This is the best Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe! This easy spin on classic banana bread comes together easily and is such a popular recipe. It is moist, delicious, and only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.
This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is one of my most popular recipes. It comes together with a few simple ingredients and is fast to make. It is based on the very best easy banana bread recipe. The addition of the chocolate chips just takes it way over the top.
I suggest that when you make this recipe you make a double batch. Make one to eat right away and one to freeze for later. You’ll thank me when the first batch is inhaled by your crew right away.
This chocolate chip banana bread was so delicious I went through all your steps and it turned out perfect. My friends all loved it will definitely make again!
Banana Bread
What makes this the Best Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- It comes together with just a few simple ingredients. Just like the recipe it is based off of, you probably already have most of the ingredients to make it in your kitchen.
- The prep time on this recipe is only 10 minutes. Which means that you can easily make this for a perfect afternoon snack for children who love banana bread.
- This banana bread recipe is so moist. It uses yogurt, which keeps it tender, soft, with the perfect exterior crumb.
- It tastes like cake. Like actually like cake.
How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
This is a brief overview of how easy this recipe is to make. For the full recipe with all of the measurements please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients. Stir together mashed banana, melted butter, eggs, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined and then stir in the chocolate chips.
- Bake the bread in a bread pan. After it comes out of the oven, allow it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it a wire rack and letting it cool for 35 more minutes before slicing.
Tips and Tricks for this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- Use a good loaf pan. They are not all created equal, and some work better than others. Below you can find the bread pan I love. It is a workhorse and bread comes out perfectly in it.
- Measure your flour properly. This is key in all baking recipes. Make sure that you scoop the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off. If you scoop right from the flour container you will get too much and you will have a chocolate chip banana bread recipe fail.
- Make sure that your melted butter has cooled. If you don’t do that, you run the risk of your eggs starting to cook when they get mixed with the hot butter. No one wants that.
- Use baking soda that is still fresh. Baking soda needs to be switched out every six months or so. Test it by adding a little to some vinegar. It should bubble immediately, if not replace it.
- If you want the top to have a really appealing look, throw a couple extra chocolate chips on before putting it in the oven.
- Test the bread with a toothpick towards the end. Do not insert it directly in the middle of the bread, but slightly off to the side. You want the toothpick to come out clean. If you wait until the top comes out clean, you will risk the edges of the bread being dry. I would rather have a little bit of a gooey top (yummy) than dry sides (yucky). My oven requires 55 minutes for perfect bread.
Best Bread Pan
Unsalted Butter in Baking
The reason that most baking recipes call for unsalted butter is because the amount of salt in salted butter can vary a great deal from brand to brand. Using unsalted butter and then adding a specific amount of salt to the recipe, allows bakers to control the amount of salt in the final baked product.
If you are wondering if you can use salted butter in this recipe, the answer is yes. You will just want to eliminate the 1/2 teaspoon salt from the recipe.
Ripe Bananas for Banana Bread
When making this recipe, you will want to use very ripe bananas. That does not mean that the whole skin needs to be brown, but it needs to be decently speckled with brown dots. You’ll know that they are perfect when they mash very easily with a fork.
Some recipes suggest that you ripen bananas in your oven, but let me explain why I don’t recommend that. The sweetness of a banana changes as it ripens. The more ripe it is, the sweeter it is. Ripening them by popping them in the oven will get you the correct consistency of banana you are looking for, but it won’t get you the sweetness you want.
A better bet is to let those bananas ripen fully. Then peel them and freeze them. When you are ready to make your banana bread, let them fully thaw, and use them (and any liquid that goes with them) in this recipe.
Substitutions and Variations
There are so many great variations on banana bread, the possibilities are endless.
- Swap the chocolate chips for something else. You can take out the chocolate chips (or half of them) and replace them with a cup of something else. We’ve made this with blueberries, strawberries, Nutella and even zucchini. I know a lot of people love nuts in their banana bread, and that would work as a swap too.
- Use mini chocolate chips. You eagle eyes will notice that I’m using mini chocolate chips in the video for this post and the final shot shows big chocolate chips. That’s because we love it both ways! I love how the mini chocolate chips distribute, but I also love how the big ones look. If you use the minis you will still want to use just one cup.
- Swap the yogurt for sour cream. They can be used interchangeably in this recipe, but I do not recommend eliminating the yogurt all together.
- Use gluten free flour. I haven’t tested this myself, but I have had readers report good results when they replace the flour in this recipe with 1 for 1 gluten free flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
- Make muffins. This recipe is great as muffins. You can follow these instructions: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.
Storing and Freezing
Storing After Baking
This bread recipe should be stored in an air tight container in a cool, dry place, for up to one week. I have best results when I don’t store the bread in the pan it was baked in.
Freezing as a Whole Loaf
This bread can be frozen as a whole loaf. Wrap it three times in foil or plastic wrap and then place it in a freezer bag. Store for up to three months in the freezer.
