Moist Banana Bread Recipe

Moist banana bread that is easy to make with ripe bananas and caramel sauce, resulting in the best upside-down banana bread ever! Find out the secret for making it super moist!

Who doesn’t love bananas? From fruit salads to desserts, this tropical fruit delivers big time!

A great example is this tasty, caramelized upside-down banana bread — a recipe adapted from Dessert Before Dinner.

Their Best Ever Banana Bread became our Upside-Down Banana Bread.  A few changes were made to the original recipe, particularly the addition of a banana topping with caramel sauce.

Both quick bread loaves are yummy, moist, and versatile since banana bread can be served either for breakfast or as a dessert — even more, if paired with ice cream.

In my home country, Brazil, we enjoy upside-down banana bread with cafezinho (a small cup of our strong coffee) or, with a cup of tea. 

Because this banana bread recipe yields extra batter, I mixed it with Nutella and baked it in a mini muffin pan. We took care of the leftovers quickly though. My kids can vouch for that as they took all the banana muffins to school.

Well, enjoy our caramelized banana bread paired either with coffee or ice cream!

Moist Banana Bread

You may be asking: ‘what are the secrets for a super moist banana bread?’ Well, it is the same as moist cakes.

For this particular recipe, we used applesauce! The fiber in the fruit puree (applesauce) helps to absorb moisture and keep this quick bread moist. It will make it a little denser than one without a fruit puree, but it will be moist.

In addition, to keep it moist and prevent it from drying out, store it well covered or sealed for 2 days at room temperature or up to 7 days in the fridge.

What Is The Best Banana Bread Recipe?

Basically for 2 main reasons:

1. It is an easy recipe to make: All that you have to do to prepare its batter is to mix ingredients. Moreover, it requires no special skills and its ingredients are widely available.
2. It is SUPER moist! And if it wasn’t enough, it comes topped with caramelized bananas. You may choose to not do this extra step for turning a simple banana bread into a glorious upside-down banana bread but it makes it even more delish.

Ingredients and Substitutions

For making this quick bread recipe, you’ll need these simple ingredients:

FOR THE BANANA BREAD BATTER:

• All-purpose flour: Make sure to sift before adding to the batter. You may replace half of its amount with whole wheat flour for making a healthy version of this recipe.
• Baking soda: Needed for helping neutralize an acidic ingredient which is brown sugar.
• Salt
• Spices: We used ground cinnamon and nutmeg, but you can replace it with a blend of choice such as apple pie spices.
• Unsalted butter: It must be softened in order to cream with the sugars.
• Granulated sugar: You may replace every cup with ⅔ cup of honey or maple syrup if you prefer.
• Light brown sugar: It will give a caramel-like flavor to the batter.
• Eggs: They must be at room temperature!
• Applesauce: To make this moist banana bread less sweet, use unsweetened applesauce instead. Some add sour cream or plain Greek yogurt instead.
• Mashed bananas: Must be ripe but not fermented for giving this recipe a real banana flavor! Use a potato masher or a fork to mash bananas.
• Vanilla extract: Add one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the batter for extra flavor.

FOR THE BANANA TOPPING (OPTIONAL):

• Unsalted butter: Cut into chunks and mix with the sugar to make the caramel sauce for our upside-down banana bread.
• Light brown sugar: Along with butter it will make the caramel sauce.
• Bananas: Cut ripe yet firm bananas in half lengthwise and crosswise in order to end up with 4 pieces for each banana.

NOTE: You can replace the caramelized bananas with a cream cheese frosting if you prefer!

Substitutions for Healthy Banana Bread

• Replace sugar with honey: For each cup of granulated sugar, replace it with ⅔ cup of honey.
• Use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour instead of all-purpose flour only. Some use almond flour instead!
• Use unsweetened apple sauce!
• Replace 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour with flax eggs (or 1 tablespoon of flaxseed for extra nutrition) which contain fiber, protein, vitamin B1, and Omega-3 fatty acids.
• For substituting other ingredients or making vegan banana bread, check out our baking substitutions.

How to Make Banana Upside Down Bread

1. First, prepare the banana bread batter: In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and mix with baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. Then, in a bowl of an electric mixer cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until just incorporated into the batter (please, do not overbeat!!). SEE PIC. 1
3. Beat in half of the flour mixture at low speed just until incorporated into the batter. Next, beat in half of the applesauce.
4. Beat in the remaining flour mixture, and then the other half of the applesauce. Mix in both the mashed bananas and vanilla. Set banana mixture aside. SEE PIC. 2
5. Prepare the banana topping: Place 4 tablespoon butter and ¾ cup brown sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until butter melts and the sugar has dissolved. SEE PIC. 3
6. Without stirring, continue cooking for a few more minutes or until bubbles just start to form around the outside edges of the mixture (i.e. the sugar begins to caramelize).
7. Stir and then pour into a loaf pan. Evenly arrange the bananas slices, flat side down, on top of the caramel. SEE PICS. 4 and 5
8. Last, pour batter over bananas and bake the loaf for 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. SEE PIC. 6
9. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. If needed, run a knife around the edges to loosen and gently invert the bread onto a plate.

Tips for Making this Easy Banana Bread Recipe

• To avoid the top of the upside-down banana bread loaf becoming too brown, cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil after being halfway baked.
• Let upside-down banana bread loaf cool in a pan on a rack.
• Run a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf from the inside of the pan and invert it onto a plate.
• Enjoy it warm by itself (for breakfast), or with vanilla ice cream (as a dessert)!
• Use any remaining batter to make banana nut muffins or mini loaves.
• Freezing bananas: Don’t throw out your browning overripe bananas. Instead, place them into a Ziploc bag or freezer bag, removing as much air as possible. Then, freeze them for up to 3 months. Defrost them in the fridge or microwave them for 1 minute when you are ready to make our super moist banana bread.
• To make this banana bread recipe, your bananas should be turning brown and very soft – almost squishy. The riper, the sweeter. But they cannot be black to the point they are fermenting.
• Use applesauce for added moisture!
• Don’t over mix the batter. Lightly incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Don’t over mix; our moist banana bread will become denser.
• Don’t overbake. Start checking after 50 minutes in 5-minute increments.
• For easy clean-up: If not making the caramel sauce for making upside-down banana bread, line your loaf pan with parchment paper before adding the batter.

