Moist Banana Bread

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 12/28/22
Moist Banana Bread

The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 50 mins
Total: 65 mins
Servings: 8 servings
Yield: 1 loaf

This moist banana bread recipe helps put overripe bananas, that would otherwise be destined for the garbage, to good use. That makes it a great recipe for anyone who hates wasting bananas, as well as anyone who loves moist banana bread.

What makes it so moist? We use oil instead of butter, since oil is liquid at room temperature whereas butter is solid, and will continue to be after the bread is baked and cooled. It also uses two eggs instead of the typical one that you'll find in a lot of quick bread recipes. The egg also imparts moisture to the bread. Finally, the bananas themselves provide significant moisture.

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups (228 grams) all-purpose flour

  • 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 3 large very ripe bananas

  • 1/4 cup oil

  • 2 large eggs

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Moist Banana Bread ingredients

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  2. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Thoroughly grease a 9-inch loaf pan.

    grease a 9-inch loaf pan

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, nuts, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

    combine the flour, nuts, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  4. Peel the bananas and mash them in a separate mixing bowl using a potato masher or a fork.

    Peel the bananas and mash them in a separate mixing bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  5. Stir the oil into the mashed bananas and mix until well blended.

    Stir the oil into the mashed bananas

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  6. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add the sugar and beat until dissolved.

    eggs and sugar in a bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  7. Stir in the vanilla, then add the egg mixture to the banana mixture and stir until combined.

    Stir in the vanilla, then add the egg mixture to the banana mixture

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  8. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently until there are no more pockets of dry flour. It's okay if the batter is visibly lumpy. It is extremely important not to overmix the batter, or the resulting bread will be tough.

    Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  9. Once the liquid and dry ingredients have been combined, gently pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and transfer to the oven immediately. Bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

    gently pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  10. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.

    banana bread cooling in the pan

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

  11. To remove the bread, carefully invert the pan—the loaf should drop right out, so make sure you support it with your other hand. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack at room temperature.

    Moist Banana Bread on a wire cooling rack

    The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

Tips

  • The key to good quick bread is not overmixing the batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added to the dry, mix the batter by hand just until the flour is moistened, which should only take about 10 seconds. Too much mixing can cause the final product to be dry, tough, or misshapen.
  • Add in the nuts with the dry ingredients instead of folding them into the batter right before baking. This ensures that they will not sink to the bottom of the loaf. This trick works with blueberries, chocolate chips, or any other add-ins. 

Recipe Variations

  • If you'd like to try and make this bread a bit more moist, feel free to 1/2 cup of milk or plain yogurt to the egg mixture. For that matter, you could use banana yogurt if you happen to have that on hand.
  • For a sweeter bread, add a big handful of chocolate chips along with or in place of the nuts.
  • For a real treat, serve this banana bread drizzled with a creamy vanilla custard sauce called crème anglaise.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
389 Calories
17g Fat
54g Carbs
7g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 389
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g 22%
Saturated Fat 2g 9%
Cholesterol 47mg 16%
Sodium 291mg 13%
Total Carbohydrate 54g 20%
Dietary Fiber 3g 11%
Total Sugars 25g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 5mg 23%
Calcium 62mg 5%
Iron 2mg 12%
Potassium 290mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)