Classic Banana Bread Recipe

The first step in making this banana bread is to get together all your ingredients together. You'll likely already have many of the items in your pantry and fridge, which is another easy thing about this recipe. You will need to pull out unsalted butter that's already soft, sugar, eggs, flour, cacao powder, baking soda, salt, bananas, plain Greek yogurt, and dark chocolate chunks.

Aside from making sure your butter is soft before you get started, you'll also want to make sure your bananas are very ripe and mashed up. This recipe calls for 1 cup of banana, which you should measure after you mash it up. As mentioned previously, this recipe is a yummy and practical way to use up your bananas that are otherwise too ripe to eat, and they will not go to waste. If they're full of dark spots, they're perfect for banana bread!

This classic banana bread recipe will be a favorite recipe used just for the purpose of not wasting too-ripened bananas, and we're all for it! Plus, your family is sure to love eating this bread, so it's a win/win situation all the way around. So it's a great habit to make sure you have all of the above ingredients ready and waiting in your pantry. This way, each week that you have bananas that are turning, you will be prepared to whip up a great treat for all to enjoy.

Pull out another bowl, and add in the flour, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a wire whisk or mixing spoon, combine all of these dry ingredients together thoroughly.

It's important to note that this recipe calls for cacao powder and not cocoa powder. While the two can sometimes be used interchangeably, they're actually not the same. While they're both chocolate, they're slightly different in how they're processed. Cacao powder tends to be less processed than cocoa powder is. However, if you have cocoa powder on hand at home and not cacao, it will work in this case, but we do recommend cacao.

Now that your dry ingredients are mixed, pour them into the bowl of the wet ingredients you had set aside, and use the mixer to blend it all together. This should only take about one minute to blend. You don't want to over-mix the dough, so one minute is ample time for this.

Take the bowl out from the mixer for this last step. Pour in the chocolate chunks, and use a rubber spatula to fold them in so they're evenly distributed. After all, everyone will want to taste some in each heavenly bite.

The reason we recommend using dark chocolate chunks for this recipe, is because the dark chocolate will provide a contrast in taste to the sweet bread dough. If you want more sweetness in your bread, however, you could do a semi-sweet or milk chocolate chunk instead. Just keep in mind that doing so will make this bread into even more of a dessert bread than it already is! It will still taste scrumptious if you decide to tweak.

Your banana bread is sure to be such a big hit with the entire family, and it may not last for very long after it's served. But it's great to know that the bread will keep for up to three days at room temperature on your counter or for up to seven days in the fridge. For either option, make sure your banana bread is covered to prevent it from drying out. You can also pop the prepared loaf into the freezer to last even longer! Just make sure it is wrapped properly and stored in something like a Ziplock bag to hold in the freshness. This is great to do so you are never without a dessert that's ready and easy to serve. This way, when you want to put it out for dessert or bring it to a picnic, just remove it from the freezer, and allow it to thaw before enjoying.