Six-Banana Banana Bread

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Six-Banana Banana Bread â€” 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! 

the best banana bread, sliced on a white platter

The BEST Banana Bread Recipe

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.

two slices of Six-Banana Banana Bread topped with butter on a white plate

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.

sliced loaf of moist banana bread on a white serving platter

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.

slices of homemade banana bread stacked on a white plate

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
  • Cinnamon
  • Salt
loaf of Six-Banana Banana Bread

How to Make Banana Bread with 6 Bananas

This vanilla pudding banana bread made with six bananas comes together quickly and easily! Here are the basic steps:

  1. Combine melted butter, eggs, two types of sugar, sour cream, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. 
  2. 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!). 
  3. 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! 

slices of six banana banana bread topped with butter on a white plate

Banana Bread FAQs

How Long Does Banana Bread Last? 

If store at room temperature in an airtight container, this six-banana banana bread will last up to 1 week. 

How to Store Banana Bread

Vanilla pudding banana bread should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. 

Can You Freeze Banana Bread? 

Yes, you can freeze this six-banana banana bread for up to six months — it thaws like a dream! 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). 

When you’re ready to enjoy this banana bread, set it out on the counter to thaw. Don’t unwrap the plastic wrap, though! Leave all the wrappings on to lock in the moisture. 

How Many Bananas Are in 1 Cup?

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. 

Can I Omit the Instant Pudding Mix? 

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.

What are the best bananas for banana bread?

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.

What Does Pudding Mix Do in Banana Bread?

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.

What Should I Do if my banana bread is browning too quickly on top?

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.

Banana Bread Collage

Banana Bread 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.

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4.59 from 251 votes

Six-Banana Banana Bread

By Averie Sunshine
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!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes
Servings: 9
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Ingredients  

  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, half of 1 stick, 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
  • 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
  • pinch salt, optional and 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. 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.
  • 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, Honey ButterCinnamon-Sugar ButterStrawberry ButterVanilla Browned Butter Glaze, or your favorite spread. Makes excellent French toast. Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 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

Serving: 1, Calories: 378kcal, Carbohydrates: 61g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 61mg, Sodium: 299mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 29g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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!!

Cream Cheese-Filled Banana Bread

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! 

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! 

Peanut Butter Apple Banana Bread — Jazz up regular banana bread with peanut butter and apples! A perfect combo that tastes amazing together!! Fast, easy, no mixer required, and a hit with everyone!

Peanut Butter Apple Banana Bread

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!

Carrot Banana Bread

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze â€” 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.

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Glaze

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! 

Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread

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.

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. Started making this assuming I had vanilla pudding…did not! I did however have chocolate or pumpkin spice! I made it with chocolate since we do love chocolate chips in our banana bread and oh my was that delish! Hubby raved about how moist this was so much he asked me to make it the following weekend! still did not get out to get vanilla pudding I did it with the pumpkin spice and wow! Didn’t think we could top the chocolate pudding one! Obviously you can make a variety of flavors along with the bananas depending on the flavor of pudding you use! I am def going to make sure we have vanilla on hand since I would like some banana bread taste next time! Thank you for sharing!

    1. Thanks for trying this recipe with chocolate AND pumpkin spice pudding (and even during pre-Thanksgiving, I have a doosie of a time even finding that one….you’re lucky!). So glad this bread is a hit for you guys!

  2. These recipes are fantastic! I love Cooking & Recipes! However, I think that I’ve gained a hundred pounds, just reading all of this marvelous stuff! (rofl)

    I have NOT “already said that”!

  3. These recipes are fantastic! I love Cooking & Recipes! However, I think that I’ve gained a hundred pounds, just reading all of this marvelous stuff! (rofl)

      1. :) I made it with whole wheat flour and skipped the pudding, turned out yummy, and I used all my bananas

  4. I made this after pinning it this morning and 6 ripe bananas as luck would have it! What a beautiful mistake it was that I didn’t have vanilla pudding and only pistachio pudding. This was the most incredibly moist and delicious banana bread I have ever had and will replace my other go to Banana Bread recipe! Thank you for sharing this!

  5. I love banana bread and this recipes looks marvelous! Can I substitute gluten-free flour with the wheat flour and get good results? Thank you!

    1. That’s a loaded question – you won’t know til you try! I use all-purpose flour here and that’s all I ever use for banana bread and have not experimented with GF flours. Sometimes GF flours work well in baking, other times not as much, but I would say experiment – you have nothing to lose. Keep me posted!

  6. I have used the Banana Bread recipe from a very old (1973) Sunset Bread Cookbook, and I love it. It uses whole wheat flour with the white flour and boiling water – adding alternately to the batter. I need to go look for that recipe, now!
    Any other Banana Bread is too pale and anemic looking to me!
    This looks darker, as the whole wheat one also does, and may do the trick for me.

    Sunset : CookBook of Breads [Paperback] 1973
    The editors of Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine (Editor)

  7. I got all the way to the vanilla instant pudding part and realized that I only had cheesecake instant pudding…. Excited to see how it turns out with the cheesecake instant pudding, smells delicious in the oven right now!

    1. And you wouldn’t have had to toss the pudding in because it’s optional but it will make the bread so much softer! Can’t wait to hear what you think about the bread. Please LMK!

  8. This bread is soooo delicious! I made a few small changes – used half spelt flour and half AP flour, used coconut sugar instead of white sugar, used your suggested substitute for the pudding, and left out the cinnamon. Definitely a winner! Thanks for sharing. :-)

    1. So glad that even with your tweaks, it came out just perfect for you! I bet the spelt was good in it because it’s such a ‘thirsty’ flour and absorbed some of the moisture; and that the quickie approximation of pudding mix that I suggested worked as well! Mmmm, coconut sugar, too! I would love to try your bread. Sounds wonderful. Thanks for LMK you made the recipe (in your own way!) :)

  9. Yummy…. I didn’t have vanilla pudding mix so I used coconut cream pudding mix and it turned out very good.

    1. Coconut cream pudding sounds incredible! I’ve used it before in banana smoothies, just a couple tbsp and it’s so good! I bet it was heavenly in the bread. Thanks for LMK you tried the recipe!

  10. YES! I want to try this! Why wouldn’t banana bread have loads of bananas in it? Sounds great! Thanks for sharing!

  11. 6 bananas?! WOW! I love it. I can always use more banana intensity in my banana bread.