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This Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread is one of my favorite ways to use ripened bananas. It’s my easy fix for not wasting food and ending up with something tasty. The secret to this chocolate chip banana nut bread? A bit of Greek yogurt to keep it moist and avocado oil for a smooth texture. Plus, chocolate chips and walnuts make everything better, right?
Every time my kitchen counter ends up with a few too-ripe bananas, I see it as the perfect excuse to whip up chocolate chip banana nut bread. It really doesn’t get easier than a quick banana bread when it comes to baking in my opinion. You’ve got your wet ingredients and the dry ingredients, and then they come together easily with just a wooden spoon. The result? A moist, puffed-up, golden quick banana nut bread recipe with melted chocolate chips. Perfect for a morning coffee or those lazy afternoon snack breaks!
Table of Contents
- Recipe at a glance
- Ingredients to Make this Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread Recipe
- Popular substitutions & additions
- How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
- Bake Your Loaf
- Tips for making the best chocolate chip banana bread
- How to Store this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe
- Frequently asked questions
- More Quick Bread Recipes:
- Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread Recipe
Recipe at a glance
Cuisine Inspiration: American
Primary Cooking Method: Oven
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, No Refined Sugars
Key Flavor: Slightly Sweet, Chocolatey
Skill Level: Easy
Summary
- Simple Ingredients: Everything you need is most likely already in your pantry, making this an anytime treat.
- Sweet But Healthy-ish: With maple syrup and Greek yogurt, you’re getting a healthy chocolate chip banana bread treat that’s both tasty and better for you than most store-bought banana bread.
- Incredibly Moist: The combo of Greek yogurt and ripe bananas makes for an extra moist bread with the perfect crumb every time.
Ingredients to Make this Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread Recipe
- All-purpose flour: This is the base for our chocolate chip banana nut bread. You can also try whole wheat flour for a nuttier taste.
- Baking soda: Helps the bread rise and get that perfect fluffy texture.
- Cinnamon: What’s banana bread without the warm and cozy flavor of cinnamon?
- Salt: To balance out the sweetness.
- Avocado oil: To keep moisture and tenderness to the bread. Any neutral oil will work.
- Eggs: They bind everything together. If you’re vegan or allergic, you could use a flax egg or some applesauce.
- Maple syrup: To add a touch of natural sweetness.
- Greek yogurt: This is my secret to super moist bread!
- Vanilla extract: For that classic baked-good flavor.
- Bananas: The riper, the better – they add natural sweetness and moisture. Plus, if they’re very ripe, mashing them up will be easier.
- Walnuts: I love some crunch in my banana bread. Pecans or almonds are a great addition too.
- Chocolate chips: Because chocolate makes everything better. Dark, milk, or even white chocolate – you pick.
Popular substitutions & additions
- Add almond extract. In case you don’t use vanilla extract, a few drops of almond extract can also elevate the entire bread’s aroma and taste.
- Swap the Greek yogurt for sour cream. If you don’t have Greek yogurt on hand, sour cream can add moisture to the bread. However, keep in mind that it is tangier than yogurt.
- Try different mix-ins. Besides cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg or allspice are also a good addition if you want even warmer and cozier flavors in your loaf.
- Add more spices. While this banana bread recipe with chocolate chips focuses more on the chocolatey flavor, you can replace half of the chips with raisins or dried cranberries. Dried fruit is always a win in any banana bread.
- Make them into muffins. The recipe works well for muffins instead of a banana bread. Just reduce the time to 20-22 minutes.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
- In one bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, maple syrup, and Greek yogurt.
- Now combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, along with the mashed bananas and add-ins, like walnuts or chocolate chips.
- Mix it together until you don’t see any more flour streaks, being careful not to over mix the batter. Then it’s ready for the oven.
Bake Your Loaf
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with more nuts and chocolate chips.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
When it comes out, the chocolate chip banana nut bread will look like this: puffed up, golden, with melted cute little chocolate chips. Now, there’s that moment when you’re trying to decide how soon is too soon to cut into this beautiful loaf so you can enjoy it warm and gooey without burning your fingers. And that moment is about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven.
