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This recipe for the best banana bread ever is SO special to me and my family as it belongs to my 91-year-old Grandma. I have the fondest memories of eating it as a child, warmed in the microwave with butter melted on top – healthy, I know ;). And I love making it for my family now that I have kids. So I wanted to share it here, not only because it’s absolutely delicious, but because brings back so many memories.
It’s also a really easy recipe; baking is NOT my strong suit and even I can manage this recipe; it requires zero mixers or fancy equipment. I even made this banana bread with my almost-2-year-old right next to me – #teamwork.
I’m partnering with Bosch on this post; they provided us with our kitchen appliances and almost 6 months in, we are still loving them. You’ll see them throughout this post, especially the 800 Series Oven – bakes so evenly and preheats quickly – and the 100 Series Dishwasher – I didn’t even have to rinse before I loaded.
see our kitchen reveal here // see our kitchen sources here
Keep scrolling for my Grandma’s easy banana bread recipe – afamilyfavorite!
The Best Banana Bread Recipe
This banana bread recipe is moist, delish and easy to make – no mixer required! You can include nuts or leave them out. Take a look at how we made it and scroll to the bottom for the recipe 🙂
Ripe bananas are not only softer and easier to mash and blend into a batter, but they are also sweeter, which is why baking recipes specifically call for ripe bananas in ingredient lists. As the bananas ripen, the fruit converts starches to sugars, making them sweeter and more flavorful.
As a general rule, you can use either baking soda OR baking powder in banana bread – both ingredients will make your banana bread rise. While baking soda will react with acidic ingredients in the batter to raise your bread, baking powder can leaven banana bread without the addition of acidic ingredients.
Using too much banana could make your bread heavy and damp in the center, causing it to appear undercooked and unappealing. If you have bananas leftover, you can always freeze them for later use.
Cool completely on rack. Wrap and store at room temperature overnight before slicing. (We know it's hard to wait, but your bread will be more evenly moist and less crumbly if you let it sit overnight.)
As it sits at room temperature, starches convert to sugars, making the fruit sweeter and softer. These brown spots, often seen as a sign of spoilage, are actually a dead giveaway of peak banana bread potential. But, there is a limit. Black bananas or rotten bananas are a no-go.
Let the bananas ripen (and overripen) at room temperature. Depending on the weather, this could take a few days, or up to a week. The best bananas for banana bread aren't yellow; they're black. Or they're at least streaked with black/brown, with just the barest hint of green at the stem.
In much smaller quantities, the baking soda still has a chemical reaction with acid. Low and behold the acidic component is in bananas, so any excess baking soda that doesn't help the banana bread rise will react, hence green or blue banana bread slices the next day.
Banana bread recipes typically ask you to use overripe bananas so that they're easier to mush. This means it's tempting to toss all your bananas into the mix when you're ready to bake, to avoid food waste. But if you add too much of the fruit into your batter, your bread could turn out mushy, heavy, and wet.
It can take 15 minutes to properly preheat some ovens. If your oven has not reached the correct baking temperature before the banana bread is placed in the oven, the banana bread will be undercooked and more likely to sink.
Using too much butter makes for a heavier cake with less banana flavor. Using double the amount of butter that the recipe called for left me with a loaf that was dry on the outside and moist on the inside.
Short Answer: The alkaline environment of a batter with baking soda results in discoloration of the pulp fibers. Short Answer: The alkaline environment of a batter with baking soda results in discoloration of the pulp fibers.
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or a digital thermometer inserted into the center reads 200-205°F, about 55 to 65 minutes. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan to finish cooling completely.
Metal pans are better heat conductors than glass pans, meaning the food inside cooks more evenly. Most baking recipes for cakes, muffins, cupcakes, coffee cake, banana bread, and brownies call for metal bakeware.
Wrapped well and stored at room temperature, banana bread will last about five days. If stored in the fridge, it should last a full week. A frozen loaf of banana bread will last up to a year in the freezer, wrapped well with storage wrap and aluminum foil.
The starch present in the overripe bananas gets converted into free sugar, due to which they are easily digested. By eating them, the body also gets instant energy.
A fully ripe banana is the most nutritious stage to eat, as the fruit has had time to develop and convert its starches into sugars, making the fruit sweeter and easier to digest.
According to a research article published in the Global Journal of Nutrition & Food Science in 2022, this starch-to-sugar conversion is responsible for softening the fruit and increasing its sweetness as it ripens.
You can take advantage of ethylene's ripening properties at home by putting your banana into a closed paper bag; the paper will trap ethylene while letting in enough oxygen to help move the process along. For even faster ripening, add an apple, pear, apricot, or avocado — they also release ethylene.
Introduction: My name is Kareem Mueller DO, I am a vivacious, super, thoughtful, excited, handsome, beautiful, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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