One of the most loved recipes on the site is our banana bread, and one thing people seem to like to do to change it up is to add chocolate chips to it. That’s sort of a no-brainer, right?
Dear banana bread lovers, putting chocolate chips in your banana bread is like having your bananas and chocolate go on a date. Lovely and sweet, yet still separate and distinct. After a while both want something more—a merging of wills, a commitment!
Well, if chocolate and banana were going to do the deed, this would be the result—a richly chocolate banana bread, infused with cocoa, speckled with chocolate chips, with warm hints of butter, vanilla, and allspice.
Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
PrintDo not use Dutch processed cocoa for this recipe, only natural unsweetened.
Melted coconut oil can be used in place of the butter. The flavor will change a little and you may get a hint of coconut in the result.
There is only 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in this recipe for leavening, so make sure your baking soda is still good! (See more info on baking soda and baking powder.)
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas (easily mashable)
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed, light or dark)
- 1 teaspoon salt (1/2 a teaspoon if using salted butter)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Special equipment:
Method
1 Using a blender, food processor, or a fork, purée the peeled ripe bananas until smooth. You should have 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of banana purée. Butter or spray with cooking spray the inside of a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the middle.
2 Place the banana purée into a large mixing bowl. Stir the melted butter. Stir in the brown sugar and salt. Whisk to break up any clumps of brown sugar. Stir in the beaten egg and vanilla extract.
3 In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and allspice.
4 Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5 Pour batter into a buttered loaf pan. Place in a 350°F (175°C) oven and bake for 1 hour. Note that because of the chocolate chips that melt in the bread as it cooks, it's hard to check for doneness using a tester that you insert. One way to test is to gently push the center top of the chocolate banana bread down with your finger. If it feels relatively firm and bounces back when you release your finger, that's a good sign that it's done.
6 Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Gently remove the loaf from the pan and place on a rack to cool completely. Slice with a serrated bread knife to serve.
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Elise Bauer is the Founder and President of Simply Recipes. A blogging pioneer, Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. In 2012 Elise was named "one of America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food" by The Daily Meal. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University. She lives in Carmichael, California.
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Delicious and beautiful! I didnt have chocolate chips and we all loved it without. I reduced cook time to 50 mins and we didnt let it cool. The house smelled so good that we couldn’t wait. I sprinkled walnut pieces on half, for the adults. I will make this again. Thanks!
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Absolutely gorgeous! Substituted the sugar for coconut sugar and it worked out so well! Followed the recipe and cooking times exactly and it has turned out amazingly well for someone who never bakes (or normally has disasters!) Thankyou so much, would highly recommend.
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I had high hopes for this given the great reviews – but I was a little disappointed. I followed everything to the letter, but it tasted really salty for my palate. I’m not really used to using salt when baking but I didn’t want to change things up on my first go. I didn’t use salted butter either. I liked the addition of allspice as it made it a bit different. I think I might try it again sometime, but without the salt. I cooked it for 50 minutes and I think it could have worked better with a little less time, despite reducing the temp for my fan oven. It has potential… :)
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I have made this recipe several times except I always bake it in silicone cups to make muffins. I have also substituted ground cloves for the allspice on occasion. Sometimes I have used ground flaxseed and water to replace the egg and melted coconut oil to replace the butter. It always turns out great!
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Wish I could give more stars. It was amazing when I made it the first time. This morning my boys looked at the banana’s that were over ripe on the counter and said “Mom it’s banana bread time” They love this recipe!. I hope there will be some for their dad when he comes home.
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