Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Chocolate chip banana bread with cinnamon and brown sugar: moist, dark-chocolate-studded slices from the ripest bananas — well worth buying bananas for.
Banana bread exists because bananas go brown, but this version is worth buying bananas for. Dark chocolate chips through a cinnamon-spiced crumb, a crackly top, and slices that toast like they were designed for butter — it is the loaf that disappears a slice at a time, every time someone passes the tin.
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The rules are few and they matter: the ripest bananas you have, melted butter whisked rather than creamed, and a batter stirred only until the flour disappears.
Why this recipe works
Very ripe bananas — skins more brown than yellow — are sweeter, softer and more aromatic than just-ripe ones, and their sugars are what give the loaf its deep colour and moist crumb. Melting the butter instead of creaming it makes the texture dense-tender rather than cakey, which suits a loaf that gets sliced thick and eaten with one hand.
Bicarbonate of soda does the lifting, and it needs the slight acidity of the bananas and brown sugar to work. The cinnamon is quiet — half a teaspoon — there to warm the background rather than announce itself.
The key ingredients
Weigh the bananas peeled if you can: around 300 g gives the moisture this batter is balanced for, and too much banana makes the centre gummy. Dark chocolate chips hold their shape in the oven; a chopped bar melts into streaks and puddles, which is also excellent, just different. Brown sugar rather than white is deliberate twice over: it keeps the crumb moist for days, and its faint toffee note is what makes the loaf taste baked rather than merely sweet. Dark brown sugar makes it darker and richer still — use it gladly. If the banana bread habit takes hold, our Classic Victoria Sponge with Jam and Cream covers the other end of the baking repertoire.
Tips for a clean slice
Line the tin with a strip of baking parchment with the ends poking up — the loaf lifts out in one movement, no surgery. Test with a skewer at fifty minutes: a few moist crumbs are perfect, wet batter means ten more minutes. And wait at least half an hour before slicing; the crumb is still setting as it cools and cuts ragged while hot.
Storage
The loaf keeps for four days in an airtight tin and improves on day two. Slices freeze individually, wrapped, for three months, and go from freezer to toaster without defrosting — one of the freezer’s best tricks, along with the others in our guide to how-to-freeze-bread-cake-and-leftovers-properly.
Frequently asked questions
My bananas are not ripe enough. Can I hurry them?
Yes — bake them whole in their skins at 150°C (130°C fan, gas mark 2) for 15–20 minutes until blackened and soft.
Can I leave out the chocolate?
Of course. Add 75 g chopped walnuts instead, or nothing at all — the loaf stands on its own.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas (about 300 g peeled weight)
- 100 g unsalted butter, melted
- 150 g light brown soft sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 225 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- A pinch of fine sea salt
- 100 g dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4). Line a 900 g loaf tin with baking parchment.
- Mash the bananas thoroughly in a large bowl, then whisk in the melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
- Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Tip into the tin, level the top and bake for 50–55 minutes until risen and a skewer comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Next recipe Classic Victoria Sponge with Jam and CreamThe Recipe Nook is an independent recipe publication. Times and yields are stated plainly, as written — see our Editorial Policy.
