Brown Butter Banana Bread

The most delicious Brown Butter Banana Bread! Loaded with heaps of flavor, this bread is simple to throw together and cooks low and slow to bring out a ton of banana flavor.

How to Pick Bananas for Banana Bread

You’ll need FIVE bananas for this recipe. We’re not kidding. It’s banana bread.

I LOVE the banana on top…both from a looks + taste perspective. I love the mega banana flavor it gives to the bread. But if you only have the three bananas needed for the actually bread, skip the top and don’t sweat it.

Also, you want your banana ripe and getting brown spots on the peel. But you don’t want an overly ripe banana that’s mushy and whose taste has gone off… you know what I’m talking about? The flavor goes bad if they are too ripe…don’t waste your time making bread with those bananas.

Adding Espresso to Banana Bread

If you don’t have any espresso handy, go for some fresh brewed, strong coffee. Works perfect. I realize not everyone has an espresso machine.

And if you don’t, you should get one. I couldn’t live without mine. Let me know if we need to talk about this more.

*IF* you don’t want to add espresso or coffee, use water in its place.

Brown Butter Muscovado Banana Bread Q&A

What is Muscovado Sugar?

I absolutely adore muscovado in baked goods. Muscovado is an unprocessed sugar that hasn’t had the molasses removed.

It has a wet, sand-like texture and brings lots of caramel and toffee notes to everything it touches. It’s magic.

And a match made in heaven with brown butter and bananas.

However, I’m all about options. I tested this recipe with light and dark brown sugar and both worked great. If you want to dip your toe in the muscovado water, this is a great recipe to do so.

My favorite brand is the India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar (you can get it on Amazon). If you can’t be bothered, don’t. Ain’t no shame in your game.

Can I substitute White Whole Wheat Flour?

I feel like this recipe is a highlight reel of all of my favorite things.

I love baking with white whole wheat flour…it lends this gentle flavor and texture that can’t be matched. I have so many recipes (cookies and other fun stuff) using this flour that I highly recommend you get yourself some.

If you don’t have any on hand, feel free to substitute regular all-purpose flour 1:1.

The Type of Loaf Tin to Use for Banana Bread

More important than the size of your bread tin, is how high you fill it with batter. Fill your tins somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full (and not a hair more).

This beauty is going to rise and you don’t want to have it spilling over…like it did during one of my tests. All over my oven. Disaster.

You can make two bread loaves like I did here or during another test, I used half of the batter for muffins (and reduced the bake time for those). Because sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. …Sometimes.

Adding Chocolate to Banana Bread

I am a card-carrying chocolate lover. If I could bathe in a pool of it nightly, I would.

But, I realize some people, like my dad, would just rather I left it out of everything I bake. That’s fair.

So, don’t feel tethered to the 1 1/2 cups of chocolate I throw in here.

Get frisky and throw in toasted + chopped pecans or nothing at all. This is your banana bread. OWN IT.

A Note About Adding Bananas to the Top of Your Loaves

The entire reason I fell down the rabbit hole of this recipes was so I could bake a loaf of banana bread with a banana on top. True story.

I liked the way it looked with the cut side of the banana down best, but I’ve seen people put the cut side up. Let your conscience be your guide.

***If you are not going to eat the banana bread the same day that you bake it, you might consider skipping the pretty banana on top. It gets a touch weepy if it sits around.

However, if you’re eating the bread the same day that you bake it and you want an A+ for presentation, put the banana on top.

Banana Bread Inspiration

I always like to give a shout out to my inspiration for recipes…

First, Deborah from @rainydaybites made the banana bread from The Hot Bread Kitchen cookbook. If you don’t have this cookbook and baking bread interests you, get it. It’s a wonderful book…and the pita recipe is life changing.

They bake their banana bread for a whopping two hours. I had to try it.

Second, Mary Ann from @thebeachhousekitchen paraded a banana bread made with brown butter across social media and I was dumbfounded…why had I never tried this?

Lastly, one of my favorite banana bread recipes is from the first Canyon Ranch cookbook and I love it. I borrowed the espresso in the bread from their recipe. Love me some good inspo.

The Magic of Browning Butter

My number one (only?) reason for browning butter is that the flavor it imparts on baked goods is next level. Think of flavors like toffee and caramel being added to your cookie without actually adding toffee and caramel.

Browning butter only takes about 5 minutes, with an additional 5-ish minutes more for it to cool before using. It’s literally the only element keeping this from being a true, one-bowl recipe (because we need the saucepan for browning).

