Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

A perfect slice of warm chocolate chip banana bread topped with a bit of butter and dotted throughout with chocolate chips. Now this sounds like dessert!

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How to make a Banana Bread Recipe with Chocolate Chips

This is an easy banana bread recipe that gets made more often than not. My household buys LOTS of bananas! Sometimes they turn “ugly” too quickly and some of us are too scared to eat an ugly banana.

Who has a picky eater? *Raises hand* So this is for them, chocolate chips included.

Chocolate chip banana bread along with other sweet quick breads is an amazing holiday gift. For both of you! You get a great-smelling house without buying a $20 candle and your neighbor gets an amazing Chocolate Chip Banana Bread which will quickly become their favorite banana bread recipe. We’re all winners here!

You may want to double this recipe because the entire loaf may be gone fast. Eat one, then freeze the other! We love banana bread and hope you’ll love this easy banana bread recipe as well!

Are you craving even more chocolate, try this Double Chocolate Banana Bread! Or for a healthier version Zucchini Banana Bread!

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips Ingredients

All-purpose flour – King Arthur is my go-to. Any brand would work just fine, just be sure to sift your dry ingredients to make sure we get any unwanted lumps out.

White granulated sugar – Domino brand sugar, for me, is best in flavor. This includes brown and powdered sugars.

Ripened mashed bananas – You’ll want the ugly bananas for this recipe. If you’ve just gone grocery shopping and your bananas are still green or yellow even, scroll down to learn how to ripen your bananas quickly so you can still finish your Banana Bread today. Overripe bananas will also work well, so long as they’re not rotting…obviously.

Vegetable oil – Or any flavorless oil. Other odorless oils you could use are Canola Oil, Light Refined Olive Oil, and Avocado Oil. Other banana bread recipes call for unsalted butter. I’ve found I prefer using oil over butter to help aid in a moist banana bread

Water – water, can’t really elaborate much more on water. *unflavored*

Eggs, beaten – Pre-beating your eggs just helps them incorporate better without overmixing.

Baking soda – We want a well risen Banana Bread.

Salt – Coarse sea salt

Toasted and chopped nuts (optional) – My family always gets sad when I make nuts optional. I enjoy nuts, but not so much in my desserts. I do recommend toasting your nuts first, though the flavor of toasted nuts is much more enhanced than if you were to just use raw.

Semi-sweet chocolate chips – You can absolutely switch this up with milk chocolate, dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or even peanut butter chips.

Vanilla extract – Use a real vanilla extract. In this recipe, I’ve used vanilla extract paste.

Kitchen supplies you’ll need for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Load pan
• Parchment paper
• Wooden spoon or rubber spatula

How to Ripen Bananas

If your bananas are almost there but not quite, or you’ve just gone grocery shopping and have fresh bananas and need to make Banana Bread. Because we NEED to make Banana Bread!

Prepare yourself super ripe bananas that offer the best banana flavor.

Preheat your oven to 300 F

Place your bananas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 – 20 minutes

Don’t be alarmed if they turn to very dark brown bananas. Inside your bananas will be the perfect doneness and ready to be made into bread. Brown bananas are good bananas.

While still on the baking sheet, cut the banana open and scoop out the inside with a spoon into a measuring cup. For this recipe, we’re looking for 1 ½ cups of mashed banana.

Can bananas be too ripe for chocolate chip banana bread?

Nope! Bananas will never be too ripe to make chocolate chip banana bread.

However, if the bananas begin to rot, grow mold, or start attracting fruit flys it would be best NOT to use those bananas.

Can I freeze overripe bananas?

Yes! You can freeze overripe bananas.

Place unpeeled ripe bananas in a ziplock bag, sealed airtight, and freeze. Before freezing you can even break them down into bite-sized pieces or a mash.

Frozen ripe bananas will last for 3 months.

How to Mash Bananas

There are really so many ways to mash ripe bananas.

If you need to bake your bananas to make them ripen, then no mashing for you! These bananas come out of the oven already very soft in the peel. Use a spoon to scoop them out and you’re ready to go.

Alternatively, you can mash ripe bananas using a fork, as most people do. However, you can also use a hand mixer, stand mixer, potato masher, or pastry cutter. Almost anything that is able to squish the ripe bananas.

