This Brown Butter Banana Bread is packed with flavor, with browned butter in both the batter and the cream cheese frosting. It's moist, hearty, and easy to make.
Brown Butter Banana Bread Recipe Snapshot
What it is: Moist and flavorful banana bread made with brown butter and cream cheese frosting.
Why you'll love it: The browned butter complements the banana with a toasty, nutty flavor.
How to make it: Heat butter in a pan until brown, then mix with the other ingredients, pour into a loaf pan, and bake.
Reader Review:
This banana bread is one of the best I've ever had. The nutty butter, the brown sugar and bananas taste almost honey like in the final product. It smells so good even after reheating and it was a struggle to not inhale half a loaf in one sitting!
This recipe is a keeper and I'm keen to try more from the blog. ❤️
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Megan
I may be biased, but I'm convinced this is the best banana bread recipe I have ever tried. The banana works so perfectly with the nutty flavor of the brown butter, and the texture is wonderful and varied with the moist crumbs and slight crunch of the pecans.
Jump to:
Ingredients
This recipe uses all the same ingredients as a classic banana bread recipe, but the brown butter does some heavy lifting when it comes to the flavor!
- Bananas - Use overripe bananas for the best flavor and texture. The browner the better!
- Butter - Use unsalted butter; we're going to brown the butter to use in both the banana bread and the frosting.
- Sugar - Part of the sugar will be white, granulated sugar (caster sugar in the UK).
- Light Brown Sugar - The remaining sugar will be light brown sugar - this will add to the flavor and texture of the banana bread.
- Greek Yoghurt - This is what will give us a super moist banana bread. You can substitute with sour cream.
- Vegetable Oil - A little oil will help replace some of the moisture that is lost from the butter in the browning process. Any neutral oil will do.
- Eggs - Use large eggs in the US or medium eggs in the UK.
- Flour - All-purpose flour (plain flour) is best for banana bread, it provides structure but will also produce a strong but soft loaf.
- Vanilla - Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste will help show off those bananas.
- Pecans - I love what the chopped pecans bring to this banana bread! They add a soft crunch to the texture and complement the brown butter and banana flavors so beautifully. You can substitute with other nuts, or leave them out entirely.
- Cream Cheese - For the cream cheese frosting, use full fat cream cheese (not the spreadable kind).
- Powdered Sugar - (icing sugar) Also for the frosting, this will provide sweetness and also thicken the frosting so it can hold its shape.
See recipe card for measurements in both grams and cups (though I always recommend using a kitchen scale).
What You'll Need
- 9 x 5-inch Loaf Pan
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Light colored pan
- Wooden spoon
- Stand mixer - the banana bread itself doesn't require a mixer, but the frosting is definitely easier if you have an electric whisk or stand mixer.
How to Make Brown Butter Banana Bread
Note: Both the banana bread and the frosting have brown butter in them, so I developed the recipe to brown it all at once to save you from doing it twice. If you don't want ot make the frosting, you can brown half as much butter (or just keep the extra to make some Brown Butter Cookies!)
Make The Browned Butter
There is no better (and easier) way to elevate any dessert recipe than by using brown butter. The amount of deliciousness that comes from just one small extra step is unreal.
I do have an entire blog post about how to brown butter if you'd like a more in-depth guide and process pictures.
- Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. It will start to bubble and make a crackling sound. Once the crackling subsides, the butter will start to brown quickly.
- Watch the butter closely. Once it's a deep golden brown color and you can smell an irresistible nutty aroma, it's ready. Remove from the heat immediately and transfer to a heatproof bowl.
- Put 113g (½ cup) of the liquid brown butter into your mixing bowl to make the banana bread, and set the rest aside to cool. Try to make sure the little brown specks are split evenly between the two lots of butter - these are the milk solids that provide all the flavor!
- If you are making your brown butter ahead of time, just keep it all in one bowl in the fridge and split it in half later - it's much easier to divide it evenly when it is in its solid state. Stir first to evenly disperse those brown bits!)
Then you can just re-melt the half that is for the banana bread in the microwave.
Make the Banana Bread
Before you begin, grease and line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, and preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan).
Chop the pecans roughly and set aside. If you made your brown butter ahead of time, be sure to melt it in the microwave in 30-second increments to bring it back to its liquid state
Butter + Sugar
Add the white and brown sugar to the liquid brown butter and mix together with a whisk.
Mash Bananas
Mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher, then add them to the butter/sugar mixture and stir them in.
Wet Ingredients
Add the wet ingredients, including the eggs, vanilla, greek yogurt, and vegetable oil. Mix everything together until well combined.
Dry Ingredients
Sift the dry ingredients into a medium bowl, including the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix them together well before adding to the banana mixture and whisking gently to combine everything. Make sure there are no lumps of the flour mixture.
Add Nuts
Add the chopped pecans to the banana bread batter and mix them in to disperse them evenly - I advise switching to a wooden spoon or a spatula for this part as the pieces of pecans can get stuck in a whisk.
