Grandma's banana bread is an easy recipe with no fuss or frills and gives you great results every time! A great way to use ripe bananas too!

Grandma's Banana Bread. Gosh this is a delicious recipe!
It can often be hard searching for a tried and tested recipe for a good cake, that will be moist, tasty, and also look great, but Heather was lucky to have a grandma who enjoyed baking and keeping a record of all her recipes. This Banana Bread recipe dates back to at least the 1960's, if not further back.
Making this banana bread is a great way to use up over ripe bananas. The riper the better!
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The recipe is very straightforward and we've had some lovely stories and feedback from you saying you've baked Grandma's Banana Bread with your son/daughter and they've enjoyed mixing the ingredients and of course, enjoyed eating their creation too.
This particular recipe is quite sweet so if you haven't got a sweet tooth, feel free to reduce the sugar by knocking about ⅓ off the amount listed in the ingredients.
This delicious recipe has been generously shared by one of our foodie friends, Heather. I'll let Heather tell the story behind it!

"My grandmother (Geneva Ruth Buchanan) had it written on an old piece of paper that was shoved in an old cookbook from 1960, that she left for me when she passed... I sadly don't have the paper it was written on anymore, it has crumbled over the years and was very hard to get the recipe off of, that's why I copied it so I could have it forever!"
My Grand always made me banana bread when I was little, in a little loaf that was just mine!! So now I make it for my boys to remember her and her little kitchen smelling so wonderful! If you think people would like it, go ahead and use it!!
" A secret recipe is no fun if you don't have wonderful friends that you can share it with!"- Geneva Ruth Buchanan

Recipe by: Heather Rae Buchanan and her Grandma, Geneva Ruth Buchanan
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Yield
6 -8 Persons
You Will Need
a greased 4 x 8 inch loaf pan
Ingredients
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
⅓ cup / 75 g melted butter
1 cup / 200 g sugar
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 ½ cups / 190 g all purpose flour
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350F, Gas 4, 180 C
2. Mix butter and smashed bananas together
3. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla
4. Add baking soda and salt and mix well
5. Add flour and give it a final mix
6. Pour into a greased 4 x 8 inch loaf pan
7. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe Card

Grandma’s Banana Bread
Grandma's Banana Bread. Easy recipe with no fuss or frills and gives you great results every time!
Ingredients
- 3-4 ripe bananas
- ⅓ cup / 75 g melted butter
- 1 cup / 200 g sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups / 190 g all purpose flour
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F, Gas 4, 180 C
- Mix butter and smashed bananas together
- Add sugar, egg and vanilla
- Add baking soda and salt and mix well
- Add flour and give it a final mix
- Pour in to a greased 4 x 8 inch loaf pan
- Bake for 1 hour
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 313Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 244mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 2gSugar: 32gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
Delicious Recipes using Bananas
Here's a selection of our very best recipes using bananas.
These Muffins Are Moist, Fruity, And Extremely Delicious. They Are The Perfect Treat For Breakfast, Brunch, Or Afternoon Tea. Packed With Banana And Drizzled With Honey, A Perfect Snack
Banana Drop Cookies. Theses are a light fluffy cookie and great for using up those overripe bananas! Easy recipe too!
Banana Fritters. These are a lovely crispy treat, serve warm as they are or with some syrup drizzled over or a blob of ice cream! A great way to use up spare or leftover bananas too! Really quick and easy to make dessert.
White Chocolate and Cranberry Banana Drop Cookies.
These are a light, soft, fluffy cookie, loaded with white chocolate and cranberries. Great for using up those overripe bananas!
Banana Bread Cookies. Yep... banana bread in a cookie! Easy and flexible recipe. Great for snacks, breakfast, lunch boxes or anytime!
Easy Banana Cream Cake Trifle is amazing! Delicious layers of creamy custard, bananas and homemade banana bread, topped off with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkling of white chocolate. Simply delicious!
The BEST Banana Loaf Pound Cake, super moist, made from scratch recipe with mashed bananas. Great for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. Excellent, easy banana cake
Pecan and Banana Mini Cakes are wonderful soft, moist and full flavored with a great streusel topping. Also nice as a regular loaf size.
Chocolate Banana Muffins With a Caramel Drizzle Topping. Fluffy, soft and packed with bananas and chocolate. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or snack time.
