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This light and fluffy homemade banana bread topped with a crunchy banana chip and brown sugar crust is one of my favorite go-to recipes!
There’s really only one thing to do with those brown bananas sitting in your fruit bowl, and that is to bake banana bread. I think of banana bread as quite literally turning trash into treasure. I sometimes even purposely leave my bananas out for too long, so I have to make this recipe – oops!
I love to whip up this banana bread when I’m in need of a little cozy comfort food. Besides the bananas (and optional banana chips), all of the ingredients are things I always have stocked in my pantry, making it so easy to whip up whenever I feel like it. It’s a great snack to throw together for impromptu guests and also makes the perfect offering for a host/hostess gift when visiting your friends or family!
I’ve been making this easy recipe for years, although the crushed banana chips are a newer addition to my classic loaf. But now that I’ve perfected that crunchy crust there’s no turning back for me. I hope this recipe becomes one of your favorites just as it has in my household!
Everything I Used to Make This Simple Banana Bread:
Here’s all of the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy banana bread:
- Overripe Bananas: Some nice, mushy brown bananas are the base for this delicious bread.
- Egg: One large egg is all you’ll need to get these ingredients to stick together!
- Melted Butter: They say to use unsalted butter when baking so that you can control the salt content yourself, but here’s the thing, I only had salted butter and this bread turned out delicious. You can really use either for this recipe, just adjust your pinch of salt accordingly!
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract or imitation vanilla extract helps to flavor the bread. I recently started batching my own homemade vanilla extract, but of course store-bought is perfectly fine!
- Flour: I used regular all-purpose flour. You can use whatever kind of flour you want, just pay attention to whether the ratio is 1:1 for regular flour and adjust if you need to.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens up the bread. If you want your bread to be more or less sweet you can also adjust the amount! Don’t forget that your brown sugar topping will add more sweetness as well!
- Baking Soda: Baking soda will help make this banana bread nice and fluffy!
- Salt: A pinch of salt brings the flavors together – you can adjust this amount to whatever level you prefer!
- Banana Chips: This ingredient is totally optional; however, I think a delicious topping of crushed banana chips mixed with a little brown sugar makes this recipe really stand out! If you’re just throwing together this banana bread with ingredients you have on hand, you can totally skip the banana chips.
- Brown Sugar: Whether mixed with crushed banana chips or not, I always add a thin layer of brown sugar on top of any sweet bread loaf, it’s a special touch I’ve been doing since I started baking as a kid! The brown sugar will caramelize in the oven and create a sweet and crunchy little crust on top of the bread – my favorite part!
How to Make Brown-Sugar Crusted Banana Bread:
- Mash Bananas: Peel your overripe bananas, add them to a medium mixing bowl and mash them up until they’re nice and smooth.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: Add your beaten egg, melted butter and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and stir.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together your flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Combine Ingredients: Add wet ingredient mixture to your dry ingredient bowl and mix with a spatula to combine.
- Add to Pan & Bake: Pour your batter into a well-greased 9x5-inch bread loaf pan and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Prep Topping: While your bread begins to bake, add the banana chips to a Ziploc bag and crush them into small pieces (this is the fun part!) Once they are crushed, add them to a small bowl along with your brown sugar and whisk to combine.
- Add Topping: After 20 minutes have passed, remove your banana bread from the oven and top with the banana chip and brown sugar mixture.
- Finish Baking: Return bread to the oven for 30-40 minutes and bake until it’s golden brown. If you can’t tell if it’s done, try poking it with a fork – if it comes up clean your bread is fully baked through!
- Let Cool & Enjoy: Once you’ve removed your bread from the oven, let it cool for about 20 minutes before cutting into it. Savor the delicious aromas wafting through your home, serve and enjoy!
Brown Sugar-Crusted Banana Bread
Equipment
- 9×5-inch bread loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2 overripe bananas
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup banana chips crushed
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add wet ingredients (beaten egg, melted butter and vanilla extract) and stir.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.)
- Add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir. (It’s okay if the mixture stays a little chunky, try not to over-stir.)
- Pour batter into a well-greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake for 20 minutes.
- While bread is baking, add banana chips to a Ziploc bag and crush into small pieces.
- In a small bowl, whisk together crushed banana chips and brown sugar.
- After 20 minutes have passed, remove banana bread and top with banana chip and brown sugar mixture.
- Return bread to the oven for 30-40 minutes and bake until golden brown.
