Chocolate Banana Bread

5 from 2 votes

Dark chocolate banana bread is rich, dense and full of delightful chocolate-banana flavor. Perfect for breakfast or snacktime!

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Cooling Time1

Total Time2 10

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: banana quick bread, dairy free banana bread, dark chocolate banana bread

Servings: servings

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only with cooking spray. Place a parchment paper sling (see Notes) inside a nonstick 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, mash 3 bananas until as smooth as possible. Whisk in melted butter, then stir in brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk or sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.
Pour and spread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Slice remaining banana lengthwise into 3 even-size planks, then place on top of loaf; press down gently. Sprinkle it with demerara sugar, if desired.
Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then use the parchment paper sling to gently remove from the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days, or up to 1 week refrigerated.

To make this banana bread dairy-free: Swap butter for melted coconut oil and use dairy-free chocolate chips.
Do not swap the Dutch-process cocoa powder for regular unsweetened cocoa powder. It is less acidic than regular, and adds a rich flavor and dark color with no bitterness. (The same thing goes for any recipe with Dutch process cocoa powder, like my Devil’s Food Cake Recipe!)
To make a parchment paper sling, cut one strip of parchment as long as the pan (in this case, 9 inches) and wide enough to hang over the longer edges of the pan on both sides by about 2 inches. Place strip inside loaf pan, then spray bottom only with cooking spray.
Avoid getting a crunchy “lip” on the crust by spraying the bottom of the loaf pan ONLY — not the sides. Spraying the bottom + using the parchment sling will help you get the loaf out of the pan with ease, and there will be no lip!