Brown Sugar Banana Bread (Sugar Topping)

Here is an easy brown sugar banana bread recipe. It is just like a traditional banana bread… but with a sweeter and slightly richer flavor. Moreover, this recipe uses large sugar crystals (turbinado sugar) in order to create a sweet & crunchy “top” to the banana bread. This delicious brown sugar banana bread is perfect as a breakfast snack or an easy dinner dessert. Your family will love it!

Brown Sugar Banana Bread with Sugary & “Crunchy” Top

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 5 from 14 votes Featured Comment Theresa “Great tasting recipe. I really like the large brown sugar crystals on top of the banana bread. It makes this banana bread different and better than regular banana bread.”

This banana bread with brown sugar recipe is simple & easy to make. It only takes me about 10-15 minutes to prepare and clean up (excluding the baking time of course!). Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is not made with a bread machine. You will also find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page.

Turbinado Sugar – Large Sugar Crystals!

Ingredients – Easy Brown Sugar Banana Bread Recipe 

• 1 1/2 Cups – Bananas (ripe) – Roughly 3 large bananas but use 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas for the best & most consistent results
• 8 Tablespoons – Butter (softened)
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1 Cup – Brown Sugar
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
• Optional (but Recommended) – 2 or 3 Tablespoons – Turbinado sugar (large crystal sugar) – Sprinkled on top of the batter before baking.

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 inch meat bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.

You Can Also Turn This Recipe Into Brown Sugar Banana Muffins

Ready for the Oven – Batter with Turbinado Sugar Sprinkled on Top

Instructions – Brown Sugar Banana Bread Recipe

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Soften butter in a microwave.
• Add the mashed bananas, butter, eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Add remaining ingredients. Stir until fully mixed.
• Pour batter into a nonstick or “buttered” bread pan.
• Optional – Sprinkle two or three tablespoons of turbinado sugar on top of the batter just before you bake the banana bread (if you want a delicious & “crunchy” brown sugar crust on top of your banana bread).
• Bake in the oven for 65-70 minutes at 325 F.
• Take out of oven and let the banana bread cool down in the bread pan for 10 minutes. Do not remove the banana bread from the bread pan during this 10 minute cool down period. Use oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot coming out of the oven.
• After 10 minutes, remove the banana bread from the bread pan. Place the banana bread on a cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cool down may take 1-2 hours. Gently slide a silicon spatula between the banana bread and the bread pan walls if the banana bread is stuck in the pan.

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Helpful Tips – Easy Brown Sugar Banana Bread Recipe

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes such as banana nut bread, Greek yogurt banana bread and blueberry banana bread.

• Use RIPE bananas for the best results!! If you use unripe green or hard yellow bananas, your banana bread will come out bland (with little banana flavor). Unripe bananas have more starch and less sugar than ripe bananas. The natural sweetness of ripe bananas works best when making banana bread recipes.
• Ripe bananas are soft and have many small brown & black spots on the exterior of the yellow banana peel. FYI – A beautiful pure yellow banana (without any spots) is not fully ripe!!
• For the most consistent & best results, you should use a measuring cup and measure out EXACTLY 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas. This will help to prevent your banana bread from being too dry or too wet.
• Given the variability in banana sizes, you are more likely to have problems if you use 3 random bananas (as you might be adding too much or too little liquid) versus using exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas.

• I like to use light brown sugar (versus dark brown sugar) for this banana bread recipe. I find that dark brown sugar adds a stronger taste to this recipe than my family likes. However, if you prefer dark brown sugar, it will work equally well.
• Turbinado sugar is a “coarse” raw sugar with a slight molasses taste. I like using turbinado sugar on the exterior of banana breads because it has larger sugar crystals. This adds more texture & crunch to the banana bread crust. You can find turbinado sugar in most large supermarkets. It is normally located in the aisle with regular granulated white sugar, etc.
• Optional – When I make this banana bread with brown sugar for a breakfast snack (versus for dinner), I often add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I don’t know why but cinnamon means breakfast for my family!
• Optional – You can add 1 cup of fresh blueberries, chopped walnuts or chocolate chips in order to make this recipe even more unique. Stir the cup of extra ingredients (e.g. fresh blueberries) into the batter after you have fully mixed all of the other ingredients.
• Optional – You can replace the butter with a neutral flavored vegetable oil (such as canola oil, corn oil or a mild/light olive oil). Replace the butter with oil on a 1:1 basis. Vegetable oil makes a slightly moister banana bread but lacks the buttery flavor of butter. Your choice!
• Visitors – What additional ingredients have you added to this recipe to make it more unique or special? Do you add chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, extra spices (e.g. cinnamon)? Please post your ingredient additions in the comment section below.

• Old flour can affect the taste of banana bread. Old flour can spoil and taste bitter, sour, musty, etc. Banana bread made with old flour does not taste great!
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Old flour (when not stored in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to banana bread collapses, etc.
• Some of my visitors have asked if you can replace the all purpose flour with bread flour when making this moist banana bread recipe. I wouldn’t! For the best results, I would stick with all purpose flour in order to make a banana bread. Bread flour will work but it is likely to change the taste and texture of the banana bread. For example, since bread flour has more gluten than all purpose flour, you will get a tougher and more rubbery banana bread if you use bread flour (instead of all purpose flour).

• Allow the banana bread to completely cool down before cutting. The slightly harder top crust (due to the sprinkled turbinado sugar) may make cause the bread to crumble/break on the “softer” edges when cut if the banana bread is not completely cooled. Use a serrated bread knife for best cutting results.
• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana bread looks too moist or under cooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a toothpick into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the toothpick. If batter is sticking to the toothpick then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread pan back into the still hot oven for another 2 or 3 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 2 or 3 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with a tooth pick.
• If you have kids, you might also like to make our Brown Sugar Banana Muffins. They are the “muffin versions” of this delicious banana bread. They are a fun baking project to make with kids.

• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• In addition, you should always try to use relatively fresh baking soda & powder for the best results. For example, using baking soda from an open container (that has been deodorizing your refrigerator for months) may lead to subpar results. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your banana bread with brown sugar.
• For more easy banana bread recipes (i.e. blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chip, vegan, oatmeal, etc.), please visit Bread Dad’s main Banana Bread Recipes section.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Brown Sugar

Related Recipes

1. Banana Nut Bread
2. Blueberry Banana Bread
3. Cranberry Banana Bread
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6. Bread Machine Banana Bread

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