Banana Bread is the recipe that Lucia spent weeks testing and tweaking and baking again and then again because she refused to settle for a result that was merely good when she knew from thirty-plus batches of testing that the most perfect banana bread was within reach if she was patient enough to keep going. Different sugars. Different spices. More eggs. Less flour. No butter. More oil. Baking powder versus baking soda. Shorter bakes and longer bakes and covered and uncovered.
And then finally the combination that produced the most completely extraordinary result she had ever tasted. Brown sugar only for the caramel depth and the moisture retention. Both whole eggs and an extra yolk for the richness. Sour cream for the fat and the acidity that activates the baking soda perfectly. And 70 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven for the most dramatically golden and crackling top that shatters beautifully when you press it with your finger and the most impossibly soft and moist crumb beneath.
Banana Bread is the most perfectly developed loaf with a crispy golden caramelised top, beautifully caramelised sides, and the softest and most moist crumb with big deep banana flavor made with brown sugar for caramel depth, sour cream for tenderness, both oil and butter for the most complete moisture and flavor, and warm cinnamon and allspice that make every slice taste extraordinarily complex. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful banana bread recipes and deeply developed baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Banana Bread Recipe
This Banana Bread recipe is the loaf that earns the highest and most completely deserved praise from every person who tastes it because the combination of the dramatically golden and crackling crust, the deeply caramelised and fragrant sides, and the most impossibly moist and tender crumb together create a banana bread eating experience that is genuinely unlike any other version most people have tried before.
Brown sugar only rather than white sugar or a combination of both is the ingredient choice that makes the most significant single difference in this recipe. Brown sugar’s molasses content contributes a richer and more complex caramel depth to the banana flavor, draws more moisture into the crumb during baking, and produces the most beautifully deep amber color and more dramatically caramelised crust than white sugar would.
The sour cream is the second transformative ingredient, providing both the fat that keeps the crumb soft and the mild acidity that the baking soda needs to react and produce the most beautiful and dramatic rise and the classic crack along the top. Our Blueberry Muffins make a beautifully fresh-fruited and equally easy companion for a complete and lovely everyday quick bread collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Banana Bread Recipe
For the Dry Batter:
- 2¼ cups Plain or All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda, sifted
- ½ tsp Cooking or Kosher Salt
- 1¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Allspice Powder
For the Wet Batter:
- 4 medium ripe Bananas (400g peeled, makes approximately 1¾ cups when pureed)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar, firmly packed
- 2 large Eggs plus 1 extra Egg Yolk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup Full-Fat Sour Cream
- 80g (5 tbsp) Unsalted Butter, melted
- ⅓ cup Vegetable Oil
- 2½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
How to Make This Banana Bread Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C with fan). Line a loaf pan approximately 4.5 by 8.5 by 2.75 inches with a scrunched sheet of parchment paper, pressing it into the pan and leaving overhanging sides for easy lifting. Scrunching the parchment before fitting it into the pan makes it softer and more pliable so it sits cleanly against the corners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice until well combined. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a potato masher or fork until mostly smooth. Measure out exactly 1¾ cups of the mashed banana. Add the packed brown sugar, room-temperature eggs, extra egg yolk, sour cream, melted butter, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract to the mashed banana. Whisk until fully combined.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients all at once. Use a rubber spatula to fold gently until the flour is just incorporated, cara mia. A few small flour lumps are acceptable and preferable to an overmixed batter. Overmixing develops too much gluten and produces a firmer and less tender finished loaf rather than the soft and airy crumb the recipe is designed to produce.
Pour the batter into the prepared lined pan and smooth the surface. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 70 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn the pan around halfway through the baking time for the most even color. A crack will naturally appear along the top of the loaf during baking as the expanding center pushes through the set crust. This crack is completely normal and is a beautiful and classic feature of a well-baked banana bread.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Lift out using the parchment overhang and place on a wire rack. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing for the most clean and beautiful cuts. If storing for later, cool completely which can take up to 6 hours.
How to Serve This Banana Bread Recipe
The most completely classic and universally beloved way to serve this banana bread is lightly toasted with a small pat of good cold butter. The warm toasted banana bread with melting butter is one of the most completely perfect and utterly simple eating experiences in all of everyday food. For a more indulgent dessert version, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a dollop of whipped cream, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
Our Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins make a beautifully individual and equally warm-from-the-oven companion for a complete and wonderful everyday baking spread.
How to Store This Banana Bread Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days. In warm or humid weather, refrigerate for longer freshness. For long-term storage, slice the loaf and wrap individual slices tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. This individual-slice freezing method allows you to take out exactly one slice at a time whenever needed.
