Healthy and Easy Banana Bread Recipe

Author: Veruska Anconitano, Award-Winning Food Travel Journalist, Sommelier & Outdoor LoverAuthor information
Veruska
About the author
Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
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Banana Bread Recipe Quick and Easy: is this a dream? Let me reassure you: it’s no! The banana bread is in fact one of those recipes we can prepare when we’ve a bunch of overripe bananas sitting on our counter but also when we want to treat ourselves and our families (just as the zucchini bread!). It’s a very easy recipe and it can be prepared in a short amount of time. Imagine you can serve it with some butter, jam or also my famous Italian mascarpone cream! Yum!

The secret to make the banana bread moist

A good banana bread recipe allows to obtain a sweet bread that stays moist for days. In fact, it is the balance of the ingredients that makes the banana bread perfectly suitable both for people looking for something different and for people used to eat it.

The mix for this banana bread requires quite a lot of brown sugar. This, along with the nuts, makes the bread dark almost as if using whole wheat flour.

There are an incredible amount of recipes to prepare a superb banana bread at home, but what I wanna share with you is my simple, quick and affordable recipe for a perfect homemade banana bread.

The good news about this recipe? You can whip the ingredients by hand, adding a little bit of workout to your usual routine.

The secret of a good banana bread is the bananas that should be extremely ripe; I use baking soda for making the bread rise but it is possible to use powdered yeast. You can also avoid the butter and use oil for moist bread, but remember that the butter will give the bread a nice taste as well while oil has to be carefully chosen to avoid problems in terms of taste and consistency (e.g. olive oil is not good in this case). One of the better substitute for classic butter is coconut butter: it gives the bread a nice finishing and the smell in the kitchen is just wow!

One of the secrets of a perfect banana bread is the mix: I recommend you work it with a spatula, not with an electric mixer. In this way, the mixture will be tender and moist, easy to spread and cook and, most of all, not crumbly.

If you like nuts, sprinkle them on top of the bread so to give it a crunchy texture; together with the walnuts in the batter, they will give you a perfectly balanced cake with a toasted flavor.

There is a gazillion of banana bread recipes, but this one is tested, easy to make, quick and delicious: I’m sure you’ll love it, and you can eventually avoid sugar by using some maple syrup that will also give an extra kick to the batter.

Ingredients for for a 4x8-inch loaf pan

  • 125 grams of soft butter (0.55 cups)
  • 175 grams of brown sugar (3/8 cups)
  • 2 big eggs
  • 4 ripe bananas (2 cups)
  • 75 grams of roughly chopped walnuts (2.8 oz)
  • 225 grams of plain flour (2 cups)
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spices

Instructions

  1. Turn on the oven and heat it to 180°C (350°F). Cover the loaf pan with parchment paper;
  2. Work the sugar and the butter until they become creamy and then add the eggs by using an electric whisker;
  3. Peel the bananas and crush them with a fork, shredding them in the mash; add them to the creamy mix with the chopped nuts and mix the ingredients to perfection with a spatula;
  4. Mix flour, baking soda, and spices and add everything into the creamy mixture, continuing in stirring until the flour and the rest of the dried ingredients will be well-bonded with the damp ones;
  5. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 1 hour and 1/4, adjusting according to the oven, then remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pan;
  6. Serve the banana bread when it’s completely cold.

notes

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 1 hour

Total time: 2 hours

Recipe Banana Bread

Baking tips for a perfect Banana Bread Recipe

  • Use an electric mixer to mash your bananas if you want to avoid lumps. Make sure you don’t overdo them, otherwise your mix will be too mushy;
  • If you wanna give your banana bread a consistency similar to a sponge, add a little bit of sour cream to the mix: it will give some extra flavour to the bread, making it moist and fluffy;
  • Use Brown Flour to give a rustic taste to your banana bread.

How to store your banana bread

  • When your banana bread is completely cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and store on the counter for up to 3 days;
  • To freeze your banana bread, let it cool completely, wrap it in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. The bread can be frozen for up to 2 months and has to be defrosted before eating it.

Notes on this Banana Bread Recipe

  • f you wanna make banana bread muffins, line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill each cup to roughly 3/4 full. Makes 8 to 10 muffins.
  • With a few minor tweaks, you can make this banana bread vegan (so dairy free and egg free, too) or gluten free.
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