American
Moist Brown Sugar Banana Bread
A moist American banana bread with deeply ripe bananas, brown sugar, melted butter, sour cream, and a tender golden crumb.
12 servings · 20 minutes prep · 65 minutes cook
Ingredients
Batter
- 3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon, optional
- 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, optional, toasted, or use pecans
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips, optional, dark chocolate chips
Topping
- 1 banana, optional, split lengthwise
- 1 tbsp turbinado or coarse sugar, optional, for topping
Directions
Prepare the Pan
- Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Mash the bananas until mostly smooth, leaving a few small lumps for texture.
Mix the Batter
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth.
- Whisk in the egg, vanilla extract, sour cream, and the bananas you mashed until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, and cinnamon.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the walnuts and bittersweet chocolate if using.
Bake and Cool
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- If using the topping, arrange banana cut side up on top and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake until the loaf is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 60-70 minutes.
- If the top browns too quickly, loosely tent the loaf with foil during the final 15-20 minutes. Tent only once the top is evenly deep brown; the foil should prevent further coloring without trapping the loaf’s sides.
- Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.
