Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with walnuts

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Walnuts is a super moist and tender quick bread perfect for using up overripe bananas. Great as a snack, dessert or breakfast with your morning coffee!

Many cooks think of banana bread only as an afterthought. You only bake banana bread when you feel guilty about throwing away those over-ripe bananas, right?

That’s how I thought too, until I discovered all the variety of ingredients just waiting to totally kick-start this healthy batter into something amazing, like this Blueberry Pecan Banana Bread. Discover for yourself how tasty these simple baked loaves can be.

Ingredients needed for this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe

• Unsalted Butter – bring the butter to room temperature before beating with the sugar. Cold butter doesn’t mix well.
• Brown Sugar – either light or dark brown sugar are both fine for this recipe. For a lighter loaf, use half brown sugar and half white sugar in the recipe.
• Large Eggs – room temperature eggs will blend easier than cold eggs.
• Vanilla Extract – adds flavor and delicious aroma.
• Cinnamon – brings out the banana flavor.
• Sour Cream – we use full fat sour cream to add moist flavor to this bread. Plain Greek yogurt is a healthy substitute.
• All-Purpose Flour – we used classic AP flor for this recipe.
• Baking Soda – leavening agent for the bread.
• Salt – brings out the flavor of the ingredients.
• Bananas – use up your over-ripe with dark brown or black spots.
• Chocolate Chips – we used regular size milk chocolate chips, but dark chocolate or mini chips are delicious too!
• Walnuts – you can chop whole walnuts yourself, or buy them pre-chopped for convenience.

How to make this moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe

The best moist banana bread starts with super ripe bananas with lots of brown or black spots. These will add concentrated banana flavor and sweetness to the batter.

?Note: There should still be some yellow peel remaining – bananas that have become all brown-black probably will be starting to ooze liquid and should be discarded.

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8 or 9-inch loaf pan or line with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl mash peeled bananas with a fork. Set aside.
3. In the large bowl of the stand mixer (fitted with paddle attachment) combine the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add in vanilla, cinnamon, sour cream and bananas. Beat on low speed to combine.
5. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt). With the mixer off add to the banana mixture. Beat on low to moisten (and keep flour from flying everywhere), then medium speed to blend with the wet ingredients.
6. With a spatula or wooden spoon , fold in any add-ins like nuts, chcolate chips and dried fruit.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top of the loaf.
8. Bake in prepared oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When a cake tester or knife inserted in center of the loaf comes out clean the bread is done.
9. Cool on a wire rack until pan cool enough to handle. Run sharp knife around bread to help release from the pan. Invert onto a serving plate to slice.

Chef Tips ?

1. Mash your bananas well with a fork. It’s okay if there’s a few chunks and lumps.
2. For best results, be sure the butter is at room temperature. Hard butter won’t mix with the sugar and will leave butter lumps in your batter.
3. The batter should be thick once all of the ingredients are mixed. You may think it needs more liquid, but this banana bread batter is fine as it is.
4. Don’t over mix the batter!
5. Use a light colored loaf pan. Dark loaf pans may darken the bottom of your bread loaf.
6. If desired, line your loaf pan with parchment paper. Leave a 3 -inch overhang to make it easy to lift the banana bread out of the pan.
7. Place your loaf onto a cooling rack to let cool. Cool completely or refrigerate for the easiest slicing.

*If using a hand mixer follow the recipe as written, combining all the ingredients in one large mixing bowl.

Banana Bread Flour Options

We love to mix and match the flours used in our favorite banana bread recipe . This recipe is super versatile and using a healthier flour option is so easy.

• Whole Wheat Flour
• Whole wheat pastry flour
• Buckwheat Flour
• Spelt Flour
• Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour
• Whole Grain Flour Blend
• Gluten Free Flour Blend

More Banana Bread Variations

This is the perfect base recipe for all variety of banana breads. Feel free to add different flavors to make it your own.

Throw in a handful of chopped peanut butter candy into the batter and make it peanut butter banana bread. Dried fruit like apricot or blueberry add extra sweetness and distinctive and totally delicious flavor?. Try drizzling in a teaspoon or two of maple syrup for even more flavor or a tablespoon of flax seeds for more fiber…yum!