Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (Easy Recipe + Video)

This moist chocolate chip banana bread is soft, rich and loaded with chocolate. My easy recipe uses ripe bananas and vegetable oil for extra moistness. You will even find a step-by-step instructional video to help you make this easy banana bread.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Recipe Video
4. Helpful Tips

Excluding the baking time, this moist chocolate chip banana bread recipe takes me about 10 to 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. FYI – You will also find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page.

Easy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe – Fresh From Oven

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas (ripe) – 345 grams – Roughly 3 large bananas but use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas for the best & most consistent results.
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral tasting vegetable oil such as corn or light/mild olive oil. For more info, see the tips section below.
• 2 – Large Eggs – 114 grams – Large eggs (not extra large or jumbo eggs).
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 200 grams – For a slightly richer flavor, some visitors prefer to use 1 cup of light brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar. If you like less sweet banana breads, you can use 2/3 or 3/4 cup of sugar.
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 3/4 Cup – Mini Chocolate Chips (Semi-Sweet) – 180 grams – If you do not have mini chips, you can use 1 cup of REGULAR-sized chocolate chips. See the tips section below for more info on mini chips versus regular-sized chocolate chips.
• Optional – 1 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon – 3 grams – Some people like to add ground cinnamon to the batter if their bananas are not very ripe.
• Optional – 2 Tablespoons of Mini Chocolate Chips – 30 grams – Sprinkle these chips on top of the batter before placing the pan in the oven.

Tip – Make your chocolate chip banana bread more unique/special by replacing 1/2 of the chocolate chips with other types of chips such as peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, caramel chips or cinnamon chips! Let me know in the comments below if you used any of these different chips.

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

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

Recipe Video – Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

FYI – A short ad might play in front of the recipe video

Easy Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe – Lots Of Chocolate Spread Throughout

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Mix mashed bananas, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients (except chocolate chips). Stir until the batter is fully mixed. FYI – I prefer to use a large spoon to mix the batter. An electric mixer can overmix the batter and this can lead to gummy & rubbery banana breads.
• Add 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter. Stir until chips are completely mixed into the batter.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan. FYI – Use baking parchment paper to line the pan (before adding the batter) if you plan to sprinkle mini chips on top of the batter. Easier to lift banana bread out & reduces “smudging” the top chips. See tips section below for more info.
• Optional – Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips on top of the batter before placing the pan in the oven.
• Bake in the oven at 325 F (163 C) for 65-70 minutes.
• Take pan out of the 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. FYI – Do not skip this step as the “cool down” completes the baking process.
• 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 cooldown can take 1 to 2 hours.
• Please READ the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.
• You also can watch my recipe video to “see” how to perform each recipe step.

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Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe – Baking In the Oven

Turn This Recipe Into Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins! Easy Snacks

Helpful Tips

• 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.
• If you would rather “see” how my moist chocolate chip banana bread recipe is made, please watch the step-by-step recipe video on this page. It is a short & simple video that shows you all of the steps & ingredients involved in making this recipe.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Banana Bread Recipes such as classic banana bread, eggless banana bread and blueberry banana bread.

