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This is the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, a classic recipe honed to perfection. It is a no fuss, one-bowl recipe requiring only 15 minutes of work and makes the most delicious banana bread: soft and moist without being dense or stodgy, with a nutty banana flavor that isn’t too sweet, and a generous amount of chocolate.
Want even more chocolate? You might love my Fudgy Double Chocolate Banana Bread!
What makes this banana bread special?
👩🍳A quick and easy, no fuss recipe. It comes together in one bowl with just about 15 minutes of work. No fancy ingredients, no complicated steps
✨ A crispy, golden crust. When it comes to banana bread, I am all about the crispy edges – they make you appreciate the soft interior more!
🍯 A soft and moist interior without being dense or stodgy. It is incredibly tender and moist with a velvety, melt-in-the-mouth feel while still being light enough to enjoy a slice or two (or three)
🍌 The perfectly balanced banana flavor. The banana flavor shines without being overly sweet, which is a trap many recipes fall into!
🧈 Nutty caramel goodness from brown butter. Once you make banana bread with brown butter, you’re never going back
☕️ A beautiful hint of coffee. If you’ve ever paired a slice of banana bread with a cup of coffee, you know this combination is heavenly
🍫 The *right* amount of chocolate. AKA a lot of chocolate measured with your heart
🍞 The perfect size. This banana bread is a proper loaf with height, giving way to the perfect slices
Want even more chocolate? You might love my Fudgy Double Chocolate Banana Bread!
Step by step photos
Let’s quickly go over the steps with photos to help you visualize this banana bread recipe:
Whisk the brown butter and brown sugar:
Add the eggs, vanilla and coffee. Whisk until smooth:
Mash the bananas:
Tip: If you’re using an electric hand mixer instead of a whisk, you can add the bananas whole to the batter and whisk them in. They will automatically get mashed!
Add the bananas and yogurt to the batter and whisk until combined:
Sift in the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined:
Fold in the chocolate chips:
Bake, rest, and enjoy!
The perfect loaf pan
Using the right size and shape of a loaf pan is important in achieving the perfect banana bread (or any loaf cake). I use this exact loaf pan from USA Pan, and highly recommend it. It is 8.5″ x 4.5″ with perfectly straight edges, and makes banana bread with the right height. It is also a light colored pan, which prevents the edges of the banana bread from darkening too quickly.
Tips to perfect this chocolate chip banana bread
This recipe is simple, but a few key tips can make all the difference between good and amazing:
Measure with a weighing scale for accuracy. This is especially important for flour, as measuring cups can easily over-measure flour resulting in a dense and dry bread, and for the bananas
Make sure your bananas are extra ripe! The more brown spots, the stronger the flavor. If in a pinch, bake the bananas at 350F for 5-8 minutes to caramelize them before use
Use dark or semi-sweet chocolate. This will help balance the sweetness of the banana bread. Milk chocolate instead will tip things too far
Use a light colored loaf pan. A dark pan will brown and cook the edges too fast
Be cautious of the amount of batter. This recipe makes a generous amount of batter that will almost fill the loaf pan to the top. If you’re worried about overflow (and especially if your loaf pan is less than 2.75″ in height), bake 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the batter separately as a muffin
Get the baking time right. Use a toothpick inserted in the middle to test for doneness, it should have light crumbs but no wet batter. Underbaking will cause the bread to sink!
