Chocolate chip banana bread is easy to make and the perfect way to use up those over-ripe bananas!
This is the best chocolate chip banana bread! It is so moist with the best flavor and it stays fresh for days!
Did you know that crafting a recipe for banana bread is actually a lot harder than you might think? There are so many variations to consider! How many bananas to use, what kind of sugar, vegetable oil vs. butter, and then there's the baking temperature/time component. This recipe has been over a year in the making, and I can finally say that it is absolutely perfect. I guarantee you won't find a better banana bread recipe!
Banana Bread Ingredients:
- Flour: All-purpose flour, measured correctly. Stir the flour in the bag to break it up and then lightly spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the flat side of a knife.
- Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic ingredients (brown sugar and sour cream), which creates carbon dioxide that helps the bread to rise during baking.
- Spices: Salt and ground cinnamon.
- Brown sugar + granulated sugar: Use both for the best texture and flavor. Granulated sugar is slightly sweeter and brown sugar has molasses which adds more moisture and also a hint of caramel flavor.
- Vegetable oil: Vegetable oil adds richness and moisture to banana bread.
- Eggs: 2 large eggs, room temperature. Take the eggs out of the fridge 30 minutes before using them, or quickly bring them to room temperature by placing them in a bowl of lukewarm (not hot) water for 5-10 minutes.
- Vanilla extract: Pure or imitation are both fine.
- Sour cream: Adds a ton of moisture without making the batter too runny. You can also substitute plain Greek yogurt.
- Milk: Whole milk is best but you can use low-fat or even non-dairy milk if you'd like.
- Very ripe bananas: For 1 and ¼ cups of mashed bananas you will need 3-4 very ripe bananas.
- Chopped walnuts: Use more or less depending on how much texture you want the bread to have. You can also leave them out completely or try some chopped pecans instead.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: I used mini chocolate chips because I feel like they get distributed throughout the bread more evenly. Feel free to use regular-sized semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can also use milk chocolate chips if you want a sweeter bread.
How to Quick-Ripen Bananas:
Want to make banana bread but don't have ripe bananas? No problem! With this method, you can easily ripen bananas fast that are yellow or even green.
Place the bananas (unpeeled) on a baking sheet and bake in a 300° oven for 20 minutes, flip them over halfway through. The peels will turn black and the flesh will be very mushy, sweet, and perfect for making banana bread!
How to Store Banana Bread:
Banana bread tastes best the day after you make it and properly stored stays fresh for 1 week, but the moistness will begin to diminish after about 4 days. The best way to store banana bread is to wrap it tightly with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or place it in an airtight container and keep it at room temperature. You shouldn't refrigerate banana bread because the cool air can make it dry out faster. If you do refrigerate it make sure it's wrapped very tightly so it doesn't get exposed to the air. You can also freeze banana bread, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Bread Recipes:
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Homemade Bagels
- Zucchini Bread
- Homemade Croissants
- Cream Cheese Swirl Pumpkin Bread
- Homemade Monkey Bread
📖 RECIPE
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Equipment
- 9 x 5" loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 and ¼ cup mashed bananas, about 4 very ripe bananas
- ⅔ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus about 2 tbsp. more for sprinkling on top
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9x5" loaf pan with parchment paper and spray the pan generously with non-stick cooking spray.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl, whisk the vegetable oil, both sugars, room temperature eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and whole milk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Make sure there aren't any pockets of flour remaining.
- In a separate bowl, use a fork to mash the very ripe bananas until mostly smooth, a few lumps are okay. Measure out 1 and ¼ cups of the mashed bananas and fold them into the batter. Fold in the mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts, if using.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, filling it ¾ of the way full. Spread it out evenly with a rubber spatula and sprinkle more mini chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from burning. Don't wrap it too tightly or the bread can stick to the foil.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2.
ginger
So yummmy Thank you!