Five Banana Banana Bread
This is the banana bread recipe my family requests again and again – moist, tender, and bursting with banana flavor, thanks to the use of five (!!) entire bananas in one loaf.
As I’ve uncovered my love for cooking and baking, one of the things that brings me great joy is finding “the” recipe for standbys. Our go-to, the classic, the one my family expects and counts on and to which all others are compared.
When it comes to banana bread, no doubt about it: this is the one.
I’ve been making this recipe for at least four years now, and believe me, I’ve tried others here and there for various reasons. They all disappear eventually, but none are inhaled like this one. After one bite, any “other” banana bread is declared inferior. At this point, if I so much as imply that I might experiment with another banana bread recipe, my husband is quick to deliver the side-eye and raised eyebrow. Why bother!?
Because after all, this is the stand-by, the beloved, the don’t mess with success version. And even though it does ask me to take an extra step beyond most quick breads, I forgive it.
How could you not forgive something this moist, tender, and dense with the comforting flavor of sweet, ripened bananas?
Concentrated Banana Juice!?
I suspect I also don’t mind the extra step because it involves a bit of kitchen science, which feels somewhat like wizardry, or at least as close to wizardry as I’m going to get in my oh-so-ordinary life. Here’s the deal: did you know that bananas have juice!? Neither did I, but oh my goodness, do they ever. In fact, if you set softened bananas in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and let them lounge for 10-15 minutes, the juice will drain out. Stir and press down on them occasionally to help the process along.
Here’s where the wizardry comes in – straining the juice allows you to reduce the juice. A couple minutes of vigorous bubbling on the stovetop leaves you with, essentially, super-concentrated banana juice. Mix that back in with the banana innards, proceed as you normally would with the rest of the ingredients, and you’re on your way to banana bread heaven.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Everyone will go crazy for this moist, tender banana bread with FIVE bananas baked into one loaf!” quote=”Everyone will go crazy for this moist, tender banana bread with FIVE bananas baked into one loaf!”]
Put Frozen Bananas To Work
This is easy enough to make with fresh bananas that are heavily speckled brown. It’s even easier to make with bananas that have been frozen and defrosted. This has saved so much food waste for me!
(As have these banana almond smoothies. 🙂 Maybe I buy too many bananas? Is that a thing?)
When two or three bananas start looking iffy, I just throw them in the freezer. No peeling, no mashing – just throw them in whole. When you have five frozen whole bananas, take them out to defrost in a bowl at room temperature, and do a happy dance – the most delicious treat is in your very near future! Once they are soft, they’ll be easy to peel – use a sharp paring knife to break the skin, then peel it back with your fingers as you normally would. Scoop the banana straight into your strainer, and you’re good to go.
From now on, a huge pile of soft, ripe bananas sitting on the counter will look more like an opportunity than a problem. 🙂 Enjoy!
Five Banana Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 5 large very ripe bananas, peeled*
- 8 tablespoons (113 grams) unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (160 grams) packed brown sugar light or dark
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Lightly spray a loaf pan, approximately 9x5 inches, with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; whisk together and set aside. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a separate medium bowl.
- If using bananas that have been frozen and defrosted, scoop banana innards into the strainer and let drain, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, until you have about 1/2 cup liquid in the bowl.
- If using fresh bananas, scoop innards into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cut 3-4 slits in the wrap to act as steam vents. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes, until the bananas are soft and have released their liquid. Transfer to the fine-mesh strainer and let drain, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, until you have about 1/2 cup liquid in the bowl.
- Transfer the 1/2 cup banana juice to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a rapid simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup. Meanwhile, scrape the bananas out of the strainer and into the bowl that held the juice. Pour the reduced banana juice back into the bowl; using a fork, mash it with the bananas until the mixture is mostly smooth. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the banana mixture. Fold gently, just until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated. Do not overmix!
