Banana Bars with Brown Butter Glaze — ‘Fudgy’ is the only word that describes these banana bars! They’re the banana equivalent of moist, fudgy brownies with zero trace of cakiness.
Table of Contents
These brown butter banana bars are rich, soft, supremely moist, and tooth-sinkingly dense and satisfying. If you’re looking for a fluffy slice of banana cake or banana bread, they’re not that.
This is an easy, no-mixer recipe and the brown butter glaze makes the banana bars go from really darn good to out-of-this world amazing. It’s a must-make recipe! I cannot think of two more powerfully flavorful ingredients than browned butter or vanilla beans seeds, and flavor just explodes from the glaze.
After pouring the glaze over the warm bars, it seeps down and soaks in, and makes the bars even moister and softer. The rippled appearance that’s created as it sets up enhances the homey comfort food factor.
I normally have a piece or two of what I make and give the rest to my family or re-home the leftovers with friends and neighbors, but I hoarded these bars!
Recipe Ingredients
To make these brown butter frosted banana bars, you’ll need:
- White chocolate chips
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Mashed banana
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Vanilla bean paste
- Cream or milk
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Brown Butter Glazed Banana Bars
- Make the banana bars: In a large, microwave-safe bowl, add the white chocolate and butter, and melt.
- Add the egg, sugar, and vanilla, and whisk until combined.
- Stir in the bananas, followed by the flour and salt.
- Turn batter out into a greased 8×8-inch pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
- Make the brown butter glaze: You’ll first need to brown the butter (I’ve listed exact instructions and tips below), then combine it with confectioners’ sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt.
- Slowly pour in the milk, whisking until smooth.
- Pour the glaze over the bars while they’re still warm.
- Let the bars rest, uncovered for two to three hours before slicing and serving.
Adjusting the Consistency of the Glaze
As you whisk together the vanilla glaze, you may need to add additional powdered sugar or milk to reach your desired consistency. When adding extra milk or sugar, add just a little at a time to be safe!
How to Brown Butter
Browning a stick of butter takes about 5 minutes (depending on pan size), but watch it closely so you don’t burn it!
- Cook butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan until it’s amber to brown in color.
- I swirl the pan in the last minute or so to make sure I can really see the color changes. While browning the butter, it will go through stages of hissing, sputtering, and making noise until the water cooks off, at which point the browning occurs.
- Besides changing color, you’ll know the butter is fully browned once it starts smelling nutty and fragrant. Trust me, you’ll know when it’s done!
Tips for Making This Recipe
Melting the white chocolate: White chocolate is very prone to scorching and seizing up, so watch it carefully and don’t overheat.
Vanilla bean paste substitute: I used vanilla bean paste in the vanilla glaze, but scraping the seeds of a vanilla bean works too. Vanilla extract is okay, but it won’t be as intense as vanilla paste or seeds would be. Use what you have on hand — these frosted banana bars will be delicious no matter what!
Browning the butter: When you’re transferring the browned butter from the saucepan to the mixing bowl, make sure to get all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan into the bowl. Those little browned bits are full of flavor, so definitely include them in the vanilla glaze!
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Banana Bars with Browned Butter Glaze
Ingredients
Bars
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed banana, (about 2 large or 3 small/medium ripe bananas)
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- pinch salt, (optional and to taste)
Glaze
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, browned
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*
- pinch salt, (optional and to taste)
- ¼ cup heavy cream , or as necessary for consistency (can also use milk)
Instructions
Make the Bars
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl add the white chocolate, butter, and heat to melt, about 2 minutes on high power. Stop to check and stir after 1 minute, and then heat in 20-second bursts, stopping to stir after each burst, until mixture can be stirred smooth. White chocolate is very prone to scorching and seizing up, so watch it carefully and don’t overheat.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it. Add the egg, sugar, vanilla, and whisk until combined.
- Stir in the bananas until well-combined.
