This sour cream banana bread will quickly become your staple recipe with all those brown bananas sitting on the counter. It's perfectly moist and full of delicious flavors from the ripe bananas and extra spices.
SOUR CREAM BANANA BREAD
I am pretty sure we all have overly ripe bananas sitting on our counter from time to time, or in my case every single week. Because they are so inexpensive I like to pick up a bunch every time I got to the store in hopes that my kids will eat them up. Sometimes they do, and other times, more often than I'd like to admit, they are choosing a bowl of sugary cereal.
The good news is this sour cream banana bread is so quick and easy to make, and will leave lots of happy tummies in my house. I often times will double the recipe and take a loaf to a friend, or freeze it for a few days later when we are all craving it again.
HOW TO MAKE THIS EASY BANANA BREAD
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl or mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low. Add sour cream, mashed banana and vanilla and mix again until all incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients and slowly mix, being careful not to overmix.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar.
- Bake for about 55-60 minutes. I always stick a toothpick into the center of the bread where it has cracked and looks more gooey. If it comes out clean, your bread is done. Bread will also be pulling away from the sides of the pan when done.
SOME TIPS FOR MAKING THE PERFECT BANANA BREAD
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY BANANAS ARE RIPE ENOUGH? The longer your bananas sit on the counter, the sweeter they become. So it really is up to you how ripe your bananas need to be. I prefer bananas like pictures above, that still have some yellow to them, but are soft and mushy. This usually is about 3-4 days of sitting past perfect for me.
USING SOUR CREAM. I prefer to use full fat sour cream for the perfect richness and extra moisture to the banana bread, but you can use low fat if that is what you have on hand. I have also subbed in butter milk and greek yogurt before and they have worked also. Use what you have!
ROOM TEMPERATURE INGREDIENTS. If you have the time to plan ahead, using room temp ingredients will help with the consistency of your loaf. The softened butter will mix better with the sugars, and when your ingredients aren't cold they seem to mix better without any clumps forming.
WHAT SIZE PAN SHOULD I USE?
A 9x5 pan is what works best for this recipe. You don't want to fill your pan more than ¾ full or it could over flow. I have also divided this between mini loaf pans before. Just watch your time because they will bake up a lot quicker.
HOW SHOULD I STORE SOUR CREAM BANANA BREAD?
If you plan to eat the loaf all in one day I usually just allow it to sit out on the counter and it generally stays nice and moist. If we have leftovers, which rarely happens at our house, I like to wrap it in tinfoil. This keep the top of the loaf crispy, where as if you store it in a ziplock bag it will soften it more.
CAN I FREEZE BANANA BREAD?
Yes! Just wrap the loaf, or whatever you want to freeze in plastic wrap or tinfoil first and then into a ziplock bag to ensure freshness. Take out a few hours before wanting to eat to allow to defrost.
For more yummy treats follow me on instagram @thesaltedsweets. And be sure to tag me and comment below if you make them and love them as much as I do.
Sour Cream Banana Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1-1½ cups mashed ripe bananas I usually just use 2 bananas and don't measure
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour sometimes I sub ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg optional
- turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl or mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low. Add sour cream, mashed banana and vanilla and mix again until all incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients and slowly mix, being careful not to overmix.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar.
- Bake for about 55-60 minutes. I always stick a toothpick into the center of the bread where it has cracked and looks more gooey. If it comes out clean, your bread is done. Bread will also be pulling away from the sides of the pan when done.
- Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan before removing. Cutting the bread when it's too warm will result in bread that starts to fall apart.
Dayna Mattsson
I was worried about trying this because my family loves the banana bread recipe I use. But I had to try it! It’s Brooke 😉 So I did and this recipe is definitely our new favorite. I should have known it would be the best.
brooke
Yay!! I'm so glad Dayna. Its always good to have more than one banana bread recipe.
Darci
Can’t wait to try this! How would you adjust cooking temp and time for muffins?
brooke
Darci you would not need to adjust the cooking temp for muffins, and if doing regular size I would probably start watching them about 17-18 minutes and see how they look. Mini muffins would probably be about 11-12 minutes.
Abi Coble
This is a fabulous banana bread recipe! I have been working my way through the loaf for my breakfasts this week, and the last piece this morning was still perfectly moist and delicious! My husband told me that it was “the best banana bread he’d ever had, for not having chocolate chips in it.” 🤣
brooke
Yay, successful non-chocolate banana bread!! I'll take it. Maybe next time you need to add chocolate to take it to an even better level!
Sheila Beltran
Brooke, have you ever tried chopped walnuts or is it better to leave them out? So anxious to make this. Looks much better than mine, it's too dry no matter what I do. Thanks so much.
brooke
You could absolutely add them! My kids don't like nuts, so I rarely add them to things!
Melinda B Huish
Just made this Brooke, and it's already half gone! You are the best baker!
brooke
Yay!! Thank you Melinda!!! XO
Jamie
Delicious! The only changes I made were whole milk greek yogurt instead of sour cream, that's all I had. And I only did 1/2 c sugar, I don't like them too sweet and my bananas were very ripe! Made 2 mini loaves and a bunch of mini muffins, My 6 year old has eaten about a dozen!
Jill
This has become a weekly staple at our house. My kids love them as snacks or in their lunches for school.
brooke
My kids love them in their lunches too! Thanks Jill!
Lindsay
Love this recipe! Dropped my old recipe for this one! My one question in regards to mixing the sugar(s) it says sugars but only lists white sugar. Does it need brown sugar as well?
brooke
Sp glad you loved it! It was just a typo on my part! Only white sugar needed, thanks for catching that!!
Sandy
Our family favorite recipe for banana bread! So so good!
Babs
New fave banana bread recipe! I didn’t have sour cream, so I used buttermilk instead and still delish! Also, I doubled the recipe - but I realized I only have 8.5 x 4.5 pans. So I actually poured the batter evenly between 3 pans and cooked for 45 mins. Perfection!! Everything Brooke touches is perfection.
Novice Baker
I’ve never made banana bread before and randomly came across this recipe. Boy am I glad I did! The recipe was easy to follow, the instructions were clear, and most importantly it tasted incredible!
I’m looking forward to trying more of your “simple” recipes before trying some of the ones that look harder to me.
Thanks from a novice baker!
brooke
Oh yay! So happy to hear that!