THE BEST BANANA BREAD – 3 WAYS

Mmmmm, nothing beats the smell of a tasty treat baking in the oven. My kids LOVE banana bread and it honestly never lasts through the day at our house. This recipe is my favorite, it always turns out light and fluffy, but still moist at the same time. And I love that it uses yogurt instead of oil. Adding yogurt and bananas make it healthy right? Of course!

Banana bread is amazing by itself, but what if you added chocolate chips or even Nutella into the mix?

Let’s head to the kitchen and find out!

(I made this batch in mini loaf pans so that I could make it all three ways.)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour

  • 3/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas – best flavor right before they go bad)

  • 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I use vanilla yogurt, or banana bread flavor if I can find it)

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • cooking spray

  • chocolate chips and/or Nutella

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350*F.

  • Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

  • Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute).

  • Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

  • Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended.

  • Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. (If adding chocolate chips, mix those in now.)

  • Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. (If adding Nutella, add about half of the batter into the pan, then add in a ribbon of the Nutella on top of the batter, then add the rest of the batter to the pan.)

  • Bake at 350* F for 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (If using a 9 inch bread pan, bake for about 50 minutes.)

  • Cool 10 minutes in a pan on a wire rack; remove from the pan. Cool completely on the wire rack.