This easy Banana Bread recipe is a no-fail favorite that comes out perfect every time!
With a handful of ingredients that you likely have on hand and only a few minutes of prep, you’re going to start buying extra bananas just for this recipe!
Why We Love This Recipe
- Quick This is so quick to prepare, you’ll probably have it ready to go before your oven even finishes preheating!
- Easy Ingredients The ingredients needed are things I always have on hand so I can make this at a moments notice.
- No-Fail This recipe turns out perfectly every time.
- Extra Moist The banana bread in this recipe is deliciously moist with a tender crumb, just as it should be.
Ingredients
Bananas You want your bananas to be ripe with many black spots, this means they’re soft and full of sugars. You can peel them and freeze them to bake with at a later date too.
To Ripen Bananas Quickly: Uhoh, you have beautiful yellow bananas, perfect for a smoothie or banana pudding but not so much for baking!
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- To ripen in 1-2 days: place them in a paper bag (with other ripe fruit if you have any) and seal.
- To ripen immediately, bake at 300°F for 15-20 minutes. Cool before using in this recipe.
Eggs & Oil Eggs and oil add moisture to quick breads like zucchini bread and of course this recipe too.
In this recipe, we replace some of the oil with mayonnaise (which is made of… eggs and oil)! While this may seem like a weird ingredient, as you can see from the reviews, it is the perfect addition!
How to Make Banana Bread
Banana Bread with Mayonnaise? I know it may sound a little bit strange, but mayo is made with oil and eggs which are basically staple ingredients in any quick bread.
Be sure not to overmix or it’ll be dense and chewy instead of soft and moist.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl (per recipe below).
- Combine bananas (of course), mayonnaise and egg in a second bowl.
- Mix the two together just until moist (image below, your batter should be lumpy).
- Pour into a greased pan and bake.
I make a Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake which is to die for. If you have never had a bread or cake made with mayonnaise before, you MUST try it.
Tips for Success
Bananas add flavor and moisture to this loaf as does the mayonnaise. A few more favorite tips:
- The batter is thick, do not add extra liquid.
- Avoid adding extra bananas, this can make the bread too dense.
- As with all quick breads, do not overmix. Stir just until incorporated.
- Do not overcook. Ovens can vary so check your bread at least 10 minutes before the time is up.
- Seal well once cooled (a freezer bag works well too).
You can add in pecan or walnuts or chocolate chips to this banana bread recipe.
For easy removal, line the loaf pan with parchment paper leaving about 3 inches of paper folded over the top of the pan.
How to Store Banana Bread
Banana bread should last about 3 days tightly sealed on the counter.
To FREEZE: You can either freeze the loaf as a whole or slice it and freeze the slices. To defrost a slice just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds or even just add it to the lunch box frozen, it’ll defrost in plenty of time for lunch!
Options and Add-Ins
- Banana Nut Crunch Muffins – reader favorite
- Blueberries – Toss with a bit of flour before adding to the batter to keep evenly distributed
- Peacans, coconut, dried fruits
Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 medium bananas mashed
- ½ cup mayonnaise or dressing
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- In a bowl mix together mashed bananas, mayo and egg. In a separate bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and pecans
- Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir just until combined. Note: The mixture will be very thick, do not over mix
- Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Since I’ve stumbled upon your recipe, I have been declared the banana bread maker for everyone’s birthday at work ! It’s so easy and delicious every time! I was wondering, can you make the batter in advance and cook it at a later time or next day ? I look forward to hearing back :) Thanks again for a fabulous recipe !
can you substitute mayo or dressing with this recipe?
Mayo or dressing (Miracle Whip) will work in this recipe.
Can I use bread flour instead of all purpose?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Nhoward. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
This is my go to recipe! Comes out great every time.
I have made this many times and it is the best. Would like to know what size pan is the best? I have several different sized loaf pan and didn’t know what pan would be the best.
Hi Debby, we use a standard 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan for this recipe.
I have made ALOT of Banana bread and this is the best recipe of all I’ve done. Absolutely amazing and the mayonnaise made huge difference.
I’ve made quite a few banana breads through the years but I must say that this was the easiest one by far. It had so much flavor although I did add some vanilla and cinnamon to it. Perfect texture and not dry at all. This will be my go to recipe for banana bread going forward.
I used sour cream vs mayonnaise, added toasted pecans and it turned out yummy. My 81 year old mother’s exact words “I think this is the best banana bread I’ve ever tasted”. It’s a keeper recipe.
Does this recipe need to be adjusted for high altitude? I live at 4,800 feet above sea level.
Thanks much!
Unfortunately I’m unable to offer any advice for baking at a high altitude Trish, but another reader mentioned she needed to make no changes at high altitude. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Hubby said he wasn’t a fan of banana bread…. I made this recipe and added chocolate chips. He now loves banana bread and has a loaf weekly. Highly recommend this recipe
Well didn’t that just make my day!!
This bread is awesome very moist and easy to make Thank you !!
Yuummmmmy
I tried this recipe out last night! So so so GOOD! My five year old twins loved the banana bread and wanted more. Thank you for this recipe. ^.^
This is my go to recipe for banana bread. I scaled the recipe up to use 30 bananas at a time because I get them from the food bank to bake for the Free Little Food Pantries in my city. I use Best Foods mayonnaise. It always comes out great. Everyone raves about it and I give your recipe out freely to everyone who will listen. Perfection! Thank you so much for the recipe!
That’s wonderful Kathryn, what a lovely thing to be able to do for your community. I am so happy you love this recipe.
Very moist and delicious! My husband said he could eat the entire loaf! The whole family loved it!!
I’ve made this Banana Bread a couple of times and turned out perfectly and so moist. I used 4 bananas in both loaves and added chocolate chips the the second loaf. Delicious!
This is absolutely the very BEST banana bread recipe I’ve ever found!
It is incredibly moist and flavorful. I don’t use as much sugar as it calls for, but if you use really ripe bananas, as I do, there is plenty of sugar in them. I don’t remember exactly how much I cut the sugar, but I would say I used about half of what it calls for.
I didn’t have any mayonnaise so I used sour cream instead and added some cinnamon. It’s sooo good and moist. I think my loaf pan is a little bigger than the recipe calls for because it didn’t take as long to bake.
This recipe was terrible! It was moist but tasteless!
Oh no! I am sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe as much as we do. Thank you for trying it Carol.
These are good but really salty. I made two batches and cut the salt by more than half and still really salty. Could it be the Mayo?
I haven’t had this issue so I can’t say for sure Chrissy.