Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread — 🍌🍞🎉 This is the BEST homemade banana bread recipe! This cream cheese banana bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked in! Soft, fluffy and tastes ahhhh-mazing and it’ll be your new FAVORITE banana bread recipe! A total winner that will impress your friends and family!
Table of Contents
This cream cheese banana bread is soft and moist, and the cream cheese filling is like having a layer of cheesecake baked into the moist banana bread. No complaints here!
It’s an easy, no mixer recipe that goes from bowl to oven in minutes.
The big river of cream cheese is a thick, bold, unmistakeable layer. It really makes this bread out of this world.
Love Cream Cheese-Filled Desserts?
If you love this cream cheese-filled banana bread, then you’ll definitely love my Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread as well!
I use melted coconut oil so there’s no butter to cream and no mixer to dirty. Oil keeps bread softer and springier than butter, and I prefer the taste.
And a little sour cream (or Greek yogurt) is extra insurance for a soft, springy, bouncy, fluffy loaf. Using sour cream, Greek yogurt, or buttermilk in quick bread and muffin recipe ensures more tender results.
This banana cream cheese bread has been a reader favorite that went viral in 2014 when I first posted this recipe. The recipe and photos have been stolen and copied over the years, but that goes with the territory with viral recipes.
Most importantly, it’s been adored by thousands of people and those are the comments and feedback I love reading!
Ingredients Needed
After taking a bite of this banana bread, you’ll regret to having made a loaf using cream cheese sooner!
For the banana bread:
- Egg
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Coconut oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Ripe bananas
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
For the cream cheese filling:
- Egg
- Softened cream cheese
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
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 Cream Cheese Banana Bread
Don’t let the cream cheese filling fool you into thinking this is a tough banana bread recipe to make — it’s not! This is an incredibly easy homemade banana bread recipe.
- Make the batter: Whisk together the egg, sugars, coconut oil, sour cream, and vanilla before stirring in the mashed bananas and the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Turn about two-thirds of the batter into a greased loaf pan and smooth out the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Make the cream cheese filling: Stir together the ingredients for the filling and carefully pour over the banana bread batter.
- Smooth out the top once more before pouring the remaining banana bread batter over the cream cheese layer.
- Bake the cream cheese banana bread until the top is domed, golden, and the center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Note that the toothpick test isn’t the most accurate because the cream cheese never gets totally solid.
Baking Tip
Once the bread is out of the oven, let it cool completely before slicing and serving. The cream cheese center needs time to set fully, and if you slice it too soon it’ll just ooze out.
Recipe FAQs
For this recipe, you need to use brick-style cream cheese (not the whipped kind in a plastic tub). I used full-fat cream cheese, but lite cream cheese will also work so long as it’s the type that comes in a brick. Set the cream cheese on your counter to soften (this will take about an hour, maybe more). I don’t recommend softening the cream cheese in the microwave, as that can make it too soft.
Coconut oil adds a nearly imperceptible undertone that’s sweeter and more fragrant than canola or vegetable oil, but substitute with them if you’d like or if you’re very sensitive to coconut flavors.
I make this banana bread recipe in a 9×5-inch loaf pan, and this bread is a large loaf. I think an 8×4-inch pan would be too small, and the batter may run over the sides. This is the exact pan I use!
No, because the cream cheese filling is baked it’s safe to leave out at room temperature. Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week.
For the best tasting cream cheese banana bread, you’ll want to use really ripe bananas that have plenty of black spots on them.
Tips for Making This Recipe
Measuring the mashed banana: You need to actually measure out the mashed banana to see if it’s 1 cup, because your idea of two “large bananas” may be different than mine, and you want to add the exact right amount of banana to this bread.
Mixing the batter: Once you add the flour to the banana bread batter you should continue mixing the batter until everything is just combined. You do NOT want to over mix the batter, otherwise your homemade banana bread will be a little tough.
Baking times: Tent the pan with a sheet of foil draped over it at the 30 minute-mark if you feel the tops and sides of the cream cheese-filled banana bread will become too browned before the center cooks through.
Baking times will vary based on moisture content of bananas, cream cheese, climate, and oven variances. You need to bake this moist banana bread until done — watch your bread, not the clock.
Storage Instructions
Room temp: Store the banana cream cheese bread in an airtight container for up to 1 week on your counter.
Freezer: Wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, thaw overnight in the fridge.
Video Tutorial
Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup liquid-state coconut oil, canola or vegetable may be substituted
- ¼ cup cup sour cream, lite is okay Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 2 large bananas
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1 large egg
- 4 ounces brick-style cream cheese, softened lite is okay
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9×5-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- Make the Banana Bread
- In a large bowl, add the egg, sugars, coconut oil, sour cream, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add the bananas and stir to incorporate.
- Add 1 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, optional salt, and fold with spatula or stir gently with a spoon until just combined; don’t overmix; set aside.
- Turn about two-thirds of the batter out into the prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary; set aside.
- Make the Cream Cheese Filling
- In a large bowl, add all ingredients and whisk to combine. Alternatively, mix with a hand mixer.
- Evenly pour filling mixture over the bread, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula and pushing it into corners and sides as necessary.
