This Moist Banana Bread recipe has been passed down to me from my childhood next-door neighbors. This is a recipe I have made time and time again and experimented with different variations without fail. If you are looking for a tasty, classic, and easy moist banana bread recipe you’ve found it. Even my French mother-in-law has asked me to hand over this recipe! And you better believe the French know what good food is.
To Begin
Begin by preheating the oven to 325°F. To start this recipe you want to make sure you have at least three ripened bananas saved. They should have indications of brown on them, otherwise, they are not ripe enough. Trust me, I have made this recipe with yellow bananas and it wasn’t nearly as tasty. Start by mashing your bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl.
After the bananas are smashed, throw in your sugar and oil. The original recipe called for vegetable oil. However, I have used coconut oil, canola oil, olive oil, and even grapeseed oil as a substitute and the recipe has turned out just as good. It doesn’t really matter what kind of oil you use, just whatever you have on hand. Mix the sugar and oil into the bananas with a whisk until it is almost smooth.
Mixing Things Up
Next add in the eggs, vanilla extract, and salt and stir well. Listen, I use a lot of vanilla extract. So, I usually buy it in large quantities. My Mama was a cake baker, and she always had at least two bottles of vanilla on deck. Forgive me if I overuse vanilla, I’m a baker’s daughter.
This mix is referred to as the wet ingredients, because well uh they’re wet… Now, on to the dry ingredients! In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Now slowly fold in the dry ingredients into the wet with a spatula. You want to fold it in just until everything is just mixed and there aren’t any dry flour bits. Now let the mix sit for about 5-10 minutes. I’m not sure exactly what this waiting step does, but I learned this from Alton Brown’s Good Eat’s show when he was baking moist banana bread.
Prepare The Pan
While your mix is sitting, grease a loaf pan with butter. I use a glass loaf pan, so I can see how golden the entire loaf is while it’s baking. However, you can use ceramic, and metal loaf pans as well. Grease it well, and leave no corner ungreased!
After you have spread butter across the loaf pan, sprinkle some flour in it. You then want to gently tap your loaf pan on the counter to spread around the flour evenly, then dump out any excess flour. Make sure the flour gets all the way up the sides of the loaf pan. You reallllly don’t want your moist banana bread to get stuck in the pan after its done baking. Believe me, it is a travesty.
Bake and Serve
After your loaf pan is greased and floured, pour in the banana bread mix. If you are a nut lover, now is the time to sprinkle on walnuts or pecans! Now put your mix in the oven and bake it for about 60-75 minutes. You want to bake it until the top is a nice golden brown color, and you can insert a fork or toothpick and it comes out clean (not covered in batter). If you want to use the mix for muffins you can do that as well, just bake them for about 18-24 minutes in a muffin pan that fits about 12 muffins.
Once your bread is done baking, allow it to cool before diving in. It is best served warm with whipped cream or ice cream! Or, as leftovers with coffee the next morning with breakfast! Comment down below if you use this recipe as a base for a different variation!
Banana Bread Recipe
This recipe has been passed down through neighbors and family throughout the years. It is the best banana bread recipe I have ever made. It is easy to make, and if you throw in the tiny bits of baking knowledge I picked up from years of watching cooking shows, it just tastes superb.
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Rest time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Mashed ripe bananas (3 large bananas)
- 3/4 cup Vegetable Oil (or any other cooking oil)
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon (Optional)
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1/2 cup Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
Directions
- Heat oven to 325°F
- Grease loaf pan with butter then sprinkle on an even light coat of flour
- Mix by hand with whisk sugar, bananas, oil, and eggs in a bowl then add in vanilla extract and salt. Mix until smooth. Be sure to only use ripe (brown spotted) bananas.
- In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon
- Fold in dry ingredients to wet ingredients with a spatula and allow the mix to sit for about 5-10 minutes
- Pour mix into greased loaf pan and sprinkle on nuts
- Bake for 60-75 minutes or until pick can be inserted in the center and comes out clean. If baking muffins, bake for about 18-24 minutes
- Serve warm or cooled. Best served with whipped cream or coffee!
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