Peanut Butter Banana Bread

4 from 1 vote

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This peanut butter banana bread is a twist on the classic quick bread recipe with the addition of crunchy peanut butter. It gives this easy loaf nutty texture and flavor. There’s no need for a stand mixer. You can do everything by hand.

Three slices of banana bread cut off loaf.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Bananas and peanut butter are the perfect combination of salty and sweet. After you bake this banana bread the first time, you will wonder why you didn’t make it with peanut butter sooner. It’s just that good.

This banana nut bread recipe calls for crunchy peanut butter. It is a way to add nuts without having to chop them. They end up evenly distributed throughout the bread, so there are nuts in each slice. 

The fastest part of all quick bread recipes is making the batter.  Even though the bake time is over an hour, the active time when you are stirring the ingredients together and pouring everything into the pan is a fraction of that.

This banana bread freezes really well. You can store individual slices in the freezer and thaw them one by one, as you want to eat them. 

The Ingredients

Ingredients including bananas, peanut butter, flour, sugar, salt, eggs, oil, baking soda and chopped nuts.

This is what you need:

  • Peanut butter: Use natural peanut butter for the recipe. Just make sure it is well stirred, so the oil and ground nuts are completely combined.
  • Bananas: It is important that the bananas are very ripe. They should be fragrant and have lots of brown specks on their peels. I like to keep ripe bananas in the freezer, so then I can make a loaf whenever. Thaw the frozen bananas (in their skins) in the microwave when you are ready to use them. Frozen bananas will stay good for 2-3 months.
  • Flour: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour.
  • Sugar: Besides ripe bananas, the bread is sweetened with granulated sugar.
  • Baking soda is the leavening agent that helps the loaf rise.
  • Salt, in every recipe, no matter if it’s sweet or savory, brings out the overall flavors.
  • Vegetable oil makes the banana bread moist. Use one that is neutral in taste such as canola oil, grapeseed oil or sunflower oil. I like to buy brands that are GMO free.
  • Eggs: There are 2 large eggs in the recipe.
  • Milk: You can use cow’s milk or oat milk depending on your dietary preference and if you want it to be dairy-free.
  • Salted roasted peanuts that are chopped decorate the top of the loaf. You sprinkle them on before it goes into the oven.

How To Ripen Bananas Fast

Most of the time bananas at the grocery are under ripe or are at the early stages of ripeness. Instead of waiting days for them to ripen, you can do it in the oven:

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. Place the unpeeled bananas, without overlapping, on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.
  3. Bake for 30 minutes until the bananas are soft and the peels turn black.
  4. Let the bananas cool for 15-20 minutes.
  5. Use a pair of scissors or a knife to cut one end of each peel. Then squeeze out the banana and mash with a fork.

How To Make Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Parchment will make it much easier to get it out of the pan.

1. Combine the dry ingredients including the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Combine the wet ingredients including the mashed bananas, oil, eggs, milk and peanut butter in a large bowl.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients into another bowl.

3. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. It’s important to do this gently and slowly. If you stir too hard, your bread will have tunnels or holes, and the crumb will be dense.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Pour the batter into the pan.

5. Sprinkle on the chopped peanuts.

6. Bake the loaf until it is deep golden brown. You should be able to softly press the top, and it will spring back. Also, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a few crumbs. Give the loaf 15 minutes to cool in the pan. Then carefully take it out and put it on a wire rack to fully cool before slicing.

Sprinkle the batter in the pan with chopped peanuts. Then bake it until it is golden brown.

Serving

One of the best things about banana bread is that you can enjoy it pretty much anytime of the day. It’s wonderful for breakfast, a morning or afternoon snack and even dessert.

Storage & Freezing

You can keep the bread in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. Wait to slice it until you are ready to eat it. Since banana bread is so moist, it won’t last longer than this before it goes bad.

If you are going to freeze it, go ahead and slice the loaf. You can freeze the individual slices on a lined sheet pan before you put them together in a container. Or put pieces of wax paper or parchment between the slices when you freeze them, so they don’t stick together.

Recipe Tips

  • Always use ripe bananas. This is essential if you want to bake the best banana bread possible.
  • Don’t over mix the batter. When you combine the wet and dry ingredients, stir very slowly, folding the batter onto itself until you no longer see any flour. 
  • Keep an eye on the loaf as it bakes. You don’t want to over bake or under bake it. The top should turn a deep golden brown and a toothpick stuck into the bread should come out with a few crumbs. If the nuts decorating the loaf are browning too quickly, loosely drape a piece of aluminum foil over it.

FAQs

Can you use creamy peanut butter? 

Yes, you can substitute with creamy peanut butter, but I highly recommend using crunchy.

Can you use another milk to make it dairy free? 

Oat milk can be substituted for regular cow’s milk in the recipe.

Can you add chocolate chips? 

You can stir in 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips into the batter, so you have the ultimate trio of peanut butter, bananas and chocolate.

More Quick Bread & Muffin Recipes

Grapefruit Poppy Seed Loaf Cake
Marble Pound Cake
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I hope you enjoy this banana bread recipe. Please leave a rating and comment below. Thanks!

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread Recipe

4 from 1 vote
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 1 hour 20 minutes
Total: 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 10
This peanut butter banana bread is a twist on the classic with crunchy peanut butter for that sweet and salty combination of bananas and nuts.

Ingredients 

  • Non-stick cooking spray
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas about 3 bananas
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the bananas, oil, eggs, milk and peanut butter. 
  • Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle chopped peanuts across the top.
  • Bake for 1 hour 15-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few crumbs.
  • Let the loaf sit in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Notes

You can use cow’s milk or oat milk to make it dairy free.
Optional additions: You can add 2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips when you stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Or stir 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon into the flour mixture.
Store the banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. It’s best to slice it when you are ready to eat it.
To freeze the loaf up to 1 month, go ahead and slice it. Either freeze the slices on a lined sheet pan and then put them in the same container. Or put pieces of wax or parchment paper between the slices when you freeze them together, so they do not stick to each other. 
Adapted from Baked Elements by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Nutrition

Calories: 459kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 499mg | Potassium: 343mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 72IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2mg

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

Additional Info

Course: Quick Breads
Cuisine: American
Did you make this recipe?Mention @lastingredient on Instagram and tag it #lastingredient!

Originally published May 7, 2020. Updated: February 23, 2023.


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Hi, I'm Paige.

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6 Comments

  1. Great recipe! I had all the ingredients and didn’t need to make a run to the store for any special ingredients. We made these into muffins–easy to pack for the beach (and portion control). They baked in about 20 minutes. I may even add some chocolate chips next time. Thanks!

  2. making this banana bread for the 2nd time tonight! it’s by far the best recipe online I’ve found… the only modification I made was adding butter instead of oil. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!

  3. 4 stars
    I used 75% of the sugar in the recipe. The cake is nice and moist. It has a very rich flavour that easily fills you up. Be careful about the timing, it can easily burn past 75 minutes. I came back to try a second time?.