- Top with remaining batter, smoothing the top very lightly with a spatula as to not disturb cream cheese layer and pushing batter into corners and sides as necessary.
- Bake for about 48 to 50 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. Note this is tricky because the cream cheese never gets totally solid so the toothpick test isn’t the most accurate.*
- Allow bread to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Banana Bread Recipes:
ALL OF MY BANANA BREAD RECIPES!
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!!
Cinnamon Sugar Streusel Banana Bread – Super SOFT tender banana bread that’s impossible to resist!! The crispy, crumbly, streusel topping makes a good thing even BETTER!!
Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread – Blueberry coffee cake meets super soft banana bread.
Six-Banana Banana Bread – Six bananas in one loaf of bread means an extremely soft, moist, and richly flavored bread.
Zucchini Banana Bread — This Zucchini Banana Bread is so soft, tender, uber-moist, dense enough to be satisfying, but still light!
The BEST 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!
I found this recipe several years ago and have made it many times since. It is very cheap to make which I love, and it is the best baked good I have ever had. It took a few times to get it to perfection, but I found that one of the keys to make the cream cheese filling bake the best is to let it get to room temperature instead of trying to soften it by warming it up. I have made this for friends and family every holiday season and it is always the most favored item! Love this recipe and thank you to the creator!
Thanks Ashlee for the five star review and what amazing praise that this is the best baked good you’ve ever had! That is such a lovely compliment and I’m glad that you have discerned exactly what to do to get it to come out perfectly. I totally agree with you that allowing ingredients to come to room temperature on their own rather than trying tricks to warm them is always the best. Happy holidays to you and your family!
Iโve made this recipe 3 times and also have made it multiple times without the cream cheese filling as a standalone banana bread when I was out of cream cheese, it is the absolute best! Perfectly moist, not too sweet and overly oily like many quick bread recipes tend to be. This is a staple around here since we always seem to have overripe bananas!
Thanks for the lovely 5 star review, Lianna! I’m so happy to hear you’ve made this recipe three times and then it turns out perfectly! I have also made it without the cream cheese filling and I bake in in 3 mini loaf pans when I do it like that. Glad this is a staple for you!
Hi! I love the idea of this recipe but I have one problem with it. The top layer of batter runs into the cream cheese layer every time I make it. It still tastes pretty good but cream cheese layer cooks on top of bread.
Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your experience. I have not had that experience so I can’t personally give you advice. It sounds like a density and floatation issue. The cream cheese layer in theory should be dense enough that it doesn’t rise, and the batter should not be so heavy that it sinks underneath the cream cheese.
The only other thing I can add is that make sure you’re using full fat cream cheese, make sure every single measurement that you do is completely accurate, and the type of flour that I use is King Arthur brand all-purpose flour. It’s the only thing I bake with and in my opinion, it is much superior to other flower. It has a slightly higher protein content, and it helps most baked goods just simply be better. You might want to switch and see if that helps. https://amzn.to/48cSKZV
Iโve loved this recipe for many years. Iโve done the pumpkin one also. Thanks for helping create memories through food over the years.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Jaques, and I am so pleased to hear you’ve loved this recipe and the pumpkin one over the years. I especially am touched that my recipes have helped you create memories through food over the years. This means a ton to me and it never gets old hearing it. Thank you ๐๐ป
Thanks for this recipe. It is amazing. I have made banana bread every year in the fall but never with the filling. This is my new favorite.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Connie, and I’m so glad to hear this is your new favorite banana bread!
I love this recipe. I have made it several times and even traded out the bananas for raspberries and blueberries with success.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Jessica, and I’m glad you love this recipe and that it’s been versatile for you to make swaps with other fruits!
Very good, just wish I had added nuts.
I need you for the first time yesterday and it’s all gone so I’m making the second one
I’m glad you loved it so much that you’re making it again right away!
I made my own variation and it was loved by all! I subbed zucchini for the banana and added a crumb topping.
That sounds great, Shelly! Glad it worked out so well and was loved by all!
Made this X 4 and put into a large rectangular cake pan. It was perfect for treats for my husband’s men’s coffee. They love it. Thank you. I am looking forward to using various fruits.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Donna, and I’m glad this was perfect for the coffee group!
This recipe is a family favorite, it is fluffy, yummy, and just scrumptious ๐คค I made it again tonight, always such a wonderful treat!
Thank you ๐๐ฅฐ๐
Thanks for the 5 star review, Susan, and I am so glad to hear this is a family favorite!
This was the best banana bread I have ever eaten. My neighbor brought me a slice and I loved it and then I made it and gave a different neighbor and her husband slices and they both told me it was the best banana bread they had ever eaten.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am grateful to hear this was the best banana bread you have ever eaten (and your neighbors too)! Thank you so much!
Thus was delicious and easy to make. Followed the recipe, but added walnuts. This uis a keeoer!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad to hear this was delish, easy, and glad you could add some walnuts to your liking, too!
This recipe gets better and better every time I make it.
That’s wonderful to hear and I am so glad it’s always a winner!
This recipe is outstanding. Next time I’m gonna add walnuts. And there WILL be a next time. A++++
This recipe is outstanding. Next time I’m gonna add walnuts. And there WILL be a next time. A++++
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad it turned out outstanding and that you will make it again with walnuts!