Banana Nut Bread
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This is a wonderfully moist and easy banana nut bread recipe that will become your family favorite! Made with overripe bananas, sour cream to make it moist, a hint of cinnamon, and chock full of toasted walnuts. This moist banana nut bread is quick to make and doesn’t even require a mixer!
Let’s face it you probably have some bananas right now on your counter starting to turn brown ready for banana bread don’t you? Please tell me I’m not alone. I always seem to overbuy (or maybe it’s not eat up in time?) bananas at the store.
And as much as I love my classic Banana Bread recipe, and adding a swirl of Nutella and making Nutella Banana Bread, my favorite version might have to be this banana nut bread recipe. I love the crunch and texture that the walnuts bring to this banana bread party.
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 this bread is moist, soft, and just sweet enough with lots of banana flavor.
See Also:
- Want to know what’s better? Oil Vs Butter In Quick Bread? Read to find out the differences!
- Love Nutella? Make this Nutella Banana Bread version!
- Grab a can of pumpkin puree and make the best Pumpkin Bread!
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
- All-purpose flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- 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. 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.
- Nuts – I used walnuts but you can use pecans instead. I also recommend toasting the nuts first before adding them to the banana bread batter to really bring out the flavor.
How To Make Banana Nut Bread
Step 1: Toast Your Walnuts
I always do this first so I know they are cooled, chopped and ready to go before I start making my banana nut bread. I spread my 1 cup of whole unchopped walnuts on a baking sheet and bake at 350oF for about 7-8 minutes. You can usually tell when they are done because you can begin to smell them.
Then I let them cool for a couple minutes and then chop up. Toasting really brings out the flavors of the walnuts, so don’t skip this step!
Step 2: 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 3: 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 4: 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 5: 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.
Heather’s Baking Tip
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 6: Stir in the walnuts
Now you want to add your toasted, chopped walnuts. I toss those in and give the batter a few stirs. Again, I don’t want to overmix, so few good stirs is all you need.
Step 7: 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!
More Recipes To Try
Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour *spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups (250 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
- 1 cup (128 g) walnuts toasted, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat oven to 350oF (177°C). 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. Fold in walnuts.
- 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.
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. If you are baking in a glass loaf pan, then your baking time might be longer (about 5 minutes depending on the oven).