Bake
Pour the banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let your delicious banana bread cool in the pan for about an hour before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make The Brown Butter Frosting
This homemade banana bread is already insanely delicious, but to take it to a whole new level, I love adding this brown butter cream cheese frosting on top! It really makes it into the best ever banana bread recipe!
You won't need all of the brown butter made earlier, so you'll have a little left for spreading onto your slices of banana bread.
- Put the solidified brown butter into a bowl with the cream cheese - both should be room temperature.
- Beat together until combined and smooth.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Frost the cooled banana bread.
Reader Review:
This was the best banana bread I've ever had! I added a combo of chopped pecans and mini semi sweet chocolate morsels - a big hit! Highly recommend making this for friends and family!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Caroline
Variations
- Regular Butter - If you aren't keen on making the browned butter, this is still my go-to recipe for the perfect banana bread. You'll still get amazing flavor and perfect texture if you use regular melted butter instead of brown butter.
- Without Frosting - Frosting on banana bread isn't for everyone, so feel free to skip that step and make this without the frosting. You'll only need half the quantity of butter stated in the recipe, and you can skip adding the oil.
For some extra flair, you could also add a sliced banana to the top of the batter before baking, if you won't be covering it in frosting. Or sprinkle with some brown sugar for a lovely crunchy top!
- Chocolate Chips - What isn't made better by chocolate chips? Add ¾ cup chocolate chips at the same time (or instead of) the pecans for a simple twist on this recipe.
- Pecan Butter - For an alternative to cream cheese frosting, try spreading a slice of the banana bread with my pecan butter recipe - it's to die for!
Storage
Store your brown butter banana bread in the fridge in an airtight container. It will be good like this for up to 5 days.
It's best enjoyed at room temperature, so remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving.
Show Me Your Bakes!
If you make this recipe, please tag @bonni_bakery on Instagram or send me a photo - I love seeing all your creations.
Want your bake featured on the blog? You can also upload a photo here.
More Easy Cakes
If you're inspired to get baking by this banana bread, you might like some of these other easy cake recipes:
Recipe
Brown Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 227 g (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter This amount is for the banana bread AND the frosting. If you are just making the banana bread, use 1 stick / 113g)
- 3 Medium Bananas roughly 320g - very ripe
- 100 g (½ cup) Granulated Sugar (caster sugar)
- 110 g (½ cup) Light Brown Sugar
- 113 g (2 sticks) Brown Butter (prepared earlier)
- 2 Large Eggs
- 80 g (⅓ cup) Greek Yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- 160 g (1⅓ cups) All-purpose Flour (plain flour)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 90 g (¾ cup) Pecans (optional)
- 42 g (3 tablespoon) Brown Butter (prepared earlier)
- 85 g (3 oz) Cream Cheese (room temperature)
- 180 g (1½ cups) Powdered Sugar (icing sugar)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 pinch Salt
Instructions
- Cut the butter into smaller chunks and place in a light-colored pan over medium heat. (See recipe notes about browning the butter for the banana bread and the frosting at the same time to save you from doing it twice).227 g (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter
- As the butter melts, it will start to bubble and make a crackling sound. Keep going, stirring occasionally.
- After the crackling subsides, the butter will start to brown quickly, so keep an eye on it. A foam may form on top, you can just use your spoon to push it to the side to check the color of the butter.
- When the butter is a deep golden brown color, and you can smell an irresistible nutty aroma, the brown butter is ready! Remove from the heat and pour into a heatproof bowl immediately to prevent any further browning.
- Put 113g (½ cup) of the liquid brown butter into your mixing bowl to make the banana bread, and set the rest aside to cool. Try to make sure the little brown specks are split evenly between the two lots of butter - these are the milk solids that provide all the flavor!* If you are making your brown butter ahead of time, just keep it all in one bowl in the fridge and split it in half later - it's much easier to divide it evenly when it is in its solid state. (Give it a really good stir first to evenly disperse those brown bits!) Then you can just re-melt the half that is for the banana bread in the microwave.
- For more info on browning butter, check out my blog post - How to Make Brown Butter.
- Grease and line a 9x5 loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan-assisted)
- Put your liquid brown butter in a large bowl along with the sugar and light brown sugar. (If you made your brown butter earlier, be sure to melt it in the microwave to bring it back to a liquid state). Mix everything together with a whisk.100 g (½ cup) Granulated Sugar, 113 g (2 sticks) Brown Butter, 110 g (½ cup) Light Brown Sugar
- Peel your bananas and mash them in a small bowl with a fork or potato masher. Add them to the butter/sugar mixture and mix with the whisk.3 Medium Bananas
- Add the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, and vegetable oil and whisk everything in until combined.2 Large Eggs, 80 g (⅓ cup) Greek Yoghurt, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- Sift in the dry ingredients, including the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.160 g (1⅓ cups) All-purpose Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Salt
- Chop the pecans roughly and mix them into the batter - you may want to switch to a spoon or spatula for this part, as the pecans can get stuck in the whisk.90 g (¾ cup) Pecans
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the banana bread comes out clean.
