Banana bread is great for snacks or to have on hand for a quick breakfast. This banana bread recipe is super moist and makes three loaves (cook once, get a lot for your effort – a win win in my opinion). You can serve one now and stick two back in the freezer to pull out later when you’re busy. And fortunately, it freezes beautifully!
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Jump to RecipeYou won’t find a better banana bread recipe anywhere!
I’ve tried lots of banana bread recipes through the years. For some reason I thought I would find a recipe better than the one my mother used to make. I was wrong.
But I still kept on trying those other banana bread recipes, feeding them to my family, and being met with the same response, “This is alright, but it’s not as good as Grammy’s.”
So I’d try another recipe.
Finally, after making yet another mediocre banana bread, I decided to make my mother’s recipe for three loaf banana bread – which believe it or not, I’d never made. I’d eat hers (and so would the rest of my family) and think, “This is SO good!” But then I’d go home and bake something else.
But not any more. The other day I had some bananas that were desperately crying out to be used (and the family was loudly complaining about the fruit flies as well) so I decided that I the time had come to see if I could make her banana bread recipe as good as she did.
As I was making the batter I kept asking myself, “This isn’t a hard recipe. Why haven’t I made it before?”
Who knows why we do (or don’t do) things sometimes. I’d probably built it up in my head as some difficult recipe that I’d bungle – and then be embarrassed when it wasn’t as good as we all remembered. I’m probably not the only person who has been hesitant to try my hand at cooking something that Mom or Grandma (or mother-in-law) made because of worry that ours wouldn’t measure up.
Fortunately, the banana bread was delicious.
So I’m officially finished with searching for banana bread recipes. I have to admit that I feel a little like Dorothy when she realized that she’d had the power to return home all the time she’d been in Oz. Here I’d been trying other recipes when I had access to the best one all along. Silly me.
Grammy’s Banana Bread Recipe
Grammy’s Best Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter (or margarine) let soften
- 3 cups sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk if you don't have buttermilk you can use regular milk that you've added 1 tsp of lemon juice to – let it sit while you get other ingredients prepared
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups mashed bananas about 4-5 bananas, depending on size
- 2 cups chopped nuts (optional) I use pecans but walnuts would be fine
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Grease and flour three loaf pans (I prefer Pyrex).
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Add baking soda to buttermilk – let sit till needed.
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Cream butter and sugar together in electric mixer.
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Add eggs and combine till thoroughly mixed.
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In large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix together.
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To creamed butter and egg mixture alternately add buttermilk (with baking soda added in) and rest of dry ingredients and mix till well combined.
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Finally, add mashed bananas and chopped nuts to mixture. Your mixing bowl will be getting very full so mix slowly.
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Pour batter evenly into the three prepared loaf pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes in oven. NOTE: cooking times may vary according to oven or altitude. Check approximately 1 hour into cooking and adjust accordingly. 1 hr and 40 minutes works perfectly for us but I've had reports of bread cooking much faster for some readers.
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Bake until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once done, remove from oven and let cool thoroughly before removing from loaf pans.
Recipe Notes
This recipe freezes well. However, do let it cook thoroughly before wrapping it for freezer. Otherwise you’ll get condensation on the inside of your wrapping materials as the bread cools in the freezer.
To serve, remove from freezer and let thaw naturally on the counter or cut and thaw slices in the microwave for approx 30 seconds.
This is amazing spread with warm butter and served with a glass of milk. After years of straying and trying other recipes, I’m finished looking.
This sure seems like a long baking time
1 hour and 40 minutes works perfectly with our ovens and where we live. However, I’ve had several readers report that their bread baked much faster (and no one wants burned banana bread!)
As with all baking, cooking times may vary due to altitude or other factors. I highly recommend that you check your bread about an hour into the cooking process to see how it’s coming along. Then, adjust your baking time from there.
We use a standard electric wall oven.
What if I don’t have any buttermilk?