• Optional – Instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips, you can make a more kid-friendly banana bread by using milk chocolate chips (which are sweeter than semi-sweet chips). Or for a more adult-friendly banana bread, you can use dark chocolate chips (which are less sweet than semi-sweet chocolate chips).
• Optional – For different flavor combinations, you can replace 1/2 of the semi-sweet chocolate chips with different types of chips such as peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, caramel chips, etc. Some of my visitors even like to chop up chocolate candies (e.g. candy bars or Easter candy) to add to their banana breads.
• Just be aware that some chips have different melting points (versus semi-sweet chocolate chips). You don’t want to use chips that melt a lot more easily than semi-sweet chocolate chips (especially on top of your banana bread in order to avoid a sticky mess). FYI – Most white chocolate chips melt very easily and can create a mess if placed on top of the banana bread.
• Optional – For a more chocolaty top, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips on top of the batter just before you place the bread pan in the oven. Be aware that you should probably use baking parchment paper to line the pan for this option. This will help prevent smudging the warm chocolate chips when you try to remove the banana bread from the pan (because you gently lift this easy chocolate chip banana bread from the pan with baking parchment paper versus flipping the pan over to remove this moist chocolate banana bread).
• Optional – For even more chocolaty flavor, you can mix 2 tablespoons of unsweetened baking cocoa powder into the batter. This is a cocoa powder designed to be used in baked goods and it is NOT hot chocolate powder. They are two different types of cocoa powder!! Baking cocoa powder will also turn your moist chocolate banana bread into a darker colored banana bread. FYI – If you add more than 2 tablespoons, your banana bread might come out a bit dry (as more dry powder requires more liquid to offset).
• Optional – Due to dietary reasons, some of my visitors like to use carob chips instead of chocolate chips. Chocolate chips are made from cocoa beans whereas carob chips are made from carob pods. Carob chips are generally caffeine-free and have a milder and more caramel-like flavor.
• Optional – You can replace 1/2 of the chocolate chips with chopped walnuts or chopped pecans in order to turn this into a chocolate chip banana nut bread.
• Optional – For a little variety, replace 1/2 of the chocolate chips with dried cranberries or dried blueberries. You will have less baking issues (e.g. accidentally adding too much liquid to the batter) if you use dried fruit (instead of frozen berries).
• Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to this moist chocolate chip banana bread? Chopped nuts? Different chips (e.g. butterscotch chips)? Extra spices (e.g. nutmeg)? Dried fruit? Please leave your variations & suggestions in the comment section below.

• I like to use mini chocolate chips when making an easy chocolate chip banana bread (instead of using regular-sized chocolate chips). Why? Given their lighter weight, mini chocolate chips are usually more evenly distributed (better spread out) in a banana bread. In contrast, larger & heavier regular-sized chocolate chips will often sink to the bottom of banana breads.
• In addition, given their lighter weight, mini chocolate chips “float” better than regular-sized chocolate chips when sprinkled on top of the batter. Heavier regular-sized chocolate chips can sink when placed on top of the batter. Moreover, the increased weight of regular-sized chips can contribute to the middle of the banana bread top crust partially collapsing during the baking process.
• HOWEVER, if you don’t have mini chips, feel free to use REGULAR-sized chocolate chips. If you decide to use regular chocolate chips, you should use 1 cup of regular chocolate chips (versus the 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips called for in the recipe).
• If you use regular-sized chocolate chips, coat them with some flour to help them float better in the batter. This reduces the chance of them sinking to the bottom of the banana bread. You can do this by placing the chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of flour in a plastic sandwich bag and giving it a good shake. This will help to coat the chips in flour.
• If you didn’t know, 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips equals roughly 1 cup of regular-sized chocolate chips. Why? Because there is more air ‘pockets” between the larger regular chips. Therefore, there is less air between the smaller mini chips and thus there is a greater density of chocolate.
• Therefore, if you want to replace the regular chips in your favorite banana bread or baked goods recipes with mini chocolate chips, you shouldn’t replace them on a 1:1 ratio. Otherwise you will be adding a lot more chocolate than you expected.
• In terms of chocolate, 3 mini chips roughly equals 1 regular sized chip. Therefore, you will have 3 times as many chips spread out throughout this moist chocolate chip banana bread (versus using regular-sized chips). Smaller but more plentiful chips!
• Visitors – Do you prefer to use mini chips or regular-sized chips when making chocolate chip banana bread? Please leave your chocolate chip thoughts in the comment section below.

• Use RIPE bananas for the BEST flavor. Ripe bananas are soft and have a yellow peel covered with many small black spots.
• Hard bananas with yellow/green(ish) peels are too starchy and have much less banana flavor.
• FYI – A beautiful pure yellow banana (without any spots) is not fully ripe!!
• Using UNRIPE bananas will result in a bland banana bread (with little banana flavor).
• 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-sized bananas (as you might be adding too much or too little liquid) versus using exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas.
• Don’t try to sneak in a little extra banana because you have some leftover banana (after mashing your bananas) or you want even more banana flavor in your banana bread. The extra banana will throw off the liquid-to-dry ingredients ratio of the recipe. In turn, you are more likely to get a sunken middle, an underbaked banana bread, a wet & dense banana bread and/or a “weaker” banana bread (more likely to fall apart if it hasn’t been fully baked).

