How To Double Banana Bread Recipe

This Double Chocolate Banana Bread is going to become your new favorite banana bread recipe! It's easy to make, crazy moist, tender, and loaded with chocolate chips and cocoa powder for an ultra chocolaty breakfast treat that's full of flavor. Perfect for using up ripe bananas.

Appearance: The chocolate drizzle on top takes this Double Chocolate Banana Bread to a whole other level. It’s the most gorgeous loaf!

This Double Chocolate Banana Bread recipe is ultra moist, flavorful, and rich. Every bite is heaven. It was actually inspired by a trip to NYC where I hit up a ton of East Village bakeries. The midnight banana bread loaf at Red Gate Bakery was so incredible I knew I had to make my own version of it when I got home.

Chocolate Lover's Banana Bread

Be sure to use very overripe bananas. This goes for any banana bread, including double chocolate banana bread. They should be very soft and covered with dark brown speckles, as shown in the photo below. Overripe bananas not only provide the sweet flavor but also help to add more moisture to banana bread and give you the most perfect texture. Underripe bananas will create a more dry and bland banana bread. If you have more overripe bananas than you need for this recipe, you can always peel them, mash them, then freeze for baking up later. Or use them in smoothies!

To speed up ripening, place bananas in a paper bag and store in a warm area for a day or two. The peels create ethylene gas, which fills up the bag and helps them ripen faster.

, place whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet in a 300°F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the skins are darkened and the fruit is soft. This doesn’t yield the same effect as allowing the bananas to ripen naturally, but it’ll work in a pinch.

Maple Pecan Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Mash the bananas very well by hand with a fork or potato masher. I find mashing with an electric mixer makes the batter too thin to rise well, often leading to banana bread that’s slightly gummy, mushy, or even slightly sunken in the center.

I experimented with using melted butter vs. oil in banana bread and found a mixture of both led to the best results. You get the rich flavor from the butter, but the sensation of moistness from the vegetable oil.

Brown sugar and sour cream (or plain yogurt) are the other key ingredients that help make the banana bread moist, tender, and flavorful.

Decadent Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Lastly, since this is a chocolate banana bread, I highly recommend using a high-quality, high-fat Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Read more about that here!

Sure! You can add 1 cup of coarsely chopped nuts instead of the chocolate chips, if you prefer – but I love chocolate, so I recommend adding ½ a cup of nuts along with ½ a cup of chocolate chips (or whatever ratio you prefer; just keep the total volume of mix-ins to about 1 cup, as written in the recipe). You can alternatively add a mixture of milk, white and/or dark chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or even peanut butter chips, if you wish – the fun variations are endless!

Pro tip: if adding nuts, lightly toast your walnuts or pecans before adding them to the batter. Toasting the nuts adds so much depth of flavor!

Flourless Double Chocolate Banana Bread

This makes a shockingly big difference. The pan I recommend using is a reflective METAL 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Anything too dark in color will risk scorching the edges. Glass and ceramic loaf pans can take MUCH longer to bake, and you risk the banana bread collapsing in the center and being underbaked in the middle.

Additionally, use the correct size loaf pan for best results: 9 by 5-inches. I know that an 8-1/2 by 4-1/2-inch pan seems basically identical, but the difference in volume capacity is 15% and that has a surprisingly large impact on the final loaf. If you use the smaller pan size, you may end up with a loaf that spills over the edges and remains underbaked in the center. If that’s all you have, you can withhold about 15% of the batter from the pan.

If you only have a glass or ceramic loaf pan, drop the temperature to 325°F and increase the baking time by about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the center of the loaf registers at least 200°F with a digital instant read thermometer.

Very Best Banana Bread (double Loaf Recipe)

Firstly, follow my notes above for using the correct baking pan. The correct size and type is integral to baking any banana bread well.

Secondly, make sure your oven is completely preheated. Wait at least 10 additional minutes after your oven emits that preheat beep before placing your loaf in to ensure it’s hot enough. I also highly recommend investing in an oven thermometer to see just how accurate your oven actually is. Learn more about ovens here!

We’ve all been there. You go to slice your cooled loaf only to discover it’s gummy and underdone in the center. Putting it back in the oven will only scorch the exterior before the interior can heat through.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread • Unicorns In The Kitchen

Instead, place those slices on a buttered griddle and fry them up, kind of like French toast! You can also do this with stale banana bread (if it lasts that long!).

Banana bread can get gummy if the batter was overmixed or the loaf was underbaked. Learn how to know when your bread is done baking below!

Bake your banana bread until it registers an internal temperature of 200 to 205°F. Use an instant read thermometer inserted into the center. This is the best and easiest way to ensure your bread is perfectly cooked through, but not overdone.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

You could also insert a toothpick into the center, and the loaf is done baking when there are a few moist crumbs still attached – but this can be tricky since you can hit a chocolate chip and mistake the melted chocolate for underdone batter, so be sure to carefully test several spots just to be safe.

I haven’t tried that with this recipe, but you could turn this banana bread recipe into about two dozen muffins, if you wish. Fill the batter about 3/4 full into the cavities of two standard muffin tins. Bake at 350°F for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Wrap leftovers in plastic wrap or foil and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. The banana flavor will intensify the longer it sits, and the chocolate coating will harden as the loaf sits and may bloom (slightly discolor). If you prefer, microwave slices before serving to soften.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread ⋆ Real Housemoms

This Double Chocolate Banana Bread also freezes beautifully! To freeze, tightly wrap the completely cooled loaf or slices of the loaf in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then place in a ziptop bag or an airtight container and place in the freezer. Freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or for a few hours at room temperature. If freezing the entire loaf, I recommend waiting until it’s thawed to drizzle the chocolate on top to avoid the chocolate blooming or discoloring while thawing.

Show us! If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with # so we can all see!

**For an ultra-chocolaty experience, use ¾ cup (128 grams) of semisweet chocolate for the topping. Once the chocolate is melted, use a spatula to coat the entire top of the bread. Coating will be deliciously thick and will solidify when cooled.

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Banana Bread

***If baking with a glass or ceramic loaf pan, drop the temperature to 325°F and increase the baking time by about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the loaf registers at least 200°F internal temperature.

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I’m a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!).This double banana bread recipe is delicious & easy to make. It is called double banana bread because it has a double dose of bananas (bananas on top and inside the bread). This is a fun recipe to make because your kids & guests will love the interesting look to your great tasting banana bread.

I know that I have posted this a billion times before on this website… but the key to fantastic banana bread is RIPE bananas! Not green bananas. Not even perfectly yellow bananas. The best bananas (for banana bread) are those bananas which are a little soft and have lots of small black & brown spots on the yellow banana peel. Hard unripe green or yellow bananas have too much starch and are not very flavorful. In contrast, ripe bananas are sweeter, softer and have much more delicious banana flavor.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread.

This banana bread recipe should take you roughly only 10 minutes to prepare and clean up. Please be aware that this is an oven-baked banana bread recipe. It is