Desserts

Banana Bread

Name: Banana Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 1 loaf (10 slices)
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 very ripe bananas, mashed; 115 g butter, melted; 150 g sugar; 1 egg; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 tsp baking soda; pinch of salt; 190 g all-purpose flour; chopped walnuts, optional

A moist, dense loaf built on very ripe, spotty bananas.

Vegetarian

Sliced banana bread loaf on a wooden board — Let it cool completely before slicing, or it crumbles instead of cutting clean.

Prep15 min

Cook1 hr

Total1 hr 25 min

Servings 10 servings

DifficultyEasy

Overripe bananas mashed into a simple batter and baked into a moist loaf -- the best use for bananas too far gone to eat on their own.

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
115 g butter, melted
150 g sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
190 g all-purpose flour

To finish

chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175C (350F) and grease a loaf pan.
Mash the bananas well in a large bowl, then stir in the melted butter.
Stir in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir in.
Fold in the flour just until combined.
Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and makes the loaf tough instead of tender -- stop as soon as no dry flour is visible.
Fold in walnuts, if using, then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. 55 min
Cool in the pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. 10 min

Notes

The spottier and blacker the banana peel, the sweeter and more flavorful the bread -- avoid bananas that are still yellow and firm.
Keeps 4 days at room temperature wrapped; freezes well for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1 slice) -- estimated, not lab-tested.
Nutrient	Amount
Calories	220 kcal
Total Fat	9 g
Saturated Fat	5 g
Carbohydrates	34 g
Fiber	1 g
Sugar	17 g
Protein	3 g
Sodium	150 mg
Cholesterol	35 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredient data, not laboratory analysis.

Photo: Shisma, CC BY 4.0. Cropped to 3:2 and re-encoded as WebP/JPEG for web delivery.