Chocolate Banana Bread

This decadent chocolate banana bread is so moist and dense, it is a chocolate dream. It is packed with bananas as the main ingredient. I made this one day when I had an abundance of bananas and my daughters kept coming back and asking for a piece of “brownie.”

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I’ve made a LOT of banana breads in my days of being a mom, it’s just so simple and the kids love it. I saw a chocolate one somewhere that had vegetable oil in there and was determined to recreate it using butter because I just hate using vegetable oil. I’m always annoyed at how much easier it works in baked goods than healthier options.

Main ingredient: bananas.

You know how sometimes when you want to use up something you have an abundance of, and you go and make it and it asks for such a small amount of the thing you want to use up? This recipe doesn’t do that. It uses the more bananas than anything else.

Other than bananas, you need:

• melted butter
• flour
• chocolate chips
• cocoa powder
• egg
• vanilla
• brown sugar
• baking soda
• 9×5 loaf pan

It is so easy to make!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
• Mash the bananas with a fork, and mix in the melted butter until combined. Add the brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix well.
• Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, leaving a handful out to sprinkle on top.
• Pour batter into greased pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Just make sure it’s not melted chocolate chip you’re seeing when judging for readiness. Oven times will vary.
• Remove from oven and let it cool for 15 minutes or more before cutting.

Bananas in any stage of ripeness will work for this recipe, but I prefer them yellow with some spots of brown. That results in the perfect sweetness for this chocolate banana bread.

Let the kids help:

I’m a big fan of letting my kids help in the kitchen, mashing the bananas kept my 4-year-old busy for a little while and it wasn’t messy at all. Put the bananas on a plate or bowl with a wider flat surface and give em a fork or a potato masher and let them have fun. And then later on they will tell daddy proudly “dad, I made banana bread today! Haha.

Recipe Variations

This recipe doesn’t need any improvement but I did imagine how yummy AND pretty it would be if I swirled peanut butter in the top before baking. Try that if you’re a peanut butter lover and let me know how it is!

You could also have fun with the chocolate chips, and use peanut butter ones or even butterscotch ones.