Tips to Make This Banana Bread Recipe
Measure exactly 1¾ cups of mashed banana rather than simply using all of however many bananas you have. Using too much banana makes the batter too wet and produces a loaf that never sets properly through the center even with extended baking. Save any excess banana for a smoothie.
Do not use milk or buttermilk as a substitute for the sour cream in this recipe. Milk and buttermilk are significantly thinner in consistency than sour cream and change the batter’s structural composition in a way that produces a looser and less properly set loaf.
Helpful Notes for This Banana Bread Recipe
The banana ripeness affects the flavor but not the texture of this loaf. Just-ripe yellow bananas with no brown spots produce a lighter banana flavor. Heavily spotted bananas produce a deeper and more intense banana flavor. Almost black bananas produce the most concentrated and deeply sweet banana flavor. All stages of ripeness produce the same soft and moist crumb regardless of how ripe the bananas are.
If the center is still not baked after 70 minutes, loosely cover the top with foil to prevent the crust from darkening further and continue baking in 5 to 10-minute increments until a skewer comes out clean. Oven temperatures vary and some ovens run consistently cooler than their dial setting indicates.
Variation of This Banana Bread Recipe
Maria made a version adding a cup of chopped toasted pecans folded through the batter just before pouring into the pan for a banana pecan bread with the most deeply nutty and caramelised crunch in every slice. Teresa tried adding half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips alongside the spices for a banana chocolate chip version that was deeply indulgent and disappeared completely within a day of cooling.
For a tropical version, add a quarter cup of unsweetened shredded coconut and the zest of one lime to the batter alongside the vanilla for a banana coconut lime bread that is completely extraordinary and deeply fragrant. Our Banana Pancakes make a beautifully fluffy and equally banana-forward companion for a complete and wonderful banana-themed breakfast spread.
FAQs About This Banana Bread Recipe
Why does this recipe use both butter and oil?
Butter contributes its rich and distinctive dairy flavor and the depth that makes banana bread taste so completely satisfying. Oil contributes moisture that remains liquid at room temperature rather than solidifying, keeping the crumb soft for longer during storage than butter alone would. The combination of both produces the most balanced result in both flavor and lasting softness.
Why use brown sugar only rather than white sugar or a combination?
Brown sugar contains molasses which contributes a more complex caramel flavor that complements the warm banana notes in the most completely natural and harmonious way. The molasses also draws more moisture into the crumb and produces a more deeply colored and beautifully caramelised crust than white sugar alone.
What causes the crack along the top of the banana bread?
The crack along the top is completely normal and is actually a sign of a properly baked banana bread. As the center of the loaf continues expanding during baking the set outer crust splits to accommodate the growth creating the classic and beautiful crack along the top center.
Conclusion
This Banana Bread is the most completely developed and deeply tested loaf that makes every kitchen smell like the most warm and completely inviting place in the world and makes every person who receives a slice feel genuinely nourished and completely delighted by the most crispy-topped caramelised-sided moist-crumbed banana bread experience imaginable. We hope it brings the same deeply satisfied everyday warmth to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
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Banana Bread The Most Perfect Crispy Top and Moist Crumb Loaf You Will Ever Bake
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 8 to 10 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most perfectly developed Banana Bread with a crispy golden top caramelised sides and soft moist crumb made with ripe mashed bananas brown sugar eggs extra egg yolk sour cream melted butter vegetable oil vanilla cinnamon and allspice mixed into flour and baking soda and baked at 350°F for 70 minutes. A completely extraordinary and deeply tested banana bread recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups Plain or All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda sifted
1/2 tsp Cooking or Kosher Salt
1 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Allspice Powder
4 medium ripe Bananas 400g peeled makes about 1 3/4 cups pureed
1 cup Light Brown Sugar firmly packed
2 large Eggs plus 1 extra Egg Yolk room temperature
1/3 cup Full-Fat Sour Cream
80g 5 tbsp Unsalted Butter melted
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
2 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 180°C with fan. Line loaf pan with scrunched parchment leaving overhang.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice together. Set aside.
3. Mash ripe bananas until mostly smooth. Measure out exactly 1 3/4 cups.
4. Add brown sugar, eggs, extra yolk, sour cream, melted butter, oil, and vanilla to bananas. Whisk until combined.
5. Pour dry ingredients into wet. Fold gently with spatula until flour just incorporated. A few small lumps are ok. Do not overmix.
6. Pour into prepared pan. Smooth surface.
7. Bake 70 minutes turning pan halfway. A crack will form on top naturally.
8. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Lift out using parchment. Cool on wire rack at least 1 hour before slicing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Snack, Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American, Western
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 328
- Sugar: 22g
- Sodium: 126mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 44g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 22mg
Keywords: banana bread, best banana bread crispy top recipe, moist banana bread with brown sugar sour cream, perfect banana bread recipe from scratch
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