Moist Caramel Banana Bread. Add nuts like I did or leave them out. Either way it's delicious!
No Bake Peanut Butter Banana Cheesecake. Oh boy! Super easy recipe, no bake and a chocolate chip cookie base!
Caramel Pecan Banana Pie. A delicious pecan pie crust, filled with bananas and topped with caramel sauce. Perfect for the holidays or to take to parties!
Banana Split Bread.
A great family favorite cake recipe, using ripe bananas, pineapple, cherries, nuts, and chocolate chips to give you a lovely soft bread, perfect for breakfast or a snack
Banana Cream Pie, made from scratch, VERY easy and oh so delicious! Perfect for Easter, Thanksgiving, potlucks and BBQ's too!
Banana Cream Pie Trifle Cups. A delicious no bake dessert and easy too!
The BEST Banana Walnut Loaf Pound Cake is a super moist, made from scratch recipe with mashed bananas and nuts. Great for breakfast, brunch or dessert. An excellent, easy banana cake
Creamy Strawberry Banana Smoothie. Quick and Easy to make and taste just like milkshake but without the cream or ice cream!
Chocolate Banana Boats are easy chocolate filled bananas, wrapped in foil and grilled. Perfect for camping and BBQ's. Easy recipe with just 2 ingredients
Sour Cream Banana Bread. A soft and delicious cake using sour cream and bananas makes for a lovely easy recipe. Instructions for mini loaves or regular loaf pan!
Nanny's BEST Banana Bread is a lovely soft, moist cake and absolutely delicious with the glaze poured over! A nice, easy recipe and freezer friendly too!
Butter Pecan Banana Bread - These are mini loaves,made for gifts, and will also work using regular loaf pans... mini ones are so cute!
Nutella Banana Loaf. Delicious, soft pound cake with banana and Nutella chocolate. Easy recipe and very popular. Great tasting cake
Refreshing Blueberry and Banana Smoothie is a perfect start to your day. Quick & easy recipe using fresh ingredients. Takes minutes to make and seconds to blitz
Mary
says:May i know the weight (grammes ) of 3 to 4 bananas used in this recipe.?
St
says:Made this so many times now. It’s such a perfect recipe. Have tried so many recipes before and not one of them turned out so good. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Niki
says:My second banana bread and the best! So moist and so good. Thank you & love from Amsterdam, Holland
julie
says:i have been looking for a good recipe i will be making this but just a couple of questions.. my mom recipes is the same but instead of flour she used bisquik mix just wondering what the difference would be, and second i see alot of recipes that they add sour cream.. why??.. thank you for the recipe
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Julie, thanks for writing in.
I’ve never tried this recipe using bisquik mix, so I can’t say how it would turn out with all the other ingredients. This recipe as it is has been made by lots of people and we even held a baking day on our Facebook page where lots of people joined in and baked this bread in real time and sent in their photos! So it certainly is a popular one. I would suggest you follow the recipe as it is, I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.
The use of sour cream in some recipes is to make the cake more moist and give it a smooth grain, however, this recipe wont need that at all. the bananas are more than enough to keep this from being dry and it’s a smooth grain in texture.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
Rhonda
says:This is the first time I’ve ever commented but I have been using this recipe over a year now and it turns out perfectly every time!!! I add chopped pecans!
Thank you so much for sharing it?
Rhonda
says:It is has become my “go to” recipe also?
Debra Verch
says:This indeed an excellent banana bread. I am a chef by trade and baking is my “thing”, I will be using this recipe as my go to recipe for banana bread. Your recipe instructions are clear and precise. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Debs
Amy
says:I’m no baker so I require recipes. No mention of when to add the salt. No mention of when to add the soda… Baking is chemical so these ar important. Hopefull my bread turns out since I had to add the soda while the batter was already in the pan ?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Amy, sorry to hear you couldn’t follow the recipe very well. Step 4 of the instructions tell you when you should add the salt and soda.
If you are new to baking, a good tip is to always read a recipe all the way through a couple of times before you start so it is clear in your head. I often find if I don’t do this, I can miss a part out very easily!
I hope that helps!
Have a lovely weekend.
Karen Dominion
says:Thanks for mentioning that you made it with coconut oil! I was just wondering myself if I could use it instead of butter. I’ll make one with butter and the other with the coconut oil. Just trying to make it a little healthier for me.
