Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

Name: Chocolate Banana Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 75 min
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

6 Recipes that Remind Us Why Banana Bread Is the Best!

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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 to marry, 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 loaf with slices — Elise Bauer

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Video: How to Make Chocolate Banana Bread

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Chocolate Banana Bread

Dutch-Process Vs. Natural Cocoa in This Recipe

This recipe calls for unsweetened natural cocoa powder and not Dutch-process. What's the difference? It's a question of color, flavor, and pH level.

Natural (non-Dutched) cocoa is naturally a bit acidic and slightly fruitier tasting because of the way cacao beans are fermented before processing (cacao, remember, is a fruit). For the color and leavening in this recipe to be optimal, you want an acid/base reaction with the baking soda, which is basic.

Dutch-process cocoa is treated with alkaline salts to darken its color and create a milder flavor. The nearly black color of Oreos is an extreme example of Dutching (it's called that because the process was developed by Coenraad van Houten, who was Dutch). Unlike natural cocoa powder, it is basic (alkaline). The baking soda in this recipe is, too. The leavening in recipe is designed for a little boost of an acidic ingredient (in this case, natural cocoa powder) to react with the basic baking soda.

Natural cocoa in this recipe is preferable, but not a requirement. We're not tried it ourselves, but readers have reported success with Dutch-process cocoa in their comments. It will be darker, with more of a fudgy flavor versus a purer chocolate flavor. You may want to reduce the salt, too, as Dutch cocoa powder can have residual salts from the alkalizing process.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 60 mins

Total Time 75 mins

Servings 12 servings

Yield 1 loaf

Use very ripe or over-ripe bananas. The peels should be at least half browned, and the bananas inside squishy and browning.

Do 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.)

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 teaspoon if using salted butter)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups 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

Prepare pan and preheat oven:

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.
Purée bananas:

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.
Mix wet ingredients and sugar:

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.

Elise Bauer

Elise Bauer
Mix dry ingredients:

In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and allspice.

Elise Bauer
Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture:

Stir until just incorporated, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Elise Bauer

Elise Bauer
Bake:

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.

Elise Bauer
Let cool completely:

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.

Elise Bauer

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
215	Calories
8g	Fat
35g	Carbs
3g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	215
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g	10%
Saturated Fat 5g	23%
Cholesterol 29mg	10%
Sodium 349mg	15%
Total Carbohydrate 35g	13%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 19g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 3mg	15%
Calcium 20mg	2%
Iron 2mg	9%
Potassium 186mg	4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.