The Best Banana Bread Recipe Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart is a true multi-hyphenate who has brought her knowledge of all things homekeeping to the masses via her television shows, magazines, and social media for generations. Based in Katonah, New York, where she helms her 156-acre Bedford Farm, Martha, the author of 99 books, an Emmy award winner, and America's first self-made female billionaire, founded

Martha's best banana bread recipe was featured in her first book, Entertaining, and has been her go-to ever since. In fact, Martha says your family will go bananas for this classic quick bread.

The batter for this easy-to-make favorite is enriched with sour cream, which gives it a subtle tang and super-moist yet dense texture that slices well. Martha always adds pecans, but chopped walnuts (or no nuts) also works.

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The hardest part about making our best banana bread recipe is waiting for the loaf to bake—but we guarantee it will be worth it!

Banana bread keeps well. Make sure the loaf has cooled completely before wrapping it in plastic wrap, parchment, or wax paper and placing in an airtight container for up to four days. If your kitchen is hot and humid, you may want to store the loaf in your refrigerator, but allow time for it to come back to room temperature before eating.

Banana bread also freezes well. We like to bake an extra loaf to keep in the freezer for when we don’t have time to bake. The loaf should be completely cool before you wrap and freeze it. Wrap it in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag. Freeze the whole loaf, or give yourself more flexibility by slicing it and freezing the slices—that way you can defrost just a couple of pieces when desired. Banana bread will last up to three months in the freezer.

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Short answer: No! The riper the better, an overripe banana is a much better choice for banana bread than an underripe one. Ripe bananas add sweetness to your banana bread, unripe ones do not.

Peel overripe bananas and stash them in a freezer bag to have a supply available anytime you want to make banana bread.

There are a couple of reasons your banana bread might be dry. It might be the result of using too much flour. This may happen if you didn’t measure the flour carefully. Another reason is overmixing—our recipe calls for mixing the dry and wet ingredients “just until combined.” Overmixing can produce a dry, rubbery loaf.

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We prefer plastic wrap to aluminum foil for wrapping banana bread. For countertop storage, we often store banana bread in an airtight container rather than wrapping it in plastic or foil. And if we’re gifting a loaf, we’ll wrap it in parchment paper or wax paper for a pretty but practical presentation.

Victoria Spencer is an experienced food editor, writer, and recipe developer. She manages the Martha Stewart recipe archive and is always curious about new ingredients and the best techniques. She has been working in food media for over 20 years.

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When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.Martha Stewart’s banana bread is outrageously moist, insanely tender, and oh-so-fluffy! The aroma alone is so heavenly it’ll make your mouth water.

This is the technical term for beating together softened butter and sugar to incorporate air pockets in the mixture. These air pockets then help give baked goods, such as banana bread, structure.

How To Cook Perfect Banana Bread

The flour, baking soda, and salt should be sifted to help them blend together. It also ensures no lumps of flour or baking soda get stuck in the batter.

This time, use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients. You want to be careful in mixing at this point, as an overmixed batter will yield a dry and rubbery bread.

If you choose to do this in the stand mixer, keep the paddle attachment and just set it to the lowest/slowest setting available.

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Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes to help cook it further. Then, transfer it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Let the banana bread cool completely on the wire rack before storing. Then, wrap it in plastic wrap or foil, or place it in an airtight container.

Wrap completely cooled banana bread in plastic wrap or foil and place it in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

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You can either wrap the whole bread or slice it up first and wrap individually. I like the latter method because it allows me to take out just a few slices at a time.

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Hey there! I'm Kim. I love running, cooking, and curling up with a good book! I share recipes for people who LOVE good food, but want to keep things simple :)

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I’m Kim. I love running, cooking, and curling up with a good book! Here you’ll find simple and delicious recipes that you can make in 30 minutes or less.