• Use a neutral-flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn oil) for the best results when making this moist chocolate chip banana bread recipe. Strongly flavored oils (such as extra virgin olive oil) can negatively impact the flavor of the banana bread.
• If you want to use olive oil (e.g. for health reasons), I would recommend using a “mild” or “light” olive oil as it would have the least impact on the flavor of the chocolate chip banana bread.
• A number of my visitors like to use avocado oil to make their banana bread. 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.
• Optional – To add a mild tropical flavor to your moist chocolate chip banana bread, you can try replacing the vegetable oil with unrefined food-grade coconut oil (cooking oil). Be aware that unrefined coconut oil has a mild coconut flavor whereas refined coconut oil has a more neutral flavor. FYI – This is an easy way to make a coconut chocolate chip banana bread!
• Visitors – What oil do you like to use to make your banana breads? Olive oil? Coconut oil? Corn oil? Avocado oil? Other? Please post your oil suggestions & tips in the comment section below.

• Optional – If your bananas are not super ripe, some of my visitors like to mix 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon into the banana bread batter. The ground cinnamon helps to “help” any missing banana flavor.
• However, given all of the chocolate flavor in this recipe, I do not think ground cinnamon is super critical for this moist chocolate chip banana bread recipe.
• Optional – For a slightly richer flavor, some of my visitors prefer to use 1 cup of light brown sugar (packed cup) instead of white granulated sugar when making this easy chocolate chip banana bread recipe.
• Optional – If you like less sweet banana breads and your bananas are very ripe and thus contain lots of natural sugars, you can use 2/3 or 3/4 cup of sugar (instead of 1 cup) to make this moist chocolate chip banana bread recipe. You can also replace the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate chips in order to reduce the sweetness.
• Remember “regular” chocolate chips usually contain some milk so this is not a dairy free banana bread.
• You need to use vegan mini chocolate chips (such as those made by Enjoy Life) if you want to make a dairy free chocolate chip banana bread.
• Optional – It is easy to turn this recipe into banana muffins. A kid favorite at my house and they also much quicker to bake than a full-sized banana bread. For more instructions, visit my recipe on Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.

• FYI – Banana breads made with oil tend to taste MOISTER than banana breads made with butter. The main reason is because vegetable oil remains liquid at room temperature whereas butter turns back to a solid at room temperature. Therefore, the use of vegetable oil helps to create a moist chocolate chip banana bread.
• Moreover, about 15-20% of butter is water and some of this evaporates during the baking process (leading to a drier banana bread). In contrast, very little or none of the oil evaporates during the baking process.
• Of course, if you prefer to use butter to make your banana bread then use an equivalent amount of softened/melted butter (1/2 cup). Butter creates a more flavorful (modestly buttery) but slightly drier banana bread. Whereas oil is used generally to create a moist banana bread recipe.
• FYI – Some of my visitors like to use a 50/50 blend of oil and butter because they are trying to get the best of both ingredients (more flavor & more moistness).
• Visitors – Do you like to use butter or vegetable oil when making a chocolate chip banana bread recipe? Please leave your butter & oil thoughts in the comment section below.

• Store your ingredients (e.g. flour & sugar) in airtight containers to avoid “funky” flavors & smells being added to your baked goods. Airtight containers also prevent contamination by dust, pests, etc.
• Flour absorbs moisture from the air (if it is kept in an open bag and not an airtight container). This extra moisture can throw off recipes and leads to overly wet batter and/or underbaked banana bread.
• This recipe uses all purpose flour. Do not use bread flour to make banana breads or they are more likely to turn out dense and/or gummy. Banana bread recipes work best with all purpose flour.

