Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Make this moist peanut butter banana bread for the ultimate sweet meets savory treat! Loaded with ripe bananas, creamy peanut butter, and studded with chocolate chips this is a must-bake recipe!
What makes this recipe fabulous
With so many options and opinions about what makes the best banana bread, I thought it might be helpful to highlight just what makes THE BEST banana bread:
- Ripe Bananas: You are looking for bananas that are speckled brown and maybe even more. The riper they are the sweeter the bread and the bolder of a banana flavor your bread will have.
- Use brown sugar: While the bananas and granulated sugar add sweetness to the bread, brown sugar provides a nice richness (and extra moistness) to the flavor.
- Don’t overmix: Gently fold the ingredients together. If you mix them up too much it creates air pockets that toughen the bread while it bakes.
The Key Ingredients
- Flour: All-purpose flour works to give the banana bread structure as it bakes.
- Bananas: Ripe, mashed bananas add flavor, sweetness, and moisture to the bread. The riper the better!
- Peanut Butter: I like to use creamy peanut butter as it is easier to mix in with the batter. I do not recommend natural peanut butter with oil separation, as it will cause the bread to be too greasy.
- Sugar: I use a blend of granulated and light brown sugar to keep the bread sweet and moist.
- Buttermilk: Tenderizes the batter to make it ultra moist and delicious. If you do not have any on hand, use my simple substitution.
- Vegetable Oil: You can also use canola oil or other neutral-flavored oil like grapeseed.
- Chocolate Chips: I usually reach for classic semisweet, but feel free to use dark, milk, white, or any combination of them!
Nut Butter Substitutes
If you are thinking about using different nut butters either to make the loaf nut-free or to try a different flavor, here are a few options to try!
- SunButter: Made from sunflower seeds and entirely nut-free you can replace the peanut butter with a 1:1 ratio of SunButter.
- Almond Butter: Also can replace the peanut butter with a 1:1 ratio, but be sure to use something like Barney Butter that does not have oil separation.
- Nutella: Give your banana bread a chocolaty finish by replacing the peanut butter with Nutella.
Mix-In Ideas
Here are a few ways to can dress up this peanut butter banana bread to make a truly ultimate loaf!
- Nuts: Pecans, walnuts, and dry-roasted peanuts add a soft crunch to the bread.
- Raisins: Think of this as a twist on peanut butter and jelly.
- Bacon: Think Elivs and use cooked, chopped bacon bits to add a salty touch to the loaf!
How to Make It
This is a very simple quick bread recipe, which consists of whisking the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another, and then folding them together. It takes less than 10 minutes to get it all mixed together, and then into the oven it goes!
- Prepare for baking: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan and then line with parchment paper so that it hangs over the two long sides.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Whisk the wet ingredients: In a separate large bowl, whisk together the banana, peanut butter, sugars, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.
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- Stir the wet and dry ingredients together: Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula until completely combined and there are not spots with raw flour. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top into an even layer.
- Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. If your bread appears to be browning too quickly, place a tented piece of foil over it.
- Cool entirely: Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Converting the Bread to Muffins
Want to take this peanut butter banana bread loaf and make it into portable muffins perfect for breakfast, lunches, or on the go snacks? Here are some tips to convert this quick bread recipe into individual muffins.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a standard muffin tin or line with cupcake liners.
- Follow directions for making the batter.
- Fill the muffin tin cups two-thirds of the way full.
- Bake for 30 minutes, checking doneness at 25 minutes and adding additional time as needed.
Serving, Storing, and Freezing
- Serving suggestions: Drizzle with honey, smear a slice with additional peanut butter, or dish out with slices of fresh banana mashed on top.
- Storing: For moist banana bread, keep your loaf wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days at room temperature.
- Freezing: You can store the whole loaf or slices of this banana bread in the freezer for up to 1 month. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then cover with foil. Leave wrapped while thawing.
Banana Bread FAQs
The main difference between these banana-based desserts comes down to the method of their preparation. A banana cake batter is made by whipping butter while a banana bread typically uses bananas and oil in the base.
The loaf typically cracks when the top of the batter sets before the rest of the loaf finishes baking. It’s not a bad thing and is extremely common for a quick bread to crack at the top.
Yes (but only to a point). The best bananas for banana bread are brown/black and ultra ripe! If you open your banana up and it doesn’t smell like banana, it’s probably not good for banana bread.
A few reasons lead to a dry loaf of banana bread. If you over-mix the batter, bake the loaf too long, don’t allow the bread to cool completely before slicing in, or use under-ripe bananas you might be looking at a dry loaf of bread.
Delicious Banana Recipes to Try Next
- Banana Popsicles
- Bananas Foster Banana Bread
- Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins
- Traditional Southern Banana Pudding
- Banana Muffins
- Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cake
Tender peanut butter banana bread studded with chocolate chips is the perfect balance of salty and sweet. Whether you have fond family memories that revolve around banana bread, or you simply love the combination of banana and peanut butter, this is a banana bread version that you don’t want to skip!
If you make this recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating - it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 3 medium bananas, mashed
- ½ cup (129 g) creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) buttermilk
- ¼ cup (54.5 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan and then line with parchment paper so that it hangs over the two long sides.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the banana, peanut butter, sugars, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula until completely combined and there are no spots with raw flour. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top into an even layer. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. If your bread appears to be browning too quickly, place a tented piece of foil over it (I did this at the 45-minute mark).
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. The cooled bread should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap; it can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Equipment: 8×4-inch loaf pan
- Nut Butter Substitutes: You can use Sunbutter, almond or cashew butter (make sure it does not have oil separation – I recommend Barney Butter), or Nutella.
