This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy.
This is a wonderfully moist sour cream banana bread recipe that will become your family favorite! Made with overripe bananas, sour cream to make it moist, and a hint of cinnamon, this banana bread is quick to make and doesn’t even require a mixer!
I don’t know about you but I always put a bunch of bananas in my grocery cart for the week. Always. Without. Fail.
And I usually do a pretty good job of eating them throughout the week. Mm, usually. Sometimes, not so much.
There tends to be a few left behind at the end of the week. Sometimes two. Maybe just one. But rarely, do I get through the entire bunch. And throwing out ripe bananas just seems WRONG. AmIright?!
So here’s what I do. I throw them in my freezer until I have enough to make some banana bread. Sometimes in a week I have the perfect amount. And if not, I add each ripe banana to my freezer collection. And then when the banana bread craving strikes – Voila! I have ripe bananas in my freezer waiting for me.
And so this time, my weekly batch and freezer bananas went to making good old, classic, (can’t believe it hasn’t been on the blog yet!?) banana bread. I’ve made a Healthy Banana Bread Recipe version, and even a Sourdough Banana Bread version…but a good old classic banana bread recipe made with sour cream? Nope. So it was high time I changed that!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Uses up those bananas that are about to go bad. That’s the best part about making banana bread! You want to use bananas that are overripe – dark, black and speckled.
- Quick to whip up – Banana bread is so quick to whip up. In about 15 minutes it’s ready to go in the oven.
- No mixer needed– To make banana bread all you need is a good whisk and a spatula and that’s it. No mixer needed here!
- Wonderfully moist – Sorry for those M word haters out there, but the addition of sour cream to this banana bread makes for a moist, soft, and just sweet enough with lots of banana flavor.
Use Ripe Bananas!
First let’s talk bananas. Your bananas for banana bread should very ripe. Black and speckled. This will mean they are very ripe so the sugars have really come through.
Ingredients Needed
Here is what you need to gather from your pantry:
Ingredient Notes
- Bananas – Of course we need bananas. I just mash mine in a bowl with a fork before I start. And be sure that you use very ripe bananas, that are black and speckled in color.
- Sour Cream – This adds fat and richness. I used full-fat sour cream, but I think light would work, but I don’t recommend fat free. You could try swapping out for greek yogurt, which I did in my healthy banana bread recipe.
- Oil – I used vegetable oil, but canola oil or other neutral-tasting oil also would work. You could try substituting with melted butter or coconut oil as well, but it might change the moistness and texture slightly.
How To Make Sour Cream Banana Bread
Step 1: Mash Your Bananas
In a separate bowl, you want to mash your bananas. I just do this with a fork. It’s easier to get this done ahead of time, and have them mashed ready to go.
I used 4 bananas about 1 1/2 cups.
Step 2: Combine your dry ingredients
In a large mixing bowl you want to whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. And then set aside.
Heather’s Baking Tip
Measure your flour accurately. I use the spoon and level method. You can learn how to measure your flour in this post. Adding too much flour to your banana bread will cause for a dense, dry cakey loaf. For best accuracy, I always recommend using a scale and weighing your flour.
Step 2: Mix The Wet Ingredients
In a second mixing bowl you want to combine your wet ingredients – oil, eggs, vanilla, bananas, sugar and sour cream.
Step 3: Fold In The Dry Ingredients
Now using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients. Just don’t overmix! Overmixing will cause the gluten in the flour to form and too much gluten creates a tough bread. So stop mixing once the last streak of flour is incorporated.
Baking 101
Do NOT over mix. I like to use a spatula and fold in the dry ingredients by hand. You want to stop mixing once they have been incorporated. Too much mixing = too much gluten forming. Gluten is what will give a bread its chew, but for a banana bread you want less gluten to form. So we can accomplish that by making sure we don’t overmix!
Step 4: Bake The Bread
Go ahead and spoon the batter into the pan with a spatula and smooth the top. Then bake the bread for 60-65 minutes at 350oF.
Recipe FAQ’s
I find it’s great wrapped up for a week in your fridge or at room temperature for up to 2 days as long as the bread is well covered.
Yes! Allow the bread to cool completely and place them in a resealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, I just let mine thaw at room temperature and enjoy.
