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!
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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
Six-Banana Banana Bread
Video
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.
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.
Best recipe ever. Been making this for years and make all muffins for our family road trip down south. Kids young and older request this as soon as we announce the trip!! I am able to get 15-18 regular size muffins with this recipe ❤️
Thanks for the five star review Belinda and I’m so glad to hear you’ve been making this recipe for years and that you make muffins and are able to yield around 15 to 18 regular sized muffins, great to know. And I’m glad that these give you something to nibble on during your road trip!
I love this recipe so much! I scoop out 12 mini muffins for my grandson and bake the rest in a loaf (still a good sized loaf). My only complaint would be that the top is always sticky. any suggestions on how to prevent that?
Thanks for the five star review Jackie and I’m glad to hear that you’re able to make a dozen mini muffins and still have plenty of batter to make a good sized loaf.
In terms of stickiness on the top, I’ve never had anyone write to me with that issue. Tackiness sometimes happens with banana bread. It’s just the texture and nature of banana bread as a baked loaf is exposed to normal air and the climate and the more humid it is, the more that banana bread can get that sort of tacky texture. Although I don’t really consider that a downfall, I just know that that’s how banana bread is. The only way to potentially eliminate that is by making it longer, but then you run the risk of having an over baked and dry loaf.
So good – so moist – only banana bread recipe I use anymore
Thanks so much for the 5 star review and I love hearing that this is the only banana bread recipe that you use anymore! That says it all!
So I used this recipe so I could send my nephew some in college. Its the best recipe ive ever tried and I usually swear by Betty Crocker. I wish I could share a photo of my muffins baked for 25 min at 350⁰
Thanks for the 5 star review, Kimberly, and I love that you sent these to your nephew in college. My only child just started her freshman year at college out of state so I can relate. You actually CAN add a photo! Just click the “Attachment” button in the comments section and you can add a photo. I’d love to see what you made!
If I made this into muffins (I only have an 8×4 loaf pan at the moment), how many do you think it would make and what would be the cooking time?
Muffins usually take about 18-22 minutes, depending on the exact size in a 350-375F oven. I am not sure how many you’d yield exactly – maybe about a dozen is my guess.
What a yummy, simple to make recipe!! I would make it again and share with my neighbors. I came across your recipe while searching, “what to do with 5 bunches of bananas”? The shopper from a popular grocery delivered 5 bunches of bananas as opposed to a count of 5 bananas. I gave 2 bunches away but still too many.
I love this recipe better than traditional banana bread recipes. I added cashews and a pinch of ginger, cardamon and nutmeg, each.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Debra, and it’s great to hear that this bread helped save some of the bananas from your 5 bunches! I don’t do a lot of online grocery shopping because I need to go and personally inspect things given my job BUT I hear about things like this frequently. You’re not alone! Glad that my recipe came up in search results for you, too!
I used less sugar 1/2cup no brown sugar, mollases, yogurt and sour cream, 1/2 lemon. increased flour by 1/4 cup.
Thank you for the trustworthy recipe. The wet and dry ingredients balanced make it nice when I added more spices, didn’t have pudding mix.
Used a brown sugar, maple syrup, powdered sugar frosting, very sweet so the banana cakes lack of sugar made it perfect
I am glad the recipe worked out well for you given all the changes you made and that it still came together and was perfect for you!
I love this recipe. It never fails. I love the look of the finished bread and I love the flavor. But the most important thing for me has to be the texture of the bread. It’s light and never dense or too moist. I usually resist the urge to eat it immediately. I will wait until the next day and I like to reheat it by toasting it until it’s warm and slightly crusty and then slather it with creamy salted butter. Yum!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Sou, and I am glad to hear this is a fail-proof recipe for you and that you love it and that the texture is right on, too!
My family loved this recipe (as did I).
Also love the way you can use all of your ripe bananas in one go.
Thank you ❤️
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad everyone in your family and you loved this one and like you said you can use up all your right bananas in one swoop!
I found this recipe online and made it in October of 2023. I did not have any sour cream or thick Greek yogurt so I softened 1/4C of cream cheese and used it. You would never know! :-) The use of 6 bananas is what drew me to this recipe as we have so many bananas at our local food pantry I wanted to use as many as I could so they would not go bad. It a is perfect recipe. I used my cupcake pans instead of making a loaf so that my co-workers and family could easily eat these delicious “muffins”! :-) Everyone, and I mean everyone that has tried my muffins has asked for the recipe. It is wonderful! I simply give them a copy of this recipe right from the online recipe. Thank you so very much for this recipe; absolutely outstanding!
Thanks for the five star review, Rebekah, and I’m glad that this is such a winner for you! It’s always great to hear that people want the recipe and good idea on making it as muffins so that you can share easily.