Freezing as Slices
It can also be frozen as slices. Once cooled, slice the bread into 10 equal slices. Place the bread on a wax paper lined tray and freeze it for about 4 hours. Transfer the slices to a freezer safe bag and store in the freezer for up to three months. When ready to eat, the slices will take about 30 minutes at room temperature to thaw.
Other Spins on Banana Bread
Here are some other great banana bread recipes you will love!
If you try this recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think
The Best Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour (240 grams)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 very ripe bananas mashed well (read more about ripe bananas here)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled, read about why we use unsalted butter, and how to use salted here (84.8 grams)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature and lightly whisked
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt room temperature, sour cream also works (56.8 grams)
- 3/4 cup sugar (148.5 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips will work as well (170 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 by 5 inch bread pan well with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.2 cups all purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, cooled butter, eggs, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla.3 very ripe bananas, 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 large eggs at room temperature and lightly whisked, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Be careful not to over mix.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until just combined.1 cup milk chocolate chips
- Pour the bread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out with just a few crumbs.
- Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack for 35 minutes before slicing and enjoying.
Victoria says
Thank you, I did this yesterday and it was super amazing banana bread. Moist and tasty!
Carl Pirro says
Recipe sounds great Lisa. Thank you.
Rachel says
I baked it today and it was super delicious. Thank you for the recipe my family loved it. I baked it for an hour. I did not use chocolate chips though in mine but everything else I followed Your recipe.
I’m so happy your family liked it Rachel!
Amy says
I don’t have yogurt on hand what could I use to instead?
I’m sorry, Amy, I don’t have a replacement for that in this recipe.
Diana says
I used sour cream and it’s delicious
Diane says
Sour cream & plain yogurt are interchangeable.
Linda says
How about sour cream?linda
Barbara Fay says
sour cream works very well.
Thanks Barbara!
S.marcella says
Hi , can I use cake flour or bread flour instead ?
Sorry, no. It hasn’t been tested with bread flour or cake flour.
Katie says
You could probably use sour cream.
Thanks says
You can use sour cream or even butter milk equal amounts work for a substitute!
Sheri says
Can you use Greek vanilla yogurt instead? That is what I always have on hand.
It should be fine. I have had Greek yogurt behave badly in some recipes, but I think in this one it should be okay.
Kay says
Can I make without the yogurt ?
You can’t leave the yogurt out all together, but you can replace it with sour cream!
Linda says
After 55 mins mine was totally raw in the middle. The oven works fine, what could have happened ?
I’m not sure Linda! That’s really odd. I have made this countless times and it is usually a little gooey in the middle, but not totally raw. Did you leave it in for a few minutes longer?
Linda says
No it fell over and spilled out into the bottom of the oven I plan to try again tonight
Suev says
Same with mine. Raw in the middle after 1hr.
Followed the directions exactly.
Suev, I’m really sorry that this recipe didn’t work for you. As oven temperatures do vary, I recommend inserting a toothpick in the middle at the end of baking to ensure that it isn’t raw and leaving it in the oven a little longer if it is.
Alicyn Whaley says
Can chopped pecans be added, if so how much?
I haven’t tried adding pecans to this recipe. You could try pulling out a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and replacing them with a 1/2 cup of pecans. If I were going to try adding pecans that what I would do.
Chell says
Morning…..what are the measurements?? I see it says a cup of this etc but what sort of cup?? I’m new to this lol! Xx
Hi Chell! Can you tell me where you are located? If you are in the U.S. I’m more than happy to talk about cup measurements. If you are located elsewhere, things get a little more complicated.
Marisa says
Bleached or I bleached flour ?bleached or in bleached flour ?
I used bleached all purpose flour.
Chante Spivey says
I have tried this recipe and it turned out great! My family loved it! Thank you.
I’m so glad your family loved it! That makes my day.
Jeannie says
Can I use vanilla yogurt instead and just do less vanilla? Thanks
If you do vanilla yogurt, I would keep the vanilla extract the same. It won’t make it over powering vanilla, but if you leave out the extract you will notice the difference.
Jennifer says
If I wanted to make it chocolate chocolate chip bread, could I just add half a cup of cocoa powder?
Cocoa powder is a dry ingredient that affects the ratios of liquids and dry, so it would be a little like adding more flour. I’m not saying it wouldn’t work, but not having tested it, I can’t say that it would. It’s not the same as just throwing some pecans in. Does that make sense?
Amy says
What type of yogurt do you use? There are so many varieties of plain yogurt along with different fat percentages. I would guess this could affect the baking and the outcome of the banana bread. Would you kindly specify?
I use full fat yogurt and I’ve also used low fat yogurt. I’ve used multiple different brands, all with the same great results. As long as you don’t use fat free yogurt or greek yogurt you should be fine.