Wanna use up your overripe bananas? Learn how to make banana bread!
Maybe you have a bunch of bananas sitting on your counter that you forgot about and they are about to go bad. Maybe you were doing the pantry challenge and during your pantry inventory and found some frozen bananas.
Wanna Know How to Make Banana Bread?
Banana bread is just one of those recipes that we love to make here. It's a tasty treat, similar to how to make pumpkin bread or how to make zucchini bread, that is easy and you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry. It also makes your house smell delightful.
So, let's get to it.
Ingredients
3 large over-ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
grind of Himalayan pink salt (to taste)
non-stick cooking spray
(optional) 1 cup chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I always do this first before I start ingredients, otherwise I will forget and then have to wait.
Use ½ cup of softened butter. Add in 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 cup of sugar.
With an electric mixer, mix everything together on a low setting. You don't want to whip this up too much. You just want it to be well blended.
Now take 3 large over-ripe bananas. You can tell when they are over-ripe when they are a deep yellow color with large brown spots. They will also start to feel a bit softer.
You just want to make sure they are still ripe and have not gonna bad. But the softer the better.
Peel your bananas and place them in a bowl separate from your butter/sugar mix. Using a potato masher, start mashing your bananas into a mushy mess.
Once you have a good banana paste, you can start to pour it into the large mixing bowl with your butter/sugar combination. You will also add your 2 large eggs at this point.
Mix everything together again with your electric mixer until well blended. Again, you want to be well blended but not finely whipped.
Now pour in 1 ¼ cup of flour and a grind of Himalayan pink salt. Table salt is also fine. The salt is really just to add a bit of flavor but not completely necessary.
Now, you will want to use a spatula and hand mix the flour and salt into your banana base. Gently fold your flour into the bananas until everything is mixed well together and you do not have any dry pockets of flour leftover.
Pull out your bread pan and spray it with Canola oil, or whichever non-stick baking spray you prefer.
Pour your banana bread mix into the bread pan and place onto the center rack of your already preheated oven. Set your time for 50 minutes and walk away.
Remember, cooking times can vary depending on your geographic location, you may want to check on your banana bread around the 45 minute mark depending on your elevation.
After your timer has gone off, use oven mitts and pull your delicious banana bread from the oven and place on your stove top or cooling rack. Allow your banana bread to cool. You don't want it to tear apart while cutting.
Once your banana bread has cooled for a bit, run a butter knife or spatula between the loaf and the inside of the bread pan. You can then flip the bread pan upside down onto a sheet of parchment paper and the loaf should pop right out.
You can use a bread slicer and bread knife to cut your banana bread into measured slices. Typically this recipe will make around 8 thick slices.
Delicious variations
You may also wonder how to make chocolate chip banana bread? It's super easy to do. Just add in a cup of chocolate chips (more or less depending on how much you love chocolate) when you are adding in your flour. Everything else is the same.
What can you put on banana bread? Banana bread is delicious on it's own but you can make it even tastier. Some people will toast it and add butter. You can put some almond butter on it, pumpkin butter, nutella, drizzle a streussel topping, etc. Honestly, just use your imagination and try some fun stuff out.
How do you make banana bread muffins? Do you prefer muffins to a whole loaf of banana bread? That's super easy too! Follow the same recipe as above and just swap out the bread pan for a muffin tin and cook for 20-25 minutes depending on size. Easy-peasy!
How to Freeze Banana Bread
Freezing banana bread is pretty simple. After you have allowed it to cool and it has been cut you can put it back on the parchment paper and slide it right into a large zip-lock freezer bag.
Stick you bag into your freezer. Your bread should be frozen in a few hours and should not lose much quality over 2-3 months. We wouldn't store it longer than 6 months. It may still be safe (check the FDA for their suggestions) but it will likely suffer in quality.
How to thaw
When you're ready to thaw just remove it from freezer and put in refrigerator. Should thaw in a few hours. Serve cold or heat for 20 seconds in microwave.
How do you keep banana bread moist after freezing? We keep ours in a sealed bread bag in the refrigerator. The fat from the butter will generally keep the bread nice and moist when stored properly. And, honestly, our banana bread never lasts long enough in the house to go stale.