How to Ripen Bananas

If you have bananas that are too green, there are a few things you can do to help them ripen faster:

• Place them in a brown paper bag with another fruit like an apple and let them sit a day or two.
• Or bake the unpeeled bananas in a 300°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the peels are completely black. Let them cool before using!

Variations

For making variations of our moist banana bread recipe, add one of the following:

• Chocolate Chips: You can add ½ cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips to the batter for making banana chocolate chip bread.
• Nuts: Add toasted walnuts for a banana walnut bread or any other type of nuts for a banana nut bread recipe.
• Pumpkin Puree: Replace the applesauce with pumpkin puree for a pumpkin banana bread. If you want, use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Nutella/Peanut Butter: Add ½ to 1 cup of Nutella or creamy peanut butter for a Nutella banana bread or peanut butter banana bread.
• Cocoa Powder: Add ¼ cup of Dutch cocoa powder to the batter for making chocolate banana bread. Chocolate chips or chunks are also a welcome addition!

How to Store Banana Bread

• Store moist banana bread in an airtight container either at room temp for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. 
• Do NOT FREEZE; otherwise, banana topping would be mushy.

Other Quick Bread Recipes

• Easy Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread
• Italian Corn Bread

Other Banana Recipes

• Upside Down Banana Cake 
• Banana Meringue Pie
• Mocha Cake with Banana Foster Topping
• Deep-Fried Bananas
• Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars

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5 from 11 votes

Moist Banana Bread Recipe

Moist banana bread that is easy to make with ripe bananas and caramel sauce, resulting in the best upside-down banana bread ever! Find out the secret for making it super moist! 

Course:Breakfast

Cuisine:American

Keywords:banana bread, easy, moist

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings 10 slices

Calories497 kcal

Author Denise Browning

Cost $ 0.75 per slice

Equipment

• 1 electric stand mixer
• 1 loaf pan
• oven
• 1 Mixing bowl

Ingredients

FOR THE BANANA BREAD BATTER:

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour sifted (OR REPLACE ½ the flour with whole wheat flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups mashed bananas about 4 to 5 ripe medium bananas
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE BANANA TOPPING (OPTIONAL):

• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter cut into chunks
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• 2 medium ripe yet firm bananas slice in half lengthwise and the crosswise (ending up with 4 pieces for each banana)

Instructions

• First, prepare the banana bread batter: In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and mix with baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
• Then, in a bowl of an electric mixer cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until just incorporated into the batter (please, do not overbeat!!).
• Beat in half of the flour mixture at low speed just until incorporated into the batter. Next, beat in half of the applesauce.
• Beat in the remaining flour mixture, and then the other half of the applesauce. Mix in both the mashed bananas and vanilla. Set banana mixture aside.
• Prepare the banana topping: Place 4 tablespoon butter and ¾ cup brown sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until butter melts and the sugar has dissolved.
• Without stirring, continue cooking for a few more minutes or until bubbles just start to form around the outside edges of the mixture (i.e. the sugar begins to caramelize).
• Stir and then pour into a loaf pan. Evenly arrange the bananas slices, flat side down, on top of the caramel.
• Last, pour batter over bananas and bake the loaf for 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. If needed, run a knife around the edges to loosen and gently invert the bread onto a plate.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

• ★ Did you make this recipe? Please, give it a star rating below!! 
• To avoid the top of the upside-down banana bread loaf becoming too brown, cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil after being half-baked.
• Let moist banana bread loaf cool in a pan on a rack.
• Run a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf from the inside of the pan and invert it onto a plate.
• Enjoy upside-down banana bread warm by itself (for breakfast), or with vanilla ice cream (as a dessert)!
• Use any remaining batter to make muffins.
• If you prefer, replace the banana topping with cream cheese frosting!
• Store in an airtight container either at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. DO not freeze it if making upside-down banana bread! But if making without the banana topping, wrap it well with parchment paper and then foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and enjoy!

Substitutions for Healthy Banana Bread

• Replace sugar with honey: For each cup of granulated sugar, replace it with ⅔ cup of honey.
• Use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour instead of all-purpose flour only. Some use almond flour instead!
• Use unsweetened apple sauce!
• Replace 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour with flax eggs (or 1 tablespoon of flaxseed for extra nutrition) which contain fiber, protein, vitamin B1, and Omega-3 fatty acids.
• For substituting other ingredients or making vegan banana bread, check out our baking substitutions.

Nutrition

Calories: 497kcal | Carbohydrates: 86g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 86mg | Sodium: 372mg | Potassium: 306mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 56g | Vitamin A: 538IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 2mg

** Nutrition labels on easyanddelish.com are for educational purposes only. This info is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate, since the nutrition content of recipes can vary based on ingredient brand or source, portion sizes, recipe changes/variations, and other factors. We suggest making your own calculations using your preferred calculator, based on which ingredients you use, or consulting with a registered dietitian to determine nutritional values more precisely.

Please note that health-focused and diet information provided on easyanddelish.com is for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Consult with your doctor or other qualified health professional prior to initiating any significant change in your diet or exercise regimen, or for any other issue necessitating medical advice.

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Post first published on March 23, 2014.