How To Make The Ultimate Banana Bread

Banana bread is the queen .

When it comes to classic quick bread recipes , it's sweet , thick tender customizable and dare we say moist banana bread is relatively simple and easy to make .

But surprisingly , a lot of factors can take your recipe in different directions .

There are hundreds if not thousands of banana bread recipes out there .

So we tested a ton of variations to bring you tasty ultimate banana bread .

We're gonna start with preparing a nine by five inch loaf pan , spray it with some non-stick cooking spray , line it with part and paper and then spray it again .

We'll set that aside and move on to browning our butter , add the butter to a nonstick pan over medium high heat cook and stir occasionally until the butter turns amber brown and smells nutty .

The process will take about 3 to 4 minutes but make sure you're watching carefully .

So the butter doesn't burn quick tip brown , your butter in a light colored pan .

So you can see the butter brown more clearly .

Once you have that nice amber brown color , remove the pot from the heat and set aside to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes .

Now that our butter has cooled , we'll add that to a large bowl along with our brown sugar , using brown sugar instead of white sugar will add more of a caramel flavor and moistness to your banana bread .

We're adding one cup here , quick tip .

If your bananas aren't extremely ripe , just add another quarter cup of sugar .

We'll use a hand mixer to beat until evenly combined .

About one minute next , we'll add one egg and whip it with a hand mixer .

This will help leaven and lighten the texture of the banana bread .

We're only whipping for about 3 to 4 minutes because we only want a little bit of air .

If we whip it too much , the bread will rise and then fall because it's too dense .

Now , it wouldn't be banana bread without bananas for ultra delicious banana bread .

You want those bananas to be mostly brown and slightly over it .

Like these brown bananas are sweeter and have a more pronounced banana flavor .

They're also easier to mash and will better incorporate into your batter .

We tested a couple different ways to ripen bananas more quickly if you're ever in a time crunch , we bake them in the oven at 350 F for 15 minutes while the bananas did soften .

They lost that caramelized banana flavor you get when you let them ripen naturally .

They were also a lot less sweet .

Leaving the loaf tasting like it was missing something we also tried them in a brown bag with an apple and it did nothing .

In fact , only the apple ripened the next day , we took the apple out and just let the banana sit in the bag .

They didn't ripen any faster than the ones we let , sit on the counter .

Simply put the best way to ripen bananas is the old fashioned way time .

And trust us when we say it is worth the wait for this recipe , we're using two cups of mashed bananas .

We found that it's best to measure bananas in cups because they differ in size .

One person's four bananas might equal two cups .

While another person's bananas might only equal one cup .

A fork is probably the most popular mashing method .

It takes a little more effort , but it works great if you're looking for something easier , try using a potato masher .

If you're looking for a little less mass , you can actually mash the banana inside the banana peel like this , add the mashed bananas to a medium bowl along with some full fat sour cream emphasis on the bowl .

The reason we're using sour cream instead of milk cream , fresh or Greek yogurt is because sour cream adds moisture with a little bit of tang .

The acidic properties of sour cream also help tenderize the loaf to give it that soft texture .

Let's add a little vanilla extract and fold to combine , let's move on to our dry ingredients to another mixing bowl .

We're gonna add all purpose flour kosher , salt , baking soda and cinnamon .

There are a lot of spice options you could add to banana bread , cinnamon nutmeg cloves , all spice cardamom and even ginger .

But cinnamon is going to pair best with the dark chocolate .

We'll add to the batter later .

Now that our dry ingredients are well combined .

We're gonna alternate folding the flour and mashed bananas into our creamed mixture .

We want to start and end with our dry ingredients to avoid getting a dense loaf .

We'll mix everything until just incorporated .

We don't want to over mix the batter won't be perfectly smooth and that's ok .

There's some debate out there about whether to add chocolate or not .

It's a banana bread but it tasty .

We are team chocolate for obvious reasons .

We love using dark chocolate chips because they compliment the sweetness of the loaf , pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and we are ready to bake .

OK .

We lied .

We have one final step .

We're going to Sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top .

This step is totally optional , but it's going to give our loaf a little crunch and texture drilling yet because we sure are .

Now we can pop our banana bread in the oven .

We're gonna bake it at 350 F for about 60 to 70 minutes .

You'll know it's done when you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean , check out that golden brown goodness .

If only you could smell this through your screen .

Wow .

We're gonna set the loaf on a wire rack to cool for at least one hour .

Then it is time to dig in .

We like to serve our banana bread , hot room temperature or even toasted the next day .

Enjoy it for breakfast for dessert or as a snack .

However , you wish to savor it .

Slathering on some salted butter is a must .

Remember when life gives you bananas , make banana bread , we can't wait for you to make our recipe .

Let us know what you think you can find this and more banana bread inspired dishes on TC dot CO .

Thanks for watching .

We hope you found this appea and , and done .