Three brown bananas on the counter is the most common reason anyone searches for a banana recipe. Banana bread is the usual answer, and five good ones are below, but it is not the fastest answer and it is not always the one you want.

The quickest recipe here takes 5 minutes and the longest needs five and a half hours, almost all of it chilling in the refrigerator. Under every recipe you will find how many it serves, how long it takes from start to finish, and how many ingredients it needs. Those numbers come from the recipe card, not from an estimate.

One practical note before you start: the riper the banana the better, for everything on this page except the layered desserts. Brown skin and a soft feel mean more sugar and more banana flavor. For banana pudding and banana split cake you want firm yellow bananas instead, because slices need to hold their shape between the layers.

Banana Bread: Five Worth Choosing Between

Every banana bread uses the same handful of ingredients, so the differences that matter are the ratios and the one addition that changes the loaf. These five are genuinely different from each other.

Super Moist Banana Bread

The baseline, and the one to make if you have never made banana bread. Three very ripe bananas, a third of a cup of butter, three quarters of a cup of sugar and a single egg, which is the lightest ratio here. Nine ingredients and one bowl. View the full recipe — Serves 10 · 75 minutes · 9 ingredients

Banana Nut Bread

The richer version of the same loaf: half a cup of butter instead of a third, a full cup of sugar, two eggs instead of one, and three quarters of a cup of chopped walnuts folded through. If the plain loaf has ever tasted thin to you, this is why. View the full recipe — Serves 10 · 65 minutes · 9 ingredients

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Two teaspoons of cinnamon and a quarter cup of brown sugar are mixed together and dragged through the batter with a knife, so you get a dark ribbon running through each slice rather than cinnamon spread evenly. Ninety minutes, which is the longest bake in this group. View the full recipe — Serves 8 · 90 minutes · 10 ingredients

Double Chocolate Banana Bread with Cocoa and Sour Cream

Half a cup of Dutch process cocoa goes into the flour and a cup of bittersweet chips goes into the batter, and half a cup of sour cream keeps it from drying out the way cocoa usually does. This reads more like a chocolate cake than a breakfast loaf. View the full recipe — Serves 8 · 75 minutes · 11 ingredients

Hawaiian Pineapple Banana Bread

Four bananas plus a cup of crushed pineapple, which is a lot of wet fruit, so this one uses two cups of flour and both baking soda and baking powder to carry it. The result is the moistest loaf on the page. View the full recipe — Serves 10 · 75 minutes · 10 ingredients

Banana Bread Without Gluten, Eggs or Wheat Flour

Not substitutions bolted onto a standard recipe, but three loaves built around the restriction from the start.

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Seven ingredients, the shortest list on this page. A cup of gluten free flour blend, three bananas, two eggs and half a cup of brown sugar, with baking powder rather than soda. No butter and no oil at all. View the full recipe — Serves 8 · 70 minutes · 7 ingredients

Brown Sugar Eggless Banana Bread

No eggs. A third of a cup of vegetable oil and half a cup of milk do the binding instead, with a full cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Ten servings from one loaf. View the full recipe — Serves 10 · 75 minutes · 10 ingredients

Honey Almond Flour Banana Bread

Two cups of almond flour instead of wheat, three eggs to hold it together, and a quarter cup of honey as the only sweetener. Sixty minutes, the fastest loaf here, because almond flour sets sooner than wheat. View the full recipe — Serves 8 · 60 minutes · 8 ingredients

Banana Muffins

Muffins are the answer when you want the same thing as banana bread in half the time. All three of these are done in under 40 minutes, against 60 to 90 for a loaf.

Brown Sugar Banana Muffins with Cinnamon and Nutmeg

A cup and a half of mashed banana, which is more fruit per muffin than most, with two thirds of a cup of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Thirty eight minutes for twelve. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 38 minutes · 13 ingredients

Banana Blackberry Muffins

Two bananas and a whole cup of blackberries, so the berries are the point rather than a scattering. A tablespoon of baking powder gives these the highest rise in the group. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 35 minutes · 11 ingredients

Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins with Brown Sugar

Six bananas, which is twice what anything else here uses, and a third of a cup of chocolate hazelnut spread. Makes eighteen rather than twelve, and still the fastest at 33 minutes. View the full recipe — Serves 18 · 33 minutes · 11 ingredients

Banana Smoothies

A frozen or very ripe banana is what makes a smoothie thick without ice cream. These four take 5 to 10 minutes and need a blender and nothing else.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Five ingredients and 5 minutes: two bananas, two tablespoons of peanut butter, half a cup of milk, a tablespoon of honey and a cup of ice. The most filling drink on this page. View the full recipe — Serves 2 · 5 minutes · 5 ingredients

Banana Blueberry Smoothie with Yogurt and Almond Milk

Two bananas with a full cup of blueberries, three quarters of a cup of plain yogurt and a cup of unsweetened almond milk. The yogurt is what makes it thick rather than icy. View the full recipe — Serves 2 · 10 minutes · 5 ingredients

Green Spinach Banana Smoothie

A cup of baby spinach you will not taste, one banana, half a cup of mixed berries and two tablespoons of almond butter. Five minutes, six ingredients. View the full recipe — Serves 2 · 5 minutes · 6 ingredients

Mango Banana Yogurt Smoothie

The simplest one here: a ripe mango, a banana, a cup of plain yogurt, half a cup of milk and ice. Serves four from five ingredients in 5 minutes. View the full recipe — Serves 4 · 5 minutes · 5 ingredients

Banana Pudding and No Bake Desserts

These are the long ones, but almost none of the time is work. Each needs several hours in the refrigerator to set, so read the total time before you plan around one. Use firm yellow bananas here, not brown.

