National Banana Bread Day is February 23 and in light of a fabulous holiday, I’m sharing 30 of my favorite banana bread and banana-based recipes.
That’s no where near a comprehensive list of my banana-based recipes. I just love cooking, baking, freezing, blending, and using them any way I can. For example, in mid-2012, I ran a series called Banana Bread Fest and shared 7 weeks of banana bread recipes. Banana bread is my true love.
Edited to Add: More than 40+ Recipes and counting…
Banana Breads and Cakes
1. Banana Bread with Vanilla Browned Butter Glaze – Week 1 Banana Bread Fest. My all-around favorite banana bread recipe. Vanilla is used four times in this straightforward, easy recipe that never lets me down. The banana bread turns out moist and perfect every time and the browned butter glazes pushes it over the edge. This is the most popular banana bread of all the varieties I have with readers
2. Zucchini Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – Week 2 Banana Bread Fest
3. Pumpkin Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze – Week 3 of Banana Bread Fest. I’ll never tire of pumpkin recipes and this one pairs pumpkin bread with banana bread for a soft, tender loaf that’s subtly pumpkin and molasses flavored
4. Spiced Apple Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze – Week 4 Banana Bread Fest. The glaze on this cake is my favorite glaze or frosting that I have on my entire site. It’s crazy good. The easy banana-apple-based cake comes together in minutes with a whisk, and the glaze pushes it over the top
5. Carrot Pineapple Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – Week 5 Banana Bread Fest. This is my favorite non-traditional banana bread and it’s what you’d get if banana bread met carrot cake. Full of bits of carrots, pineapple, raisins, yogurt and it’s moist and soft beyond words. The frosting is the perfect touch and it’s more like cake, masquerading as bread, which is fine by me
6. Banana Zucchini Pudding Cake with Vanilla Browned Butter Glaze – Week 6 Banana Bread Fest A moist, dense, easy cake that’s falling-apart-soft and tender from the pudding. Golden, buttery, sweet and full of little bits of texture with a delightful glaze to top it off
7. Banana Bread Brownies with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – Week 7 Banana Bread Fest. If you crossed the most decadent, rich, fudgy, moist brownie with a soft loaf of banana bread, this is what you’d get. I was pleasantly surprised when it emerged from the oven. I didn’t wind up with what I set out to make; in fact, I got something much better than I imagined
8. Peanut Butter Banana Bread (Vegan, GF) – An oldie but a goodie and I still get emails from vegan and gluten-free readers saying they make this one. I like that the batter can be made in a blender
9. Strawberry Banana Bread – If you don’t have strawberries, use peaches, nectarines, mangoes, blueberries, or a favorite seasonal or frozen fruit
10. Peach Jelly-Filled Banana Bread Bars with Vanilla Glaze – Jelly-filled donuts are so good and I made jelly-filled banana bread with. Sweet, soft and crazy moist
11. Browned Butter Buttermilk Banana Bread with Strawberry Butter – The flavors of browned butter and buttermilk add richness to this loaf that’s both flavorful, soft, and moist. The strawberry butter makes it even better
Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread with Blueberry Butter – Blueberry coffee cake meets super soft banana bread! So good!
Pineapple Coconut Oil Banana Bread – Buttermilk, bananas & coconut oil keep this bread super moist, tender & so soft it’s bouncey
Peach Mango Coconut Oil Banana Bread – The softest, moistest banana bread that tastes like a tropical vacation! A new favorite
Microwaved Bananas
12. Microwave Blueberry Banana Oat Cakes (vegan, GF) – Fast, easy, and made in the microwave. Perfect for busy mornings, dorm-room kitchens, picky kids, or a healthy snack in-a-hurry
13. Microwave Banana Oat Cakes (vegan, GF) – Made with oats, chia, seeds, optional coconut and slathered with peanut butter for a hearty and healthy fast little cake that’s made in the micro in minutes
Muffins
14. Cinnamon Raisin Banana Oatmeal Muffins (vegan, GF)
15. Banana Nut Muffins (vegan, GF)
Bars and Granola Bars
16. Chocolate Banana and Biscoff Graham Bars – Cookie butter, bananas, chocolate chips with a buttery, graham cracker crust
17. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (no-bake, vegan, GF) – Made with banana which binds and sweetens these chewy, easy, and customizable granola bars
Dehydrated Bananas
18. Banana Crepes (Raw, Vegan, GF)
19. Dehydrated Banana Rounds (Raw, Vegan, GF) – So chewy and dehydrating them intensifies their sweetness that I could eat a tray-full at a time
Alcoholic Bananas
20. Bananas Foster (vegan, GF) – I also added a little pumpkin butter (optional) to the sauce mixture, proving that I can work pumpkin into just about anything
Banana Soft-Serve
22. Vegan Mango Banana Vanilla Soft-Serve
23. Vegan Vanilla Chocolate Chip Softserve and Dairy-Free Sundaes
Smoothies
24. Fluffernutter Banana Smoothie (vegan, GF)
25. Peach Banana Colada Smoothie (vegan, GF)
26. Pineapple Banana & Coconut Cream Smoothie (vegan, GF)
27. Blueberry Banana Recovery Smoothie (vegan, GF)
28. Banana Cream Pudding Pie & Caramel Smoothie
29. Peaches & Coconut Cream Smoothie (vegan, GF)
30. Creamy Cookie Butter White Chocolate Banana Smoothie
Edited to Add – More Banana Recipes:
31. Banana Yogurt Muffins and Little Banana Bread Loaf
32. Hawaiian Bread and Maple Banana Baked French Toast
33. Pineapple Mango Vitamin C Booster Smoothie (vegan, GF)
33. Fluffy Vegan Coconut Oil Banana Muffins and Mini Muffins
34. Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Miracle Cookies (vegan, GF) – NO: Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs, Oil, or Salt Added. They really are a miracle
37. Peaches and Coconut Cream Baked Banana Oatmeal with Peach Maple Syrup
38. Vegan Mini-Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins
39. Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins – Gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and under 100 calories each
40. Vegan Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins
41. Vanilla Bean and Brown Sugar Caramelized Banana Jam (vegan, GF)
What’s your favorite way to use bananas?
