Brown Butter Banana Bread
Browning the butter for this Brown Butter Banana Bread is a simple step that creates a rich depth of flavor in your banana bread.
When you find yourself with spotty, over-ripe bananas, it’s time to make banana bread! You are going to love this brown butter banana bread for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert! It’s delicious spread with peanut butter or almond butter. Sometimes I add chocolate chips but most of the time I enjoy this banana bread as is. It really doesn’t need any extras!
I have quite a few banana bread recipes on this site, and I love each of them for different reasons. There is my favorite healthy banana bread and this classic banana bread recipe. Next we have this whole wheat blueberry banana bread, full of sweet blueberries. Finally there is chocolate banana bread, for when you’re craving chocolate.
And today we have this brown butter banana bread recipe. Taking a few minutes to brown the butter creates a rich, deep flavor. Brown butter lends a nutty, toffee-like flavor to this banana bread. If you’ve never browned butter don’t worry, I’ll teach you how! It’s so simple and takes just an extra two minutes or so after you melt the butter.
How to Make Brown Butter Banana Bread
You’ll mix up the batter for this brown butter banana bread up in one bowl. It’s so easy!
I always recommend mixing the batter for quick breads, such as banana bread, and muffins by hand. Using an electric mixer could create a dense or spongy bread. Mixing by hand will give you the best texture!
- Brown the butter.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl.
- Mix in the other wet ingredients: brown butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
- Mix in cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix very well!
- Mix in the flour until just combined.
- Bake, cool and enjoy!
How to Brown Butter
To brown butter, you will first melt the butter in a pan on the stove over medium heat. A light colored pan will allow you to best see when your butter has browned.
After the butter has melted, you will start to see the white milk solids separate from the butter.
Stir or whisk the butter constantly as you continue heating it. You will begin to see brown flecks in the butter. As soon as you see lots of browned bits of butter on the bottom of the pan and smell the browned butter’s toasted, nutty aroma, immediately remove it from the heat. Butter can go from browned to burnt very quickly. Your sense of smell is the best way to tell when it’s done.
When you transfer the brown butter to your mixing bowl, be sure to scrape in the brown butter solids as well. That’s where the best flavor is!
Baking Tips for Banana Bread with Brown Butter
- Use very ripe, brown spotted bananas for the best banana bread flavor. Extra ripe bananas add more sweetness and a richer flavor.
- Watch your butter carefully and stir constantly as you brown it. As soon as you see brown flecks and smell a nutty, toasted aroma, remove the brown butter from the hot pan to prevent burning.
- Be careful to not over-bake your banana bread. It’s done when a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. You can cover the banana bread after 35-40 minutes to prevent the top from over-browning.
More Quick Bread Recipes:
Banana Bread with Brown Butter
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups mashed ripe banana, about 4 medium bananas
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9 x 5-inch (or 8.5 x 4.5-inch) loaf pan with baking spray (I used coconut oil spray) or grease with butter.
- Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Continue stirring until the butter turns golden and small brown flecks appear. Be careful to watch the butter closely as it can go from browned to burnt quickly. Immediately remove from the heat and continue stirring for 30 seconds longer. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed banana, brown sugar and brown butter. Whisk until well combined. Whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Add the cinnamon, baking soda and salt to the bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Add the flour and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (Try not to over-bake.) Let bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Use very ripe bananas for the most sweetness and the best banana bread flavor.
- Check on the banana bread after 35-40 minutes and cover it loosely with foil if needed to prevent the top from over-browning.
- Recipe update 9/28/24: This recipe used to call for 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg but I have since omitted it because I prefer the flavor of this banana bread without nutmeg.
The final reason why this recipe is the best? It’s a perfect baking project to do when you have a little helper in the kitchen. Mashing the banana, scooping and leveling the flour, stirring it all together… all perfect jobs for little hands.
Brilliant touch using brown butter!
Great recipe! The taste of nutmeg really comes through! The use of brown butter (ghee as we call it in India) is interesting!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this bread, Deepa! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Banana bread is a classic! Love the idea of changing it up a bit! Pinning!
Thanks, Karly! The brown butter adds another flavor dimension!
In the instructions it says to add cloves but in the list of ingredients it doesn’t list cloves (?) What kind of cloves are supposed to be added? I already put everything together & I don’t have any cloves. (Yikes! Now what?)
Also, are you using a 9×5 bread pan?
Thank you for catching that! I updated this recipe a while back and took the cloves out of the ingredients, but forgot to remove them from the instructions. It’s delicious without the cloves. 🙂 Yes, I use a 9×5-inch bread pan.
Moist and full of banana spice flavors, this bread is a tasty addition to breakfast.
Is using bread flour making a big difference in the texture?
It shouldn’t make too much of a difference.
I LOVE this recipe! The brown butter just makes it so good. Last time I made it as muffins (the recipe made 12 muffins) and baked for about 20-25 minutes and they were delicious.