Six-Banana Banana Bread — 🍌 Not sure what to do with overripe bananas you have on hand? Make this Six-Banana Banana Bread! This is the best banana bread recipe EVER — it’s so moist and flavorful!
Table of Contents
There’s no chance of wimpy or lackluster banana flavor here. I baked six bananas into one loaf. Yes, six.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my gold standard banana bread recipe for banana bread. It’s everything I want and it never lets me down. But I also cheat on it from time to time. Say, with 35+ banana recipes, and about 15 of them are recipes for various Banana Breads. You can never have too many.
I wanted to pack more pure banana essence and intensity into the bread and so I used more bananas. A whole lot more.
Rather than using 1 to 1 1/2 cups of bananas, which is what most recipes call for, I used a solid 2 1/2 cups. To compensate for the extra banana volume and moisture, I cut back on the amount of Greek yogurt (or sour cream) I usually use.
The verdict is that this super moist banana bread is everything and more. It’s soft, tender and supremely moist. The pudding mix serves to add some lightness, fluffiness, and springiness.
You’ll never have to wonder again what to do with overripe bananas thanks to this freckled overripe banana recipe in your arsenal. Kill six with one loaf.
You may even find yourself wishing for some speckly and freckly ones.
How Does Six-Banana Banana Bread Taste?
Because of the 6 bananas, don’t expect a super light and airy loaf. It’s on the heavier and denser side, but I think all good banana bread should be. I don’t want light, airy, cakey, or dry. I want moist, heavy, and dense.
The real clincher is that all those bananas really make a difference in the overall banana flavor and intensity level.
If you’ve ever felt like your banana bread is a bit underwhelming in banana intensity level, this recipe will cure that. It’s bursting with banana flavor. I mean, duh.
Ingredients in Six-Banana Banana Bread
To make this super moist banana bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Sour cream – or Greek yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- Bananas
- Vanilla instant pudding mix
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Looking for More Recipes Using Lots of Bananas?
I also have a recipe for chocolate chip banana cake that uses six bananas. It’s incredibly soft, moist, and bursting with banana flavor!
How to Make Banana Bread with 6 Bananas
This super moist banana bread made with six bananas comes together quickly and easily! Here are the basic steps:
- Combine melted butter, eggs, two types of sugar, sour cream, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the six mashed bananas, followed by the dry ingredients (note that you add the pudding mix dry — you don’t need to make it into pudding first!).
- Bake the homemade banana bread in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan for roughly 60 to 75 minutes.
How to Tell When Banana Bread Is Done
Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf; if it comes out clean, or with very few crumbs, it’s done baking. Or, gently press it with your thumb and if the bread immediately springs back it’s cooked through.
And just as one final reminder, I can’t stress how important it is that you bake by your bread, not the clock.
Depending on your bananas, your altitude, etc. your loaf of banana bread may take more or less time to bake than mine did. Trust your gut!
Banana Bread FAQs
If store at room temperature in an airtight container, this six-banana banana bread will last up to 5 days.
This easy banana bread recipe calls for six large bananas, which equals about 2 1/2 cups when mashed well. So by my calculations, three medium-sized bananas should be about 1 cup mashed. When in doubt, buy more bananas than you think you need! You can always peel and freeze the bananas for future bakes, or throw them into your morning smoothies.
This six-banana banana bread is best with vanilla pudding mix. I’ve tried omitting it, and have trialed various combinations of buttermilk, sour cream, Greek yogurt, butter, and oil. But the pudding mix bread wins every time.
If you can’t find pudding in your area (international readers write about this), I recommend adding one-quarter cup of additional flour, two teaspoons of cornstarch, and a dash of extra sugar.
If you thought your bananas had to be black as the night for banana bread, they don’t. Nicely freckled and speckled, but pitch black is not necessary.
Cook’s Illustrated found there’s little difference in sweetness between freckled and completely black. Ripe is fine. They don’t have to be nearly rotting.
One of the first ingredients in instant vanilla pudding mix is cornstarch, which is a workhorse for keeping cakes, cookies, and bread extremely soft, light, tender, and moist.
In the last 10 minutes of cooking, I tented my 9×5-inch pan with foil because the center hadn’t quite set, but the edges and top surface were getting a smidge on the dark side. I recommend covering with foil if at any point your bread is looking a little dark.
Recipe Variations to Try
This extra moist banana bread made with vanilla pudding mix and six bananas is perfect as is, but you’re welcome to add mix-ins or tweak the recipe as desired!
- Add chocolate chips — 1/2 cup or so should do it.
- Add nuts — Raw, unsalted chopped nuts are best.
