I can’t remember a time in my childhood when my great-grandmother or grandmother wasn’t making some sort of bread. They were constantly baking in the kitchen often together, and I have so many fond memories of delicious breads being made in that kitchen at grandma’s house, like My Aunt Sondra’s Cinnamon Rolls. I loved their banana bread, but it was always so dry. I was bound and determined to recreate their banana bread recipe, but make it moist.
Why Is This The Best Banana Bread Recipe?
To make banana bread super moist, you need those over-ripe bananas. That’s one secret to making the best banana bread. You want the bananas that have started browning. Take a look at these bananas I used below. You can see that I have 5 bananas that are overripe and browning. The more overripe, the better. Don’t let those overripe bananas go to waste!
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients I use when making my grandmother’s traditional banana bread recipe:
Flour Baking powder Baking soda Ground cinnamon Ground nutmeg Salt Eggs 5 overly ripe medium bananas, mashed Sugar Unsalted butter, melted Walnuts, chopped
Streusel-Nut Topping Ingredients
This topping is optional, but makes the banana bread so delish!
Brown sugar Flour Unsalted butter, softened Chopped walnuts
Gluten-Free Ingredient Substitutions
When making a gluten-free version, I only make 2 changes to the ingredients above:
Flour - If you want to make a gluten-free version, use Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour in both the banana bread and the streusel-nut topping. Xanthan Gum - only in the banana bread recipe.
How To Make Banana Bread
This banana bread recipe is so easy to make and makes one loaf. I use a loaf mold when making this recipe, but if you are using a traditional bread pan, make sure you prepare it with a non-stick cooking spray or grease it well with butter.
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well with a whisk.
Step 2
In a separate large bowl, combine the eggs, bananas, sugar and butter. With an electric hand mixer or a handheld potato masher, mix just until the ingredients have been mixed together. Make sure those bananas are smashed up but don’t over-mix! From there, add the liquid mixture to the center of your flour mixture and mix well with a spatula. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Step 3
Pour your mixture into the loaf mold or loaf pan. If you want to add the Streusel Nut Topping, just sprinkle it over the batter. Cook for 60 minutes.
Step 4
When the bread is done cooking and if you are using a flexipan mold, wait about 2-5 minutes and then turn your mold over onto a cutting board. As you can see, the loaf comes right out with no crumbles. If you are using a traditional loaf pan, wait until the bread is completely cooled before turning over.
Tips For Moist And Perfect Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Tips - For those of you who bake gluten-free, you know it can be very hard to bake and be successful when it comes to gluten-free breads and pastries. But this is an easy gluten-free banana bread recipe to make. The gluten in wheat has so much elasticity and it really helps hold things together when you bake. When you use a gluten-free flour for baking, it’s a struggle to get the bread to be fluffy and hold well together. But, I’ve mastered making gluten-free banana bread. MASTERED! I have 2 secrets…
The brand of gluten-free flour I use - Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free flour The Flexipan mold I use to bake my bread.
Traditional Bread Pans vs. Bread Molds - I use a Demarle Silicone Loaf Mold. I rarely use another brand other than Demarle when baking loaves, muffins, cakes, etc. Flexipans are so fantastic because your bread comes out of the pan perfectly, with no crumbles. The Flexipan is made of silicone and glass and it’s very flexible. Notice above that it’s sitting on a pan with holes (You can buy a holed pizza pan here.)That’s super important. The heat from the oven must have a way to get through the flexipan so it can evenly cook the bread. That is another secret to getting a super moist loaf of banana bread.
If you’re looking for a moist banana bread recipe, you’re going to love this one. You don’t typically find an overly moist gluten-free banana bread recipe, but you will in my recipe because of my 2 secrets. And I’m happy to say, this simple recipe tastes just like my grandmother’s homemade baked banana bread…only better. If you loved this recipe, give it a star review! Also, snap a picture of your finished bread and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #recipesworthrepeating and tagging me @recipesworthrepeating. Update Notes: This post was originally published in August 2017, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures and tips in April of 2019. You will find affiliate links on this page.
