Classic banana bread with a twist! The addition of Greek yogurt adds lots of moisture and a touch of tang to offset the sweetness. This Greek yogurt banana bread is sweet and tender – a perfect way to use up an abundance of overripe bananas and nearly expired yogurt.
Banana bread is a kitchen staple that everyone has their own recipe for. I often find banana bread to be either too stodgy and dense or dry and over-baked. This particular version contains loads of mashed bananas as well as full fat Greek yogurt to really ensure a moist, tender crumb. Sour cream can be used instead, but what I love about this Greek yogurt banana bread is the ever so slight tang that the yogurt lends to the bread. It offsets the warm sweetness of the cinnamon. Toasted, chopped nuts or chocolate chips can be added for extra texture and flavor. And if you love this recipe, be sure to try my Banana Bread Muffins!
HOW THIS RECIPE COMES TOGETHER
- 1. Whisk all dry ingredients. This recipe calls for the reverse creaming method. Typically a recipe calls for butter and sugar being beaten together first before the addition of eggs and then dry ingredients. In this recipe, all the dry ingredients including the sugar are creamed with the butter first. This produces a much more tender crumb in my opinion. So the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, brown and granulated sugars are first whisked well together.
- 2. Add the butter. Next, cubed room temperature butter is added to the dry ingredients and beaten or “creamed” for a couple of minutes until the mixture looks like damp sand.
- 3. Add the wet ingredients. Room temperature eggs are added one at a time, followed by the Greek yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
- 4. Add any additions. At this point, chopped nuts or chocolate chips can be added to the banana bread batter.
- 5. Bake! The banana bread is baked for about an hour in a 350 degree F oven.
INGREDIENTS & NOTES
- 1. Why salted butter? I prefer using salted butter when baking because it has more flavor. If you are sensitive to salt, use unsalted butter instead. The salt in the recipe can also be increased from 1/4 tsp to a 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter.
- 2. Why Greek yogurt? Full fat, plain Greek yogurt is a wonderful addition to baked goods because it adds both fat and moisture. Full fat sour cream can replace the Greek yogurt in a pinch. I do not recommend using lower fat or flavored yogurt or sour cream as it will significantly affect the flavor and texture of the final banana bread.
- 3. Banana bread additions. Milk, semi sweet or dark chocolate chips are my personal favorite addition to banana bread. Toasted, chopped walnuts or pecans are a close second.
- 4. Reverse creaming. As stated above, this recipe uses the reverse creaming method. So instead of creaming the butter and sugar first, then adding eggs and dry ingredients, the dry ingredients are actually creamed with the butter first. The butter and dry ingredients will clump together and become sort of sandy before the eggs, yogurt and bananas are added. What I love about this method is it ensures a more tender crumb that doesn’t dry out or become tough when baked. This method is also much quicker and more efficient than the traditional creaming method.
- 5. Pan selection. A typical 9 x 5 loaf pan can be used to bake this banana bread in. I actually prefer to bake my quick breads in a 9 x 4 pullman loaf pan. The taller sides make the slices of banana bread look as though they came out of a fancy cafe. Note that the banana bread may take a bit longer to bake in a pullman loaf pan.
Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
A recipe for classic banana bread made with Greek yogurt!
Equipment
- 1 kitchen scale
- 1 hand or stand mixer
- 1 9 x 5 baking pan
- 1 whisk
- 1 spatula
- 1 set of measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (105 grams) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) salted butter cubed and room temperature
- 2 extra large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) whole milk, plain Greek yogurt or sour cream room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (345 grams) mashed bananas (about 3-4 bananas)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120 grams) chopped nuts optional
- 1 cup (180 grams) chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan or 9 x 4 pullman loaf pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and both sugars. Add the cubed butter and beat with a paddle on medium low for a couple of minutes until the mixture looks like damp sand.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed to incorporate. Add the yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla and beat for another minute or two until well mixed. At this point, add any additions like nuts and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Bake on the center rack for 55-65 minutes until a cake tester comes out of the center of the loaf mostly clean. Let the loaf cool for 30 minutes in the pan before removing it. Tip the banana bread out and let it continue to cool on a rack.
- Store the banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
Freezing: Banana bread can be frozen whole or in individual slices for up to 3 months. To freeze the banana bread whole, place on a tray in the freezer until frozen solid, then transfer the loaf to a freezer-safe bag or container. To freeze slices, slice the banana bread and lay the slices out on a parchment paper lined tray. Freeze the slices until solid and then transfer them to a freeze-safe bag or container.
