Rainy April days are perfect for baking fresh, hot banana bread! This quick bread recipe is cakelike, fluffy, and always delicious. The sweet taste of banana is punctuated with bits of chocolate, making it a perfect pick-me-up treat for a chilly, gray spring day. Try it fresh from the oven with a smear of honey butter, and you may be longing for a few more rainy baking days!
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What is Chocolate Chip Banana Bread?
Banana bread, whether with chocolate chips or without, is a quick bread. Quick breads don’t rely upon yeast to rise. An alternate ingredient, such as baking soda or self-rising flour, is used instead. The term quick bread comes from the speed at which these methods work, as opposed to the slow rising of yeast breads.
Quick breads are most often made from batter instead of dough. This allows the quick bread batter to be used in a variety of ways, such as breads, muffins, and scones. They can be sweet or savory, depending upon the spices and seasonings used.
Can I Use Any Type of Chocolate Chips?
This recipe calls for semisweet chocolate chips, but you are welcome to use another type. Just be aware that changing the type of chocolate with change the taste of your banana bread.
Bittersweet chocolate chips contain the least amount of sugar and have a slightly bitter taste. While the FDA maintains that all dark chocolate must contain at least 35% cacao, or pure chocolate, most bittersweet chocolate contains from 60 – 72%. Chocolate in its natural form is very bitter, so the higher the percentage of cacao the more bitter the chocolate.
Semisweet chocolate chips are the “original” chocolate chips. They are also a type of dark chocolate, but they contain 35 – 50% cacao. This seems to be the perfect combination of sugar and cacao to produce a delicious balance in cookies and other treats.
Milk chocolate chips are made of the same type of chocolate as most candy bars. They contain at least 10% cacao. They are smoother than other types of chips, owing to the high amounts of sugar and cocoa butter incorporated in the chocolate.
Do I Need Any Special Tools to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread?
This recipe, like other quick breads, requires a lot of mixing. While it’s not required, an electric hand mixer or stand mixer make the job one heck of a lot easier!
I have talked about how much I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer before. I love being able to drop everything in, hit the switch, and walk away.
Mine came with three attachments: a paddle, a whisk, and a bread hook. More attachments are available for purchase, including sausage grinders and pasta presses. It’s the one small appliance that I can’t do without!
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Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and milk; mix well.
- Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients, beating well after each addition.
- Fold in mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
- Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 45 – 50 minutes. For mini loaves, bake 20 to 25 minutes.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Course: BreadsDifficulty: Easy15
minutes45
minutes1
hourThis chocolate chip banana bread recipe is cakelike and delicious. The banana-chocolate combination creates a perfect pick-me-up treat!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and milk; mix well.
- Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients, beating well after each addition.
- Fold in mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
- Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 45 – 50 minutes. For mini loaves, bake 20 to 25 minutes.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
Notes
- Use the same recipe to make chocolate chip banana muffins by pouring the batter into a muffin pan.
- To test for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center the loaf. If it comes out clean, it’s done!
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This looks soooo good! I love the combo of banana and chocolate. Will need to try this soon!
I love that flavor profile, too. I am all over those chocolate covered frozen bananas in the summertime!
I love dark chocolate chips in banana bread! Such a good combo.
I think that pretty much anything is delicious with dark chocolate!
2 of my favorite flavors all in one. Yum!
Yes! One of my favorite camping treats is a banana boat with chocolate chips–we wrap them in foil and melt the chocolate in the fire. This bread reminds me of those!
We throw in some peanut butter (and add extra milk/buttermilk) along with the chocolate chips when we make banana bread. This sounds delicious!
Peanut butter would be soooo yummy in this!
I love the idea of bananas and chocolate. I’m thinking of adding walnuts to this for crunch.
We’ve done nuts in it before and really like it that way, so if you don’t have nut allergies in the house, totally go for it!
Why not?! Chocolate goes with everything!
You are a gal after my own heart!
I have always been a “purist” with my banana bread, no nuts, nothing extra. Now that I think about how well chocolate and bananas go together, I might just have to give this recipe a shot.
Yes, for me it usually depends on how motivated I am to get to the store or what I have on hand once my bananas darken up. If I try to plan ahead, everyone eats all the bananas.
Yummy! One of my favorites. I could eat this all day long.
It never lasts for long in my house!
Yum! The only thing to make this better would be to add chocolate or caramel somehow!
A drizzle of chocolate on top would be yummy, indeed! I can’t use caramel much right now–my kids’ orthodontist would be awfully mad at me!
It’s snowing here tonight and I think snowy days call for chocolate chip banana bread too! Looks so yummy!
That sounds sooooo good!
WOW! Does that ever look moist and yummy!
It’s so good when it’s warm from the oven! I like my chocolate chip cookies that way, too.
Looks great, and so simple and easy to make! Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you! It is definitely easy to make and it’s always a hit.
That sounds amazing! I tried making it a few months ago and it just did not turn out as good as I had hoped!
I used to have a loaf pan that I later found out was an odd size. It was bigger than most so the middle of my breads seldom cooked, unless we burnt the rest of it.
Banana bread is a favourite in my household. I will often throw in chocolate chips as a treat, and the kids love it! Your recipe is very similar to mine and will work great with dairy-free substitutions.
Banana bread is one of those comfort foods that was probably born of necessity when some Mom was looking at the bananas gone bad and thinking “I’ve got to find a way to use those!”
This is one of my favorites!
It’s one of ours, too! Thanks for checking it out!
Chocolate Chip Banana bread sound amazing! I love banana bread!
Banana bread is one of those things you can always count on to be satisfying.
Since I just recently learned how to make pumpkin bread this way I am sure I can do this. Thanks for this yummy recipe.
Ooooooh, now you’ve got me craving pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting!
Oooh… That sounds sooo good!!!
Thanks! It really is. Sometimes I have a slice for breakfast with my coffee.
Oh my goodness this sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
It’s also really good in muffin form. Muffins always seem healthier to me for some reason. Or maybe they’re just more socially acceptable as a breakfast!
This looks so tasty. The kids are off school today, so I think we’ll use up our bananas and try this!
My kids always loved baking with me when they were young. Lucky for me, now they’re not shy about whipping up cupcakes by themselves when they’re bored!