40 Favorite Banana Bread and Banana Recipes

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

35. Six-Banana Banana Bread

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!