Here is an easy & delicious chocolate banana bread recipe. This is a more adult friendly version of chocolate banana bread because it is not over stuffed with chocolate chips. You can actually taste the sweet ripe bananas in this chocolate banana bread. Your family will love this chocolate banana bread!
Delicious Chocolate Banana Bread with Banana “Chunks” Inside
You can find billions of chocolate chip banana bread recipes online but their chocolate flavor is often overwhelming. Many of these chocolate banana breads are no longer banana breads but rather are super sweet chocolate cakes. Nevertheless, 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 bananas.
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. FYI – You can also find a printable & “pinable” recipe at the bottom of this page.
Key Ingredients – Bananas, Cocoa, Chocolate Chips, etc.
Ingredients – Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
- 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened)
- 2 – Large Eggs
- 3 – Bananas (ripe & large sized) – Roughly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas
- 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 – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, 9 by 5 bread pan, oven mitts, silicon spatula, cooling rack and an oven.
Pour Batter into Bread Pan – See the Delicious Banana Chucks!
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 65-70 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. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!
Tips – Chocolate Banana Bread
- The tips below are designed to help chocolate banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
- For this recipe, I used Hershey’s natural unsweetened cocoa powder. For the best results, you should stick to natural unsweetened cocoa powder (which is used mainly for baking). Do not use hot chocolate powder! Cocoa powder adds some chocolate flavor and the beautiful darker color to this chocolate banana bread.
- 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 the best 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.
- If you would like to add homemade whipped cream on top of your chocolate banana bread, please see our Blueberry Quick Bread Recipe for an easy recipe on how to make homemade whipped cream. FYI – Homemade whipped cream is a delicious way to hide an accident or “ugly” top to a banana bread!
- FYI – According to Wikipedia, “Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted…” and “Cocoa powder is the powdered form of the dry solids with a small remaining amount of cocoa butter”.
- If you find small white flour clumps in your banana bread, you should try sifting the flour with a sifter prior to adding to the batter (as the mesh screen sifts out any small lumps) or try premixing the dry ingredients together with a whisk (before adding to batter) in order to break up any flour clumps. This tends to be a problem for older flour that has been slowing absorbing moisture from the air.
- 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.
- Optional – If you are finding small white clumps of flour in your banana breads, you can use a fine mesh strainer or flour sifter to sift your flour (before mixing the flour with the wet ingredients). This “aerates” the flour and breaks up & screens out small flour lumps.
- 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.
- FYI – Some people like to say that this recipe makes a double chocolate banana bread because it uses chocolate chips and cocoa powder. Regardless of the name, this banana bread tastes fantastic!
- Always use oven mitts when dealing with a hot oven, etc.
- 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.
If you like this recipe, please leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. 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
Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
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. Visit BreadDad.com for more great banana bread recipes.
Servings: 12 Slices
Calories: 278kcal
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 65-70 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
This is a Bread Dad recipe and may not be copied or reproduced. This recipe is copyright protected under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Legal Disclaimer
The nutritional information is provided using recipe widgets such as WP Recipe Maker. These figures should only be considered as an estimate. They should not be construed as a guarantee of accuracy given visitors may use different serving sizes, ingredients, etc. The information is only provided as a courtesy to our visitors. See our legal disclaimer for additional nutrition disclosures.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Slice | Calories: 278kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 237mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2mg
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!!!
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