I don’t generally keep buttermilk on hand (because we don’t like to drink it and I only use it in cooking). Fortunately, you can achieve the same effect by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to your cup of regular milk and letting it sit for a minute. Doing this mimics the same taste as buttermilk without having to purchase an ingredient that you likely won’t won’t need much of.
What’s the best way to freeze banana bread?
This banana bread is so moist that I recommend you wrapping it first in wax paper and then wrapping it in aluminum foil. Be sure to add a freezer label to the outside so you know what’s inside and the date it was cooked. This helps you rotate items in and out of your freezer before they get freezer burned.
How should I store banana bread once it’s cooked?
We wrap ours in aluminum foil. You will want to keep it tightly sealed between servings, otherwise your banana bread will be prone to drying out. You can also store it in the refrigerator if you like. Honestly, banana bread at our house never lasts for very long so we’ve never had a problem with it spoiling with it not being refrigerated.
How do I prevent moisture and condensation from ruining my banana bread when I wrap it up for storage?
Make sure your banana bread is thoroughly cooled before you wrap it in foil and/or wax paper. I always let mine cool on a baking rack (it’s shown upside down here because I’ve just turned it out of the loaf pan). If it’s still warm and you wrap it, you are going to get some condensation which is going to make your banana bread kind of gooey on top. Just be sure it’s totally cooled off and you’ll be fine.
What I used to make this recipe
1 – I absolutely love my Pyrex Loaf Pans! I’ve got three since that’s what this recipe calls for.
2 – Our Sunbeam Electric Mixer was a wedding gift from my grandmother (we won’t say how many years ago that was!). I love it and think that for most casual bakers it is a better deal than the uber-expensive mixers.
3 – I also have a set of these Pyrex Measuring Cups. They get used ALL the time.
4 – No kitchen is complete without a set of cooling racks. The longer you leave baked goods in the pan they cooked in, the more they’ll keep cooking. Why overcook a perfectly good banana bread – or anything else, for that matter?
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I use buttermilk powder for baking, which can’t be reconstituted. How important is it to add the baking soda to the buttermilk? Can I just add it to the dry ingredients?
I’m not a chemist and have never tried it that way, but I’d say to give it a try. The only way to figure something out is to run the experiment.
Hi,
I only have large eggs. What is the equivalent of 4 medium in large eggs?
I’ve used both medium eggs in this recipe depending on what I have available. I’ve never changed the amount and never had any problems either way.
Do I have to change the recipe if I add frozen fruit?
If I was starting with frozen bananas I’d let them thaw first. Other than that, I think as long as the measurements are the same it should be fine. Hope that answers your question. Please let me know if you did need to make any tweaks – or found out afterwards that you needed to – and I’ll update the post with that information.
This was by far one of if not the best banana bread I’ve made. It was moist and light. The only thing is that it fell in the middle and would decrease the amount of sugar. Delicious!
I’m glad you liked it but sorry to hear that it sunk in the middle – I’ve never had that problem.
I don’t know what I did wrong but all 3 of my loaves sunk in the middle. They were also very dry and overdone.
I’m sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t work for you. Perhaps less cooking time is needed for your particular oven.
I have made every banana bread recipe known but this is the best by far. I used half pecans and half walnuts. Incredible flavor and my three pans were done in one hour.
I’m so glad to hear you liked it – that would make my mom so happy! She loved sharing recipes and this one is definitely a keeper. Thanks for letting me know the cooking time that worked for you as well. Hope your family continues to enjoy the recipe as much as mine does.
I want to try this, with wheat flower instead. Will that require extra moisture
Judy, as much as I’d love to answer your question, I have never tried any baked goods with wheat flour. I will say that the batter is fairly “wet” when made with regular white flour – about the consistendy of a boxed cake mix. Hope that helps somewhat and sorry I don’t have a definite answer for your question. I would love to know what you find out though and if you’ll leave me a comment to let me know how you tweaked it I’ll modify the recipe for others who also might want to use wheat flour (and I’ll want to make it myself too!).
