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Home » Recipes » Fruit Recipes

Published: Oct 9, 2017 · Updated: May 18, 2021 by Paula Montenegro
Income from ads and affiliate links15 Comments

Roasted Banana Bread

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roasted banana bread long pin with text

This is the perfect banana bread: moist, sweet, and very easy to make. The recipe is for a plain loaf, but you can add chips or nuts. Roasting bananas makes them sweeter and ready to use, so you don't have to wait for bananas to ripen, you can make this quick bread even if you only have green fruit! It keeps well and can be frozen.

Table of Contents show
Ingredients
Best bananas for baking
How to roast the bananas
Easy steps
Top tips
Related recipes you might like:
Roasted Banana Bread
Ingredients
Nutrition
Half loaf of banana bread on beige surface and background

I love finding overripe bananas in the market. They're usually cast aside to a corner, already bagged and weighed so people don't have to go through the messy business of touching them. Just grab them. Then go home and bake your absolute-best-ever banana bread. Either that or you find blackened bananas in your fridge or wherever it is that you keep them. Again.

Cut loaf of banana bread and slices on beige parchment paper

But, what if I want to make banana bread right now and they are all bright yellow and firm, even a bit green? Am I supposed to wait an entire week before I bake? I might not feel like it by then. Yes, life is tough.

In comes this recipe with the simplest trick to help banana bread lovers everywhere. By roasting bananas in the oven, you soften them and they concentrate the flavor so they're ready to be used.

Top view of two slices of banana bread on beige surface

Ingredients

This is an old-fashioned banana bread recipe that uses everyday ingredients.

  • Bananas: use overripe or roasted bananas, they both work of course.
  • Oil: I like to use sunflower, but I've made it with olive oil with great results.
  • Sugar: I love using both white and brown sugar, similar to what we use in chocolate chip cookies.
  • Eggs: fresh are always recommended.
  • Flour: all purpose flour always works, and I've also made it with cake flour with great results.
  • Salt: it brings out the flavors. I like kosher salt.
  • Baking powder and baking soda: these are the leavening agents in the bread that will make it rise beautifully when it bakes.
  • Lemon juice: just a tiny bit to tenderize the crumb and help the baking soda (it needs acid to balance it).
White surface with bowls containing ingredients for banana bread including oil, vanilla, lemon, eggs, sugars, dry ingredients

Best bananas for baking

We all know that the best banana for this type of recipe is one that is overripe, soft, mushy, that smells barely fermented with spotted skin.

You probably wouldn't eat it raw, but it does make the best bread. Why? Because the flesh is sweeter and the banana flavor of the bread is more intense. That doesn't happen with very firm bananas.

Enter this recipe for roasted banana bread. Where you roast your underripe bananas and half an hour later have soft, sweet bananas for your bread.

How to roast the bananas

  • Whole: simply bake them in a medium oven (350°F/180°C) whole, unpeeled. After a half hour or so, they will turn completely dark, almost black. Not nice people, on that we can all agree (image below). But it's just the skin that is blackened. Inside it's soft and caramelized. You will understand the second you peel the banana how this changes everything.
  • Without skin: you can also peel them, sprinkle with some sugar (optional) and bake in a aluminum pouch (a large piece of foil where you place the fruit and then close by lifting the edges and closing them together at the top) until soft and juicy.
Two images showing whole yellow bananas and black skinned roasted bananas

Easy steps

  • The eggs are beaten with the sugar until thick, about 1 minute and then the oil is added in a stream. The batter will be silky and unctuous. Add the mashed bananas, vanilla and the buttermilk (or use 2 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
  • I like some banana chunks to show, I feel it gives the bread a good texture.
Glass bowls with batter and mashed banana and all mixed
  • Sift the dry ingredients beforehand or have them measured and sift them directly over the batter (I do it this way). At this point I like to use a spatula to integrate well. If you use the hand beater make sure you beat at low speed just until combined.
Collage sifting flour and mixing batter in glass bowl
  • A tablespoon of sugar is sprinkled just before baking and it makes a wonderfully crunchy topping! You can also top with a raw banana, like we do in the chocolate chip banana bread recipe.
Banana bread batter in metal pan sprinkled with sugar, baked bread on wire rack

Top tips

  • Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
  • Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 
  • Bananas: roasting them means you can use very firm or even greenish bananas and the flavor will be amazing. Besides roasting them whole in the oven, you can also peel them, sprinkle with some sugar and bake in a aluminum pouch until soft and juicy.
  • Oil: you can use any vegetable oil. I use sunflower or coconut but I've used canola, and even olive oil.
  • Keeping: as with most banana bread recipes, it tastes much better a day (or two) after it's baked. It freezes well, well wrapped. Defrost at room temperature, unwrapped. I recommend warming it or toasting it before eating.
  • Add-ons: chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, white chocolate chips... a half cup of any or a mix of these and you have a fabulous flavored roasted banana bread.
  • Butter: use butter instead of oil. The same volume, that is half a cup or 115g. Cream the soft butter with the sugars for 2-3 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, then the banana with the buttermilk and vanilla, and finally the sifted dry ingredients.
Half loaf of banana bread on beige surface and background

Related recipes you might like:

  • Banoffee Cake (easy recipe)
  • Best Banana Bundt Cake Recipe
  • Hummingbird Layer Cake
  • Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe (one bowl)

