After coming home from a weekend vacation I was greeted by a bunch of rotten bananas (in the words of Athena, my 8 year old). More commonly known by the rest of us as super ripe, at their prime, ready to bake bananas. Perhaps most normal people wouldn’t find this exciting – I was totally ecstatic.
Banana bread it would be. All my usual banana bread recipes call for 2-3 bananas. I decided I was going to use all five bananas in one pop – there would be no marathon baking festivities on this day.
So I found a recipe with great reviews using five bananas and a stick of butter – sounds right up my alley. As all quick breads go, dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another and stir until just combined. Do not over mix – I can never stress that enough. Quick breads are pretty much fool proof – the only way to mess them up is to over mix or majorly over bake – so don’t do either. Spoon the batter in your greased loaf pan and sprinkle with some crushed walnuts. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean – your looking at 60 -70 minutes. I pulled mine out of the oven at 65 minutes, but it should have been left in for a few extra minutes.
That’s it. Easy, delicious bread loaded with banana flavor. Rest assured, the five bananas in this bread make it super moist and perfectly dense.
So go ahead and buy a bunch of bananas and put them away just for this recipe. It’ll probably be quite sometime (next vacation, perhaps) until I have 5 overripe bananas in my house again…I look forward to it.
Thanks for reading and Happy Baking : )
-Amanda-
Recipe adapted from Shelley Albeluhn at allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/banana-banana-bread/Detail.aspx
"5 Banana" Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup butter at room temp
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs beaten
- 5 large bananas extra ripe
- 1 tablespoon crushed walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Grease/spray a loaf pan.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In another bowl, mash bananas. A fork works wonderfully.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
- Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.
- Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just till combined. Do not over mix.
- Pour/spoon batter into prepared loaf pan.
- Sprinkle walnuts on top of batter.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Let bread rest in loaf pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool.
- Enjoy : )
- Recipe adapted from Shelley Albeluhn @ allrecipes.com
Trish
January 29, 2015 at 5:16 pmYUM! I love banana bread! Gotta make some soon. 🙂 Looks delicious!
Amanda
January 30, 2015 at 3:16 amThanks Trish! I’m constantly playing around with quick breads – it’s as close as I can come to freestyle baking : )
Tzvi
May 18, 2016 at 12:45 amLikely a dumb bachelor mistake but… at what point do you do something with the butter/sugar you creamed? 🙂
I had 3 bowls (arguably 4 for whisking eggs, but let’s assume not).
1) my solids
2) mashed bananas+eggs
3) creamed sugar
I make (1), (2), (3), put (2) in (1), bake, and … use (3) for icing?? Sorry in advance if this is (probably) obvious.
Amanda
May 19, 2016 at 11:14 pmHi! You know what…you’re right…this is a little confusing.
It’s written as:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another bowl, mash bananas. A fork works wonderfully.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.
Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just till combined. Do not over mix.
Sooooo…it’s:
1) Flour/dry ingredients
2) small bowl – mash bananas
3) creamed butter/sugar
Then add bowl 2 and (whole) eggs into bowl 3. Mix. Then bowl 3 into bowl 1.
Perhaps it would be less confusing if I just listed ingredients as “5 bananas, mashed” and skipped the whole bowl 2 confusion.
Or did I just make it more confusing. Lol.
Brad
March 4, 2018 at 3:54 pmSorry to resurrect an old thread but I think I can help demystify the confusion 😀
Generally, you want to cream together butter and sugar, then add the eggs to the creamed mixture and stir without breaking the emulsion.
Then add your bananas to the creamed mixture and stir.
Now you have 2 bowls, one wet, one dry.
Add wet to dry and combine.
Hope this helps 😀
Carol
April 8, 2018 at 9:19 amI didn’t think it was confusing. You were clear about not over-mixing after the flour was in the batter & other important details. I got everything mixed in, one way or another & it came out great. Thanks!
Marianne Pool
March 9, 2017 at 5:33 pmI just made this “5 banana banana bread”… It is the best banana bread I’ve ever made.ive’ve warmed it with a little butter …DELISH…and tonight I’ll have a piece with a little vanilla ice cream…YUM !!! I’ll definatly be making this again and again…thank you
Amanda
March 13, 2017 at 11:03 pmYay! So glad you enjoyed it! Sounds delicious with some vanilla ice cream! Thanks so much for stopping by Marianne – Happy Baking ♥
Q
April 26, 2017 at 1:00 pmhi there,
how much is 2 cups of flour in g? I used the conversion 1 = 340 x 2 and it seemed too much for the mixture so it was a waste! sorry novice baker here…
Amanda
April 30, 2017 at 8:29 pm1 cup of all-purpose flour is approximately 120 grams. So you would use about 240 grams of flour in this recipe.