Of course, it’s up to you how “mashed” your bananas turn out. I like to keep mine fairly chunky. You can mash the ripe bananas however fine you’d like, the recipe will still turn out amazing!

Mix it, Bake it, Eat it!

Preheat to 350 F and prepare a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and parchment paper.

If you find that the edges are not staying down, use little clamps to keep the parchment paper in place while you make your batter. After pouring them into your loaf pan you can then remove them before baking.

In a large bowl sift together all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.

To the sifted dry ingredients add in the vegetable oil, water, eggs, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas.

Mix together until just combined. A lumpy mixture is what we’re aiming for.

Once combined add in the semi-sweet chocolate chips and fold into the mixture until evenly distributed. Don’t over mix, we’re looking for a pancake batter texture.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan.

At this time you can add as little or as many of the remaining chocolate chips to the top before baking. You’re the boss now, measure the chocolate chips with your heart, then start baking.

Bake uncovered for 90 minutes. If you think the top of your banana bread is getting too dark, go ahead and lightly cover it with foil to avoid it getting too dark. I personally don’t mind it getting a bit dark, those crunchy corners are my fav!

Once the bread has finished baking you can check its doneness by having a toothpick inserted into the center. If it comes out clean you’re good to go. If not, bake a few more minutes.

Cool completely, slice & serve!

Can I make Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Muffins instead?

Absolutely!

With this recipe, you could make regular-sized muffins, mini muffins, or even mini loaves.

Muffins: 12 large muffins. Line your muffin tins and only fill 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes

Mini Muffins: Depending on your “mini” sized pan, this delicious recipe could make approximately 36 mini muffins.

Mini Loaves: Roughly 3 loaves can come from this recipe. If making minis, use a cookie scoop to evenly distribute the bread batter amongst the 3 mini loaf pans. Bake for 20 minutes, checking for doneness before removing from the oven.

Bundt Pan: A smaller pan works best, around 7 inches.

Would you like a streusel topping?

I go back and forth with a streusel topping and without. It’s so good both ways I can never decide. I will also mention that this streusel topping is technically a double recipe of mine. I LOVE streusel, so I won’t apologize for its thick layer!

For the streusel topping you’ll need:

3/4 cup All-purpose flour

1/4 cup Brown sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter

1/4 cup Chopped nuts (optional)

Add all of these ingredients to a small bowl. Work them together with your hands until you have a crumbly mixture.

Before baking your banana bread, evenly spread the streusel topping on top. No additional baking time is necessary. If the top is getting too brown, cover with foil and continue baking.

Check out this Pumpkin Bread recipe with this same streusel topping!

Making Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Because we need more chocolate right! Plain banana bread can take the back seat for now.

For even more chocolate flavor add 1/4 cocoa powder to your dry ingredients, and before baking add chocolate chips on top.

Now you have Chocolate Banana Bread with plenty of melty chocolate chips!

Expert Tips

Baking

-This recipe can be made with a wooden spoon, hand mixer, or even a stand mixer. Whichever is your preference.

-Before baking place a few chocolate chips on top of your batter so that when it comes out of the oven, you have melty chocolate chips on top!

-Chocolate chips are a must, but if you want to experiment with some other flavors try adding peanut butter chips, mini chocolate chips, or dried cranberries.

-If adding nuts into your chocolate chip banana bread is your thing I’d suggest, chopped pecans or chopped toasted walnuts.

Eating

-Serve your super moist banana bread right out of the oven, no butter is needed.

-This bread is just as great the next day, take a piece for breakfast on the go!

-Even more special during the holidays, you can wrap this loaf up and gift it to literally anyone, they’ll be so grateful.

Storage Suggestions:

Store freshly baked banana bread in an airtight container on your countertop for up to four days. Storing in the refrigerator will draw the moisture out of your bread, nobody wants that.

Can I freeze banana bread? Yes, you can freeze banana bread! The best way to freeze banana bread is by simply wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and freeze it for up to 6 months. To freeze banana bread slices, wrap each slice in plastic wrap, and store them all together in a Ziploc in the freezer.

Tools I Use

Mixing bowls

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Baking spray

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Loaf pan

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Check out these other delicious recipes!

• The Best Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping
• Cinnamon Babka
• Bisquick Banana Muffins With Chocolate Chips
• Pan Fried Cinnamon Bananas
• Banana Pudding Trifle

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