- Add the flour, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 32 to 33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. In the last 15 minutes of baking, make the glaze.
Make the Glaze
- Brown the butter (click for tutorial). Cook butter over medium-high heat in a small saucepan until it’s amber to brown in color, about 5 minutes depending on pan size, but watch it closely so you don’t burn it. I swirl the pan in the last minute or so to make sure I can really see the color changes. Butter will go through stages of hissing, sputtering, and making noise until the water cooks off at which point the browning occurs. Butter will smell nutty and aromatic.
- Transfer butter, including brown bits at the bottom of the pan (they’re flavor powerhouses, keep them) from pan to large mixing bowl which stops any carryover cooking.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla bean paste, optional salt, and slowly add the milk, whisking until smooth or beat with a handheld electric mixer. As necessary, add additional cream (or confectioners’ sugar) to reach desired glaze consistency. Glaze should be of medium thickness and easily pourable.
Assemble the Bars
- Evenly pour glaze over bars (they don’t have to be cooled first), smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary, but glaze will likely just slide into place.
- Allow bars to cool in pan uncovered for at least 2 to 3 hours, (or overnight and cover with a sheet of foil) before slicing and serving so glaze can set up.
- Bars will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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The taste is fabulous, and we loved the glaze, but the actual bars were a bit heavy. Do you think I could add a little bit less flour and it would still be ok? I stir much after flour, just enough to combine.
Glad you enjoyed the taste! These are a very dense and heavy bar. That’s just the nature of them – a fudgy, thick texture that’s almost fudge-like. I can’t speak about experimenting with the flour and the results.
If you would like a lighyer banana bread bar, try these https://www.averiecooks.com/banana-bread-bars-with-vanilla-bean-browned-butter-glaze/
These bars…there are not enough superlatives for these bars! I will never waste bananas on banana bread again, that’s for sure. This was also my first experience with brown butter glaze, and I’m telling you that the glaze alone is worth the price of admission! These bars are so good, they should be a part of the food pyramid! EXCELLENT recipe and the directions were perfect! Thank you!
I agree that they should be part of the food pyramid! I love them so much too! Glad you’re a huge fan as well!
My new favorite way to use up overripe bananas! In fact, I’ll probably start buying more bananas than we can eat, just so some are available. Thanks for sharing this!
I’m so glad this is a favorite of yours! I haven’t made this in awhile but I love banana anything and this one is one of my personal faves! The density of it, and the glaze, I need to make it soon myself!
These were very good! My glaze never set up so it has more of a browned butter sauce. Any ideas? Still fantastic and I’d definitely make it again.
Add more sugar next time and/or less milk to thicken it up and it will firm up and not be as loose. Glad you enjoyed them overall and will make again!
Will the recipe work if I just leave out the white chocolate? White chocolate isn’t for me.
Yes you can omit.
Can I sub butterscotch chips?
yes
I made these tonight, and put a crumb base on mine and they are amazing.
Instead of the foil, I used 5 tbsp butter softened, 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed), 1 cup four, whisked it with a fork and sprayed they pan with cooking spray and packed in 3/4 of the mix and baked it for 15 minutes. Then added the batter, and sprinkled the rest on top and baked it. Delish (I also put the glaze on. Wonderful!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you with the tweaks you made! The crumb base sounds excellent and the rest as a topping, bet it was wonderful!
Amazing!!! These got rave reviews from my family-my brother said these were “the best thing you’ve ever made” I halved the sugar because my bananas were really ripe, and they turned out great.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Good call on halving the sugar due to the very ripe bananas!
Any idea if this will work with vanilla chips instead of white chocolate?
I haven’t tried with vanilla chips but I’d be inclined to say, yes probably okay, but haven’t personally tried.
These fudgy banana bars are FABULOUS. My only question is how anyone could possibly know they will last a week at room temperature. There’s no way these gems last more than a few hours in my house!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that they won’t last :)
Second time making these. Made exactly as written and have no problems. While they are good the first day, they are so worth the wait the next day. It seems a lot of baked banana goods are so much better after resting overnight. This recipe is definitely a keeper, thanks!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I totally agree Day 2 is where it’s at if you can wait!
