Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Ultra-rich, buttery, sweet, and nutty flavors. Be sure to use overripe bananas for the sweetest banana flavor.
Texture: The perfect balance of textures – not too dense and not too light, super moist, with crunchy bites of pecans throughout.
Ease: Buttering the pecans does dirty an extra dish but it only takes 5 minutes. We also use an electric mixer in this recipe to get the lightest yet richest texture. So just a bit more work than your average banana bread recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: The ultimate comfort food!
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I think you’re going to adore this Butter Pecan Banana Bread recipe.
I love my traditional Banana Bread recipe, and my decadent Double Chocolate Banana Bread makes for a heavenly dessert. But this Butter Pecan Banana Bread recipe is the perfect brunch recipe.
This loaf is ultra-rich and buttery without being too dense. It’s super soft and moist with perfect crunchy bites of pecans throughout. While I’m usually not a huge fan of nuts in baked goods, for some reason, I adore them in banana bread recipes.
Grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a slice of this Butter Pecan Banana Bread with some fresh butter slathered on top.
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Butter Pecan Banana Bread
Tips for Moist Banana Bread
- Measure your flour correctly: This makes a world of difference. Learn more about how to measure ingredients here.
- Don’t reduce the sugar: Sugar does so much beyond sweetening baked goods. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Use over-ripe bananas: More on this in the FAQs below.
- Avoid overmixing: Stop mixing the batter once the wet and dry ingredients are just combined to avoid dry and rubbery banana bread.
How to Add Chocolate Chips
Add a scant cup of semisweet chocolate chips, folding in with the flour and pecans as written in the recipe.
The Pan
- The pan I recommend using is a metal 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.
- Glass and ceramic pans take much longer to bake, risking the banana bread collapsing in the center and being underbaked in the middle.
- If you only have a glass or ceramic pan, add anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to the baking time and use my tips below for judging when banana bread is done cooking.
- Learn more about Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans here.
Additionally, use the correct size loaf pan for best results: 9 by 5-inches.
- I know that an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch pan seems practically identical, but the difference in volume capacity is 15%, and that has a surprisingly large impact on the final loaf.
- If you use the smaller pan size, you may end up with a loaf that spills over the edges and sinks into an underbaked sad crevice in the center.
- If that’s all you have, remove about 15% of the banana bread batter from your bowl before pouring into the pan.
- Feel free to bake the excess in a muffin tin instead, following the baking temperature and time from my Bakery Style Banana Muffins recipe.
How to Store Butter Pecan Banana Bread
Cover and store the cooled loaf at room temperature for 2 days. The flavors will actually intensify as the bread sits!
If your bread has started to stale, brush both sides with butter and toast in a skillet until slightly caramelized before serving.
How to Freeze Banana Bread
Tightly wrap the completely cooled loaf or slices in aluminum foil and place in a resealable freezer bag. Butter Pecan Banana Bread can be frozen for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a few hours. If thawing an entire loaf, you can also refresh the loaf by popping into a 325°F oven for about 10 minutes.
Butter Pecan Banana Bread FAQs
Use very overripe bananas that are very soft and covered with dark brown speckles.
Appropriately overripe bananas not only provide a sweet flavor but also help to add more moisture to banana bread.
If you have more overripe bananas than you need for this recipe, you can always peel them, mash them, then freeze them for baking later. Or use them in smoothies!
To speed up ripening: Place bananas in a paper bag and store in a warm area for a day or two. The peels create ethylene gas, which fills up the bag and helps them ripen faster.
To ripen bananas today: Place whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet in a 300°F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the skins are darkened and the fruit is soft. This doesn’t quite yield the same effect as allowing the bananas to ripen naturally, but it’ll work in a pinch.
Place overripe bananas on a cutting board and mash very well by hand with a fork or potato masher.
I find mashing with an electric mixer or hand mixer makes the batter too thin to rise well, often leading to bread that’s slightly mushy in the center or even slightly sunken in the center.
