Pecan Banana Bread Recipe – Moist & Crunchy

This pecan banana bread recipe will help you to create a delicious banana bread stuffed with ripe bananas & crunchy pecans. My family likes this recipe because it is a nice change of pace from “regular” banana bread… and because they love pecans!

Delicious & Nutty Interior of Pecan Banana Bread

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 5 from 15 votes Featured Comment Sai “This was a hit with my kids and hubby! The only mod I did was add a few chocolate chips! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.”

Since this banana bread contains pecans, please do not serve it to anyone with a nut allergy.

My banana bread with pecans recipe takes me roughly 10 minutes to prepare and clean up (excluding the baking time, of course). Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is not made with a bread machine. You will find a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of this page.

Pecan Banana Bread Fresh From The Oven

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups – Mashed Bananas (Ripe) – 345 grams – This is roughly 3 large bananas but use 1 1/2 cups to be exact for the best results.
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored oil such as canola oil or corn oil
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1/2 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 100 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 107 grams
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 1 Cup – Chopped Pecans – 115 grams – 3/4 cup mixed into batter & 1/4 cup sprinkled on top of batter

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.

Sprinkle 1/4 Cup Of Chopped Pecans On Top Of Batter

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 C).
• Mash bananas with a fork.
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Stir mashed bananas, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract & sugar together in a large bowl. Stir until completely mixed.
• Add the rest of the ingredients (except chopped pecans) to the bowl. Stir with a large spoon until the batter is fully mixed.
• Add 3/4 cup of chopped pecans to the batter (and save the remaining 1/4 cup of pecans for later). Stir until the pecans are evenly mixed throughout the batter.
• Pour the finished batter into a nonstick or “greased” bread pan. Smooth out the top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Sprinkle the remaining chopped pecans (1/4 cup) on top of the batter within the bread pan.
• Bake in the oven for 65-70 minutes at 325 F (163 C).
• 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 Bread Dad’s tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common banana bread problems.

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Key Ingredient – Chopped Pecans

Helpful Tips – Pecan Banana Bread Recipe

• The tips below are designed to help banana bread “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience. This recipe results in a moist banana bread with pecans (that also has lots of banana flavor).
• Since this recipe contains pecans, please make sure that anyone eating this banana bread does not have a peanut/tree nut allergy. Do not serve to anyone with peanut/tree nut allergies.
• 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 no butter banana bread, chocolate chip banana bread and blueberry 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!!
• Use FRESH pecans. After you have opened a bag of chopped pecans, the pecans can go rancid (bad) quickly due to their high oil content. Once the pecan package has been opened, you should store the chopped pecans in an airtight container in your refrigerator or freezer. Do not use old pecans that have been sitting in your pantry in an already opened bag. For more information on pecan storage, you should read this U.S. Pecan Growers Council article on pecan handling and storage.
• Some of my visitors like to replace the vanilla extract in the recipe with almond extract in order to add even more “nut flavor” to their banana nut breads. Of course, you can also use pecan extract (instead of almond extract) but this type of extract is harder to find & is not available at many supermarkets.

• Use exactly 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas. This helps to prevent the banana bread from being too dry or too wet. In my opinion, using “3 bananas” (instead of 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas) leads to too much variance in a recipe because bananas vary in size. Obviously, 3 large bananas add a lot more moisture than 3 small bananas.
• If you don’t have enough mashed bananas to equal the recipe’s called for 1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas, you can add a little applesauce, Greek yogurt or sour cream until the combined amount (including the mashed bananas) equals the required 1 1/2 cups. If you are under the 1 1/2 cups, the banana bread might be too dry. If you are over the 1 1/2 cups then the banana bread might be too moist and come out undercooked. If you have extra mashed bananas (beyond the 1 1/2 cups), you can freeze the extra mashed bananas… and save it for a future Bread Dad banana bread recipe!

• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. canola oil, corn oil or mild/light olive oil) so it does not interfere with the banana & pecan flavors.
• Optional – If you do not have vegetable oil or want a more buttery flavored pecan banana bread, you can replace the vegetable oil with unsalted butter (but it should be softened in your microwave before using). I prefer to use vegetable oil for this recipe because it seems to result in a moister pecan banana bread (as oil stays liquid at room temperature).
• Optional – For a more “tropical” flavored banana bread, some of my visitors like to use food grade unrefined coconut oil (instead of vegetable oil).
• Optional – You can also easily turn this recipe into banana pecan muffins. Check out my Banana Nut Muffins page for all of the steps.