- Scrape batter into the prepared pan, smooth with a spatula, and bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan before removing. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition Estimate
Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
25 Comments on “Five Banana Banana Bread”
Made this but didn’t do banana juice reduction still delicious! So moist and banana-y! Next time I might add half baking powder (was a tiny bit dense on the bottom)
Wow so yummy
Absolutely delicious! Full on banana flavor, wonderfully moist. Recipe was very easy to follow. Although I actually had 5 overripe bananas on the counter today, knowing that I can use frozen bananas will make it so easy to collect 1-2 at a time. This will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on!
Can I use the recipe of the banana bread to make banana muffins? Will it work as well?
Ugh! I have everything, except the butter! Can I sub coconut oil? I haven’t made banana bread in a long time and this recipe looks awesome!
I want a banana bread recipe not your life story good grief.
Hi Joe, there’s a convenient “jump to recipe” link at the top if you prefer using that, and you can also always just scroll down, haha, which I guess you figured out because the comment box is below the recipe. 🙂 Have a great day!
Best banana bread recipe ever! I wanted to baked banana bread with a heavy taste of bananas. I baked it using this recipe. I used wheat flours instead of all purpose and I added almonds to it as well. Btw did I say that I am a 37 yrs old male living alone, baking for the 1st time! Corona have me doing stunts in the kitchen and I am loving it (not corona but my kitchen adventures)….OMG it was so good that I ended up having banana bread for dinner (don’t judge me). Try it. It is quick and very simple and very tasty!
Hey there,
I like baking and love to try recipes of different bakers and all of my baking turned in to tasty stuff! So, to today I was looking for 5 ripe bananas recipe and landed to your page and it’s just right to my and my family taste. Thank you for sharing.
! ! ! A M A Z I N G ! ! !
This is soooooo delicious!
The banana reduction perfectly gave it an extra punch of banana flavor. I am totally going to use it in my future baking.
Also, the brown butter added a wonderful hint of nuttiness, especially to the half without walnuts on top; it was much more noticeable.
An absolutely brilliant recipe. My loaf is almost gone already!! I’m having to fight off people who want more! (I’m attempting to save some for my sister; she’s my best critic.)
Thank you, so very much, for this recipe. It’s unequivocally going to be a favorite addition to my recipe collection.
P. S. – I’ll be sharing the photos on Instagram! 🙂
So, I’m making this RIGHT NOW. I *just* put it in the oven!
Also, I loooove the banana reduction! Awesome addition. Usually, I’ll juice the bananas, but I never thought of making a reduction; so thank you!!
However, I did make one substitute of my own…. Instead of just melted butter, I used buerre noisette (brown butter). It was my very first time browning butter, and I’m so proud because I got it *perfect* on the first go! Yay me! Haha
I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I will definitely update you! Thank you for this awesome recipe.
Just made this, and added Nestle’s peanut butter and chocolate chips, and used 4 bananas and persimmon, came out delicious!
That sounds lovely! So glad you enjoyed it!
My family and I absolutely love this recipe! Thank you for sharing it!!
Love the idea of a recipe that uses up so many bananas in one go! And thanks for the info about the banana juice!
Have made this several times. Great recipe to which the only change made was adding a cup of dark chocolate chips. I bake mine in 4 minis for 37 minutes. Did I mention this a GREAT Recipe? ❤❤
Very interesting! I never used banana juice in my baking but definitely would love to try your recipe!
I love this recipe and have made it several times. This time I added a half cup each of chopped pecans and choc chips. Yummy stuff this! 🙂
This is such a unique idea! I never heard of banana juice, but it makes sense. This is a creative way to coax more banana flavor from those 5 (!!!) bananas.
Looks so good, can’t wait to try your recipe! YUM!
Is it really bad that I’m considering buying a batch of bananas just to make this?! 😀
There is NOTHING wrong with that in my book!
I have never heard of banana juice before! I also have a ton of frozen bananas and I love that you can use them in this recipe! I need to try it!
This is seriously the best use for frozen bananas I’ve ever found. Please let me know how it turns out if you give it a try!
I love strong banana bread!! This is perfect!