Name: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips; 3/4 cup walnuts, (toasted and roughly chopped); 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, (room temperature); 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs; 1 cup mashed ripe banana; 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice; 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is incredibly easy to make and is way more delicious than the average banana bread! Chocolate and walnuts take it to a wonderful new level.

Overhead closeup view of a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread with a couple slices cut a knife and bananas in the background with recipe title at top.

(This recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread was originally published in September 2010, but was updated with new photos in 2020).

Jump to:

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
🗒 Ingredients
🍌 How to make chocolate chip banana bread
🎉 More add-in ideas
⏲️ How to store
🥞 How to make with pancake mix?
🍞 More quick bread recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

Just as I convinced myself that baking wasn't "my thing," baking, sure enough, is becoming... my thing. There's something about it that I've found to be a bit soothing. Just watching my mixer spin around, getting my hands sticky with flour and butter, and the sweet smells that flow out of my oven.

It slows life down a bit and after being around people all day, I was in the mood to bake in silence this afternoon. Just me and the sounds and smells in my kitchen. I'm finding it's the perfect way to unwind (and expand my waistline, too, of course!).

I decided to raid the pantry and fridge to see what I could put together. I had a few pretty overripe bananas and immediately had the great idea of making banaan bread. Because who doesn't love a loaf of banana bread staring at them every time they enter the kitchen? Exactly.

I didn't want to do just a plain old banana bread so I did a search for a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and decided to rift off of one with chocolate chips and walnuts instead.

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

There are so many beautiful things about banana bread. The first is that it's often made spur of the moment. You realize you have bananas sitting on your counter that are ready to go in the trash, so you make the game time decision: "I'm going to make banana bread!"

And it's the kind of game time decision you feel OK making because banana bread is so quick and easy to prep. Just mix a few ingredients together, throw them in a loaf pan, pop into the oven, and soon your entire house will be smelling of delicious banana bread.

But what makes banana bread even better? Chocolate chips, of course! And walnuts, too. Just like any banana bread, this is incredibly easy to make and will be ready just in time to enjoy with your afternoon tea or coffee.

This will likely be the best easy banana bread you've ever had!

🗒 Ingredients

This quick bread is made with super simple ingredients. You likely already have most of them in your pantry and fridge.

And if you don't have walnuts or chocolate chips, you can obviously leave them out. But I do highly recommend including them! Here's everything you need (be sure to view recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Chocolate chips
Walnuts
Unsalted butter
Granulated sugar
Eggs
Ripe bananas (if you need to ripen bananas faster, you can put them in a brown paper bag or use any of these tricks).
Lemon juice
Vanilla

🍌 How to make chocolate chip banana bread

The process for this chocolate chip banana bread is easy almost to the point of being a little dangerous. As soon as you realize you have a bunch of super ripe bananas on your counter, you're going to want to make this treat!

To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9x5 metal loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.

In a separate small bowl, combine chocolate chips and walnuts. Add 1 tablespoon flour mixture and toss to coat.

Chocolate chips and walnuts in a bowl tossed with flour.

You'll also want to make sure you mash bananas as much as you can. Note that it takes about 2 large bananas to get 1 cup mashed.

In the bowl of an electric mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended.

Beat eggs in 1 at a time and then add mashed bananas, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.

Overhead view of banana bread batter in a mixing bowl

With the mixer on low, beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I wanted to stick my face in the mixer at this point. Mmmm, vanilla. Mmm, bananas!

Pour about ⅓ of the batter into the greased loaf pan.

Sprinkle with half of the chocolate chip and walnut mixture. Pour an additional ⅓ of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining chip/nut mixture and top with remaining batter.

Chocolate chip walnut banana bread batter in loaf pan

Bake bread for about 55-60 minutes, until edges are just turning golden and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (the toothpick test!). Turn out on to rack and let cool a bit.

Slice and enjoy!

Bird's eye view of a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread with slices cut out on a marble tray with knife and bananas in background.

This is the most perfect banana bread! It's super moist and packed with banana flavor. But it also involves lots of chocolate... If you slice it when it's still a bit warm, the chocolate gets all melt-y and is heavenly.

This chocolate chip banana bread recipe may be the only kind of banana bread I make at all from now on! I also think it happens to be a pretty foolproof banana bread recipe... It's such an easy recipe that anyone can follow!

Overhead closeup view of slices cut from a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread with bananas in background.

But we can't forget the walnuts either. They add a nice little crunch and obviously a nuttiness that complements the sweetness of the bananas and chocolate just a bit.

Of course, you can leave the nuts out depending on your personal preference... But I highly recommend them!

🎉 More add-in ideas

I'm clearly a big fan of adding chocolate chips and walnuts to banana bread, but the add-in options are really endless! Here are some more goodies you can add to this homemade banana bread.

Instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips, use dark chocolate chips-
Shredded coconut
Butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips
Peanut butter or almond butter
M&Ms
Cinnamon or all-spice
Other nuts like hazelnuts or macadamia nuts
Toffee pieces
Dried fruit
Use sour cream or Greek yogurt in banana bread batter

⏲️ How to store

Always make sure banana bread is completely cool before storing. Once cooled, I recommend storing any leftovers in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature.

When stored properly, it should keep fresh for 3-4 days.

You can also freeze your leftover banana bread if you prefer. You can either store the cooled bread as a whole loaf or slice it first and store the slices. Simple wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in a Ziplock bag with air removed.

Note that if you're freezing sliced banana bread, you really should wrap each slice in foil before putting in plastic blag so they don't get freezer burn.

When you're ready to enjoy frozen banana bread, you can simply thaw on your countertop or heat it in the microwave.

🥞 How to make with pancake mix?

Did you know that homemade banana bread is easy to make with boxed pancake mix? You can use this recipe for Banana Bread with Pancake Mix and just add chocolate chips and walnuts in for a super delicious moist and flavorful banana bread.

🍞 More quick bread recipes

I love a good quick bread and often find myself making them on a whim because of how easy they are. Here are some of my favorite recipes:

Blueberry Lemon Bread
Chile Cheddar Bread
Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread
Lime Zucchini Bread (from Beyond the Chicken Coop)
Cranberry Orange Bread (from Boulder Locavore)

Overhead closeup view of a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread with a couple slices cut a knife and bananas in the background.

I'm 100% positive that this chocolate chip banana bread will be my breakfast tomorrow. Maybe just one slice. Maybe the entire thing. We will just wait and see...

What's your favorite easy recipe to bake?

📖 Recipe