Simple and Delicious Banana Bread is Perfect for Fall

Who doesn’t want an easy and yummy banana bread recipe?  This simple recipe makes two delicious loaves of banana bread. The amazing combination of bananas, cinnamon, and buttermilk makes for a delightful, moist texture with a lovely caramelized crust on the top that adds a satisfying crunch to each slice.

This recipe does make two loaves, but we never have any problem finishing them off quickly.  It is easy to slice and freeze, so you can take out yummy banana bread as the craving hits you too. Just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds, or pop it in the toaster for a light crunch.

How to Make Easy Banana Bread

We always seem to buy more bananas than we can eat before they start getting overripe. The easy solution is to buy fewer bananas, but where’s the fun (and blog post) in that? But what do you do with just one or two leftover bananas? Freeze ’em!

I literally just throw the bananas in the freezer, and when I’ve accumulated enough, or (more often) when I’ve got a hankering for banana bread, I just pull out 5-6 frozen bananas, plop them in a bowl to defrost, and in about an hour or two, you’ve got…well, you’ve got some really disgusting looking bananas that look like they should have gone in the trash ages ago.

I can’t tell you the sense of panic I had the first time I saw that. Never fear, dear readers, the bananas were fine! A little deconstructed, but fine. Be prepared: frozen bananas will sort of “leak” liquid. Don’t throw it away! You need that stuff for the banana mash. The bananas will come out kind of slimy and oozy and soft and not very banana-like, but that’s okay — it’s easier to mash.

Once you’ve taken care of mashing up your bananas, you can start gathering and measuring your other ingredients. After mixing up the dry ingredients in a bowl, combining the sugar and oil, and then adding the eggs and vanilla, you get to the fun chemistry part: adding the baking soda to the buttermilk. It might take a moment, but you will notice that it’s bubbling, and suddenly has more volume in the measuring cup. Make sure you have enough room!

Alternating the dry and the wet is a great way to control the consistency of the batter without over-mixing. After the buttermilk and the flour mix is totally incorporated you can stir in the mashed bananas (and nuts, if you want them). You don’t want to mix too much — just stir until the banana is well distributed in the batter.

This recipe makes two 9 x 3 inch loaves. Sticking can really be an issue, mostly because of the high sugar content (between the bananas and what you put in). To prevent sticking, spray the pans with nonstick spray or grease them with butter. In the future, I may experiment with using cake goop as the grease for this bread and see if it does a better job of preventing the loaves from sticking to the pan. The upside? The sugar makes for an amazing caramelized crunch crust on the top of each loaf.

 

Toss those puppies in a 350F oven (actually, place carefully, you should really never TOSS something into your oven, that’s just crazy). Check the loaves in about an hour. When a toothpick comes out essentially clean — a few crumbs are okay — they’re done. Let them rest in the pans for about 5 minutes. Then, take them out and cool them on a rack for at least 10 minutes before you start scarfing. That wait is definitely the hard part.

The wait is totally worth it though. I really enjoy a slice or two — okay, sometimes three — with some butter and either coffee or tea, depending on the time of day. It’s a wonderful, warm, delicious bite of comfort food on a cold and rainy fall day.

-Kate

Now for the recipe!

Simple Banana Bread Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (5 oz) walnuts (if desired)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 cups ripe/very ripe mashed bananas (about 5 small bananas)

Simple Banana Bread Instructions

1. Position rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350F.
2. If you are going to use nuts, read this, otherwise just skip to the next part. Put the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast until aromatic and lightly browned, about 12-15 minuets. After 6-8 minutes, shake the pan and rotate it if needed to ensure even browning. Let cool, then roughly chop the walnuts.
3. Spray two 9 x 3 inch loaf pans with vegetable oil cooking spray.
4. Stir together the flour, kosher salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.
5. Combine the oil and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. You can also use a hand mixer and a large bowl. Beat on low speed until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
6. Stir the baking soda into the buttermilk in a small bowl or measuring cup. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the mixer, followed by half of the buttermilk, and mix on low speed until barely combined, 10-15 seconds. Repeat. Scrape down the sides and mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Add the mashed bananas and walnuts (if you’re using them) and mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix!
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then remove the loaves from the pans and let cool on the rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!! Let us know in the comments how this easy banana bread recipe turned out for you!