Hi, if I put in only one baking tray, will the baking time be the same?
Thank you!! 🙂
Hi Wendy, I’m sure it would take much less time with only one baking pan since you’re going to have less volume of material in the oven to absorb the heat. I’d probably start with setting the timer on about 30 minutes and then checking in 5 minute increments until you find the time length that works best for your oven and altitude. I’m just so used to making this with the entire recipe and all 3 loaves that I’ve never tried it with just one loaf at a time.
A little sweet for us. Please try putting in a handful of chopped cranberries,OMG makes it so good!
I’ve added chocolate chips in the past but I bet cranberries are delicious!
Great recipe. I’ve made three batches of banana bread with mini chocolate chips instead of adding nuts. So moist and tasy.
You sound like me – I’m a recipe tweaker too!
What size Bundt pans were used?
I’ve never made it in a Bundt pan but you’d need the biggest one you can find…this makes a lot of batter! Since it normally makes 3 loaves, you might get a Bundt cake and a loaf out of it. Your mixing bowl will be full to the top with batter if that helps you visualize how much it makes.
The recipe says to bake for 1 hr and 40 minutes but mine didn’t even need an hour for a toothpick to come out clean…I’m glad I checked and pulled them out early – I just hope they still taste ok and aren’t too overbaked.
Very interesting. I wonder if it’s a difference in ovens, altitude, or what. I’ve made this 100s of times and it always comes out perfect at the stated time but I do know that conditions can cause recipes to need more or less time.
Mine was burnt after 1 hour and 40 minutes. Next batch I only baked for 55 minutes and it was perfect.
I’m sorry to hear about the first batch. I’ve had a couple of others tell me that the time was also too long for them as well. I wonder if it might be due to altitude. We’ve been making this for ages and the timing is perfect for us. Of course, we’ve lived in about the same altitude for ages too. I’ll amend the directions to remind folks to check regularly for doneness and to adjust the baking time accordingly.
I was wondering about adding cinnamon to. I never have before. Also you didn’t mention what size pans to use
Hi Sherry! Personally, I love cinnamon and I’m always tweaking the recipes I love most. The loaf pans I use are the 1.5 quart sized Pyrex pans. I just prefer the way the bread cooks in Pyrex versus any other kind of loaf pan. Hope that helps – come visit again soon!
I am actually making this now. But I decided to use my Bundt pans. I love using Bundt pans. I will let you know how it turns out
This was the best banana nut bread. My hubby and actually the whole family loved. Used two Bundt pans
I’m so glad you liked it! We’re always tweaking and playing with recipes at our house and trying something a little different with them. I love the idea of baking it in a Bundt pan – and I wonder how it would be with a light glaze over the top? If you’d like another truly wonderful recipe to try go take a look at the Five Flavor Pound Cake – it is AH-Mazing (and it freezes beautifully too!).
Banana bread is a favorite of mine! Looking forward to trying your recipe soon. Thanks for stopping in and sharing with us this week at Snickerdoodle! Pinned to share.
When is the baking soda added? It’s listed in the ingredients but not in the directions.
I would love to try this recipe but I’m afraid I will mess it up
because of the baking soda
addition.
Thank you for your help.
Vicky, Thanks so much for pointing this out to me! You add the baking soda to the buttermilk (and I don’t generally have buttermilk so I make that by adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice to regular milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes). Sorry for the confusion – I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Awesome bread!! I made this just now. I waited 10 min before cutting into it. All I can say is AWESOME!!! I did cut back on sugar to 2 1/4 c. And it is plenty sweet. I divided the batter by 3. One I put nuts in. The other 2 chocolate chips. I only used maybe a half cup of the chips between the 2 loaves. This is def a keeper. Thank you for sharing
I’m so glad you liked it! I have to admit that I tweak the recipe too and sometimes add extra “goodie” to it as well. Chocolate chips is one of my favorites.