Banana bread is one of those recipes that sounds harder than it is. You mash bananas, mix a few bowls, and bake. The whole active time is about 15 minutes.
John from Preppy Kitchen shares a trick where you bake unripe bananas at 350 until they blacken. That means you never have to wait days for bananas to ripen on the counter. His recipe uses brown sugar instead of white, which gives the bread a richer, almost caramel flavor.
You do not need brown, spotty bananas for this recipe. Lay regular bananas on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They will blacken on the outside and turn soft and mushy inside.
This gives you perfectly ripe baking bananas in minutes instead of waiting days on the counter. Let them cool enough to handle before the next step.
Tip
If your bananas are already brown and spotted, skip the baking step. They are ready to go.
Whisk together 1 3/4 cups (215g) of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Fluff the flour in the canister before scooping so you do not pack too much in.
Set this bowl aside. You will fold it in at the end.
Squeeze the cooled bananas out of their peels into a bowl. They should slide right out like pudding. Mash them with a fork until you have a chunky paste.
Leave some bigger pieces if you like biting into chunks of banana in the finished bread. Or mash until smooth if you prefer an even texture throughout.
Beat half a cup of room temperature butter in a bowl until smooth. Add 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar and cream them together until the mixture lightens in color and gets fluffy.
Brown sugar gives banana bread a deeper, more caramel-like flavor than white sugar. If your butter is too cold, give it 5-10 seconds in the microwave at half power.
Crack two room temperature eggs into the butter mixture one at a time, mixing after each one. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then fold in the mashed bananas.
The batter might look a little broken or grainy at this point. That is normal and does not affect the final bread.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold it in gently with a spatula. Stop as soon as everything is just combined. A few streaks of flour are better than over-mixed batter.
Over-mixing activates too much gluten and makes the bread dense and tough instead of tender. This is the one step where less is more.
Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter, parchment paper, or baking spray. Pour the batter in and spread it level. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
It is done when a skewer or toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. The top should spring back when you press it gently and the kitchen should smell like cinnamon and brown sugar.