This probably means you did not bake it long enough. Make sure to test with a toothpick, and touch the top. It should spring back when touched. Also, different ovens can run at different temperatures. So it’s best to use an oven thermometer!
Mix-Ins
- Chocolate Chips – Try my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread version!
- Peanut butter- Swirl in a 1/2 cup of peanut butter.
- Nutella – Make my Nutella Banana Bread version and swirl in some chocolate hazelnut version.
- Toasted walnuts (or pecans) – Stir in 3/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts before baking.
- Blueberries – I love tossing in some fresh blueberries, check out my Blueberry Banana Bread
- Whole Wheat – Replace 1/2 of your flour with whole wheat flour and make a Whole Wheat Banana Bread version.
More Recipes To Try
Let’s Bake Together!
Subscribe to my newsletter to never miss a new recipe or baking challenge! And if you bake one of my recipes be sure to tag me on Instagram. You can also follow along with me on Facebook and You Tube.
Banana Bread Recipe With Sour Cream
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups (248 g) granulated white sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (340 g) very ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
- ½ cup (113 g) sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat oven to 350oF. Spray a 9×5” loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray or grease with butter and set aside.
- Mash bananas. In a small mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Combine wet ingredients. In the same mixing bowl with the bananas, whisk in the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream. Whisk to combine.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together with a spatula until just combined.
- Bake. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire cooling rack. Store the bread, and any leftovers, covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Video
Notes
- Storage: Keep wrapped at room temperature and store for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: Banana bread will freeze great for up to 3 months. Just wrap it well. Then when ready to enjoy, thaw at room temperature and enjoy.
- Sour Cream – This adds fat and richness. You could try swapping out for greek yogurt, which I did in my healthy banana bread recipe.
- Oil – I used vegetable oil, but canola oil or other neutral-tasting oil also would work. You could try substituting with melted butter or coconut oil as well, but it might change the moistness and texture slightly.
- Use Ripe Bananas. You want to make sure you use very ripe bananas. Bananas that have lots of black specks. The blacker the banana is the sweeter it will be. I actually like to freeze my bananas when they have gotten too ripe to use later for banana bread. If you use frozen bananas, then let the bananas thaw before using them.
- Mash first. Mash your bananas before adding them to the mixing bowl. I do this by hand with a fork since I have used frozen bananas they are very easily mashed. You could also use a pastry blender, potato masher, or a hand mixer.
- Measure your flour accurately. I use the spoon and level method. You can learn how to measure your flour in this post.
- Careful to not over mix. I like to use a spatula and fold in the dry ingredients by hand. You want to stop mixing once they have been incorporated. Too much mixing = too much gluten forming. Gluten is what will give a bread its chew, but for a banana bread you want less gluten to form. So we can accomplish that by making sure we don’t overmix!
- Use The Right Pan. I used a 9×5 loaf pan. Be sure it’s the right size. And make sure you aren’t using a dark loaf pan, which can bake too quickly and burn.
Kathryn Smith says
I choose this banana bread for the March baking challenge, as it is my favorite to make. Simple & delicious, without too much banana flavor. Although this time I did make a couple small tweaks. I only used 2 bananas (mainly because I didn’t pay attention) & I also didn’t use the full 1 1/4 cup of sugar, just a cup. Although I might cut it back more next time, the banana really make it sweet enough. Anyway, those are my reasons for 4 out of 5 stars. Other wise a great recipe.
Megan says
I made this for the March baking challenge and it was so moist and delicious! I used foil to tent it during the last 5 minutes so the top wouldn’t burn.
Heather says
aw that’s great Megan! I’m so glad you loved this and great idea to tent the top!
Joanne Thebeau says
I’ve been making Banana Bread for years,this recipe is by far the best and tastiest one yet,the sour cream makes the bread so moist.Also the loaf is huge it rises all the way to the top of the bread pan.Thank you for the recipe 😊
Heather says
aw thank you Joanne! Thank you for such a kind review!!
Ruth says
This banana bread is so delicious!! Only “change” I made was to add a sprinkle of turbinado on top for an extra crunch. Admittedly I under-baked it a little bit by accident, but hey, that was nothing a stint in the toaster oven couldn’t fix 🙂 A very moist and banana-forward recipe!
Heather says
thank you Ruth! Love a sprinkle of turbinado sugar. And glad you were able to fix it in your toaster oven…great tip!