The Best Banana Bread Recipe ~Sweet & Savory (2024)

FAQs

Why does my banana bread not taste good? ›

Using too much butter makes for a heavier cake with less banana flavor. Using double the amount of butter that the recipe called for left me with a loaf that was dry on the outside and moist on the inside.

Ripe bananas are not only softer and easier to mash and blend into a batter, but they are also sweeter, which is why baking recipes specifically call for ripe bananas in ingredient lists. As the bananas ripen, the fruit converts starches to sugars, making them sweeter and more flavorful.

Frozen bananas are a great way to use overripe bananas in banana bread. If you're like me, you rarely remember to use your overripe bananas on the day they are perfectly ripe so freezing them is a great solution. Thawed bananas are easier to mash and can also add extra moisture to the batter.

Baking powder and baking soda both produce carbon dioxide, which helps raise or "leaven" baked products. Baking soda works best in conjunction with an acidic ingredient. In the case of banana bread, this may be buttermilk, brown sugar, molasses or the bananas themselves.

You Use Underripe Bananas

That's why you should use only very ripe bananas to make banana bread. Not only are overripe bananas easier to mash, they also give the bread more moisture, sweetness, and flavor.

Banana bread recipes typically ask you to use overripe bananas so that they're easier to mush. This means it's tempting to toss all your bananas into the mix when you're ready to bake, to avoid food waste. But if you add too much of the fruit into your batter, your bread could turn out mushy, heavy, and wet.

If black bananas are spotted with mold, then it's time to step away! You absolutely should not use them for banana bread or consume them at all.

The best bananas for banana bread aren't yellow; they're black. Or they're at least streaked with black/brown, with just the barest hint of green at the stem. And again, the darker the better: there's no such thing as a too-ripe banana when you're making banana bread.

Over mixing the batter

The reason is as you mix, the gluten begins to develop, and when too much development happens, you can end up with a dense, chewy loaf rather than the soft and delicious banana bread you were hoping for.

You can freeze whole, peeled bananas in large plastic bags like smaller banana chunks. You can also freeze bananas whole in their peels, but this will only work if you want mashed bananas. After thawing and peeling a banana frozen in its peel, it will come out of the peel in an essentially mashed texture.

How ripe is too ripe for banana bread? ›

But, there is a limit. Black bananas or rotten bananas are a no-go. (Note that green bananas are also not a good choice for baking.) But those with slightly black peels and a little bit of excess liquid are perfect for turning into a loaf of banana bread magic.

Once the loaf is fully cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap. Then, wrap the loaf in aluminum foil. This will ensure it's airtight and will keep the loaf from drying out and avoid freezer burn. Store the wrapped loaf in the freezer for up to three months.

If you are using regular milk, you would normally use baking powder. Banana bread normally calls for sour milk, sour cream or buttermilk; all of these are acidic, so in this case what you need is baking soda.

2 bananas: 1-1/3 cups chopped | 1 cup mashed. 3 bananas: 2 cups chopped | 1-1/2 cups mashed. 4 bananas: 2-2/3 cups chopped | 2 cups mashed.

In much smaller quantities, the baking soda still has a chemical reaction with acid. Low and behold the acidic component is in bananas, so any excess baking soda that doesn't help the banana bread rise will react, hence green or blue banana bread slices the next day.

Some banana bread just isn't strong in banana flavor. This is especially true if you make the mistake of not using overly ripe bananas for your recipe.

Bananas have an interesting flavour transition during their ripening process. Unripe bananas which still contain the green peel have a bland flavour with apparent notes of grassiness.

Salt adds flavor to bread. If none or too little is used in a recipe, the bread will lack the right flavor and taste "bland." If you reduce the amount of salt, try adding some dried herbs to increase the flavor. Too much yeast in bread will give bread an off-taste.

The alleged reason why artificial banana flavor doesn't taste like the Cavendish bananas we typically buy in the grocery store is because artificial banana flavor wasn't developed based on that variety of banana. It was developed based on a variety called the Gros Michel, or the Big Mike.