Double Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
This double chocolate banana bread is super moist. Loaded with chocolate chips and bananas, this delicious recipe is perfect for ripe bananas sitting on the counter.
Bananas are always on the counter at our house, and despite our best efforts, we never eat them all. That’s why I keep all kinds of banana recipes in my rotation, from classics like this cinnamon swirl banana bread to tasty twists like this Bananas Foster bread pudding or banana macadamia nut pancakes.
This banana bread packs a one-two punch of cocoa in the batter and chocolate chips folded into the dough to create a moist, tender bread loaded with tons of banana and chocolate flavor.
It makes the perfect addition to a breakfast or brunch with this sausage and egg breakfast casserole or a dessert after a hearty meal like this old fashioned Sloppy Joes recipe.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: This bread uses a handful of basic baking staples you can find in any kitchen or grocery store.
- So Easy: It only takes a few minutes of prep to make the dough. After that, all you have to do is wait for it to bake!
- Moist and Tender: This is a moist, tender, perfectly dense banana bread that everyone will love.
- Classic Flavor: This bread is loaded with the classic flavors of sweet banana and deep, rich chocolate in every bite.
- Customizable: It’s easy to change up the recipe to make all kinds of variations.
- Great for Meal Prep: This is a freezer-friendly recipe, so you can make extra loaves for future use.
Key Ingredients
You’ll find a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Bananas: Super-ripe bananas give this bread its sweet banana flavor and moisture, resulting in a tender crumb.
- Buttermilk: The acidity of buttermilk adds a lovely, tangy note and creates an even more tender loaf.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened cocoa powder gives the bread a deep, chocolaty flavor that pairs perfectly with the banana.
- Chocolate Chips: Chocolate chips folded into the batter give the bread even more chocolaty flavor.
Variations
- Add Nuts: Add chopped pecans to make a chocolaty version of this easy banana pecan bread.
- Bars: Bake the batter in a dish and top with cream cheese frosting for chocolaty banana bars with cream cheese frosting.
- Add Coffee: Adding a touch of instant coffee granules to the bread batter gives it a deeper, more robust flavor.
- Chocolate Chips: Use your favorite kind of chocolate chips. They all work. You could even use white chocolate chips.
How to Make Double Chocolate Banana Bread
This overview showcases how easy this recipe is, but you’ll find the exact instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Then, beat in the remaining wet ingredients until combined.
- Whisk the dry ingredients in another bowl. Then, mix them into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, turn the bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Expert Tips
- Use the ripest bananas possible for the richest flavor. Unless they’re moldy, smell bad, or are oozing, they can’t be too ripe!
- Mix your wet and dry batter ingredients until just combined. Overmixing makes a tough loaf.
- Fold your chocolate chips into your batter rather than mixing. Again, this helps avoid a tough loaf.
- Give your loaf pan several firm taps around the sides and on the bottom to help ensure it fully releases before turning it out onto your rack.
Double Chocolate Banana Bread FAQs
There are two major mistakes that people make while preparing banana bread. First is overmixing the batter. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour, leading to a tough loaf. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until just combined, meaning everything is moistened, but the batter isn’t smooth. A close second is using bananas that aren’t ripe enough. Banana bread is best when made with extremely ripe bananas.
Bananas should be extremely ripe for banana bread. At a minimum, the peel should be brown and spotty. However, the riper the better. Bananas that are soft and brown are perfect for banana bread.
No, they can’t. However, you must be careful not to use rotten bananas. Don’t use bananas that have mold on the peel, are oozing liquid, or have an off smell. If none of those are present, you can use them. The best banana bread is made with bananas that have a dark brown to black peel!
Banana bread will last for up to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container. It will last for up to 3 months in the freezer, wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil. You can also freeze individual slices for the same amount of time, wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in an airtight, freezer-safe container.
More Delicious Banana Recipes
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Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cup ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and spray the bottom of a 9 x 5 baking dish with non stick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter together until smooth.
- Beat eggs, bananas, buttermilk, vanilla into sugar mixture until well combined.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder together, then add to banana mixture and mix on low until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 1¼ hours, or until tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from baking dish after 10 minutes and place on wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Use the ripest bananas possible for the richest flavor. Unless they’re moldy, smell bad, or are oozing, they can’t be too ripe!
- Mix your wet and dry batter ingredients until just combined. Overmixing makes a tough loaf.
- Fold your chocolate chips into your batter rather than mixing. Again, this helps avoid a tough loaf.
- Give your loaf pan several firm taps around the sides and on the bottom to help ensure it fully releases before turning it out onto your rack.
Nutrition
Here are a few pics that are the perfect size for pinning to Pinterest.
Enjoy, Terri
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