- Swap the sour cream for Greek yogurt — Make sure to use plain, full-fat Greek yogurt.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix — This bread doesn’t need any more banana flavor, but you could always add instant banana pudding mix instead!
- Spices — I used 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, but you can add more. Or, you can add additional spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves, etc.
The one mix-in I do NOT recommend adding is fresh fruit or berries. This bread is already quite dense and supremely moist, and if you add berries the batter will never bake through properly.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
To store: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
To freeze: Freeze this six-banana banana bread for up to 6 months. To freeze the entire loaf of six-banana banana bread, let it first cool to room temperature. Then, wrap it in two to three layers of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of tinfoil.
Or, you can slice the loaf and freeze the slices on a baking tray. Once the slices are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag (freezing them on the tray first prevents the moist banana bread slices from getting squished).
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Six-Banana Banana Bread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup sour cream or thick Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, or to taste
- 6 medium/large very ripe bananas, mashed (2 1/2 cups mashed bananas; if your bananas are huge you may only need 4 or 5; if they’re small, you may need more)
- one 3.4-ounce box vanilla instant pudding mix, not Cook ‘n Serve
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (If necessary, you may need to use a muffin pan or mini loaf for pan a small amount of batter.)*
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. Allow the butter to cool momentarily so you don’t scramble the eggs.
- Add the eggs, sugars, sour cream, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add the bananas and stir to incorporate
- Add the pudding mix (just add it dry like a dry ingredient; don’t actually make pudding), flour, baking soda, cinnamon, optional salt, and fold in with spatula or stir gently with a spoon; don’t overmix or bread will be tougher.
- Bake 9×5 loaf for 60 to 75 minutes (I baked 68 minutes), or until the top is domed, golden, and the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Tip – In the final 10 to 15 minutes of cooking, or at any point if your bread is getting a bit dark before the center is setting, tent with foil. There are a lot of moist bananas to cook through in this loaf so if it takes longer than the estimated time to cook through, do so. Do not pull it from the oven, and decide later that it wasn't quite done!
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 20 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Serve plain, or with butter, jam, or your favorite spread. Makes excellent French toast.
- Storage – Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Video
Notes
- If you can’t find pudding in your area (international readers write about this), I recommend adding one-quarter cup of additional flour, two teaspoons of cornstarch, and a dash of extra sugar.
- *If baking a mini loaf is necessary, bake for about 35 minutes, or until done; I estimate 2 or 3 muffins will take about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Baking times for loaves will vary based on moisture content of bananas, pan sizes, climate, and oven variances. Bake until done; watch your bread, not the clock.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Recipes Using Ripe Bananas:
ALL OF MY BANANA BREAD RECIPES!
Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread — This is the BEST homemade banana bread recipe! This banana bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked in! Soft, fluffy, easy and tastes ahhhh-mazing!!
Flour’s Banana Bread — Made with Flour Bakery’s famous recipe to see if it lives up to the hype. Verdict? Totally fabulous! Make it!!
Strawberry Banana Bread — This strawberry bread is packed with fresh, juicy strawberries in every bite! This is an easy, no-mixer quick bread recipe you’re going to love!
Carrot Banana Bread — EASY, no-mixer, super soft banana carrot bread that reminds me of carrot cake but healthier!! Great Easter brunch idea or spring baked good!
Pumpkin Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze — 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.
Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread — Super moist blueberry banana bread made with Greek yogurt and dark brown sugar. Smear some homemade blueberry butter onto a slice of this blueberry brown sugar banana bread and prepare to fall in love!
Zucchini Banana Bread — This zucchini banana bread is so soft, tender, uber-moist, dense enough to be satisfying, but still light!
Originally published May 29, 2013 and republished January 14, 2022 with updated text.
Absolutely delicious! I keep searching for the perfect banana bread recipe and this is it. It is so moist and sweet with all the bananas that I’m going to make it and reduce the amount of sugar. I may even try it with honey. The pudding in the mix must be the ingredient that pushed the bread over the top. My loaf baked perfectly with no part under or over baked. Thank you!
Absolutely delicious! I keep searching for the perfect banana bread recipe and this is it. It is so moist and sweet with all the bananas that I’m going to make it and reduce the amount of sugar. I may even try it with honey. The pudding in the mix must be the ingredient that pushed the bread over the top. My loaf baked perfectly with no part under or over baked. Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was delicious and baked perfectly!
By far my favorite banana bread recipe. I am having a difficult time with the ends over baking and the middle under baking. Any suggestions?
By far my favorite banana bread recipe. I am having a difficult time with the ends over baking and the middle under baking. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you love this recipe!
