No-Fail Banana Bread Recipe (2024)

The best banana bread recipe! It is always moist, full of flavor and rises high. It doesn’t get any better than this!

There are just some recipes that you don’t mess with. You know, those recipes that really do come out just the way you want them every single time. The ones that if you ever venture and try a different recipe it leaves you full of regret, knowing that you should have just gone with your old trusty, because nothing else quite measures up. This banana bread is one of those recipes for me.

I am not quite sure how long it has been in my family, but I can never remember using another banana bread recipe in our house. It very well could have been my mom’s mom’s recipe as well. And as a lover of all things carb filled and baked, I can tell you that this is a keeper. So do what you need to do. Pin it, print it out, screen shot it -whatever- but make sure you save this little gem.

I am definitely picky about my baked goods and banana bread is no exception. I am a purist. It needs not be packed with all sorts of other goodness like chocolate, marshmallows, strawberries, cinnamon or anything else that looks heavenly floating through my Pinterest feed. What I need in banana bread is for it to be moist and full of flavor. For it to rise high and be golden brown. For the inside to be so soft and chewy, but the outside to have just the slightest bit of crunch. That is my kind of banana bread.

This recipe isn’t revolutionary. It is pretty simple as far as baked goods go, but sometimes simple is best, and I think that is true in this case.

First mix your dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Next cream your shortening and sugar. I use my KitchenAid, but did it by hand for years. You have to be very careful with the KitchenAid not to over mix it. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and cream until smooth.

Next you want to peel your bananas and thoroughly mash them in another small bowl. One key to having perfect banana bread is having super ripe bananas. A nice yellow banana isn’t going to cut it. You want those babies to be brown. Almost to the point where you think… “Should I throw these away?” Only the answer is, NO! Definitely do not throw them away. Make banana bread with them! To mash them just peel them, pop them in the bowl and then use whatever you want to squish them up. I like to use a fork, but a potato masher or a blender works great too.

Now you will just simply alternate adding the flour mixture and the banana into your sugar mixture blending between each addition until it is just combined. Make sure not to blend too much, simply mix it until it just comes together then add more until you are out of both. This is usually about 3 additions of each for me.

The batter will be pretty thick and delicious at this point. Spray your baking pans with cooking spray. I like to use 3.25″ loaf pans { The small ones} and I get 5 loafs. You can get about 2 medium loaves or one large loaf from this recipe.

Fill the pan about 2/3 full with the batter. Since I have five little pans when I bake this I like to set them all on a cookie sheet to make it WAY easier to take them in and out of the oven.

Bake the bread at 350˚ F for 30-35 minutes for the small pans, 40-50 minutes for the medium, or 60-70 for the large. Make sure that a toothpick comes out clean when you insert it into the middle. A HUGE tip here… please, whatever you do, DON’T overcook this bread. It is a delicious recipe, but nothing will ruin it faster than overcooking. When you cut into the bread if the golden color from the crust appears as if it extends farther into the bread, it is over cooked. The best thing to do in my opinion, is to err on the side of caution and set the timer on the early side and check it every 3-5 minutes or so until it is perfectly done. You don’t have to do this every time. Just until you know how your oven cooks with the pan size you prefer. The next time you will know the perfect time to set the timer.

That’s it! Pretty simple for some pretty amazing banana bread! I hope you love this recipe and it will be come handed down in your family just like it has been in mine! {Scroll to the bottom for FULL printable recipe}

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Here are some other baked goods you might love: {Click on picture for recipe!}