chocolate chip banana bread

This easy chocolate chip banana bread is soft, tender and generously seasoned with cinnamon! All made in one bowl with an immersion blender or whisk. You can even make it in the blender!

This homemade chocolate chip banana bread is soft, fluffy, and moist with a tender crumb complete with warm cinnamon and pops of chocolate decadence. As if this recipe couldn’t get any better, it’s a classic that’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, an afternoon snack, and even dessert! You know I’m a banana bread expert from the over 10 banana bread-related recipes on the blog alone, and I can personally assure you this is the very best.

Sometimes I’ll switch it up and make some pumpkin muffins in the fall, cinnamon scone bread in the winter, sourdough blueberry muffins in the spring, and zucchini bread in the summer. When do I make this banana bread? All. Year. Long.

Professional tips for banana bread recipes:

• Taste and smell your bananas. You know from my banana pudding that you should smell and taste your bananas to ensure they are at optimal ripeness. They are ready if you can smell that wonderful banana smell! The peel will also have small brown spots.
• Watch that bake time! Quick breads bake a long time, so it can be easy to over or under bake them. Keep a cake tester nearby and do a quick check as you near the 45 minute mark.
• Sprinkle sugar in the pan. I spray or butter then coat the loaf pans in granulated sugar before adding the batter. This makes a delicious crunchy sugary crust on the outside of the loaf!

Ingredients

• All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten for this recipe and my banana bread muffins. Measure your flour by fluffing it in the bag and spooning it into a measuring cup. Level it off with a knife. Be careful not to tap or compress the flour. Not measuring correctly will lead to more of a cake-like texture.
• Baking Powder & Soda: Using baking powder and baking soda gives this bread a more even rise in the oven. 
• Kosher Salt
• Ground Cinnamon
• Ripe Bananas: In an ideal world, I choose bananas that are ripe but only just beginning to spot. This is the peak flavor for both this recipe and chocolate banana bread!  If needed, thaw frozen bananas and squeeze out all excess moisture.
• Whole Eggs: Eggs help bind this bread batter together. Do not substitute the eggs in this specific recipe. Instead, check out this Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread!
• Vanilla Extract
• Granulated Sugar: I use granulated sugar in my quick breads. It is used for the more obvious flavor reasons but also to aid in the bread’s leavening, moisture, texture, and stability. 
• Buttermilk: I use low-fat buttermilk. Full fat buttermilk is too thick to properly hydrate the batter. The added fat and acidity from the buttermilk also help to make the crumb super tender. Plus there’s a very slight tang, like in my buttermilk cake donuts.
• Unsalted Butter: Melted butter makes a tender, moist banana bread just like it does in these homemade brownies and in my blondie recipe.  
• Chocolate Chips: Semi-sweet chocolate chips are ideal for this bread, but you could substitute a mixture of semi and bittersweet or dark chocolate chips.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations

• Make them into muffins. This recipe makes about 8 banana muffins. I use the tulip liners so that they can rise extra tall and be proud, bakery-style muffins. You could also opt for small-batch muffins. One time I was hit by a serious craving and only had ½ banana, so I divided the whole recipe by 4 and made 2 mini muffins. Strongly recommend. I broke it all down for you in this chocolate chip banana muffin recipe!
• Experiment with mix-ins. Substitute the chocolate for butterscotch chips. A totally different vibe. As evidenced in my hummingbird cake, bananas pair well with pecans or walnuts, coconut flakes, and dried fruit like raisins!
• Go extra decadent with a glaze. You could turn your banana bread into quite the dessert! It’d be delightful with the spiced rum glaze from my eggnog bread (or you could soak some raisins in rum like I do for this brown butter rum raisin banana bread). You could frost it with the chocolate buttercream from this devil’s food cake or a drizzle of chocolate glaze like these chocolate-glazed banana bread muffins!

How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325°F convection (with fan) or 350°F standard (no fan). Spray a 1-lb loaf pan with cooking spray or spread butter over the entire surface. Coat the inside of the pan with sugar by pouring a bit in the bottom and then tilting the pan so that it evenly coats all the sides. 

Step 2: In a bowl combine bananas, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and buttermilk. Immersion blend or whisk until smooth. 

Step 3: Quickly immersion blend flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter into the banana mixture until there are only a few remaining lumps. Be careful not to overmix the batter. 

You could also use a whisk. The resulting bread will be more tender when made by hand. But, there is added ease in using a blender or hand blender! 

Step 4: Fold in the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared pan. 

Step 5: Bake about 60 minutes in a preheated oven or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out with clinging crumbs. 

Step 6: Cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Turn out to finish cooling completely on a wire rack.

For the best banana bread, allow it to cool completely before slicing. Slicing quick bread while still hot will make it appear underbaked and compress the loaf.

Frequently Asked Questions