• Optional – If you don’t have enough chopped pecans, you can easily replace them with chopped walnuts. Or you can make your banana nut bread with a blend of chopped pecans & chopped walnuts (e.g. pecan walnut banana bread).
• FYI – Some my visitors like to use sliced almonds instead of chopped pecans or chopped walnuts.
• Optional – You can easily make fun & delicious variations of this banana bread with pecans by replacing 50% of the pecans with chocolate chips, fresh blueberries or fresh cranberries.
• Optional – If you want a “softer” interior (non-crunchy interior), you can add the pecans only to the top of the pecan banana bread.
• Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to your pecan banana bread? Chocolate chips? Fruit? Extra spices? Please leave your pecan banana bread suggestions & variations in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Carolyn “added blueberries and chocolate chips”

• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking soda and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your banana bread will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container. 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.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight containers protect ingredients from moisture (in the air), pests, dust, etc.
• Flour (if stored in an open bag and not in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to banana bread collapses, etc.
• 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.
• Want to make “mini” pecan banana breads? Then try my Mini Banana Nut Bread recipe. It allows you to create 4 mini banana nut breads (instead of 1 regular-sized banana nut bread). FYI – Mini banana nut breads are great as house warming gifts, inexpensive holiday gifts, etc.

• 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 wooden toothpick or wooden skewer 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 3 to 5 minutes. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan will be very hot. After the 3 to 5 minutes, remove the bread pan and test the banana bread again with a toothpick.
• Instead of the “toothpick test”, some people like to use a 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.
• My recipe use a slightly lower temperature (and thus a slightly longer baking time) than many of my peers’ banana bread recipes. Why? Because the lower temp results in a softer & more tender banana bread. Moreover, the lower temp reduces the potential for an over-baked crust and/or an overly dry banana bread.
• Do not skip the 10 minute “cool down” (where the banana pecan bread stays in the bread pan after being removed from the oven). This helps to finish the baking process and makes the banana bread easier to remove without breaking.

• To prevent the pecan 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.
• Baking parchment paper is probably the best solution to prevent sticking (especially if you are using really sticky ingredients such as chocolate chips or blueberries). It also allows you to lift the banana bread out of the pan without disturbing the top of the banana bread… in case you have added any special ingredients (such as chopped nuts or chocolate chips) to the top of the banana bread.
• FYI – Baking parchment paper is NOT regular paper. It is a specialty paper designed for use with baking.
• 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.

• Please use the suggested 9 x 5 inch metal 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 bread 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).
• Make sure that your oven has been completely preheated. If the oven has not been properly preheated, this pecan banana bread could come out undercooked. Use a portable oven thermometer to check the interior oven temperature.
• 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 oven thermometer that you can place inside your oven (in order to correctly gauge the 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 under cooked baked products).

• Like banana nut breads? Then try Bread Dad’s recipes for Almond Banana Bread, Almond Flour Banana Nut Bread, Blueberry Banana Nut Bread, Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and Sourdough Banana Nut Bread (a more “adult” tasting banana bread).
• As you probably know, this banana bread with pecans is a type of “quick bread”. Quick breads use faster rising baking soda and/or baking powder (versus slower rising bread yeast). This often results in a delicious muffin-like “bread” that rises & bakes more quickly than a sandwich-type bread that uses yeast.
• Here are some interesting pecan facts… According to Wikipedia, “The pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River”. Moreover, the “seeds of the pecan are edible, with a rich, buttery flavor. They can be eaten fresh or used in cooking, particularly in sweet desserts, such as pecan pie, a traditional Southern U.S. dish. Butter pecan is also a common flavor in cookies, cakes, and ice creams”.
• Wikipedia also states that pecans are “a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of total fat, protein, dietary fiber (38% DV), manganese (214% DV), magnesium (34% DV), phosphorus (40% DV), zinc (48% DV), and thiamin (57% DV)”.

• 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.
• 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).
• Be safe! Nuts can be a potential choking hazard. Do not serve food with nuts to young children.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven and bread pan.
• For more banana bread ideas (e.g. chocolate chip banana bread, vegan banana bread or blueberry banana bread), please visit Bread Dad’s main Banana Bread Recipes section.

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Banana Bread with Pecan – Common Questions & Answers

Are pecan and walnuts the same?

Pecans and walnuts are not the same type of tree nut. Pecans tend to be smaller, darker in color & sweeter than walnuts. Walnuts tend to be larger and a little more bitter than pecans. Pecan are grown primarily in the southern United States and Mexico. In contrast, walnuts are grown around the world with commercial production coming mainly from China, the United States, Iran and Turkey.

How much pecans to add to banana bread?

The amount of pecans to add to your banana bread depends on how much you love pecans. You can add a little or a lot to your banana bread. This recipe uses 1 cup of pecans so the pecans do not overwhelm the banana flavor but you still have enough pecans to create a nice “crunchy” banana nut bread. Some bakers like to sprinkle the pecans only on top of the banana bread and do not mix any pecans into the banana bread interior. If you follow this type of variation, you only need 1/4-1/2 cup of pecans to sprinkle on top of the banana bread batter.

Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Banana Bread
2. Wikipedia, Pecan
3. Wikipedia, Walnut
4. U.S. Pecan Growers Council, Pecan Handling and Storage

Related Recipes

1. Almond Banana Nut Bread
2. Almond Flour Banana Nut Bread
3. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
4. Easy Banana Nut Bread – Chopped walnuts
5. No Butter Banana Bread
6. Sourdough Banana Nut Bread

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