Bored of regular banana bread? Give this chocolate version a try!! It’s rich and moist, and perfectly acceptable for breakfast! The best part, it’s super quick and easy to make, no mixer required!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- If you’ve tried my regular banana bread recipe, you know that the base of this recipe is solid! Add more chocolate to it, and you know it can only get better!
- The texture is unbelievable: soft and tender, moist and dense, in a good way!
- This double chocolate banana bread has deep chocolate flavor thanks to cocoa powder and chocolate chips!
Key Ingredients:
- Bananas – The secret to making moist bread is frozen bananas. You’ll need 4 medium bananas, or 2 cups of mashed bananas. Do NOT discard the juices from thawed bananas, it’s liquid gold!
- Cocoa powder – For this recipe, you can use either natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. These two types of cocoa powder typically aren’t interchangeable, but in this case, both work great!
Tip
Dutch-processed cocoa powder yield darker bread with richer and more intense flavor.
How to make this quick bread:
- Prepare the bananas. Thaw the frozen bananas and use a fork to mash them up well. You don’t want any large chunks of banana in your bread. And be sure to keep all the juices from thawed bananas!
- Mix the wet ingredients. Then stir in sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract in the mashed bananas.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the mashed banana mixture. Mix everything together until it’s just combined and then fold in your chocolate chips. Save some for the topping!
- Pour into pan and bake. Pour your batter into a greased pan, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top, and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 55 minutes at 350F.
You can also make muffins!
Craving a muffin instead? I got you! You can make 12 muffins instead of a loaf.
Follow the directions the same as if you were making a bread and then bake muffins for about 23 minutes.
Tip
Since this banana muffin recipe has lower fat content, I prefer to spray the paper liners with cooking spray. That way, muffins don’t stick to the paper.
Why is my banana bread gummy?
I find this typically happens when you over-mix the batter. The more you mix, the more gluten is developed, which will lead to a rubbery texture after baking rather than the soft, light, and moist texture that you’re going for. To avoid this, simply mix the batter until the ingredients are just combined and then stop.
How do I make sure my banana bread is moist?
Make sure your bananas are ripe and use previously frozen bananas for extra moisture like I do in this recipe.
How to store leftover chocolate banana bread?
Cover the bread with a plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. It’ll keep well for about a week. You can also store the leftovers in a freezer bag.
There is nothing like a warm slice of chocolate banana bread with a cup of coffee or tea. Double this recipe, bake it and share it with a person you love and join our “Bake & Share” tradition.
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Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 4 frozen medium-to-large bananas thawed Note 1
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg lightly beaten, at room temperature
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder Note 2
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Spray a 9×5-inch bread pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mash thawed bananas with a fork or wooden spoon.
- Add sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract, and mix everything until combined.
- Then add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix to combine.
- Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Reserve some for the top as well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
Wonderful and easy recipe! I added approximately 2/3 C of fresh blueberries to the batch I made. The sweetness of the bread and the bit of tartness of the blueberries is a combo I would recommend! The only alteration of the recipe I did was used 3.5 ripe bananas since that’s all I had.
So happy your blueberry version turned out great! Thanks for sharing your tweak, Sue.