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Sweets by Elise

Home » Loaves + Muffins

October 21, 2020 1+ Hour

Quickest Moist Banana Loaf

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Quickest Moist Banana Loaf is your classic banana bread recipe. It's moist, it's sweet, it's flavorful, and it's EASY! As a simple banana bread base recipe, it allows for any mix-ins you'd like! This delicious, 2-bowl, and 1 hour recipe is calling your name!

I basically eat 2 bananas everyday, and I sometimes miscalculate how many I need when grocery shopping. That often leaves me with extra bananas that just sit and RIPEN... aka they are SCREAMING to be made into banana bread. With all of the banana bread recipes I've shared, I have yet to share a classic banana bread. Now, I present the very best banana bread to you!

horizontal line of banana bread slices with brown sugar around them

Ingredients

  • Bananas: It is incredibly important to use ripe bananas. You'll want your bananas to have lots of brown spots. Ripe bananas add sweetness and contribute to texture.
  • Sour Cream: Sour cream is a secret ingredient for moisture. Using full-fat sour cream leads to best results, but you can use light if you'd like! You can also substitute greek yogurt!
  • Eggs: You'll need two large eggs at room temperature! If you forget to leave them out, place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before cracking and using.
  • Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil creates moisture, adds texture, and is the fat in this recipe. Instead of using butter, vegetable oil creates ultra-moist and fluffy bread!
  • Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract is the way to go! It rounds out the flavor in baked goods!
  • Light Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar should be packed. This means that you tightly add sugar to your measuring cups, pressing the sugar into your cups. Brown sugar adds sweetness and a slightly nutty flavor.
  • Granulated Sugar: White sugar, granulated sugar, plain sugar... we use the good stuff here!
  • All-Purpose Flour: You absolutely need to measure your flour correctly by spooning it into your measuring cups and leveling off the tops!
  • Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Baking soda and baking powder are the leavening agents that help the bread to rise!
  • Salt: Salt brings out the sweetness!
  • Cinnamon: The cinnamon flavor really brings this bread to life!
large bowl of wet ingredients and medium bowl of dry ingredients with three brown bananas around them
Large glass bowl of quickest banana bread batter with a metal whisk inside of it
Metal loaf tin with a brown piece of parchment paper inside of it and brown batter inside
Metal loaf pan with baked banana bread inside of it

FAQ

What makes banana bread moist?

Vegetable oil, sour cream, and the combination of granulated and brown sugars all keep this bread moist as ever.

Can I use yellow bananas in banana bread?

I do NOT recommend using yellow bananas in this bread. Ripe bananas have a deeper sweetness and smoother texture that plays a huge part in making this bread as moist, fluffy, and sweet as it is. I highly recommend using ripened bananas.

What can I add to banana bread?

This recipe is the perfect base banana bread. Add chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, raisins... any topping or mix-in you would like! It's so adaptable and so basic that it really allows for customization!

Can I freeze banana bread?

You can absolutely freeze this bread. Freeze as a full loaf or in individual slices. Wrap loaf or slices in cling plastic wrap for best results! Banana bread can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge, at room temperature, or as slices in the microwave if you're in a hurry!

line of banana loaf slices on the right side of the frame with one slice with a bite taken out of it in the center

How to Ripen Bananas Quickly

This recipe absolutely requires ripened or over ripened bananas. Usually, the bananas I use when baking have 1 or 2 days left of life before needing to be thrown out. They should be mushy, sweet, and should be almost fully brown on the outside.

The taste of this quickest moist banana loaf will be impacted dramatically if you use regular, fully yellow bananas. They are not sweet enough to bake with and will not give you the right flavor or texture. Take it from me, just leave the bananas out for a few days if they aren't quite ripe enough!

However, you CAN quickly ripen your bananas if necessary. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place your two bananas on it. Bake bananas about 15-20 minutes, or until the peel of your banana is black! Let your bananas cool for at least 10 minutes before using!

vertical line of bread slices in the center of the frame with light brown sugar on the sides

Substitutions for Moist Banana Loaf

Obviously, I would love for you all to be able to follow this quickest moist banana loaf recipe as it is written! However, I know not everybody is able to eat, find, or purchase certain ingredients! This recipe is so simple that there really isn't a ton of room for substitutions. However, here are a couple of substitutions you could make if you prefer. Your texture will be slightly different with any of these changes, but the banana bread will still be fabulous!

  • Sour Cream: Sour cream can be substituted for Greek yogurt! This substitution is easy and provides you with a VERY similar bread! You may not even be able to tell the difference.
  • Vegetable Oil: You could substitute any other oil or use cool melted butter.
  • Light Brown Sugar: Dark brown sugar could work well in place of light brown sugar! You can also make your own light brown sugar by combining granulated sugar with molasses. I never have molasses on hand, but if you do, you can make a homemade brown sugar! Worst comes to worst, try it with ¾ cup granulated sugar!
straight-on shot of tilted, sliced banana bread with brown sugar and banana slices to the side

More Banana Recipes

  • Fudgiest Chocolate Banana Bread
  • Chunky Monkey Banana Bread
  • Biggest Banana Nut Muffins
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Quickest Moist Banana Loaf

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Elise
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
  • Category: Banana Bread, Bread, Loaves, Loaf, Banana, Fruit
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Quickest Moist Banana Loaf is your classic banana bread recipe. It's moist, it's sweet, it's flavorful, and it's EASY! As a simple banana bread base recipe, it allows for any mix-ins you'd like! This delicious, 2-bowl, and 1 hour recipe is calling your name!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 large bananas (390g), over-ripe
  • ⅓ cup (100g) full-fat sour cream, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs (100g), room temperature
  • ¼ cup (50g) vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon (5g)pure vanilla extract
  • ⅔ cup (165g) light brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 1 ¾ cups (245g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon(2g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
  • 2 teaspoons (6g) cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. This ensures the bread will come out cleanly!
  2. On a large plate or in a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork, spoon, or mashing tool. Your bananas should be ripe enough that you don’t need a ton of mashing. You don’t need the mixture to be completely smooth, as banana chunks in this bread are perfectly fine!
  3. In a large bowl, whisk room temperature sour cream, and room temperature eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until the mixture is smooth and fully combined.
  4. Add mashed bananas to the wet ingredients using a whisk. Try to fully disperse the bananas in the mixture, but no need for the mixture to be smooth!
  5. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
  6. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet. You’ll want to make sure that all of the flour chunks disappear, but you do not want to over-mix. Over-mixing will lead to a denser bread.
  7. Add batter to your prepared pan.
  8. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Tent the top of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning of the top of the bread. Cook for another 15-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the bread should not come out clean. It should have moist crumbs on it.
  9. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for an hour before transferring it to a wire rack. The bread is moist, and you do not want to risk breaking it by removing it from the pan before it has cooled.
  10. Store at room temperature for 5 days or in the fridge for 7. For more tips on storing, read above.

Keywords: Banana Bread, Classic Banana Bread, Easy Bread Recipe, Moist Loaf, Banana

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  1. Lindsey says

    January 04, 2023 at 1:44 am

    I had so many ripe bananas left over and decided to make 2 loaves of this and it was so perfect and delicious!

    ★★★★★

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Hi, friends! I'm Elise- a recent university graduate who loves all things sweet. I am the baker, recipe developer, photographer, and writer behind Sweets by Elise. I'm here to bring you easy, quick, and approachable recipes that are comforting and indulgent!

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