Teresa
says:Made this today. The only thing I did different was use coconut oil instead of butter. I made a double batch and put pecans in one and not the other. This is the BEST banana bread recipe I have ever used. LOVE it! Thank you!!!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Teresa! Thanks so much for your feedback. The addition of those pecans sounds wonderful! So happy you enjoyed the recipe!!
Krista
says:I was wondering if this could be made in a bread machine? Most bread machine recipes call for so many ingredients and I’ve made this recipe before and love it! I just want to make it in my bread machine instead of the oven.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Krista, We haven’t had anyone make this recipe using a bread machine. I would not advise it because the bread machine is designed for kneading the bread dough, which is a different technique from when you make the batter for this recipe, which is a cake batter.
Hope that helps!
Krista
says:Yes this helps a lot! I’ll continue to make this recipe, but find some other type for my bread machine! thank you! Again this recipe is AWESOME!!
Lovefoodies
says:You’re welcome Krista. On a side note, does your bread machine come with a recipe book, and also, sometimes when you Google for the machine you have, and type cake recipe, you ‘might’ come up with one. Personally, I haven’t ever done such a recipe in my machine. But do let us know what you discover!!
Happy Christmas to you and your family!
Krista
says:I do have a recipe book, and ended up making mini muffin’s with your recipe! I only wish I had more bananas to make a double recipe! As for my bread machine I have to fiddle with it some more, it isnt doing so hot in making bread.
Krista
says:Oh and Happy Christmas to you and yours as well! Be safe this holiday season!
Julie
says:I have substituted butter for coconut oil melted and wheat flour and truvia for sugar- comes out a little more dense- but awesome. Love the recipe how it is posted and give loaves as gifts but just wanted to share a slightly healthier alternative.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for adding your alternatives. It’s very helpful for any who might also want to change the recipe to their liking and of course since you have actually tried the changes and reported back, it makes it perfect advice!
Much appreciated and we’re so happy you enjoyed reading the post too!
Have a wonderful weekend ahead!
The Joyful Mama
says:Thank you for sharing your family recipe! I made my first loaf just now. I know how personal it can be to share your family recipes. She lives on!
lovefoodies
says:Hi The Joyful Mama,
I will certainly let Heather know. She is always so happy when she sees people have made her grandma’s recipe, I agree it really is a special thing to be able to share something so personal. her grandma would be so happy too I am sure!
Thanks for your comments,
Mary
Lil Smurfette
says:Hi,
I have baked the banana bread. It turns out brilliant I must say for a novice baker like myself. I’ll send ya the pic via facebk. Cheers for sharing the recipe (y)
lovefoodies
says:Hey Lisa, so cool! Glad it turned out great. It is definitely a tried and tested recipe so I’m glad you had success with your baking! Please do send in a pic, I;d love to see your loaf!
Bev Blais
says:How do I print this page. It will not let me highlight. Thanks
lovefoodies
says:There is a PRINT FRIENDLY button top right, sitting above
the main menu bar. from there you have several options to
choose from.
Thanks
Jacko
says:This here is got to be the best Banana Bread recipe you can ever find. It’s the secret of all secrets on making banana breads. I’ve tried and tested this myself a dozen times and it never fails. I even added variations like putting chocolate swirls and chocolate chips or almond and walnuts. It will only intensify the goodness and tastiness of this delectable treat. I thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe from the bottom of my heart. A special thanks to your grandmother as well. Good speed!
naomisgranny
says:yep, this is the one I use all the time. I serve it at our bridge club and am constantly getting compliments..One trick, the riper the bananas the better. Mine usually sit in the refrig a month or more before I use them, seriously, by then they are so sweet and the bread turns out wonderful.
lovefoodies
says:Hi, I agree about the ripeness of the bananas! Over at our Facebook page, Lovefoodies, there you will see we are having a ‘banana browning’ exercise, as our group will all be making this recipe in the next couple of days! Would be lovely for you to pop over and say hello to us there!
Jacko
says:This here is got to be the best Banana Bread recipe you can ever find. It’s the secret of all secrets on making banana breads. I’ve tried and tested this myself a dozen times and it never fails. I even added variations like putting chocolate swirls and chocolate chips or almond and walnuts. It will only intensify the goodness and tastiness of this delectable treat. I thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe from the bottom of my heart. A special thanks to your grandmother as well. God speed!