Favorite banana bread recipe? Or recipe that uses bananas?
Ironically, I don’t like eating bananas on their own that much. But for baking, blending, cooking, making bread and smoothies with, they are one of my favorite ingredients ever.
Banana Tip: If they’re getting too ripe and you just can’t bear to make another loaf of banana bread, peel them, break them off into one-inch chunks, toss them into a Ziplock bag or airtight container, and freeze. When the time is right to make bread, smoothies, muffins, or for any blended or mashed banana recipe, you have bananas ready to go. They’ll keep many months frozen.
When I see bananas on clearance at the store and they’re so cheap they’re practically free, I snatch them up and freeze them.
Share links to your favorite recipes. I’m always up for new recipes because I always have bananas to spare.
Have a great weekend and check back for giveaways!
I need to buy a few dozen bananas and stash them away so I can make all these wonderful banana recipes. Heh heh.
It has been so cold out lately that I’ve been craving warm, satisfying banana bread like it’s my J-O-B, so this round up comes just in time. Now I just have to decide which one to go for – I’m thinking more than one for sure. Love me some banana bread!
I love love love it, too! I would probably take a perfect piece of banana bread over a piece of chocolate cake. Seriously!
Call me crazy but I love banannas all on thier own! I will try out one of your breads and see how I like it. For some reason baked fruits just turn me off.
I used to absolutely hate bananas. I realized I didn’t like the ripe ones though. I started having them in yogurt and slow cultivated a taste I suppose. Now I sometimes simply crave one. But it has to be just right of course.
It has to be JUST right for me as well if I am eating it plain…but in cooking/baking, the riper the better!
I love banana bread, I could eat it every day. When I was growing up my Grandmother always made homemade banana ice cream, it was so good! Love this post!
homemade banana ice cream sounds soooo good! I included a few recipes for banana softserve here; which is just blended bananas and a little sugar to taste in a blender or food proc. You’d be amazed at how creamy you can get frozen bananas, with very little cream or added sugar. But I would never say no to your grandma’s ice cream :)
Oh, I’m going to have a hey-day with this! I have ripe bananas on my counter and too many great recipes to choose from! I’ll do my best, and I’ll let you know what I went with!
I made your peanut butter banana bread and microwave banana oat cakes all the time. 2 great recipes!!! We buy about 7 or 8 bunches of bananas a week. All the check out clerks ask I we have monkeys are home, lol! One of my favorite easy snacks is just a banana with a little peanut butter slathered on, yum!
Hi Kelli and I do remember your comments from YEARS past about making those recipes of mine….ahhh, time flies, doesn’t it! Thanks for making so many things over the years of mine. And glad you and your monkeys enjoy bananas and baking as much as I do :)
You can totally see how moist each and every one of these are from the photos. Yum!!!
Dry bread is just NOT worth eating!
Oh yes, banana bread is my favorite of all time! I could eat it every day, loving this round-up!
And thanks for the link on yours!
I love bananas! I just bought ~ 12 of them at the store yesterday, now I have a big long list of what to do when I inevitably dont eat them all :-D
I question my sanity when I get an ice cream craving during the winter, but banana soft serve with lots of little vanilla bean flecks sure tasted good in front of the fireplace last night! As I look over this round-up, I wish I would have had one of those banana bread brownies to go underneath it and some dehydrated banana pieces to sprinkle on top. Banana heaven!! I love these round-ups–there is always something I remember wanting to try but didn’t get around to it…like those brownies and banana crepes (I’ve had a dehydrator for years and somehow haven’t tried those either)!
The combo of the b.b.brownies and the dehyd bananas with banana softserve would be perfect!
And if you try the crepes, LMK! They are like glorified fruit leather and I made them when Skylar was still practically teething…wow, the memories!
Wow, such an awesome list!! Both my husband and I are crazy for banana desserts but never eat them on their own. And with all these recipe ideas to try, I don’t think we will be anytime soon! :)
Wow, all of these look so yummy! I should try testing out these recipes! Loving the photography as well. I recently just started a youtube Korean food channel, EasyKoreanFood, where you can learn how to make fast and easy Korean food! It would mean the world to me if you took the time to check it out because I’m just starting out! Thanks!
woow these reciepes look so good, I bought three bananas lately to let them become really BLACK to make them suitable for baking (no I could’nt find some that where already dark) I’ll try something on here!!
I’m the same way–I do not really enjoy eating bananas on their own! They have to be included as an ingredient in something. Love this round-up of recipes. I use bananas in smoothies all the time–they add the best creaminess!
I’m embarrassed to mention this, but I have never actually made browned butter. :( Awful, I know! I think I need to resolve it with one of these recipes. I just have to wait a week for my bananas to ripen!