This classic homemade banana bread recipe is quick, easy, simple and results in soft moist, delicious banana bread or banana muffins!

Banana bread has its roots in the Great Depression. When throwing out any sort of food was sacrilegious. All food was precious, and nothing went to waste. Combined with the new technology of chemical leaveners, the quick bread was born, and thus the overripe brown bananas found a home.
All banana bread recipes have a few things in common – flour, fat, sugar (or a sweetener of choice), a chemical leavener and of course – bananas. Because of the versatility of the basic recipe – you will find hundreds of variations of banana bread out there. Some will be spiced, some have additional nuts and chocolate chips, some will be fully chocolate, some will contain less sugar, the list goes on.
Jump to:
Salty Ginger's Classic Banana Bread
My recipe is an ode to the good old simple classic banana bread. With a few small twists. I like the addition of yoghurt, it gives great tang and added moisture. And I cut down the sugar content within the bread by a ¼ cup so that I could sprinkle coffee sugar (or sanding) sugar over the top to give the bread a little crunch. Just to contrast the soft moist centre of the bread.
I have no additional nuts or chocolate chips in the bread photographed, mostly because I didn’t have any on hand. But, throw in half a cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips to give your bread a little extra pizzaz.
What you need for this recipe
This recipe requires a standard loaf tin or a 12 cup muffin tin.
Banana Bread Ingredients
- plain or standard grade flour
- white or brown sugar
- baking soda
- salt
- bananas
- large eggs
- greek yoghurt/sour cream
- vanilla extract
- softened butter
- sanding or coffee sugar optional
Making Banana Bread
- Allow all the ingredients to come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fans assisted. Prepare a loaf tin by lining it with baking paper and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, yoghurt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold the flour mixture into the yoghurt mixture until just combined. Then fold in the mashed banana.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with coffee sugar. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre. Allow the banana bread to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan and serving.
Banana Bread Tips
Bananas must be overripe. They must be brown and be a bit manky looking. This ensures that the banana flavour will really be present in the bread.
Banana bread tastes great freshly baked, but like many foods out there, even better the next day. If you can, let the loaf rest overnight.
Banana bread can be served as is, with a little butter and maybe a dollop of jam, a smattering of Nutella.
This recipe can also be used to make banana muffins. Which makes a great lunchtime or afternoon tea snack.
Looking for something a bit more adventurous? Try out my Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins!
Don't forget to tag me @marylou_saltyginger on Instagram, #saltygingerblog with your renditions of these recipes!
If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating! It gives my readers and me helpful feedback. If you want more recipes you can subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Pin for Later
📖 Recipe
Classic Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 300 grams plain or standard grade flour
- 150 grams white or brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large bananas mashed
- 2 large eggs
- 85 grams greek yoghurt/sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60 grams softened butter
- 60 grams sanding or coffee sugar optional
Instructions
- Allow all the ingredients to come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fans assisted. Prepare a loaf tin by lining it with baking paper and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, yoghurt, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold the flour mixture into the yoghurt mixture until just combined. Then fold in the mashed banana.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with coffee sugar. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean from the centre. Allow the banana bread to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate, accuracy of nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.. If scaling the recipe remember to scale your cook and bakeware accordingly.
Leave a Reply