Quick Banana Bread – Thrifty Lesley

This banana bread comes together very quickly and isn’t complicated to make. It’s super delicious still warm from the oven so the chocolate pieces are still melted, ooh, yum!. Add pecans to it too if you like!

It will keep for 7-10 days, so is great for packed lunches during the week.

First published in 2019, refreshed and updated in May 2025

We get through a lot of bananas in this house, but in summer, they go brown and overripe super quick. My husband eats most of them, and he much prefers them on the under ripe side – yeurgh, they make my teeth feel rough – and just won’t use the ripe ones, or even if they’ve got brown bits on the skin.

I usually use up soft bananas in smoothies, with an unpeeled apple and a splash of orange juice. But if I want cake, this recipe for a homemade banana bread is super quick to mix up and very tasty. The version in the picture below doesn’t have chocolate chips in.

Tass, a Facebook member, supplied this delicious sounding quick banana bread recipe way back in 2015

What do I need to make this easy peasy banana bread

• 4 whole bananas – ordinary sized.Over ripe are best, right through from speckly skin to black skin and mushy inside. Two of those in the picture above have been taken out of the freezer.
• 2 eggs
• 100g butter or margarine
• 100g sugar, I use granulated, but Muscovado would add lovely flavour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g self raising flour. I use cheapest value flour
• ½  tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • why this ingredient?
    • Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) releases carbon dioxide when combined with an acidic ingredient. This creates bubbles in the batter and helps the cake to rise making for a fluffier result
    • The acidity in this recipe that reacts with the bicarbonate of soda is the natural acidity of the bananas
    • Having said all that, if you don’t have any, don’t worry about it, just leave it out

How do I make quick banana bread

• Use a stick blender or large spoon to mulch together the bananas, eggs, butter, sugar and essence
• If you’re using chocolate chips, or any other addition, mix them in now.
• Then sieve together the flour and bicarbonate. To be honest, I know you should sieve flour, but I rarely do
• Add the flour to the banana mix and mix together.
• Stir it just enough to mix – like a muffin mix. Too much stirring develops the gluten in the flour and will toughen your banana bread.
• Pour the mixture into a greased or lined cake or loaf tin. I usually use a 2lb loaf tin as I like to slice it like a loaf
• Bake at 200°C / 180°C Fan / Gas Mark 4 for 80 mins until knife comes out clean.
• Remove from the loaf tin and cool on a wire rack
• Once cold, store in an airtight container. Should keep for 7 – 10 days. Or wrap and freeze. Perfect for packed lunches.

What changes can I make

• Leave out the chcolate chips, or use white, milk or dark chocolate. I usually use a 100g bar of basic chocolate, chopped up.
• Add a teaspoon or two of ground cinnamon or mixed spice
• Throw in a handful of dried fruit. The sharpness of dried cranberries would work very well
• Or add blueberries, raisins, apricots or prunes. Chop any larger fruits into pieces the same size as a raisin.
• Or maybe try some nuts. Pecans are the classic, but any nuts would be lovely.
  • How about walnut and cranberry
  • Pecan and raisin
  • Blueberries and Brazil nuts
  • Apricots and peanuts

What to serve with banana bread

• Delicious drizzled with honey, and perhaps a little dollop of thick Greek yogurt, perfect at any time of day.
• Spread with a thin layer of any kind of nut butter, all kinds of nuts go superbly with banana bread
• Or top with a berry compote, sharp raspberries and strawberries would be very yummy!
• Spread with a little chocolate spread, and perhaps a few slices of fresh banana too
• You can serve banana bread for pudding by topping with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream, and maybe a few sprinkles

 

Can banana’s be too ripe for banana bread?

I haven’t pushed this to the limit, but I have used bananas that were very black and a dark brown inside. You might need to reduce the sugar a little as super ripe bananas are very sweet indeed.

Can you use frozen bananas for banana bread?

You can indeed use frozen bananas successfully in banana bread.  The version I made in this post, with chocolate chips, uses a couple of frozen bananas.

I froze the bananas still in their skins, but it was just a little fiddly getting those frozen skins off the fruit. So probably better to peel them before freezing.

Frozen bananas are great in smoothies too.

How to keep banana bread

This quick banana bread keeps very well in a tin, or something covered, for 7-10 days. If you want to keep it longer than that, slice it up and wrap in greaseproof paper and freeze. Don’t forget the label!

How to use up bananas

Love your Leftovers – Bananas

 

Ginger Toast with Banana for breakfast today