I made this yesterday and the flavours are great but it’s more chewy biscuit than moist brownie. The slice batter was nowhere near pourable–I had to make an effort to get it into the corners of the tray–and it pretty much held its shape while it baked. I’d really love to get the texture right because yours looks and sounds amazing! Any suggestions? Could I have added some milk to the batter to loosen it? (The glaze was as amazing as I expected, by the way!)
I think that you possible over-floured the dough, or your bananas just weren’t as juicy as mine, or something made your batter much more dry than mine. Therefore, if you remake, I’d add another banana, or as you said maybe a splash of milk, or reduce the flour amount so that it’s thick enough but not so thick it’s just over-the-top thick. Use your judgment on that. There are any number of tweaks that could probably help things although I haven’t tried them and only have made (and remade) this recipe as written exactly but dry batter is an easy fix, overall! Good luck!
I had exactly the same experience!! My brownies were so dense that I wondered if baking powder was omitted from the recipe. I’m going to try again using less flour. Definitely want to perfect this recipe.
They are a very dense bar as I wrote in the recipe. I like that texture a lot. I realize it’s not for everyone though. If you want to lighten them up, yes add some baking powder.
Made these tonight! Added some semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter because I’ve been the biggest chocolate fiend lately! SO GOOD! another great recipe, Averie! <3
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! The chocolate chips sound like the perfect compliment to the bananas! Thanks for trying so many of my recipes :)
I made these yesterday, and they were amazing! I expected something quite rich and heavy, but to my surprise they weren’t.
I don’t like melting chocolate in the microwave, so I used a saucepan, and then mixed everything else in in that pan. I added the sugar and vanilla first, and then the egg, no problems that way.
I just need to say one thing, I poured the glaze over the “cake” part right out of the oven, and next time I will let it cool down a bit first. The glaze slightly separated immediately, leaving areas that taste like taking a bite out of a stick of butter.
Other than that, perfect!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! I have never had any issues with the glaze separating but sounds like you know for your situation you should wait a bit longer next time. Glad they’re perfect for you overall!
I made these tonight and, as anticipated, they were awesome! Even my husband loved them, who usually isn’t a fan of banana-y things. One little thing I did do differently was brown the butter that I added to the batter, in addition to that for the glaze. I poured it hot over the white chocolate chips and it was the perfect amount of heat to melt the chips, no help from the microwave needed, and then was quickly cooled enough to add the eggs – in case anyone else wants to give that a try! Thanks for the recipe, Averie!
I love your idea of using browned butter IN the batter itself and that it melted the white chocolate easily and in no time and what amazing flavor it must have added! I totally need to try that! Thanks for the idea and glad your husband even liked these!
DELICIOUS! I made them as written and everyone loved them. Not too sweet, nice consistency and the brown butter glaze is the perfect finish.
By the way – thank you Averie for the recipe! It is nice to have more recipes my family likes for overripe bananas beside banana bread :)
So glad you enjoyed them and they were perfect and found the glaze to be the perfect finish – I just love that glaze too!
And yes, now you have another recipe to put your over-ripe bananas to use! :)
Made these last night. Easy and yummy! I added a “crust” that I made out of ground toasted pecans, shortbread cookies and butter (like a cheesecake crust). I used half the sugar from the bars and only 2 T for the frosting. I chilled the browned butter first so it would be hard and then creamed it with an electric beater, the vanilla bean and the powdered sugar. It was SO GOOD! :) Thank you! Next time I want to add toasted coconut and use more banana (I used two).
Love that you made a crust with pecans and ground shortbread cookies and butter and then chilled the browned butter and creamed it…I bet the frosting was amazing and that the whole ensemble was epic! And working in coconut next time, mmm, awesome!