When browning butter, moisture in the butter evaporates. This is why I like to get in and brown my butter quick as the longer your saucepan is on the hot burner the more moisture will evaporate.

In this recipe, we start with 7 tablespoons (99 g) of butter. You’ll end up with around 78 g of butter once browned. I have you add 2 tablespoons (26 g) of espresso/coffee/water to the bread batter to compensate for this moisture loss.

If you start with 7 tablespoons (99 g) of butter and follow my browning butter instructions below, I don’t think you need to then, again, weigh your brown butter (unless out of curiosity). But this is a good baking fact to stash away for all of your brown butter baking.

I have a full brown butter tutorial here!

Using The Perfect Bananas for Your Bread

A quick note on the perfect bananas for your muffins!

I don’t love black bananas. I know some recipes suggest that they should be dark brown or black before using for baking and I could not disagree more lol. The flavors go off when they get to that point (and not in a good way).

To expedite ripening bananas (if yours are green-ish and firm), you can roast them in a 300°F (149°C) oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet for one hour. I’ve tried this before and I loved it. Whilst the bananas will turn black, they don’t have the off flavor that naturally over-ripe bananas have (again, in my humble opinion). See more details here!

If you’ve been using black or dark brown bananas for years and love it, then you do you! This is just my preference from recipe testing! :)

The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour

One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!

More Banana Deliciousness!

I’m in love with these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (a one-bowl dream), this Fluffy Banana Oat Snacking Cake is a slice of heaven, these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and if you’re looking for a super simple banana bread, check out my Easy Everyday Banana Bread.

Brown Butter Banana Bread

A jazzed-up Brown Butter Banana Bread that gets a ton of flavor from the combination of brown butter, muscovado (you can also use regular brown sugar), espresso/coffee and chocolate. This is banana bread but on steroids. The bread is a cinch to throw together but allow time for the low and slow bake that really brings out a ton of banana flavor.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword: Banana Bread, Brown Butter, Muscovado, Chocolate Chips

Servings: 2 Loaves

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

• 78 grams unsalted brown butter (about 7 tablespoons (99 g) unsalted butter before browning)
• 3 ripe bananas (peeled and mashed + 2 bananas cut lengthwise for the top of the bread)
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (110 g) muscovado or brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon all spice
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• ¾ cup (180 g) buttermilk (room temperature, shaken)
• 2 tablespoons (26 g) espresso or fresh-brewed strong coffee
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon (212 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
• ¾ cup (102 g) white whole-wheat flour (or more all-purpose flour)
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 275°F (135℃) and place a rack in the top third of your oven. Butter and flour your 8 X 4-inch (20 x 10-cm; 4 cup capacity) loaf pans. If you’re feeling it, add some parchment paper to the pans (see photo) to make it easier to pull the loaves out of the pans when done.
• Place 7 tablespoons (99 g) butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, crank up the heat to medium high. Stand by, continuously stirring and watching. Small golden bits will start to settle on the bottom of the pan. Once this happens, take it off the heat and pour into a medium, heat-safe bowl to cool until closer to room temperature, but still liquid.

  (For more details on browning butter, check out my How to Perfectly Brown Butter tutorial)
• To the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the 3 peeled + mashed bananas, granulated sugar, muscovado/brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, all spice and nutmeg and mix on medium high for about 1 minutes or until everthing is well blended and the banana is broken up into small bits. Add the cooled brown butter, eggs, buttermilk, espresso and vanilla and mix on low for 1 minute more or until combined.
• Add the flour to the banana mixture and mix until just barely blended. Take the bowl out of the mixer, add the chocolate chips and fold until mixed in as few strokes as possible.
• Pour the batter into your prepared bread pans and place your banana slices cut side down. Take care not to fill them more than 1/2 to 3/4s full. Bake on the top rack of the oven for 90 minutes to 2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean. Some bits of chocolate on the toothpick are fine.
• Let the bread cool completely before removing from the pan. If you added the parchment to the pan, you may be able to get them out sooner…because a warm slice (fresh from the oven) is sublime.

Notes

Mixer

Instructions use a mixer, but feel free to use a spatula and your arms to mix this delicious banana bread!

Loaf Tins

More important than the size of your bread tin, is how high you fill it with batter. Fill your tins somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full (and not a hair more). This beauty is going to rise and you don’t want to have it spilling over…like it did during one of my tests. All over my oven. Disaster. You can make two bread loaves like I did here or during another test, I used half of the batter for muffins (and reduced the bake time for those). Because sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. …Sometimes. In terms of bread tin size, I used my NordicWare which is about 8 X 4-inch (20 x 10-cm; 4 cup capacity).

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo