Twenty-five banana breads look identical in a list, and the names do not help. What actually separates them is one number: the bananas against the cups of flour. Count it and you know what you are getting before you turn the oven on.
Three bananas to one cup of flour is the wettest end, and it bakes dense and almost fudgy. That is where the chocolate loaves, the gluten free one and the high protein one sit. Three bananas to a cup and a half is the standard, and it is what most people picture. Three bananas to two cups of flour is the dry end, and it rises taller and slices cleanly without crumbling, which is where the Greek yogurt, buttermilk, cornstarch and walnut loaves are.
The second number is fat. It runs from none at all in the high protein and gluten free loaves to half a cup of butter or oil against a cup and a half of flour. That gap alone is the difference between 166 calories a slice and 531, and no amount of reading the title tells you which one you have picked.
The first group below is deliberately the same loaf seven times with a single ingredient changed: buttermilk, sour cream, Greek yogurt, oil instead of butter, a spoon of cornstarch, or baking powder in place of soda. Each swap does something specific to the crumb, and each entry says what. Times run from 55 minutes to two hours twenty, and every loaf on this page wants properly brown bananas, spotted and soft rather than merely yellow. An underripe banana brings less sugar and less water, and that is the most common reason a banana bread comes out dry.
The Standard Loaf, Seven Ways
Same shape, one ingredient changed each time. Compare these seven and you understand every other loaf on the page.
Super Moist Banana Bread
Nine ingredients in one bowl, and the lowest fat of these seven at a third of a cup of butter to a cup and a half of flour. Three bananas against that flour is the ratio everything else here is measured against. Twenty other pages on the site link to it, which makes it the default. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 10 slices · 220 calories
Greek Yogurt Banana Bread with Brown Sugar
A third of a cup of Greek yogurt with two full cups of flour gives the driest batter of the seven, which is why it slices cleanly instead of crumbling. Three quarters of a cup of nuts and a whole cup of chocolate chips are why it reaches 531 calories. View the full recipe — 2 hours 20 minutes · makes 8 slices · 531 calories
Buttermilk Banana Bread
Half a cup of buttermilk against two cups of flour. The acid reacts with the teaspoon of baking soda, so this one climbs higher than the plain loaves without any extra leavening. Nine ingredients and 65 minutes. View the full recipe — 1 hour 5 minutes · makes 10 slices · 302 calories
Moist Sour Cream Banana Bread
The same banana to flour ratio as the standard loaf, with half a cup of sour cream added on top of the butter rather than in place of it. That is the whole difference, and the walnuts, mini chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar take it to 384 calories against 220. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 8 slices · 384 calories
Canola Oil Banana Bread
Oil instead of butter, which keeps the crumb soft straight out of the refrigerator in a way butter does not. Half a cup of oil to a cup and a half of flour makes this the richest of the plain loaves. View the full recipe — 1 hour 5 minutes · makes 10 slices · 289 calories
Cornstarch Banana Bread
One cup of banana to two cups of flour, the driest ratio on this page, with a tablespoon of cornstarch softening the flour further. That combination is what gives a cake crumb instead of a pudding-dense one. Twelve slices rather than ten. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 12 slices · 329 calories
No Baking Soda Banana Bread
Two teaspoons of baking powder and no baking soda at all, which matters if you have run out or if you taste the slight soapiness soda can leave. Nine ingredients, and it rises just as tall. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · makes 10 slices · 298 calories
Lighter Loaves
Four under 225 calories a slice. Two of them have no added fat at all, which the fruit has to compensate for.
High Protein Banana Bread
No butter and no oil anywhere. Greek yogurt, two eggs and half a cup of vanilla protein powder carry it, sweetened with a quarter cup of honey rather than sugar. One hundred and sixty-six calories a slice, the lightest loaf here. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · makes 8 slices · 166 calories
Gluten Free Banana Bread
Seven ingredients and no added fat, which is unusual for a gluten free bake. One cup of gluten free blend against three bananas, so the fruit is doing all of the moisture work on its own. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · makes 8 slices · 167 calories
Small Batch Banana Bread
Two bananas and one cup of flour, which is the right size when you have two going brown rather than three. Eight ingredients, 55 minutes, and the standard ratios scaled down rather than changed. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · makes 8 slices · 210 calories
Whole Wheat Applesauce Banana Bread
A quarter cup of butter and a third of a cup of sugar against a cup and a half of flour, the leanest ratio on the page. Half a cup of applesauce does the work the missing butter would have done, and half the flour is whole wheat. View the full recipe — 1 hour · makes 8 slices · 222 calories
Chocolate and Nuts
Five at the wet end of the ratio. Four of them use only one cup of flour against three bananas, which is why they bake dense.
Double Chocolate Banana Bread with Cocoa and Sour Cream
Half a cup of Dutch process cocoa replaces a third of the flour, plus a full cup of bittersweet chips and half a cup of sour cream. Four hundred and sixty-one calories, the richest loaf in the collection. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 8 slices · 461 calories
Fudgy Chocolate Banana Bread
The same cocoa and chocolate chips with only a quarter cup of butter, and honey standing in for half the sugar. That is why it lands at 364 rather than 461, and why the texture reads fudgy rather than cakey. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 8 slices · 364 calories
Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Nine ingredients: the standard loaf with a full cup of chocolate chips folded through. Sixty minutes, the fastest bake in this group, and nothing to prepare separately. View the full recipe — 1 hour · makes 10 slices · 356 calories
Chocolate Nut Banana Bread
Chocolate chips, walnuts and a quarter cup of peanut butter all in one loaf, against only a single cup of flour. Twelve ingredients and eighty minutes, the longest bake here because the batter is that heavy. View the full recipe — 1 hour 20 minutes · makes 10 slices · 372 calories
Walnut Banana Bread
Half a cup of oil with two tablespoons of buttermilk against two cups of flour, so the crumb comes out lighter than the butter loaves. Half a cup of walnuts and a teaspoon of cinnamon, and no chocolate in it at all. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · makes 10 slices · 363 calories
Fruit, Vegetable and Swirl
Five where something else is sharing the moisture work with the banana. Two of them are the same cinnamon and brown sugar used in two different places.
Blueberry Banana Bread
A full cup of fresh blueberries into the standard batter. At 262 calories it is lighter than the chocolate loaves, because the fruit fills volume that chocolate chips would have filled with fat and sugar. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · makes 10 slices · 262 calories
Hawaiian Pineapple Banana Bread
Four bananas and a cup of crushed pineapple against two cups of flour, which is a very wet batter. That is why this is the only loaf on the page using baking powder and baking soda together to lift it. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 10 slices · 274 calories
Zucchini Banana Bread
Two bananas and one grated zucchini, so the vegetable is carrying the moisture a third banana would otherwise bring. Nine ingredients, and it does not taste of zucchini. View the full recipe — 1 hour 15 minutes · makes 10 slices · 280 calories
Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
Two teaspoons of cinnamon with a quarter cup of brown sugar layered through the middle rather than stirred in, which is the only way the swirl is still visible when you slice it. Ninety minutes, the longest bake here. View the full recipe — 1 hour 30 minutes · makes 8 slices · 360 calories
Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread
The same cinnamon and brown sugar, but as a streusel on top instead of a swirl inside, with a quarter cup of extra flour and a tablespoon of butter to make it crumble rather than melt. View the full recipe — 1 hour 10 minutes · makes 10 slices · 263 calories
No Eggs, No Dairy, or No Wheat
Four that remove something rather than add it. In each case the entry says what is doing the job of the missing ingredient.
Applesauce Eggless Banana Bread
No eggs. A quarter cup of applesauce does the binding and the three bananas do the rest. Two hundred and nine calories a slice, and nothing in it is a substitute you have to go out and buy. View the full recipe — 1 hour 5 minutes · makes 10 slices · 209 calories
Vegetable Oil Eggless Banana Bread
Also eggless, but built on a full cup of milk and a third of a cup of oil against two cups of flour. Fifty-five minutes start to finish, the fastest loaf on this page. View the full recipe — 55 minutes · makes 10 slices · 243 calories
Oat Milk Banana Bread
No eggs and no dairy at all: half a cup of oat milk with a third of a cup of neutral oil, lifted by two teaspoons of baking powder because there is no acid here for soda to react with. View the full recipe — 1 hour · makes 8 slices · 318 calories
Cinnamon Almond Flour Banana Bread
Two cups of almond flour and no wheat, and no added sugar either, so the three bananas are the only sweetener in it. Eight ingredients, and at 214 calories it comes in under most of the wheat loaves. View the full recipe — 1 hour · makes 8 slices · 214 calories
Banana Bread Questions Worth Answering First
How ripe do the bananas actually need to be?
Spotted and soft, not merely yellow. A banana with brown patches over most of the skin has converted much of its starch to sugar and has softened enough to mash without lumps. A firm yellow banana brings less sugar and less water, and that single substitution is the most common reason a loaf comes out dry and bland. If yours are not there yet, bake them unpeeled at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes until the skins blacken, then cool and mash.
Why did mine come out dry, or gummy in the middle?
Both are usually the ratio rather than the oven. Dry means too much flour for the banana: if you have three medium bananas and the recipe wants two cups of flour, you are at the dry end of this page, which is correct for that recipe but not what most people expect. Gummy in the middle is the opposite, too much banana for the flour, and it also comes from overmixing, which develops gluten and traps moisture. Stir until the flour just disappears and stop.
Can I swap butter for oil, or the other way round?
Yes, cup for cup, and this page lets you see the result. The standard loaf uses a third of a cup of butter and comes to 220 calories a slice; the canola oil version uses half a cup of oil and comes to 289. Oil keeps the crumb soft when the loaf is cold, which is why it is the better choice if you are slicing it over several days. Butter gives more flavor on the first day. Neither changes the bake time.
Do I have to use baking soda?
No, and one loaf here is built specifically without it. Baking soda needs an acid to react with, which in banana bread is the fruit itself plus any buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Baking powder brings its own acid, so it works in a batter with none. The rule of thumb is three times as much baking powder as the soda you are replacing, which is why the no baking soda loaf uses two teaspoons of powder where the others use one of soda.
How should I store it, and does it freeze?
Wrapped at room temperature for three days, and it is better on the second day than the first because the crumb settles and the banana flavor comes forward. The refrigerator firms up butter loaves, which is the one argument for the oil version. For freezing, cool it completely, slice it first, then wrap the slices individually, so you can take out one at a time and toast it straight from frozen. Whole loaves freeze for three months and thaw unwrapped at room temperature.
More Collections to Bake From
There is some overlap with these, though each is organized around a different decision.
- 25 Banana Recipes — Beyond the loaf: muffins, smoothies, puddings and cakes.
- 25 Bread Recipes — Yeast loaves, quick breads and flatbreads.
- 25 Breakfast Recipes — Where a slice of this belongs, with the rest of the morning.
- 25 Chocolate Recipes — If the double chocolate loaf was the part you wanted.
- 25 Cake Recipes — For when a loaf pan is not the right shape.
Browse all of our recipe collections.
