Butterscotch Banana Bread Recipe

This easy butterscotch banana bread recipe is a tasty combination of a traditional banana bread and buttery sweet butterscotch. Kids love it! The butterscotch taste really complements the banana flavor. It is definitely a great change of pace from “boring” regular banana bread.

Butterscotch Chips being added Banana Bread Batter

I made this banana bread because I had some leftover butterscotch chips after we made my fantastic butterscotch chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t realize how good this banana bread would be. It is moist and delicious! This banana bread recipe is simple & easy to make. It takes me roughly 10-15 minutes to prepare and clean up (excluding the baking time, of course).

Ingredients – Butterscotch Banana Bread Recipe

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas (ripe)
• 8 Tablespoons – Butter (softened) – You can also replace the butter with an equivalent amount of a neutral tasting vegetable oil (such as corn oil or a light olive oil).
• 2 – Large Eggs
• 1 Cup – Granulated White Sugar
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
• 1 Cup – Butterscotch Chips (morsels)

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

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

Finished Product – Delicious Butterscotch Banana Bread

Instructions – Butterscotch Banana Bread Recipe

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Slice the butter into smaller chunks & then soften the butter in a microwave. FYI – I like to partially melt the butter for better mixability. However, do not fully melt the butter (turn it completely into a liquid) as the hot liquid can “cook” the eggs.
• Stir bananas, eggs, butter and sugar together.
• Mix in remaining ingredients (except the butterscotch chips). Stir until fully mixed.
• Add the butterscotch chips after the batter has been completely mixed.
• Pour batter into a nonstick bread pan.
• 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.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.

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Tips – Butterscotch 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 my 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 eggless banana bread, chocolate chip 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.
• FYI – 3 medium-sized bananas equal roughly 1 to 1 1/4 cups of mashed bananas (not sliced bananas). 3 large-sized bananas equal roughly 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 cups of mashed bananas (not sliced bananas). Of course, banana sizes can vary greatly… and my version of medium and large-sized bananas may differ from yours!

• Variation – If butterscotch is too sweet for your family, you can make a 50/50 mix of butterscotch chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I find that semi-sweet chocolate helps to tone down the overall sweetness of the butterscotch.
• Optional – You can also change the flavor & texture of your butterscotch banana bread by adding chopped walnuts or chopped pecans to this recipe. Instead of using 1 cup of butterscotch chips, you could use 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips in order to make a delicious butterscotch banana nut bread. Our thanks to Denise for this great idea!
• Optional – For an even richer flavor and a little more moistness, some people like to use a 50/50 blend of light brown sugar and white granulated sugar when making butterscotch banana bread (so you would use 1/2 packed cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar).
• I would suggest NOT sprinkling butterscotch chips on top of the batter. If you sprinkle butterscotch chips on the top of the batter before you put the banana bread in the oven, they are more likely to melt in the oven and not retain their shape. You are likely to end up with a messy top. Butterscotch chips do better inside the batter.
• Visitors – What do you like to add to your butterscotch banana bread to make it extra special? Chocolate chips? Dried fruit? Chopped walnuts? Other? Please post your recipe variations in the comment section below.

• Optional – If you do not want to use butter, you can replace it with an equivalent amount of a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn). FYI – 8 tablespoons equals 1/2 cup.
• Stronger flavored oils (e.g. peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil) may NEGATIVELY impact or change the taste of this banana bread. You want to use an oil that has very little flavor (so it does not interfere with the banana & butterscotch flavors).
• If you want to use olive oil, I would recommend using a “mild”, “light” or “extra light” olive oil as they would have the least flavor impact on the banana bread. Unfortunately, extra virgin and virgin olive oil have stronger flavors and are more likely to negatively impact the taste of your banana bread.
• A number of my visitors like to use avocado oil in order to make their banana breads. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.

• Butterscotch has a lower melting point than semi-sweet chocolate chip. Therefore, it is more likely to melt and stick to your bread pan. Consider “greasing” your bread pan with butter, vegetable oil or cooking spray (even if the pan is non-stick) because the butterscotch chips may stick to the bread pan after melting during the baking process. Melted butterscotch chips can sometimes make it difficult to get the banana bread out of the bread pan without breaking (unless the bread pan has been greased). When greasing the pan, please give extra attention to the bottom of the bread pan (which is hard to reach with a soft flexible spatula).
• You can also try using baking parchment paper to line your bread pan if you have a problem with the butterscotch sticking to the bottom of the bread pan. Baking parchment paper allows you to more easily lift the banana bread out of the pan. In addition, you are less likely to smudge the top of the banana bread when using baking parchment paper (there is no flipping the bread pan upside down in order to get the banana bread out).
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you are using really sticky ingredients such as butterscotch chips or fresh blueberries).
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.
• As you know, butterscotch is a tasty ingredient used in many cookies, cakes and candies. Moreover, according to Wikipedia, “Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, but other ingredients are part of some recipes, such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt. The earliest known recipes, in mid-19th century Yorkshire, used treacle (molasses) in place of or in addition to sugar. Butterscotch is similar to toffee, but for butterscotch, the sugar is boiled to the soft crack stage, not hard crack as with toffee.”

• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). I prefer to use an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can easily overmix the ingredients if used too long. Unfortunately, overmixing batter can result in a rubbery & gummy banana bread.
• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked.
• It takes roughly 10-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• If your oven does not have a built-in thermometer, you can buy an inexpensive hanging oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven (in order to correctly gauge the temperature & see if the oven has been preheated to the correct temperature). Moreover, some built-in oven gauges can be 25-50 degrees different than the actual temperature inside the oven. For the best results, you should know the actual temperature inside your oven (as this reduces the potential for over or undercooked baked products).

• 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.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people (including me) like to use a digital bread thermometer to test if their banana bread is fully baked. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. banana bread or pumpkin bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200 to 205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading.

• If you have a problem with a banana bread recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven and bread pan.
• For more easy banana bread recipes (e.g. blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chip, vegan, oatmeal, etc.), please visit Bread Dad’s main Banana Bread Recipes section.

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Butterscotch Banana Bread – Questions & Answers

Can you add butterscotch chips to banana bread?

Yes. You can easily add butterscotch chips to banana bread. The butterscotch adds a buttery caramel/brown sugar flavor to banana breads. Some people also like to combine butterscotch chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips when making banana bread in order to tone down the sweetness of the butterscotch. However, since butterscotch chips melt very easily, they should be only added to the interior of the banana bread. In my opinion, butterscotch chips should not be added to the exterior of a banana bread before baking because they will melt & run. Very messy.

Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Butterscotch

Related Recipes

1. Blueberry Banana Bread
2. Buttermilk Banana Bread
3. Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Butterscotch Cookies
5. Chocolate Banana Bread
6. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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