One Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Name: One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1 cup mashed bananas (from 2 medium bananas); 2 large eggs (room temperature); 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (room temperature); 4 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste; 3/4 cup chocolate chips; 3/4 cup walnuts (toasted and chopped)

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

This One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is a super moist quick bread filled with chocolate chips to satisfy all your cravings at once. Better still, you can go from craving to eating in about one hour!

Hand lifting a slice from a stack of banana bread slices.

When I first started dating my husband (we call him The Boy), he told me one of his favorite food memories was his grandmother's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. He made it for me (the one time he baked 😂) and I really tried to love it. Unfortunately for me, it had 4 bananas in it and his grandmother added in... maraschino cherries 😱

As most of you know, I'm not a huge banana fan. I love the sweetness and the moisture they add to my sour cream bundt cake and my banana pancakes, but if I wanted to have my mouth full of banana flavor, I would've eaten a bunch of bananas. My Chocolate Chip Banana Bread has 2 bananas. The perfect amount 😇

So, this recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is an homage to his grandmother, but without all the stuff that makes me feel a certain way (I may be the drama). Just all the moisture and lightness, with just the right amount of chocolate chips, a few walnuts (you can skip them) and none of the maraschino cherries. Phew 😮‍💨

Jump to:

Ingredients
Substitutions
Variations
Instructions
Equipment
Expert tip
Recipe FAQ's
More recipes with bananas
One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients

If you are a frequent flyer of the blog, you have all the pantry basics ready to go, right? Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt (see my salt note below). If not, hit the store and we'll wait for you.

See recipe card for quantities.

Note about salt: Whenever I call for kosher salt, I am specifically referring to Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. Why? Alex Delany has an article that really dives into the whole salt story, but in my case, this is what I've found works best for me and I use it consistently throughout all of my recipes. As my friend Chef Dave Viana likes to say, be monogamous with your salt. I am a loyal bae.

If you use another brand of salt, I would start with half the amount listed, taste, and make adjustments from there. Remember, you can always add more salt, but you can't take it out.

Substitutions

All I want in the whole wide world is for you to make and enjoy my food. Let's make that happen!

Chocolate chips - The Boy (my husband) loves milk chocolate. It's what his grandmother used. But you can use whatever chocolate you prefer; chips or chopped or none at all if you have a sensitivity.
All-purpose flour - I normally use King Arthur flour, but any all-purpose flour will be fine.
Gluten free - I haven't tried it in this recipe, but King Arthur also makes an amazing gluten free flour that I have used in other baked goods with great results.
Greek yogurt - If you don't have Greek yogurt, you can use an equal amount of regular yogurt. You can also substitute with buttermilk or kefir in the same amount. I haven't tried plant based milks, but if you do let me know in the comments how that goes!
Walnuts - If you have a nut allergy or sensitivity, please exclude these from your recipe. If you prefer a different nut, just make sure that you toast and cool them before adding them to the batter.

Variations

The great thing about quick breads, like this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, is they lend themselves to adding a wide variety of mix-ins.

Spice - I don't mean spicy 🌶️, but warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Try adding 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves for a warmly spiced banana bread.
Apple Banana - Toss 1 cup of finely diced apples with a tablespoon of flour and add them to the spiced banana bread above for a great Fall vibe.
Fruity - Go ahead, add the darn maraschino cherries. I won't look. Or blueberries would be more normal 😜 Look, I have opinions, okay?

Instructions

One-bowl. That's the big selling point here. One bowl and maybe ten minutes to whip up this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Just be sure your ingredients are room temperature before starting. If you have cold eggs and yogurt, place the uncracked eggs in super warm water for about 10 minutes, whisk all your wet ingredients together, and let them sit and come to room temp for about 15 minutes.

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350°F. Place your walnuts on a small sheet pan and toast them for 5 minutes. Remove them from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 425°F. Chop your walnuts and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, use a fork to mash your bananas until just a few lumps remain.

Wet ingredients for one bowl banana bread.

3. If you prefer them more smooth, keep going, or use a hand mixer to pulverize them. Add eggs, Greek yogurt, oil, and vanilla.

4. Whisk everything together well. You can't over-mix at this stage, so don't rush this step. Continue whisking until you have a perfectly blended mixture.

Adding flour and sugar to wet ingredients for one bowl banana bread.

5. Sprinkle your flour and sugar evenly over the surface of your wet ingredients.

Adding salt and leavening agents to one bowl banana bread.

6. Do the same with your baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt.

Mixing dry ingredients on top of wet ingredients for one bowl banana bread.

7. Using a light hand, use a spatula to mix the dry ingredients together on top of the wet ingredients.

Mixing chocolate chips and toasted walnuts to one bowl banana bread batter.

8. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until almost completely combined, but with a few streaks of flour still visible. Mix in chocolate chips and toasted walnuts until evenly distributed in the batter.

Pouring banana bread batter into loaf pan.

9. Pour the batter into your prepared 9 inch loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake at 425° for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes turn the oven down to 350°, without opening the oven door.

Top view of a loaf and slices of one bowl banana bread.

10. Bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, or until a clean toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool another 10 to 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Top view of multiple slices of one bowl banana bread.

Equipment

This recipe is made to be baked in a 9 inch loaf pan. If you were to use an 8 inch loaf pan, you might have some spillage or, at the very least, a very tall loaf. If you don't have a 9 inch loaf pan, I would recommend baking this in a square baking pan instead.

Expert tip

You may be wondering why this recipe uses vegetable oil instead of melted butter. When a baked good made with butter cools off, the butter returns to its natural state - a solid. When you eat it, it may have the texture of eating something dry. Using oil, which is a liquid in its natural state, keeps the banana bread moist, and it eats moist as well. (p.s. melting butter would invalidate my one-bowl claim 🤷🏻‍♀️)

I feel that the banana's flavor carries this quick bread very well. I don't even miss the butter! But, if you want the butter flavor, feel free to use melted and cooled butter in place of the oil. If you're feeling a real butter flavor craving, use brown butter, like in my chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe FAQ's

Why do we start baking at a higher temperature?

One thing I learned about as a professional baker was something called 'oven spring". Normally applied to yeast risen breads and croissants, it still applies to a smaller degree to leavened goods. When your banana bread hits the oven at the higher temperature, the initial contact with the heat causes the baking powder to work and the batter to puff, giving your bread a higher rise. This happens in the first 5 minutes. Then you turn the temperature down and allow the banana bread to bake to perfection.

How should I store my Banana Bread?

Leave the bread unsliced if possible and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, slice your bread and individually wrap each slice in plastic wrap. Store them all in a zip top bag for up to 3 months.

How should I reheat this banana bread?

Because we used vegetable oil in this bread, you don't actually have to reheat it. It is delicious cold. But if warm chocolate chip banana bread warms your heart, just zap it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.