Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread

By Erin Jeanne McDowell

Updated March 1, 2020

  • A image shot from the side of a cut loaf of banana bread dotted with melty pieces of chocolate.
    David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
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Total Time
1½ hours
Rating
5(9,809)
Comments
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This recipe uses four bananas, which is more than is typical for a single loaf. The natural sugars from the ripe, brown bananas keep the bread incredibly moist for up to one week, even sliced. The high moisture of the batter can make it tricky to determine doneness, so take care not to underbake the the loaf. It should have a dry, shiny, cracked surface, and a tester inserted into the thickest portion should come out with a few moist crumbs attached. Serve this banana bread for breakfast or brunch, or even as a simple dessert, topped with a scoop of coffee ice cream.

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch loaf

  • Nonstick spray, as needed

  • 4 very ripe medium bananas, peeled

  • 6 tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter, melted

  • ⅓ cup/80 milliliters plain Greek yogurt

  • 1 cup/220 grams light or dark brown sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 2 cups/255 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

  • 1 cup/135 grams finely chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips (see Tip)

  • ¾ cup/130 grams coarsely chopped toasted nuts, such as almonds, walnuts or pecans (optional)

  • Coarse sanding or turbinado sugar, as needed for finishing (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

Tip

  • 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.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
9,809 user ratings
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Comments

Heidi

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...

Randy

According to King Arthur, the internal temperature of banana bread should be 200-205 degrees F. Why guess?

Jenny

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)

Maddy

A very forgiving recipe. I’ve made this many times and it tastes incredible every time. Just use however bananas you have, big or small. My tip: the chocolate chips are a MUST (50/50 split dark and milk chocolate) (don’t forget to coat them in flour before adding them into the mixture and stirring them in GENTLY - this will stop them from sinking whilst cooking). Also, I prefer without the nuts.

Mollie

Super yummy and VERY easy. I pretty consistently modify recipes to save on grocery trips and money. I used mushy bananas that were in the freezer (4 or 5 of them), subbed applesauce for yogurt because it’s what I had and threw in a few dashes of cinnamon. Cooked in about 70 minutes.

HCC

Amazing. Only substitution was to add more salt. Also cooked down some frozen bananas a bit and used those (measured to about 4 med bananas using grams). Probably the best banana bread I’ve ever made!

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