer. If using, sprinkle the surface generously with coarse sugar.
- Step 5
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the edges of the loaf start to pull away from the edge of the pan, and a tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 60 to 75 minutes. If the top of the loaf is becoming too dark before it’s baked through, loosely cover with foil.
- Step 6
Transfer from the oven to a cooling rack and run a thin knife around the edge of the banana bread to separate it from the pan. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding and cooling completely.
- To make chocolate chocolate-chip banana bread, reduce the all-purpose flour to 1¾ cups/225 grams, and whisk in ⅓ cup/30 grams cocoa powder with the other dry ingredients in Step 3.
Private Notes
Comments
I've made this as described. I've made it with substitutions. We've eaten it for breakfast. We've eaten it for dessert. No matter how I make it or when we eat it, it's heavenly. For us, it's been the Official Quick Bread of the Pandemic. We've taken to buying bananas in big bunches. We mean to eat them on our cereal, we really do. But after a few days, they start to turn, and we say, "Gosh, would you look at that? Our bananas are turning." And we turn the oven to 350...
According to King Arthur, the internal temperature of banana bread should be 200-205 degrees F. Why guess?
Made this today and subbed buttermilk for the yogurt because...staying home obviously due to social distancing! I also had to use Cake Flour for the same reason...The Banana Bread was so fabulous!!!! I highly recommend making it and even using the same substitutions! (I usually don't like when reviewers change ingredients in the recipe, but I guess we all have to learn to roll with the cards we have been dealt)
I made this recipe as written except I halved the sugar in the batter because I read some comments about it being too sweet and my bananas were… very beyond ripe. After making the batter I decided to make a streusel with the sugar I didn’t add (with oats and flour and butter and salt ofc) (yes, I made a cup and a half of streusel, I love streusel) and added it all to the top of the banana bread. Before I did though, I used the trick of laying down a line of butter in the middle of the bread so it splits evenly and rises more. I did not at chocolate chips, instead an eyeballed amount of walnuts and pecans (roasted and chopped, about a cup and a half +, I love nuts as well) and raisins (3/4 cup about). Baked it on a low rack as to try and stop burning on the top and I used the pan size recommended, but I lined it with high walls of parchment to try to combat over flowing, as some of the comments I read struggled with. I ended up cooking almost 75min, covering with foil at 60min. But WOW, worth the wait! I HIGHLY recommend halving the sugar in batter then making a huge about of streusel and putting it on top. It made it so it was not too sweet, but then you get the sweet crunch on top. This bread was so moist and the add ins were evenly distributed. Only complaint was that the edges touching the pan were a little close to being burnt, but that’s unavoidable. Next time I will add some spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
Made a lot of banana breads in my life; am typically agnostic about the recipe. This one was excellent though, and I’m bookmarking it. Followed to the letter except earth balance (sticks) for butter—it’s what I had. For the nuts I used some excellent, local pecans I had and I toasted them first per Deb Perlman’s wisdom (“always, always, always toast your nuts.”) To all future over-ripe bananas in my fruit bowl, this is your fate.
Would you say you fold in the chopped nuts at the same time as the chocolate chips? Thx :)