Layered Banana Pudding

The classic, built from a 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, a box of instant vanilla pudding, two and a half cups of heavy cream and two thirds of a cup of marshmallow creme, layered with five to six bananas and an 11 ounce box of vanilla wafers. Seven ingredients, five and a half hours, twelve servings. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 330 minutes · 7 ingredients

No Bake Banana Pudding Cheesecake with Vanilla Wafer Crust

No baking at all. A crust of 40 to 50 crushed vanilla wafers and half a cup of butter under a filling of 16 ounces of cream cheese, banana pudding mix, a cup of sour cream and whipped topping. View the full recipe — Serves 10 · 330 minutes · 11 ingredients

Banana Pudding Lush

The potluck version, layered in a 9×13 pan: wafer and butter base, a cream cheese layer, then two boxes of banana pudding with three cups of cold milk. Under five hours and it serves twelve. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 285 minutes · 9 ingredients

Layered Banana Cream Pie

The shortest of these at under four hours. A graham crust from a cup of crumbs and six tablespoons of butter, two bananas, and a filling of instant vanilla pudding set with two cups of cold whole milk. View the full recipe — Serves 8 · 225 minutes · 8 ingredients

Banana Cakes and Bars

Same fruit, different pan. These give you squares to cut rather than slices from a loaf, which makes them easier to carry somewhere.

Banana Bread Brownies

A third of a cup of cocoa and half a cup of Greek yogurt turn banana bread batter into something fudgier. Two bananas, walnuts and chocolate chips, baked in 45 minutes for twelve squares. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 45 minutes · 11 ingredients

Banana Crazy Cake

No eggs, no butter, no dairy at all. Half a cup of oil and a tablespoon of white vinegar react with the baking soda to lift it, which is the whole trick of a crazy cake. Three bananas, cinnamon and walnuts, done in 50 minutes. View the full recipe — Serves 9 · 50 minutes · 11 ingredients

Layered Banana Split Cake

The biggest recipe on this page: a graham base, 16 ounces of cream cheese, four bananas tossed in lemon juice to stop them browning, 40 ounces of crushed pineapple, whipped topping, cherries and pecans. Twelve ingredients, no oven, four and a half hours. View the full recipe — Serves 12 · 270 minutes · 12 ingredients

Breakfast and Snacks

Three recipes for one or two people that use a single banana and take 25 minutes or less.

Grilled Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich

Four ingredients and ten minutes. Two slices of bread, three tablespoons of peanut butter, a sliced banana and a tablespoon of butter in the pan. Serves one. View the full recipe — Serves 1 · 10 minutes · 4 ingredients

Banana Granola Acai Bowl

Four ounces of frozen acai puree blended with a banana and a third of a cup of milk, then topped with a second sliced banana, granola, nut butter, honey and chia seeds. One bowl, ten minutes. View the full recipe — Serves 1 · 10 minutes · 9 ingredients

Fried Banana Bites with Pancake Mix and Powdered Sugar

Six ingredients, one of which is pancake mix. Three bananas cut into pieces, dipped in a batter of a cup of mix with a cup of milk and an egg, fried and dusted with powdered sugar. Twenty five minutes for four. View the full recipe — Serves 4 · 25 minutes · 6 ingredients

Before You Choose Your Recipe

The single thing that decides how good any of these turn out is how ripe the bananas are. For the breads, muffins, smoothies, cakes and bars, you want skin that is heavily speckled or fully brown and fruit that gives easily when you press it. A yellow banana has not finished converting its starch to sugar, so the loaf comes out bland and pale no matter how much sugar you add. If yours are still firm, leave them in a paper bag on the counter overnight, or bake them in their skins at 300 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes and let them cool. The exception is the layered desserts: banana pudding, the cream pie and the banana split cake all need firm yellow slices that hold their shape and will not turn to mush between the layers, and those recipes use lemon juice or a cover of pudding to keep the cut faces from browning.

Common Questions About Baking With Bananas

How ripe do bananas need to be?

Heavily speckled to fully brown, and soft to a light press, for anything baked or blended. That is when the starch has turned to sugar. Fully black skin is still fine as long as the fruit inside has not fermented or gone watery. For banana pudding and the layered cakes you want the opposite, firm and yellow, so the slices hold up.

Can I use frozen bananas?

Yes for smoothies, where frozen is better because it thickens the drink without ice. For baking, thaw them first and pour off the liquid that separates, or your batter will be too wet. Three thawed bananas drain off a surprising amount.

What is the fastest banana recipe here?

Three at 5 minutes: the peanut butter smoothie, the green spinach smoothie and the mango yogurt smoothie. If you want something baked, the chocolate hazelnut banana muffins are done in 33 minutes and make eighteen.

Why did my banana bread sink in the middle?

Usually too much banana or underbaking. The loaves on this page use three bananas to roughly a cup and a half of flour, and the pineapple one adds two cups of flour precisely because it carries four bananas plus a cup of pineapple. Adding a fourth banana to a three banana recipe is the most common cause. Test with a skewer in the center, not off to the side.

Which of these can I make a day ahead?

All four of the pudding and no bake desserts are better the next day, and they need several hours of chilling anyway. The breads and bars keep well wrapped at room temperature for two to three days. Muffins are best on the first day. Smoothies should be made and drunk immediately.