- Mix-Ins: Use different types of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or peanuts work great!), raisins, or even cooked, chopped bacon bits.
- Storing: For moist banana bread, keep your loaf wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days at room temperature.
- Freezing: You can store the whole loaf or slices of this banana bread in the freezer for up to 1 month. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then cover with foil. Leave wrapped while thawing.
- Converting to Muffins: Fill muffin cups two-thirds full and bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Photography by Lauren Grant.
I made this bread today and wow! I substituted the cholate chips with more peanut and it tasted wonderful!
Plus I don’t have an oven so I did it in the stove and it was great (though not golden on top) :)
Awesome!! Even my picky husband loves this banana bread!!!!
My DH and neighbors LOVED this bread! Fantastic texture and, of course, taste. Thank you for sharing
My go to dessert recipe! I’ve been making this for over 5 years and have never had a bad batch. I use it for muffins, and they are perfect every time.
I’m pretty particular about banana bread and when I saw your spin with the peanut butter I thought it was brilliant! I converted the peanut butter to almond butter and added a little oats, cinnamon, and a touch more vanilla and wow!! My hubby and I need to watch our sugar so I cut that back a bit and the sweetness from the bananas was just perfect. Thank you so much for inspiring me to try something completely unexpected. You are amazing and I wait weekly to see what yummy dish you will share. Thanks again.
I haven’t been getting your emails anymore so I signed up again hope all is well!!
This is soo good! I use butter instead of oil and Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk! My daughter loves it! I also made a batch with gluten free flour and it turned out great!
I divided the batter between two pans…
Thanks, great tips.
I made this for the first time this morning, because only 1 of my 3 kids like regular banana bread, and I had some overripe bananas. It was a hit! It’s half gone already. Thanks for a great recipe.
I made this tonight not realizing we were out of eggs. I was able to sub flax eggs and it worked. Yum!
I ended up using this recipe as a basis for peanut butter chocolate chip bread. In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, I didn’t have all the ingredients. I lacked bananas and buttermilk but had vanilla flavored yogurt, left over from Funfetti dip mix. It was a good substitution. My only issue was not adding quite enough liquid and over-baking it at only 55 minutes. I suppose the two are related, but it is a great starting point for customization.
Did not have buttermilk on hand, but used 1/3 cup of almond milk and 1 tsp of vinegar as a substitute. After reading the reviews about the size of the loaf, I decided to split my batter between two 4×6 pans. The bread came out perfectly after 55 minutes exact, and was delicious. I gave it only four stars because nothing can compare to your classic banana bread recipe!
I made this yesterday with crunchy Wow butter and used kefir in place of the milk. It was a delicious success and is already half gone. I also used a 9 x 5 silicone pan. Took just over 65 minutes. This is a keeper. Thank you.
I made this recipe today and I could not wait for my husband to get home to try it. I’m glad i didn’t wait. I only had chunky peanut butter and my 3 bananas were on the smaller side. It took an hour and a half to bake and the loaf was huge! Wish i could post a photo. Definitely keeping this recipe!
Nice moist dense, but not heavy bread. I made it in mini loaf pans and it took at least 40 minutes. I also sprinkled some coarse sugar on top which gave it a nice crunch. Easy and quick to whip together.
Is it okay to make this if I only have two bananas? Should I up some other ingredient to compensate?
I just made this and it was fast, easy, moist and delicious. However, i amended the recipe by just using 1/2 cup of brown sugar as the peanut butter was sweet. I also used some sour cream and yogurt instead of buttermilk and added spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg as well as a teaspoon of baking powder. (Hence, the 4 stars)
What is the calorie content of this bread?
Hi Stephanie, I don’t have it calculated, but I know there are sites like MyFitnessPal where you can put in a recipe and get the nutritional info.
Followed to a T, except 10 minutes less in my oven while the foil is on. I’ve made this countless times, and it’s always gone in no time. It’s so yummy, my favorite banana bread recipe out there, and so easy!
I suggest using a larger pan
I’ve made this twice so far. My husband goes crazy for it! It makes a lovely huge loaf since the batter nearly fills the loaf pan. I was afraid it would spill onto the oven floor but it did not.
I wanted a more peanutty flavor so the second time around I substituted an equal amount of peanut butter for the oil (I use all-natural peanut butter — just peanuts and salt) and replaced half the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips. It turned out beautifully. I totally recommend this recipe, with or without my substitutions!
I couldn’t wait to try it so it was still warm when I cut it. I spread it with butter and Ooo Lah Lah! Great flavor and texture. This Peanut Butter Banana Bread won’t last 5 days. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Didn’t love it. Found that neither the peanut butter nor banana flavour carried through. Also found it to be not as moist as I would have liked.
This recipe is amazing! It was a huge hit at the office. Well balanced & super moist. Definitely making again :)
Just put this in the oven…can’t wait to try it! I had 4 very overripe bananas so I did add an extra one and I used a little less sugar.
Now I’m waiting for my house to fill with delicious smells… yum!
Delicious!!
Amazing! The whole family loved it. Great balance of flavors.
If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is the banana bread for you. Having this fresh from the oven while the chocolate chips are still melty and the crust is crunchy is heavenly…I think I just drooled a little.
Made this recipe this afternoon to have for breakfast in the morning. My husband and I sampled it after putting the kids to bed…it’s DELICIOUS! It’s going in my binder of my family’s favorite recipes!
The best banana bread recipe EVER!
I made this last night. It was wonderful. My children enjoyed it for breakfast.