This is common with banana bread in general because it’s such a moist, heavy batter usually and so it’s prone to what you described. When you estimate the bread is about 2/3 of the way cooked, or in most situations in the last 20-ish minutes or so, cover it loosely with a sheet of foil, aka tenting your pan. This should help with your issue a lot.
If it doesn’t, you could turn your oven down by 25F degrees but the issue with this is that ultimately it will spend even more time in the oven, cooking low-and-slow so to speak. So rather than a 60-75 min bake time, you’d be looking at more like 80+ minutes but in a cooler. Try the tenting, if not, move on to the cooler oven to help.
Also just thought of this, an extra 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup flour to dry out your batter more will help but ultimately this will change the final texture of the bread and it won’t be quite as light or moist.
Is there any substitute for yogurt or sour cream? Some ingredients are hard to get during lockdown.
The issue is that the yogurt/sour cream react with the baking soda to help the loaf to rise and also add moisture but you’ve already got 6 bananas and butter for that.
You can omit it and see how things go, it will still rise some, just not as much.
This bread is okay,it is definitely not THE BEST banana bread recipe there is. It is very moist and dense but the banana flavor is kinda faint which surprised me seeing as there is six bananas in this. I dont think ill make it again but if you want a moist bread with a little banana this is a good recipe.
This bread is okay,it is definitely not THE BEST banana bread recipe there is. It is very moist and dense but the banana flavor is kinda faint which surprised me seeing as there is six bananas in this. I dont think ill make it again but if you want a moist bread with a little banana this is a good recipe.
I have never had someone say there isn’t enough banana flavor in this loaf – especially with 6 bananas!! But everyone has different tastes. Thanks for trying the recipe.
This banana bread is so moist and delicious!! i’ve never had banana bread this moist, topped it off with milk chocolate chips and added walnuts. I left the bananas a little chunky and it was great, if you’d enjoy gooey banana chunks i’d highly recommend
This banana bread is so moist and delicious!! i’ve never had banana bread this moist, topped it off with milk chocolate chips and added walnuts. I left the bananas a little chunky and it was great, if you’d enjoy gooey banana chunks i’d highly recommend
I am glad you loved it and was the most moist banana bread you’ve ever tasted!
I have made Six-Banana Banana Bread, about 8 times and it has come out perfect every time. The only thing that I had to adjust for was 60-75 minutes wasn’t enough time for the bread. At 75 minutes I put a foil tent loosely over the top and cook for another 15 minutes. The bread is as tall and moist – and very dense. This is a keeper and was greatful when my husband bought me a 40lb box of banans (on sale!) for $5. We feasted!! Thank you.
I have made Six-Banana Banana Bread, about 8 times and it has come out perfect every time. The only thing that I had to adjust for was 60-75 minutes wasn’t enough time for the bread. At 75 minutes I put a foil tent loosely over the top and cook for another 15 minutes. The bread is as tall and moist – and very dense. This is a keeper and was greatful when my husband bought me a 40lb box of banans (on sale!) for $5. We feasted!! Thank you.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is a repeat favorite! Tall, moist, dense, yep that’s why in some ovens it can take longer than 75ish minutes. Glad you tent and just wait patiently until it’s done.
A 40lb box? OMG that is going to be some seriousssss banana bread! Freeze this, it freezes great, and when things loosen up, you can pass loaves out to your fam/friends.
Just made this recipe. Delicious!!!! I didn’t want a loaf of it since I could sit and eat the whole thing. I made 18 muffins instead. Now I can wrap them individually and freeze them. Hopefully they will last more than a few days!
Just made this recipe. Delicious!!!! I didn’t want a loaf of it since I could sit and eat the whole thing. I made 18 muffins instead. Now I can wrap them individually and freeze them. Hopefully they will last more than a few days!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you were able to make 18 muffins!
Can i use vanilla mudcake packet mix instead of vanilla pudding as i couldnt find it at the shops? Thank you
You want a box of instant vanilla pudding, super common in almost all grocery stores, Walmart, Target, etc. Jell-O brand is the most common but most stores have their own generic store brand. I cannot speak to results if you use something else.
I wasn’t to make this recipe today but only have cook and serve pudding. Can I use this?
By now you probably made it, but if you haven’t yet made it, I would recommend to just skip the pudding since Cook and Serve isn’t going to work well I don’t think in this application. If you think it needs an extra 1/4-1/3 cup flour to make up for the missing pudding mix, add it so the batter isn’t overly wet.
I made this using Splenda and truvia subs and a sugar free vanilla pudding. I used the Greek yogurt. Absolutely amazing!!!! The outside was so crisp and delish while the inside was so incredibly moist sand fluffy! My favorite banana bread ever! Thank you!