Let me know in the comments below if you made this recipe and loved it, and also if you had issues, so we can troubleshoot together. I love to hear what you think, always. Thanks for being here, it's much appreciated.
You might also consider subscribing to our FREE email series to Boost your Home Baking Skills! And our regular newsletter.
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Cut loaf of banana bread and slices on beige parchment paper

Roasted Banana Bread

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Paula Montenegro
  • Prep Time: 45
  • Cook Time: 45
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Quick breads
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

This is the perfect banana bread. Moist, sweet, very easy to make, and you don't even have to wait for bananas to ripen!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup oil (I use sunflower)
  • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup packed (100g) brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups coarsely mashed bananas (3 or 4 depending on the size)
  • 2 tablespoons buttermilk (or use 2 scant tablespoons milk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
  • Drops of vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon extra sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Grease one 11x4-inch (27x9cm) loaf pan.
  2. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC.
  3. Place unpeeled bananas on a baking tray and roast until the skin turns completely dark and the inside is lightly soft to the touch, around 40 minutes. Let cool and mash.
  4. In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. 
  5. In a bowl beat eggs with sugar until they start to thicken. 
  6. Add oil in a stream and beat until completely incorporated. 
  7. Add bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix well.
  8. Add flour mixture in 2 parts and mix with a spatula until well combined.
  9. Pour into prepared pan.
  10. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar.
  11. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean.
  12. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.
  13. Invert and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
  14. Store, covered, at room temperature, for 3 days. If the room is too warm I suggest keeping it in the fridge after the second day.

Notes

Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!

Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 

Bananas: roasting them means you can use very firm or even greenish bananas and the flavor will be amazing. Besides roasting them whole in the oven, you can also peel them, sprinkle with some sugar and bake in a aluminum pouch until soft and juicy.

Oil: you can use any vegetable oil. I use sunflower or coconut but I've used canola, and even olive oil.

Keeping: as with most banana bread recipes, it tastes much better a day (or two) after it's baked. It freezes well, well wrapped. Defrost at room temperature, unwrapped. I recommend warming it or toasting it before eating.

Add-ons: chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, white chocolate chips... a half cup of any or a mix of these and you have a fabulous flavored roasted banana bread.

Butter: use butter instead of oil. The same volume, that is half a cup or 115g. Cream the soft butter with the sugars for 2-3 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, then the banana with the buttermilk and vanilla, and finally the sifted dry ingredients.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: ⅛
  • Calories: 377
  • Sugar: 31.3 g
  • Sodium: 102.7 mg
  • Fat: 13.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 60.8 g
  • Protein: 5.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 77.2 mg

Keywords: roasted banana bread

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Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Complete Book of Baking

« Ricotta Toast with Tomatoes and Bacon
Over The Top Brownies »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Allison says

    February 16, 2022 at 3:50 pm

    We loved this recipe! The sugar sprinkled on top was a nice extra touch.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Paula Montenegro says

      February 17, 2022 at 8:24 am

      Happy to know that Allison! Have a great week.

      Reply
  2. Cate Chapman says

    February 06, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    Hi Paula,
    In one place it says to use oil. In another place, butter is recommended. Should the butter be melted to add in a stream just as the oil is added?
    Thank you.
    Cate

    Reply
    • Paula Montenegro says

      February 06, 2022 at 5:43 pm

      Hi Cate! You can use oil or butter. I rewrote it both in the post and the recipe card notes so it's easier to understand. The butter can be used soft (creamed with the sugars as you would in a cake) or melted. I find that room temperature butter makes for a less dense bread than melted.

      Reply
      • Cate says

        February 06, 2022 at 6:04 pm

        Thank you. I can’t wait to try this recipe!

  3. Margi says

    July 18, 2021 at 5:11 pm

    Hi Paula,
    So nice to be able to get your excellent recipes in my email now.
    I have one question, you said to bake this banana bread in an 11x4 inch pan……I only have 9x5 and 10x4&1/2 inch loaf pans. Would either of them work for your suggested baking time?

    Reply
    • Paula Montenegro says

      July 18, 2021 at 5:33 pm

      HI Margi! Both will work, but I think I'd go with the 10x4.5

      Reply
  4. Jill Swartz says

    May 29, 2021 at 3:23 pm

    Excellent. My daughter has been after me to try roasting the bananas and I just haven’t taken the time to do it!!! Huge mistake-this is WAY better than any other banana bread I have ever made.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Paula Montenegro says

      May 29, 2021 at 6:59 pm

      So happy to hear that it turned out so well Jill! Happy baking!

      Reply
  5. Abbe@This is How I Cook says

    October 13, 2017 at 12:05 am

    Love the roasting of the bananas. And I love the simplicity of the recipe. Sometimes when too many ingredients are added you forget you are eating banana bread!

    Reply
  6. The Ninja Baker says

    October 10, 2017 at 1:22 am

    Sooo interesting and of course, everything you make looks amazing. P.s. Roasted oranges sounds great, too =)

    Reply
    • Paula Montenegro says

      October 11, 2017 at 9:40 am

      Thanks Kim!

      Reply
  7. Renee Diak-Witek says

    January 25, 2014 at 12:38 am

    Love the idea of roasting the bananas. Got to be a whole new flavor. Thanks

    Reply
  8. Renee Diak-Witek says

    January 25, 2014 at 12:36 am

    I love the idea of roasting the bananas. Can't wait to try this.

    Reply
  9. Tara says

    May 08, 2012 at 11:06 pm

    I love banana bread!!!

    Reply

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A baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe finder, sharing the best ones on this blog, with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

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