Banana bread can get gummy if the batter was overmixed or the loaf was underbaked.
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Ingredients
For the butter pecans:
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (113 grams) pecan halves, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
For the banana bread:
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups (354 grams) mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)*
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) sour cream or plain full-fat yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the butter pecans:
- In a small skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the pecans and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is lightly browned, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
For the banana bread:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan (don’t use an 8 ½ by 4 1/2-inch pan, the batter will overflow).
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and eggs on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reducing to low speed, gradually add in the melted and cooled butter. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla, beating until just combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 1 hour**, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 200 to 205°F. Loaf should be golden brown on top and the center should spring back when gently pressed.
- Let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before removing from loaf pan to cool completely.
- Banana bread can be stored tightly wrapped in plastic for up to 3 days at room temperature or 2 weeks frozen (thaw overnight at room temperature before serving).
Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and has been updated with new photos and recipe improvements. Photos by Joanie Simon.
turned out perfect on my first try! i only had 2 bananas but i’m happy it worked out anyway. thanks so much for sharing this!
My loaf was raw in the middle and over baked on the edges. The center did not rise like I see in your photos. I used the exact loaf pan you recommend. I tried baking for over an hour, but the edges of the bread became inedible, and the center never fully baked. Any suggestions? Perhaps a higher oven temp?
Oh no, how frustrating! From what you described (underdone center, overbaked edges, and no rise), it sounds like your banana bread may have baked unevenly, which is often caused by oven temperature issues. Even though 325°F is a gentler bake, every oven runs a little differently! Have you ever checked yours with an oven thermometer? It’s super common for ovens to run 15-25 degrees off, and if yours is running hot—even if you’re using the correct 9×5 metal loaf pan—the edges can overbake while the center stays raw.
If your oven temp is accurate, try loosely tenting the loaf with aluminum foil partway through baking to protect the edges while the center finishes baking. I also highly recommend getting an instant-read thermometer if you don’t have one—it’s been a game-changer for me! I can count on both hands how many quick breads I’ve underbaked before I started using one.
Just to confirm, did you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? And did you make any substitutions? Since your loaf didn’t rise either, I’d also double-check that your baking soda is fresh (here’s how to tell). I’d love for you to give the recipe another try. Let me know how it goes or if you’d like to troubleshoot more!
I’ll definitely give it another try with an oven thermometer; thank you for the suggestion! 🥰
This bread was amazing! The best banana bread i have ever made! I did however forget to put the slice of banana on the loaf, but there will definitely be a next time! A must made for every baker! 😍🤩
This bread is amazing! I’ve made it several times and can’t wait to make it again. Moist and full of flavor. The loaf never lasts very long.
I added ground flax & used 1/2 butter 1/2 avocado oil . Also increased to 350 30 min then 325 30 min
absolutely amazing. the best banana bread I’ve ever eaten. will definetely make again. family loved it. thank you for recipe
Although more labor involved, the outcome was OUTSTANDING.
Thank you for giving us the heads up that the recipe has more steps ,however, this is hands down the best.
Hello there handle the heat team!
Iv always wanted to try using the plain yogurt in a recipe opposed to sour cream, but always get nervous changing things up. Have you tried yogurt in any of the recipes? Can you notice a difference?
Maybe ill do my own experiment, use sour cream in one and make another with yogurt 🙂
Hi Elyse! We test all our recipes with any of the substitutes or modifications we list in the recipes, so we can be sure they’ll work perfectly! Sour cream and full fat plain yogurt typically work interchangeably – but I love the idea of experimenting with a side-by-side comparison, so you can determine which way you prefer your banana bread! Please let us know what you think of the results 🙂
Best recipe ever!
I can make banana bread in my sleep. But this recipe has been a game changer ❣️
Best Banna bread I’ve ever ate or made!!!!
I made 4 mini loaves today and they turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for this recipe!