• Do NOT use an electric mixer to mix your ingredients (when combining the wet and dry ingredients). Stick to an old fashioned wooden spoon. An electric mixer can overmix the ingredients and the banana bread will turn out rubbery & gummy.
• Make sure to use level teaspoons & tablespoons when measuring ingredients (such as flour and baking soda). You can level off the ingredients in a measuring spoon or cup with the flat back of a butter knife or similar utensil. No “mountains” of ingredients in your measuring spoons & cups!! Adding too much of an ingredient can lead to recipe problems (such as too much flour can result in overly dry baked goods).
• Many of my international visitors like to use a kitchen scale in order to more accurate measure their ingredients.
• You should allow your banana bread to COOL COMPLETELY or you will have more chocolate smudges/streaks/smears on your slices when you cut this chocolate chip banana loaf. Warm chocolate spreads easily. Therefore, if you slice a banana bread when it is still warm, you will spread the warm soft chocolate around and this will make your banana bread slices look messy.

• To prevent your banana bread from sticking to the bottom of the bread pan, you should consider either “greasing” the bottom of the pan with butter or vegetable oil, using a cooking spray, using a nonstick pan or lining the interior of the bread pan with baking parchment paper.
• Some ingredients (such as chocolate & blueberries) are very sticky after the baking process. These ingredients often make the bottom of a banana bread hard to get out of the pan (without damaging the banana bread). Baking parchment paper is probably the best method for avoiding the problem of a potentially sticky “bottom”.
• If you want to avoid smudging the top of your banana bread (e.g. when it is covered with warm chocolate chips), you should use baking parchment paper (lining the interior of the bread pan). Baking parchment paper makes it easy for you to lift the banana bread out of the bread pan (without having to flip the bread pan upside down to remove the banana bread).
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.

• This doesn’t happen often but if the top of the banana bread looks too moist or undercooked, you should try the “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer into the top of the bread and see if any batter sticks to the wooden skewer. If batter is sticking to the skewer 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 the wooden skewer.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people like to use a digital bread thermometer to test if their banana bread is done. Generally, a “quick bread” (e.g. banana bread or pumpkin bread) is done when the internal temperature reaches 200-205 degrees F. Just make sure to measure the temperature in the center of the loaf for the most accurate reading.
• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this quick bread could come out undercooked. I like to use a hanging oven thermometer to check my oven temperature and ensure the oven has been properly preheated.
• 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.
• FYI – Do not open your oven during the baking process in order to “check” on the banana bread. This will allow the hot air to escape & cold air to rush in and this can cause your banana bread to collapse.

• Problem with a sunken or collapsed middle in your banana bread? Then check out my Why Does My Banana Bread Sink In The Middle? page for reasons & potential solutions.
• Problem with dry banana breads? Check out my Tips For Making A Moist Banana Bread for information on how to avoid making dry banana breads!
• Long-term storage – If you want to keep your banana bread for more than 1-2 days (depending on your home’s temperature & humidity), you will need to freeze it. Please read Bread Dad’s How To Freeze Banana Bread for more details.

• In case, you didn’t see this in the “equipment used to make this recipe” section, this recipe is based on using a standard 9 by 5 inch metal bread pan. This means that the interior of the bread pan (not exterior) measures 9 inches in length, 5 inches in width and 2 1/2 inches in depth/height. Of course, Bread Dads are crazy about exact measurements… thus the use of measuring tapes! Ha!
• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 inch bread pan to make this recipe. If you start using different sized pans, there is a greater potential for bread top collapses (potentially less bread pan “wall” support for the quick bread as it rises), different interior batter to exterior crust ratios (thus the need for different baking lengths), smaller pans are more likely to overflow, etc.
• My recipes are based on using a metal bread pan and NOT a glass bread pan. Glass bread pans bake faster than metal bread pans. If you use a glass bread pan for my recipes, you are more likely to overbake your banana bread (e.g. burnt crust).
• My recipes are based on using a regular oven and NOT a convection oven. Convection ovens bake faster than regular ovens and require less baking time than what is stated in my recipes.
• For the best results, I recommend using the right tools when making banana bread. Check out my Banana Bread Equipment Guide for more details.

• Place your banana bread in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the banana bread may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected.
• 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.
• 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.

• If you like banana bread then check out my Easy Muffin Recipes section. Banana muffins are basically mini banana breads! Banana muffins make great snacks & are much quicker to bake versus larger banana breads.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven and bread pan.
• For more delicious banana bread recipes (e.g. banana nut bread or blueberry banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s section on easy Banana Bread Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Chocolate Chip

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