One-Bowl Banana Bread
A deeply banana-flavoured loaf mixed in a single bowl, with a crackly top and a moist crumb.
Two things decide banana bread: how ripe the bananas are, and how little you stir. Black, unpleasant-looking bananas make the best loaf, and stopping the moment the flour disappears is what keeps the crumb tender rather than rubbery.
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How to make One-Bowl Banana Bread
Ingredients
Quantities scale automatically. Cooking times stay the same.
Wet
Dry
Optional
Equipment
- 900 g loaf tin
- Large bowl
- Fork
- Baking parchment
Method
-
1
Prepare the tin
Heat the oven to 175C / 350F. Line a 900 g loaf tin with parchment, leaving an overhang on the long sides to lift the loaf out.
-
2
Mash the bananas
Mash them in the mixing bowl with a fork, leaving some texture. Very ripe bananas mash almost to liquid, which is exactly what you want.
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3
Add the rest of the wet
Stir in the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla until smooth. Using one bowl throughout is deliberate; there is nothing gained by separating.
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4
Fold in the dry
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt directly on top and fold until the flour has only just disappeared. Overmixing here is what makes banana bread tough.
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5
Add the extras
Fold through the walnuts or chocolate with two or three strokes, then scrape into the tin and sprinkle the demerara over the top for a crackly crust.
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6
Bake and cool
Bake 55-65 minutes, until a skewer in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs. Tent with foil at 40 minutes if it is browning fast. Cool in the tin 15 minutes, then lift out onto a rack.
Cook’s tips
- The bananas cannot be too ripe. If yours are yellow, bake them at 150C / 300F for 15 minutes until the skins blacken, then cool and use.
- Fold, do not beat. Lumps in the batter are fine; a smooth batter means a chewy loaf.
- Test at 55 minutes. A skewer with moist crumbs means done; a clean skewer usually means slightly overbaked.
Variations
- Swirl 3 tablespoons of tahini or peanut butter through the batter before baking.
- Add a cream cheese ribbon: beat 150 g cream cheese with an egg yolk and 2 tablespoons sugar, then layer it through the middle.
- Make muffins instead, baking at 190C / 375F for 20-22 minutes.
Storage and make-ahead
Keeps 4 days wrapped at room temperature and improves on day two as the flavour settles. Freezes for 3 months whole or in slices; toast frozen slices straight from the freezer.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 316 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 46 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Fibre | 2 g |
| Sugar | 26 g |
| Sodium | 240 mg |
Nutrition is estimated from ingredient averages and will vary with brands and portioning.
