One-Bowl Banana Bread

Moist, fluffy banana cake is a timeless favorite. It's also incredibly easy to make—but we managed to make it even easier with this one-bowl banana cake recipe.

While this recipe is streamlined, you won't miss out on any of the rich banana flavor, warm spiced notes, or tender buttery texture. The one-bowl technique just means you can make this recipe without the hassle of dirtying up half your kitchen in the process.

Here, learn how to make easy one-bowl banana bread. Plus, learn more fun ways to personalize it to your favorite flavors.

Ingredients for One-Bowl Banana Bread

A well-stocked home pantry and fridge likely has everything you need to make one-bowl banana bread. Here's a quick rundown:

• Granulated sugar: White sugar adds the perfect sweetness. For a more caramel-rich flavor, use light brown sugar.
• Mashed bananas: Use up those overripe, speckled bananas you have sitting in the fruit bowl.
• Canola oil: To make this recipe easier, we use canola oil instead of creaming butter and sugar. It still creates the most tender, soft bread, no butter needed.
• Yogurt: If you don't have yogurt, use all buttermilk.
• Buttermilk: This provides the acid to lift the banana bread during baking. It also provides some moisture.
• Vanilla extract: It's an essential baking ingredient.
• Egg: You only need one for this recipe.
• All-purpose flour: We like how light all-purpose flour is in this bread.
• Baking soda: Baking soda is activated when it's combined with both an acidic ingredient and a liquid (in this case, buttermilk). Upon activation, carbon dioxide is produced, which allows baked goods to rise and become light and fluffy.
• Salt: Just a bit helps balance all the sweet flavors.
• Cooking spray: To grease the pan so the loaf slides right out.
• Pumpkin pie spice: This surprise spice provides those warm, toasty notes you love in homemade banana bread.

Which Bananas Are Best for Banana Bread?

Banana bread is the perfect way to use up overripe bananas that are languishing in your kitchen. In fact, the deep yellow bananas with lots of brown speckles are the ideal bananas for banana bread.

As bananas ripen, they produce lots of sugars that provide the flavor and aroma necessary for a good loaf of banana bread. They mash up and mix well with the other ingredients, too. (In other words, you don't need a mixer.)

If you have too many bananas to use in one loaf, pop those bananas in the freezer, peel and all. When you thaw them, they're just right for another loaf.

How To Make One-Bowl Banana Bread

Full instructions for one-bowl banana bread are below, but let's recap the basics:

• Step 1: Prepare your pan. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, and place parchment paper in it, covering the bottom and sides. (You may need to use two pieces.)
• Step 2: Make batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (banana, sugar, oil, yogurt, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs). Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice). Stir to combine, but don't overmix.
• Step 3: Bake. Add batter to the pan you sprayed. Bake about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for a few minutes before flipping it out onto a rack to cool completely.

Storing and Freezing Banana Bread

Freezing banana bread is a brilliant way to always have a treat on hand for guests, neighbors, or, well, yourself.

After you bake a loaf, you can store it at room temperature up to 4 days. Place a paper towel in an airtight container, and sit the loaf on top of the towel. Add another paper towel on top of the loaf, and close the container. This will help keep the bread moist while it's stored.

To freeze banana bread, we recommend slicing it, then wrapping and freezing individual slices. This way, you can take out one or two as you want them and let them thaw (at room temperature, for about 15 minutes). Warm gently in the microwave if you want that just-baked feeling.

If you know you want to freeze a whole loaf, be sure to let it cool completely. Wrap the loaf in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. Label it and be sure to note the date. Banana bread can be stored up to 6 months in the freezer.

Variations and Substitutions for Banana Bread

You could be someone who loves banana bread plain and simple, sliced right off the loaf—and no one will argue with that. But there are a few fun ways to change up banana bread if the basic loaf won't do it anymore.

• Take some batter out after it's mixed, and add cocoa powder. Pour the original batter into the loaf pan, then swirl the cocoa batter into it to create a marbled bread.
• Use any type of Greek yogurt. If you want to make even simpler, skip yogurt and use all buttermilk.
• Use light brown sugar (or half and half) instead of white sugar. It provides nice notes of caramel.
• Feel free to use your favorite banana bread add-ins: blueberries, chocolate chips, chopped nuts, dried fruit.

Cooking Tips for Easy Banana Bread

The Southern Living Test Kitchen provides some of their favorite tips for making banana bread;

• For an extra special treat, serve banana bread slices griddled or toasted with whipped cream cheese.
• If you aren't sure that your banana bread is finished baking, take its temperature. The bread is done when it registers 190°F at the center.
• If your bananas aren't ripe enough, you can bake them in the oven at 350°F for about 10 to 15 minutes. When they're browned evenly, they're ready to use. Let them cool slightly before mashing.
  

More Favorite Banana Recipes

If you love all sorts of banana breads, you'll love these recipes, too:

• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
  
• Amy Grant's Banana Nut Bread
• Nutella Banana Bread
• Sour Cream Banana Bread With Pecan Streusel Topping
• Banana Muffins