Let it fully cool down. This banana bread will fall apart if you try to slice it while it’s warm. Let it fully cool down at room temperature before slicing in
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil (25g)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed (150g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp instant coffee + 1 teaspoon hot water
- 4 extra ripe bananas, mashed (about 440g)
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (120g)
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour (227g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate of choice (300g); I recommend semi-sweet or dark
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 340F and line a 8.5 x 4.5 or 9 x 4 loaf pan with parchment paper
- Add the cubed butter to a saucepan. Place on medium low heat, and cook and stir for ~5-8 minutes until the butter has browned. It will melt first, then become bubbly and foamy before you see brown specks on the bottom and smell a lovely caramel-y scent. Be sure not to overcook, as it can burn quickly after browning
- Add the brown butter to a large bowl. Add the oil and brown sugar, and whisk for 1-2 minutes. If the mixture feels too hot, wait 5 minutes before proceeding
- Add the eggs, vanilla, and coffee dissolved in water. Whisk for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes smooth and lighter in color
- Add the mashed bananas and greek yogurt, and whisk until combined
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk until the dry ingredients are combined and no lumps or streaks of flour remain
- Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It is a generous amount of batter – so if you are worried it will overflow, you can remove ~1/2 cup and bake it separately as a muffin. Optionally, you can sprinkle more chocolate chips on top
- Bake for 65 to 75 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with light crumbs but no wet batter
- Remove from the oven and let the banana bread rest in the loaf until it fully cools down. This can take a while, try not to rush! Once cooled, remove from the pan, serve & enjoy!
Video Tutorial
Notes
- Sugar: Brown sugar gives this recipe an extra moist and caramely flavor! However, if in a pinch, you may replace it with white granulated sugar
- Making banana bread without chocolate: You can easily remove the chocolate chips to turn this into plain banana bread, or replace them with other mix ins like walnuts or peanut butter chips
- Make ahead & storing: You can make this bread beforehand and store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days (or in the fridge for up to 5 days). I recommend reheating each slice in the microwave before serving
More classic recipes
Some other classic recipes I think you will really love:
- The PERFECT Vanilla Creme Brulee that takes only 5 ingredients and 10 minutes of work
- The BEST New York Style Cheesecake with the most insanely creamy texture and a crispy graham cracker crust
- My perfect and super easy classic chocolate cake with a simple chocolate ganache frosting
- The best Classic Italian Tiramisu with the perfect ratio of cream to ladyfingers and a beautifully balanced flavor
Comments
Anam Sabir
Tried your recepie, the taste was great but mine was dense not soft what can be the reason as i am a beginner. also do I weigh the bananas after peeling and being mashed or before.
Your brown butter banana cookies are the best and everyone loved them n fudge brownie is out of this world.
Jazak Allah khair for these easy recepie
Zoha Malik
Hi there! weigh bananas without the peels, doesn’t matter if they’re mashed or not. And if it’s feeling dense, you might have under baked it. Reduce the temperature of your oven by 20 degrees and bake the bread for longer!
Veronica
Hi Zoha,
Do you cover your banana bread the last minutes of baking? I’m going to try your recipe but every time I do banana bread it ends up burning on the top.
Do you have any recommendations?
Zoha Malik
It depends on your oven – since mine is bottom heating only, it doesn’t burn on top. If you feel like yours is, you can place a sheet of aluminum foil on top towards the end of the bake to prevent it.
Turab
This bread was match made in heaven so balanced l simply loved it with my homemade Vanilla bean ice cream
Zoha Malik
AWW thank you so much, Turab!
Ammara
I love this recipe especially u don’t feel there’s any coffee in the banana bread I think makes it rich in flavor I substituted the AP flour with Oats flour and it’s turned out Heavenly 😋
Zoha Malik
Yum! Thank you for the kind review, Ammara!
Mansi Galvankar
This is heaven!! Making it 3rd time today !! Thank you
Zoha Malik
Aw yay! I am glad you like it!
Aneena
This recipe is really amazing. I cut down on the sugar (used 1/2 instead of 3/4) but it was really yummy. I’ve tried many variations but this recipe is truly amazing. Thanks for putting this up
Zoha Malik
AW thank you so much, Aneena! made my day!
Mahnoor
It was my first time baking a banana bread and Omgg it turned out to be so so good I couldn’t stop eating it.
Zoha Malik
yayyyy made my day!
Rad
I keep coming back to this recipe, because it really is the best. Super moist and everything you want a banana bread to be! Thank you Zoha!
Zoha Malik
Hugs, thank you! x
Alexis
What can I use to substitute the vegetable oil?
Zoha Malik
Coconut oil or avocado oil!
Magdalena M Rascon
I made this banana bread today and I do have to say it’s the best it turned out beautiful and it was delicious thank you I will make again for sure 😊
Zoha Malik
AW thank you so much!
