Quick Banana Bread

a close up picture of baked banana bread still min the loaf tin it was baked in.

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5 from 1 vote

This is great for using up black & mushy bananas, no matter how far gone!

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Picnic, School Lunches, Snack

Cuisine: English

Diet: Low Fat, Vegetarian

Other: Freezes Well

Servings: slices

Calories: 143kcal

Author: Thrifty Lesley

Cost: 10p a serving. £1.58 for the whole loaf

Equipment

Ingredients

4 whole bananas black and over ripe, ordinary sized
2 eggs
100 g butter or margarine
100 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g self raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate soda

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Use a stick blender or large spoon to mulch together the bananas, eggs, butter, sugar and extract
4 whole bananas, 2 eggs, 100 g butter, 100 g sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract
If you're using chocolate chips, or any other addition, mix them in now.
Then sieve together the flour and bicarbonate. To be honest, I know you should sieve flour, but I rarely do
250 g self raising flour, ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
Add the flour to the banana mix and mix together. Stir it just enough to mix - like a muffin mix. Too much stirring develops the gluten in the flour and will toughen your banana bread
Pour the mixture into a greased or lined cake or loaf tin. I usually use a 2lb loaf tin as I like to slice it like a loaf
Bake at 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 4 for 80 mins until knife comes out clean. click here to start an 80 minute timer
Remove from the loaf tin and cool on a wire rack
Once cold, store in an airtight container. Should keep for 7 – 10 days. Or wrap and freeze. Perfect for packed lunches.

Notes

Priced at Aldi May 2025

What changes can I make

Leave out the chcolate chips, or use white, milk or dark chocolate. I usually use a 100g bar of basic chocolate, chopped up.
Add a teaspoon or two of ground cinnamon or mixed spice
Throw in a handful of dried fruit. The sharpness of dried cranberries would work very well
Or add blueberries, raisins, apricots or prunes. Chop any larger fruits into pieces the same size as a raisin.
Or maybe try some nuts. Pecans are the classic, but any nuts would be lovely.
- How about walnut and cranberry
- Pecan and raisin
- Blueberries and Brazil nuts
- Apricots and peanuts

What to serve with banana bread

Delicious drizzled with honey, and perhaps a little dollop of thick Greek yogurt, perfect at any time of day.
Spread with a thin layer of any kind of nut butter, all kinds of nuts go superbly with banana bread
Or top with a berry compote, sharp raspberries and strawberries would be very yummy!
Spread with a little chocolate spread, and perhaps a few slices of fresh banana too
You can serve banana bread for pudding by topping with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream, and maybe a few sprinkles

Can banana's be too ripe for banana bread?

I haven't pushed this to the limit, but I have used bananas that were very black and a dark brown inside. You might need to reduce the sugar a little as super ripe bananas are very sweet indeed.

Can you use frozen bananas for banana bread?

You can indeed use frozen bananas successfully in banana bread. The version I made in this post, with chocolate chips, uses a couple of frozen bananas.

I froze the bananas still in their skins, but it was just a little fiddly getting those frozen skins off the fruit. So probably better to peel them before freezing.

Frozen bananas are great in smoothies too.

How to keep banana bread

This quick banana bread keeps very well in a tin, or something covered, for 7-10 days. If you want to keep it longer than that, slice it up and wrap in greaseproof paper and freeze. Don't forget the label!

Nutrition