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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
Sehar
I bake a lot of banana bread and just randomly decided to go the extra mile today and bake this one. Its definitely a tiny bit more work but 100% worth it. Eating it as I write this review and it’s definitely the best banana bread i’ve ever made. Dont skip the instant coffee, it adds something magical! And if you have them, definitely reccomend adding some walnuts!
Teeba Zainab
I wish i found this recipe the first time i made banana bread to save myself the embarrassment 😋 but better late than never!! Absolutely finger licking good!! Honestly you are my baking-bible now 🙏🏽 perfect ratios perfect sweetness and oh that brown buttery flavour 🤤🤤🤤 cant wait to try more of your recipes! May u keep spreading knowledge for newbies like us ❤️
Nadia
Absolutely delicious!
Zoha
I fully agree!
Anumika
What do I replace eggs with? Can you please state with measurement?
Zoha
I haven’t tested it with this recipe but generally each egg can be replaced by 1 tbsp ground flax seeds dissolved in 3 tbsp water and placed in the fridge until it thickens up
Ibtesam Lateef
I have tried this recipe when I saw I have 3 ripe bananas that had no use and oh my god!!! It was relishing. Your instructions were very clear and easy to follow. My first ever banana bread and I’m glad the recipe was yours. It was amazing,decadent and finger licking good😍😍👍🏼
Zoha
AHHH made my day!
Sruthi
Tried the recipe yesterday. It was yummy…!! My family loved the cake.
Looking forward for more such yummy recipes ❤️
Zoha
Aw thank you!
Sushma Reddy
Hey. Want to try this out today but I only have peanut oil.. is vegetable oil compulsory or can we completely ignore it?
Zoha
Please don’t skip it! 🙂 It is an important element
SA
Any suggestions with replacing the butter with oil as a healthier alternative? (I know won’t be as good)
Zoha
Hi there! I have only tested this recipe with butter so I can’t recommend using oil – it will likely make the bread more moist and it won’t hold together
Sara
“Hi! I noticed the recipe says to bake for 70 minutes, but my cake is usually done in 30. I tried the recipe and it came out dry. Do you know why that might be 🥲
Zoha
This is a big banana bread and I use a narrower, taller loaf so it takes longer to bake. What oven settings and pan size did you use?
Farwa
Absolutely amazing! Loved this recipe so much. The bread came out so moist n yummy. Best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried.
Zoha
AWW thank you so much!
Bee
I’ve tried multiple recipes of yours and they always turn out so good! You’ve definitely perfected the science of baking. I’ve tried other recipes from the internet, but they usually don’t turn out as perfect every single time. This banana bread was so great, I baked it twice over the weekend!
Zoha
Awww, you made my day. thank you so much!
Lakshmi Mohan
Thank you for the recipe
Tahira
Please let me know if I can half this recipe as my loaf tin is small in size
Zoha
For sure, you can. Just adjust the baking time accordingly!
Noreen Arshad
Salam Zoha , hope all is well at your end Inshallah. Just a quick baking question. I made your Banana chocolate chip cake but it didn’t rise!!! I attached the picture. I followed every step , exact temperature but still didn’t rise at all. It looks like uncooked batter.
Zoha
Hi Noreen! Are you sure your baking powder and soda weren’t expired, and oven was working fine?
Saishma
As we all know, Zoha has the best recipes on baking. Her measurements are precise and accurate. I tried the Ultimate chocolate chip banana bread, it’s my first bake. I turned out to be amazing, the cake was spongy, soft, the right amount of sweetness. I will definitely try more of her recipes, I’m glad that I chose her recipe for my first bake. (And my grandma, a great home cook, said that this cake is better than than all the store bought birthday cakes she ever ate)
Zoha
You literally made my whole day. Thank you so so so much
Tashia Tayyab
I tried the banana bread and it turned out amazing. I was not too sure about adding yogurt but it did make a great change. I will be making this again and again.
Zoha
Aww, THANK YOU!
Atrooba Ahmed
Tried this recipe today. Everybody loved it
Zoha
Yay!
Maryam
Hi Zoha,
I have tried banana bread today and it turned out soooo delicious!
I have also tried your Newyork Cheesecake,Brownie and Tres Lechés Cake. They all were so soo good.
Thank you so much!❤️ May Allah give barakah in your rizq Ameen ❤️
Zoha
Aww, thank you SO much! Means the world to me!
Ritika
Hey Zoha
Thanks for the recipe ,I had baked many banana walnut cakes earlier but this one turned a bit dense in the middle though I followed the recipe to the T.
Can you suggest where would I have gone wrong.
Zoha
Hi Ritika! What size loaf pan and oven settings did you use? Sounds like the middle may not have cooked all the way
Najha Rasheed
This recipe is fantastic. It’s not too sweet, very moist, and flavourful. I love the caramelised edges the most. It’s a 10/10! Thank you, Zoha!
Zoha
I am SOOO pleased to hear that – thank you!
Zoha
Exactly how i feel 🙂 Thank you!
Sumz
hi Zoha.
I’m looking to make this tomorrow. would it be okay making this without chocolate?
Summer
Would a cold brew work in place of the instant coffee or does it need to be instant coffee?
Zoha Malik
It would have to be instant coffee, since cold brew would add too much unaccounted for liquid!
Zoha
Hi Sumz, yes, that will be ok. Baking time may be slightly reduced
Elle
Can i skip the coffee part? So that my toddler can eat it ☺️
Zoha
Yup!
Halima
Amazing. I got 2 loaves a large 9 inch one and a small 4 inch one. Your Brownie recipe is amazing as well. Made it twice and got the crinkly top both times. May Allah bless you and the work of your hands. Ameen
Ramza
hey zoha, no option of Greek yogurt or sour cream. can regular yogurt work? or anything else?
Zoha
Aww, thank you so much, Halima!!!
Vania Saqib
tried it, loved it and so did everyone in my family! thank you for such an amazing recipe
Zoha Malik
Yay, thank you Vania!