- The reserved brown butter you prepared earlier should have solidified by now. If you had it in the fridge, be sure to bring it to room temperature before using. Give it a good mix to evenly disperse all the milk solids (little brown specks). Take 3 tablespoons and add them to the bowl of a stand mixer (or regular bowl with an electric whisk).42 g (3 tbsp) Brown Butter
- Add the cream cheese (also at room temperature) and beat together with the brown butter, just until combined.85 g (3 oz) Cream Cheese
- Add the powdered sugar and mix in slowly to avoid a sugar explosion all over your worktop. Once it's all incorporated, add the vanilla and a pinch of salt, then turn the mixer to high speed for about a minute.1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1 pinch Salt, 180 g (1½ cups) Powdered Sugar
- Spread over the top of your cooled banana bread and enjoy.
Jody
In the instructions under "make the banana bread" it shows to use 227g butter but I thought for the cake part it's supposed to be 113g?? Then for the frosting it's 42g. Im confused. How is it we need 227g? 113+42=155g 🤔
I must not be understanding something right. Can u clarify?
Megan
Finally made this recipe after Jules explained her process of recipe testing. Baking is comfort and a luxury for me so I can’t afford to waste it on bad recipes. This was a very easy recipe to follow. The instructions to brown butter are clear with enough sensory cues to know when it’s done. I love that even banana weight was provided because my bananas were smaller and I had to use 5 to get to 320g. I didn’t do the frosting because I wanted to freeze some for later. Even without it, this bread is one of the best I’ve ever had. The nutty butter, the brown sugar and bananas taste almost honey like in the final product. It smells so good even after reheating and it was a struggle to not inhale half a loaf in one sitting! This recipe is a keeper and I’m keen to try more from the blog. ❤️
Jules Grasekamp
Ahh I'm so happy to hear this Megan! It's always wonderful to have people that appreciate the time and effort that goes into developing these recipes, and hearing people enjoy making them at home really makes my day!
Thank you for trying my recipe and for taking the time to let me know you loved the banana bread!
Jules
Megan
Hi. Before trying the recipe, I wanted to ask if you test your recipes in the listed metric measurements? I’ve had bad experiences with online recipes that test in cups and spoons but use a generic converter to add metric measurements, which don’t always translate to the same result. Would love to know what your process is? Thanks
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Megan,
i'm so glad you asked this!
I am a professional baker and recipe developer and ALWAYS use metric measurements for baking and testing.
To be honest, I begrudgingly list the measurements in cups on my site because a large portion of my readers are based in the US where a lot of people aren't comfortable using a scale to weigh their ingredients, so i include both measurements so as not to discourage anyone from trying, however I do usually state in the post that I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh out the ingredients as it provides much more accurate results.
Also, once I have my metric measurements, I never use an automated converter to get the cup measurements - I always do this manually.
I take a lot of pride in my work and spend a great amount of time and care ensuring that my recipes are as accurate and reliable as possible.
I hope this reassures you a little and that you love making this banana bread when you try it!
All the best,
Jules
Megan
Thank you so much for the detailed reply and I’m so happy to have found a proper baker who tests recipes in metric measurements. I’m excited to try the recipe and will post a follow up comment when I do!
Jules Grasekamp
I hope you love it!
Jules
Ana
I'm wondering why it's so heavy after it's baked? I'm following the recipe except I didn't have yogurt.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Ana,
I just replied to your other comment about this but wanted to reply here too! Banana bread is naturally more heavy and dense than other baked goods like cakes, but if it is heavier than you think it should be we can troubleshoot!
Did you replace the yogurt with anything? If you just left it it would make the banana bread quite dense and stodgy, which is probably why it is heavier than it should be.
Hope this helps!
Jules
Ana
Thank you for responding. Yes I believe its heavier than it should be. BUT, I didn't substitute it with anything else as you mentioned in the notes. My mistake. I'll make sure to add it next time. Thank you so much.
Ana
The best recipe. I love the brown butter. I did add cinnamon and nutmeg. The final results has me.wondering how come it's so heavy after
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Ana,
I'm so glad you loved the banana bread recipe!
When you say it's heavy, what do you mean? Banana bread is naturally more dense and heavy than something like cake, but that is how it is supposed to be. If it is still heavier than you think it should be I'd be happy to help you troubleshoot?
Jules
Jenny Stokes
Can I use the cake setting on my bread maker to bake this. Can I use gluten free flour?
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Jenny,
I haven't tested the recipe with gluten free flour but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
As for the bread maker, every appliance is different! I'm sure it will bake but the bake times will likely vary drastically so make sure you check it to see if it's done. Also the texture may be slightly different if made in a bread maker.
Hope it turns out great for you!
Jules
Lewis
I can confirm that this tastes absolutely UNREAL.