Banana Loaf
This easy and moist Banana Loaf recipe is a family favourite, perfect for using up ripe bananas. With simple ingredients and quick preparation, it’s a “healthy” treat that everyone will love! Whenever the kids ask me, “What’s your favourite fruit, Mummy?” the answer will always be, Bananas! I’ve always been a fan of bananas, in…
This easy and moist Banana Loaf recipe is a family favourite, perfect for using up ripe bananas. With simple ingredients and quick preparation, it’s a “healthy” treat that everyone will love!
Whenever the kids ask me, “What’s your favourite fruit, Mummy?” the answer will always be, Bananas! I’ve always been a fan of bananas, in fact, anything banana – banana sweeties, banana puddings, banana hair products; I currently have a banana shower gel standing in my shower. So it’s really no surprise that one of my favourite bakes from Granny is her Banana Loaf.
It’s another one of those recipes that Granny can rattle off the top of her head without a second thought – probably because she makes it so much!
Always a popular choice for the mothers that Granny serves at the café she works in, with the reasoning that it’s a healthier choice of snack for the kids asking for sweets. I suppose I can see the logic (fruit = healthy, right?), but given the amount of sugar that also goes in Banana Loaf alongside the 1-of-you-5-a-day bananas, it’s perhaps not the healthiest snack there is.
Let’s just forget healthy for a moment, though, and appreciate how delicious and moist this Banana Loaf is. Compared to lots of other banana bread recipes I’ve tried, this one is pretty straightforward too – why make something more complicated than it needs to be, especially when simple means so good in this instance!
Because it’s so easy, the kids love getting involved in baking it too. My boys love nothing more than finding a slightly brown banana and waiting for it to become overripe, knowing it’ll soon be time to mash it into a Banana Bread batter.
Tips for the Best Banana Bread:
• The riper your bananas, the better the flavour! I don’t make Banana Loaf nearly as often as I’d like because bananas don’t last long in our house, but the brown spotted, or even completely black bananas, will always give you the best banana loaf.
• Banana loaf can also be frozen. Make in batches, keep within it’s grease-proof lining, wrap in tin foil and freeze for up to a few months.
Banana Loaf
INGREDIENTS
- 2 Bananas (ripe)
- 140 g Caster Sugar
- 55 g Butter or Margarine (softened)
- 1 Free-range Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 170 g Self-raising Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 190°c (170°c for a fan-assisted oven or Gas Mark 5) and grease & line a 2lb loaf tin with grease-proof paper.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the sugar, butter/margarine, egg & vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Gradually sift in the flour and baking powder, mixing until all combined.
- Pour into your pre-lined loaf tin and smooth into the corners.
- Bake in your pre-heated oven for 40 minutes until golden on top. Leave to cool in the loaf tin before serving in slices.
Video
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won’t always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
Free-from & Vegan:
Gluten-free: For a gluten-free banana loaf recipe, simply switch out the self-raising flour for gluten-free self-raising flour.
Nut-free: This recipe for banana loaf doesn’t use any nuts, but be sure to double check your ingredients individually for any hidden nuts.
Vegan: For a vegan banana loaf recipe, simply use a dairy-free margarine instead of butter and a tablespoon of applesauce instead of an egg.
N.B. Any advice or suggestions to make recipes “free-from” or vegan are purely that – suggestions. Please be careful to double-check all ingredients individually, taking extra caution when serving to those with allergies & intolerances.
For more info on common food allergies, please see food.gov.uk | For more info on coeliac disease, please see coeliac.org.uk | For more info on a vegan diet, please see vegansociety.com
Originally published in February 2017. Updated in February 2025.
Thank you to Naomi Seiler for creating the updated photos.
I’ve been using this recipe for years it’s my go to recipe. I’ve cut the sugar by half and it still tastes amazing. Can this recipe be made with almond flour or wholemeal to make it a little healthier?
This is my go-to base recipe. I add in a handful of sultanas and a teaspoon of cinnamon and bake for an extra five minutes. It doesn’t last more than a couple of days here!
Hi Lindy could you give me an idea of what size banana you used please? They vary so much!!!
I use 2 large ones but if I only have small I use 3.
Made this yesterday, husband loved it, thank you for a great recipe!
I’ve been using this recipe since 2018 and it hasn’t failed me yet, I also add chocolate chips sometimes!
I haven’t even tried to make a cake for over 60 years (the cakes I made as a child were uniformly horrible, so I’ve always believed I couldn’t do it) but I have cautiously tested myself out with this recipe, having a lot of bananas that needed eating up, and it’s fabulous! Solid and chewy, but deliciously moist, and *easy*!
I worried because I couldn’t get the butter to mix in completely – I used an electric whisk because my shoulders are arthritic, and there were tiny lumps of it scattered throughout the mix that I couldn’t blend in, but it didn’t seem to matter. No doubt they all melted soon anyway.
The only thing is, it’s a weeny bit too sweet for me: can I use less sugar, or would that interfere with the engineering of it?