The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Zoha Malik

by Zoha Malik

Updated:

Rated 4.90 out of 5

178 Comments
Jump to Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links

Add Bake with Zoha as a preferred source on Google and find more of my tried-and-tested recipes.

Add to preferred sources

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.

close up of a slice of banana bread. the bread looks soft and moist with lots of chocolate chips

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!

4 slices of banana bread stacked on top of each other with chocolate chips visible on them, pictured from an angle

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:

brown butter and brown sugar in a wooden bowl
brown sugar and butter whisked together in a wooden bowl

Add the eggs, vanilla and coffee. Whisk until smooth:

eggs, vanilla and coffee added to butter and sugar mixture
wet ingredients for banana bread mixed together

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!

5 spotty bananas
mashed bananas in a glass bowl

Add the bananas and yogurt to the batter and whisk until combined:

mashed bananas and sour cream added to wet ingredients
mashed bananas whisked into the ingredients

Sift in the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined:

dry ingredients added to wet ingredients in wooden bowl
thick and gooey banana bread batter in a wooden bowl

Fold in the chocolate chips:

chocolate chips added to banana bread batter in a wooden bowl
thick and gooey banana bread batter with chocolate chips in a wooden bowl

Bake, rest, and enjoy!

fork taking a bite out of a slice of soft and moist banana bread

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.

loaf of banana bread with some slices cut laying next to it

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

Print
loaf of banana bread with some slices cut laying next to it

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

by Zoha Malik

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.90 stars from 53 reviews

A soft, moist and easy banana bread made with brown butter, a hint of coffee, and lots of chocolate for a beautifully balanced flavor

Yield:8-10 servings

Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
75 mins
Total Time:
90 mins

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

  1. Pre-heat oven to 340F and line a 8.5 x 4.5 or 9 x 4 loaf pan with parchment paper 
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Add the eggs, vanilla, and coffee dissolved in water. Whisk for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes smooth and lighter in color
  5. Add the mashed bananas and greek yogurt, and whisk until combined
  6. 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
  7. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips. Do not overmix
  8. 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
  9. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with light crumbs but no wet batter
  10. 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:

Leave a Rating and a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

You can unsubscribe from these notifications at any time.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Comments

  1. Shazia Rahim

    Amazing

  2. Kelley Hart Jenkins

    Have you made this recipe using small or mini loaf pans? It looks delicious!

    1. Zoha

      Hi there! i haven’t but it should totally work! if you do so, maybe you can bake one first to figure out exactly how long to bake 🙂

  3. Jehan Mohammed

    Don’t be intimidated by the ingredient list, this banana bread was THE best I’ve ever made. The first I made as outlined and next tried it with crushed biscoff biscuits on top and a little less chocolate chips. Perfection.

    1. Zoha

      AWWW THANK YOU SO MUCH

  4. Hazel

    hello! love the recipe and I have baked it the third time now. can I know if this banana bread is good to be kept in the freezer for a longer period time? thank you!

  5. Erica

    If making muffins out of the extra batter like mentioned, make sure to cook for less than the 65 minute time as the loaf. My banana muffins burnt cooking this long.

  6. Afrin

    Hi Zoha, Can i use a combination of half oat flour and half regular all purpose flour for this? trying to cut down on gluten

  7. Shell

    This IS the only banana bread worth getting out of bed for!!! It is absolute perfection!!! Thank you for this stellar recipe!!! 🙂

  8. Samer Furrokh

    what an amazing recipe it is heaven!!
    I followed but with measuring cups and made sure to leveled ot every time and the results were just prefect..

  9. Maryam

    Brilliant recipie even for a beginner like me !! everything was perfect other than the fact i kept it too close to the burner 😭 youll always be the only one I trust <333
    chocolate was a bit too much for my preference you can tone it down if you want to. A mix of wallnuts with it is even more fun

    1. Zoha

      Thank you so much for the love! And yes for walnuts always

  10. Hijab

    Awesome recipe. 10/10. Loved the addition of coffee instead of the usual cinnamon.

    1. Zoha

      AWWW love you!!

  11. Grace Mendoza

    The best banana bread recipe! This will be my go to for banana bread from now on. I loved how it was so moist. I used sour cream instead and added walnuts too.

    1. Zoha

      Sounds delicious with walnuts!

  12. Sarah

    Such an amazing recipe and it tastes absolutely delicious ☺️

    1. Zoha

      AWH thank you!

  13. Zay

    Made this today and I maybe in the minority when I say that I did not like the brown butter taste. I usually use Mariam Hosein’s recipe and I like that one better. Also, too many chocolate chips..

  14. Adhya

    Hi Zoha! I’m baking this banana bread for my family; however, my mother doesn’t eat eggs. Is it possible to sub the eggs with something like applesauce?

    1. Zoha

      Hi Adhya! I haven’t tried that myself but the closest would be flax seed eggs

  15. Riz

    Are there ingredients written somewhere with amount. May be I can’t find it on this page

    1. Zoha

      Yes there’s a whole brown recipe card 🙂

  16. Vasa mounika

    May I know
    What to replace with eggs .
    In this recipe and quantity with this recipe

  17. Kiran Farrukh

    wow
    amazing

  18. Anam Mehmood

    hi zoha! can brown sugar be replaced with coconut sugar?

    1. Zoha

      I haven’t done it myself but think it should be ok 🙂

  19. Noor

    Made this recipe for one of my teachers on Teacher’s Day. Greek yoghurt isn’t readily available here so I used homemade dahi (curd) but I added an extra tablespoon of brown sugar to cut out the extra acidity of it, and it turned out perfect! I’m 100% going to be trying more recipes of yours 🙂

    1. Anam Mehmood

      hi zoha! can brown sugar be replaced with coconut sugar?

  20. Monty

    I’ve never baked anything my entire life, but I made this banana bread for my wife on our anniversary. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!

Get Notified When New Recipes Drop

Subscribe to get all of my latest recipes in your inbox.


Chocolate chip cookies on a white background

You might also like