Here is an easy double chocolate banana bread recipe. If you love chocolate, you are going to LOVE this super chocolaty banana bread! This banana bread recipe is called double chocolate because it uses a delicious combination of milk chocolate chips and natural cocoa powder… and of course, plenty of ripe bananas!
We all know about chocolate chips but you might not know much about natural cocoa powder. Natural unsweetened cocoa powder is the ingredient that provides this banana bread with its fantastic dark chocolaty color. According to Wikipedia, cocoa powder is “the pulverized cocoa solids left after extracting almost all the cocoa butter. It is used to add chocolate flavour in baking, and for making chocolate drinks”… or to make great chocolate banana breads! However, if this double chocolate recipe is too much chocolate for your family, you should try our more “adult friendly” Chocolate Banana Bread (because the chocolate flavor is more refined & less overwhelming versus the double chocolate recipe).
This banana bread recipe should take you roughly 10-15 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 delicious banana bread ideas, please visit Bread dad’s main section on Banana Bread Recipes because it has easy recipes for Blueberry Banana Bread, Brown Sugar Banana Bread, Cinnamon Banana Bread, Cranberry Banana Bread and many more! 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 – Chocolate Chips & Cocoa Powder
Batter Before Chocolate Chips Added
Sprinkle Chocolate Chips On Top Before You Bake
Straight From The Oven – Delicious Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients – Easy Double 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 Cup – Chocolate Chips (milk chocolate)
- 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
- 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder (aluminum free)
- 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt
- 1/4 Cup – Chocolate Chips (optional – to sprinkle on the topping)
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 – Easy Double 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 (except the chocolate chips). Stir until batter is completely mixed.
- Add the chocolate chips to the batter. Stir in chips until fully mixed into batter.
- Pour batter into bread pan.
- Optional – Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the batter (before placing bread pan in the oven).
- 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. Your comments help us to improve & clarify our recipe instructions. Moreover, it is always fantastic 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 – Double Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
- For this recipe, I used Hershey’s natural unsweetened cocoa powder (see the first picture on this page).
- If you think that the chocolate chips are too overwhelming, you can always make a “regular” chocolate banana bread (with just the cocoa powder and without the chocolate chips). This will lessen the overall chocolate flavor and allow the bread’s natural banana flavor to come out more.
- 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.
- Don’t use hot chocolate powder. For the best results, you should stick to natural unsweetened cocoa powder (which is used mainly for baking).
- If you use too many chocolate chips on the top of the banana bread, it will look great but you might have trouble slicing the bread. The chips can interfere with the slice and they can be pushed down into the bread (so you might not end up with a clean slice if you have too many chips).
- 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.
- 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!
- 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 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.
Related Recipes
- Butterscotch Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- White Chocolate Banana Bread
Double Chocolate Banana Bread 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 Cup Chocolate Chips (milk chocolate)
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder (aluminum free)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 Cup Chocolate Chips (optional - to sprinkle on the topping)
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 (except the chocolate chips). Stir until batter is completely mixed.
- Add the chocolate chips to the batter. Stir in chips until fully mixed into batter.
- Pour batter into bread pan.
- Optional - Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the batter (before placing bread pan in the oven).
- 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!!!