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This easy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is soft, moist, and flavorful. The secret is to really load up on bananas (you need 5 large!) and use brown sugar instead of white. Add chocolate chips (or nuts or dried fruit) for texture and sweetness.
The key to the best Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is a fantastic banana bread recipe that can stand on its own, and then you add the correct amount of chocolate chips.
If your banana bread is dry, flat, and flavorless, chocolate chips won’t fix that! The solution? Lots of bananas and a properly-tested recipe.
This recipe uses 5 large bananas, about 2 ½ cups of mashed banana, and that’s exactly where you need to be. Don’t settle for less. And if you’re bananas aren’t ripe enough, you can fix that in the oven (details below).
Table of Contents
Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Butter: Refrigerated butter generally softens up in about 30 minutes when left out at room temperature. To soften butter in the microwave, unwrap, and place on a microwave-safe plate. Then cook the butter at 10% power for 1 minute. Gently press on the butter with your finger. Still too firm? Cook for another 40 seconds at 10% power.
- Bananas: Use fully-ripe or slightly overripe bananas (brown spots mean naturally sweet!). See Recipe FAQs for tips on how to ripen bananas in your oven. If you’re short on mashed bananas, add unsweetened applesauce to reach 2 ½ cups.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a loaf pan with butter or line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla bananas, and chocolate chips. Add flour mixture in 3 batches and beat until just incorporated (do not overmix).
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 minutes, checking every 5 minutes after until done. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 (2-pound) loaf, enough for 8 generous slices.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The loaf can be wrapped in parchment or foil and placed in a zip-top plastic bag and frozen up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
- Slice right: For a cleaner cut and to steer clear of chocolate streaks from the chips in the batter, allow the Banana Bread to cool completely before cutting into slices, and wipe the blade clean between cuts.
- Slather your slice: It’s amazing even unadorned, but my ideal Banana Bread slice is served warm and crowned with a pat of butter. If that’s not your jam, try covering your Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting, Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, Tahini, Sunflower Seed Butter, or Cashew Butter.
Recipe FAQs
You can ripen bananas in a 300-degree oven: Arrange unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet, then bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely, scoop banana pulp from peel, and mash.
Chocolate chips or walnuts are classic pairings, but you can also try dried fruit or toasted coconut.
If you’re short on mashed bananas, add unsweetened applesauce to reach 2 ½ cups.
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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter softened (see note 1)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 5 large, see note 2)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a loaf pan with butter or line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a standing mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla bananas, and chocolate chips. Add flour mixture in 3 batches and beat until just incorporated (do not overmix).
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, about 50 minutes, checking every 5 minutes after until done. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
Notes
- Butter: Refrigerated butter generally softens up in about 30 minutes when left out at room temperature. To soften butter in the microwave, unwrap, and place on a microwave-safe plate. Then cook the butter at 10% power for 1 minute. Gently press on the butter with your finger. Still too firm? Cook for another 40 seconds at 10% power.
- Bananas: Use fully-ripe or slightly overripe bananas (brown spots mean naturally sweet!). See Recipe FAQs for tips on how to ripen bananas in your oven. If you’re short on mashed bananas, add unsweetened applesauce to reach 2 ½ cups.
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 (2-pound) loaf, enough for 8 generous slices.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: The loaf can be wrapped in parchment or foil and placed in a zip-top plastic bag and frozen up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
