Banana Bread
The blacker the bananas, the better the bread — overripe fruit brings intense sweetness and moisture that fresh bananas can't match. Mix the wet ingredients well, then fold in the flour with as few strokes as possible. A crack down the center of the loaf means it rose properly.
Dessert • 65 min
Servings:10 servings
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas (black peel, about 1 cup mashed)
- ⅓ cup (80ml) neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)
Steps
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or line with parchment, leaving overhang on the long sides for easy lifting.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until mostly smooth — a few small lumps are fine. Add oil, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix — a few streaks of flour are fine. Fold in walnuts or chocolate chips if using.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs (not wet batter), 50–60 minutes. The top should be domed and deeply golden.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift out and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing — it cuts cleaner at room temperature.
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