Here is an easy & delicious chocolate banana bread recipe. This is a more adult friendly version of chocolate banana bread. It is not covered in chocolate chips… so you can actually taste the bananas. You can find billions of chocolate chip-type banana bread recipes online but the chocolate flavor can be overwhelming. Many of these chocolate banana breads are no longer banana breads but rather are super sweet chocolate cakes.
However, you won’t have that problem with this banana bread. This recipe is perfect for adults because the mild chocolate flavor compliments the taste of sweet ripe bananas. For an even milder chocolate flavor, you can omit the semi-sweet chocolate chips if you prefer. Nevertheless, if you are making banana bread for candy-addicted kids, you might want to consider making our Mini Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins or Milk Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipes. For example, my wife & I prefer this “adult friendly” banana bread but my kids would rather eat the double chocolate version.
This easy banana bread recipe should take you roughly only 10 minutes to prepare and clean up. Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is not made with a bread machine. For more great recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s section on Easy Banana Bread Recipes. Bread Dad also has a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page. If you like this recipe, we hope you will leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. Thanks!
Key Ingredients – Bananas, Cocoa, Chocolate Chips, etc.
Stir the Banana Bread Batter
Pour Batter into Bread Pan
Enjoy Some Delicious Chocolate Banana Bread!
Ingredients – Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
- 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened)
- 2 – Large Eggs
- 3 – Bananas (ripe & large sized)
- 1 1/2 Cups – Flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Cup – Cocoa Powder Natural Unsweetened (not hot chocolate powder)
- 1/2 Cup – Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
- 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder (aluminum free)
- 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
Servings – Roughly 12 slices
- Equipment required for this recipe – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.
Instructions – Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease bread pan (if needed).
- Mash bananas with a fork.
- Soften butter in a microwave.
- Lightly beat eggs.
- Stir eggs, bananas and butter together.
- Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir until batter is completely mixed.
- Pour batter into bread pan. Smooth out top of batter.
- Bake in the oven for 70 minutes.
- 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.
If you like this recipe, please leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. The comment section is located at the bottom of this page. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions. Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!
Reference Sources
- Wikipedia, Banana Bread, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_bread
- Wikipedia, Types of Chocolate, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate
Tips – Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
- The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
- For this recipe, I used Hershey’s natural unsweetened cocoa powder. Don’t use hot chocolate powder. For the best results, you should stick to natural unsweetened cocoa powder (which is used mainly for baking).
- Consider “greasing” your bread pan with butter (even if it is non-stick) because the chocolate chips may stick to the bread pan after melting during the baking process. Melted chocolate 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 with butter). When greasing the pan, please give extra attention to the bottom of the bread pan (which is hard to reach with a silicon spatula).
- You can also try using baking parchment paper to line your bread pan if you have a problem with the chocolate chips sticking to the bottom of the bread pan. Baking parchment paper will also help you to avoid disturbing (smudging) any warm/soft chocolate chips on top of the bread when you lift the banana bread from the bread pan.
- Use RIPE bananas for improved taste. Ripe bananas are soft and the exterior peel is usually yellow with small black & brown spots. Hard yellow/green(ish) bananas are too starchy and have less banana flavor.
- Make sure to use 3 large bananas (not 3 medium bananas). Otherwise, the banana bread might turn out to be a little dry.
- In case, you like to use cups versus banana “sizes”… 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!
- You can make banana bread with coarsely mashed bananas that include larger banana chunks (as shown in the pictures above) or with very well mashed bananas with little or no chunks. It just depends on your personal preference and mashing ability (bigger chunks means less work)!
- If you want to make a no butter version of this chocolate banana bread, you can replace the butter with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. For the best results, you should use a neutral flavored oil such as canola or corn oil when making no butter chocolate banana bread. Stronger tasting oils may negatively impact the flavor of the banana bread.
- 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 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.
- 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. Or try some of our Banana Bread Muffins Recipes.
If you like this recipe, please leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. The comment section is located at the bottom of this page. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions. Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!
Related Recipes
- Butterscotch Chip Banana Bread
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- No Butter Banana Bread
- No Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- White Chocolate Banana Bread
Chocolate Banana Bread - Easy Dessert Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (softened)
- 2 Eggs (large)
- 3 Bananas (ripe & large sized)
- 1 1/2 Cups Flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder Natural Unsweetened (not hot chocolate powder)
- 1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder (aluminum free)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease bread pan (if needed).
- Mash bananas with a fork.
- Soften butter in a microwave.
- Lightly beat eggs.
- Stir eggs, bananas and butter together.
- Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir until batter is completely mixed.
- Pour batter into bread pan. Smooth out top of batter.
- Bake in the oven for 70 minutes.
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions.
Moreover, it is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!!!