Reshmi
Tried it today! It turned out amazzzzzinnnngg!! Thankyou Zoha
Zoha Malik
Yay, so glad you liked it!
Safana Hussain
I’ve been baking banana bread for years, but this time I used Zoha’s recipe and received compliments like never before! Everyone said it was the tastiest banana bread they’d ever had. Thank you so much, Zoha, for such an amazing recipe.
I also swapped the regular flour for whole wheat flour, and the results were incredible. The bread was still soft, moist, and fluffy—honestly, no one could tell the difference! It’s proof that you can make a healthier choice without compromising on taste or texture. Everyone loved it, and I received so many compliments. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Zoha Malik
Thank you for the kind review, Safana! Made my day. Really glad to hear about the flour swap, that will be really helpful for others too 🙂
Shivangi Shah
Can you replace egg ?
Zoha Malik
I haven’t tested this recipe with egg replacements – but you can try flax seed eggs 🙂
Kiran Natt
can I use vanilla Greek yogurt instead of plain?
Zoha Malik
Sure!
Sana
which chocolatechip you normally use for your baking? any specific brand will you recommand?
Zoha Malik
I have been using Callebaut for almost 2 years now and love it!
Deepthi
I have tried multiple banana bread recipes off the internet but this has to be one of the best out there! It’s so rich, soft, and moist, with the perfect balance of banana and chocolate without being overly sweet. It honestly tastes like something from a bakery, especially when it’s still a bit warm and the chocolate is slightly melted🤤.Thanks a lot Zoha for this recipe!❤️ I’d definitely make this one again and again.
I am already a fan of your mug cake recipes😊 And this banana bread is clearly another winner!
Zoha Malik
Aw thank you so much, Deepthi! Really appreciate your kind review!
Hera
i followed the exact recipe with the right temperature for baking, however it turned out to be sticky , and felt wet /gooey (even tho the toothpick came out clean) is this how its suppose to be? moist and sticky?
Also felt the chocolate was a little too much.
Zoha Malik
Hi Hera! No it shouldn’t be gooey, that might have been slightly underbaked. Moist, yes, but not gooey. And you can always reduce the chocolate to your liking – most people like a hefty amount 🙂
Huma
I’ve probably made this banana bread a hundred times now, and I’m convinced it’s magic. It hits the spot every single time! It’s so incredibly moist and rich😋
honestly out of this world. Literally out of this world!
100000/10 would recommend!
Zoha Malik
AWWW you made my day!! thank you!
Zainab
omg! I made this bana. bread recipe for more than 7 times and it’s Always amazing. I gave it to my friends and family and they loved it soooo much. thank youu sooo much Zoha for this recipe. your recipes are always amazing. btw I have a question is it 400g bananas with peel or without peel. I am always confused. I added 170 -200g peeled bananas to my banana bread.
Zoha Malik
Aw, thank you Zainab! 🙂 It’s 400g without the peel and mashed, great question! So you’re using much less, but if that works for you, keep it that way!
Zainab
Thank you for your reply 😊 next time I will use more bananas and thank you so much❤️ . I have 1 more question, you did Collab with crumble and I am unable to try your cinnamon roll cookie and I’m really really sad. I really wanted to try your recipe. but is this possible that you can share that recipe after your Collab has ended? you are my baking🧑🏻🍳 inspiration✨. I learned baking from you. Thankyouuuu❤️
Zoha Malik
Hi Zainab! Thank you so much <3 unfortunately I can’t share that recipe as it was developed specifically for crumble, but i’ll do my own version!
Zainab
okiee Thank you sooo muchh❤️❤️. I will be waiting for that recipe ☺️
Neelam
The ONLY banana bread recipe I have made multiple times. I stopped eating bananas over 23 years ago and this is the only recipe that changed that for me. I have made this recipe well over 6 times in the last month. If you’re in doubt about the recipe just give it a go and I promise you, you won’t regret it one bit!
Zoha Malik
Dancing! <3 thank you!