Sorry for the mix-up – hope this helps for next time 🙂
Holly M.
May 21, 2017 at 3:59 pmThis is my family’s favorite banana bread recipe! I make it in a bundt pan and bake for 40 minutes. Delish!
Amanda
May 23, 2017 at 11:36 pmSo glad you enjoyed it! I bet it’s wonderful in a bundt pan – I’ll have to try it soon!
Thanks for stopping by Holly 🙂
Glenn
August 5, 2017 at 2:24 pmI used the recipe…totally didn’t find the instructions until after I grew impatient and just did what I thought sounded right from the rest of the story. (Apparently I was scrolling right past them on my phone). My very “whatever” process was throwing everything powdery in one bowl, and the rest in another. Turned on the mixer for the wet stuff, fork mixed the dry stuff, and then slowly poured dry stuff into the mixing bowl. Followed the recipe to a T. Royally deviated from the process…lol
Anyway, the house smells good. We’ll see what’s what in about 20 more minutes.
Amanda
August 7, 2017 at 11:15 pmHi Glenn!
I’m sure the bread turned out well! The only thing you can do to mess up the mixing process of a quick bread is overmixing. There’s plenty of room for freestyling 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for stopping by!
Chelle
October 29, 2017 at 7:30 amWe were also faced with very ripe bananas – 5 !
Followed your recipe, swapping out all purpose flour for gluten free plain flour and baking soda for gluten free baking powder and put in a round 9″ cake tin, baked for 60 mins.
OMGoodness, we cut it into one inch strips and smear of butter, absolutely delicious, even my one lad who hates bananas tried it and said yum yum more please.
Thank you, definite hit and only 1/4 left !
I’m already being asked when am I making it again.
Amanda
November 5, 2017 at 7:29 pmWonderful! So glad to hear you all enjoyed the recipe and love hearing that your gluten-free version turned out scrumptious!
Thanks for stopping by Chelle 🙂
Lisa
December 18, 2017 at 2:26 pmHow were you able to swap baking soda and baking powder? They are totally different ingredients that do completely opposite things…
Bob
December 26, 2017 at 10:55 pmI had an impulse purchase of an 18 mini loaf pan the other day for 10 bucks, I’m using your recipe as a base ( Added and subtracted a little here and there) I was only able to fill 14 of the pans about half full which should be ok but I’d like to fill the darn thing. I might have to write a seven banana recipe. The last recipe I tried only got me to 1 dozen but was fantastic. I cannot give it a rating quite yet it’s almost done but I guess you’re supposed to let it cool
Gayle
February 12, 2018 at 9:41 amI’m wondering how the omission of baking powder still works with this recipe. Not that I’m doubting the recipe because I’ve made it five times and it is the best banana bread I have ever made, so thank you for the recipe.
Angie
March 21, 2018 at 7:45 pmI’m living with my in-laws for a season and found the freezer half full of old bananas. I’m gluten free, so I adapted the recipe just a bit. I have made 4 batches of muffins and mini-muffins and they only last a few days. Everyone loves them! And I cleaned out the freezer! Thanks. This was exactly what I was looking for.
Nalo Frazier
May 24, 2018 at 6:20 pmThis is so good. I looked for something to do with my bananas that always seem to go bad fast and I ran across this recipe. Thanks it’s great.
Michelle M
June 23, 2018 at 12:12 pmAbsolutely the BEST evet banana bread! Recipe is perfect as is or easy enough to play around with. And its a fun recipe to make with and for kids. I’ve even added flax and/or other seeds/nuts. Thank you for your baking brilliance!
Geeta
August 8, 2018 at 2:37 pmI made 2 of these today using 10 bananas. Came out perfect. Thank you!! Wish I could post pictures.
Sophie
November 24, 2018 at 4:31 pmCame out great! But I only needed 40 minutes to make mine. I am glad I checked on it, otherwise the bread would have burnt anytime beyond that.
MD
March 16, 2019 at 9:24 amExcellent recipe! Best banana bread I’ve made in a long time! Leaving it in the oven for a few extra minutes helps and adding chocolate chips is even better!