Tips for making the best chocolate chip banana bread
- Use very ripe bananas. This is also an important tip when making banana bread because the ripe banana will lend sweetness to the quick bread without having to add much sweetener. In fact, I only use ⅓ cup of maple syrup, and you can even decrease it to ¼ cup.
- Level the flour. When measuring your flour, use a knife or a straight edge to level it off in the measuring cup. This ensures you don’t add too much and end up with a dense loaf
- Measure out the banana. You want to use 1 cup of mashed bananas, which could be 2 or 3 bananas, depending on their size. If you use too many bananas, the bread will turn out heavy and damp in the center, which can really make it unappealing. Make sure to freeze any extra mashed bananas for later use in banana bread or smoothies.
- Tent the loaf pan with foil during the last 10-15 minutes of baking if necessary. Sometimes at around 40 minutes, the top of the bread will be golden brown, but the center won’t be cooked through yet. The tenting tip helps to prevent the top from burning while baking the bread through.
- Don’t overmix the batter. After adding the dry ingredients to the wet, mix until just combined. There should be a few lumps in the batter. Stirring too much can make your chocolate chip banana nut bread tough
How to Store this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe
You can store your chocolate chip banana nut bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days.
How Long Will Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread Recipe Last in the Fridge?
This chocolate chip banana bread can be stored in the fridge for up to a week inside an airtight container. This is a great option if you want to keep it fresh for a couple more days.
Can I Freeze Banana Bread Recipe with Chocolate Chips?
Yes, you can freeze it. Just wrap the loaf tightly in foil and place in a freezer bag. It will stay frozen for about 3 months. Once ready to eat, thaw the bread inside the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave in 10 seconds intervals until fully heated through.
Frequently asked questions
The chocolate chip banana nut bread will take around 50-55 minutes to make. I recommend that you check for doneness at around 50 minutes to be on the safe side. The loaf will be golden brown in color and when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
If your bananas aren’t ripe, pop them (with their peels on) in a 300°F oven for about 15-20 minutes. They’ll turn black and get super soft inside, just like naturally ripened bananas.
This is one of the best chocolate chip banana nut bread recipes I’ve made. It’s moist, fluffy, and delicious without being overly sweet. I love that I can make it without any butter or refined sugar with amazing results. The whole family will love this!
More Quick Bread Recipes:
- Cinnamon Apple Bread
- Lemon Zucchini Bread
- Strawberry Bread Recipe
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Chocolate Cinnamon Banana Bread
- Lemon Bread
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe was originally published on August 8, 2017. It has recently been updated with new photography, step-by-step instructions, and tips. The recipe now uses avocado oil instead of coconut, but you can still use the latter, if preferred.
Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup avocado oil
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas about 2-3 medium bananas
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, maple syrup, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract until well blended, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the mashed bananas until well blended. Fold the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour remain. Then fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with more nuts and chocolate chips. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Let cool for at least 20 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Instead of avocado oil, you can use olive oil or coconut oil.
- Instead of greek yogurt, you can use sour cream or a neutral oil using a 1:1 substitution. You can also use milk.
- Instead of maple syrup, you can use another liquid sweetener like agave syrup or honey.
- Instead of eggs, you can use flax eggs.
- To make this gluten-free, use an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix. Do not substitute only almond flour or only coconut flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
I made this tonight with my daughters and it was a hit, even sent some to my parents and they loved it! It’s my go-to recipe now and a huge plus that it did not use sugar! I did the exact amounts and looked at your super helpful tips too. 10/10 on this one!
Yay!! So happy you and your family love the recipe, thank you!!
Soooo good! I made mine with butterscotch instead of chocolate chips and did the muffin version. Really yummy, and easy, will make again!
Yay, so happy to hear that! Thank you!!
Hi Yumna, I wanted to know, why did you change recipe to avocado oil? I thought I was going crazy searching for the recipe with coconut oil 😂. Can you tell me why so I can see if I should switch to avo? ❤️
Hi! Sorry for the switch! I just felt like avocado oil or a neutral oil was easier for most people and I’ve been using it lately for all my baking instead of coconut oil (which needs melting) or canola oil (which I stopped using for health reasons). You can definitely still make it with coconut oil though! ❤️