This easy chocolate banana bread recipe is rich, intensely chocolatey, and unbelievably soft and moist inside. It’s so good, it never lasts long.
I don’t know whether to call this chocolate banana bread a quick bread or a dessert, because it fits both perfectly. The cocoa powder adds serious chocolate flavor while ripe bananas bring natural sweetness and help keep the loaf tender.
I used our popular banana bread recipe as the base, but since cocoa powder can dry baked goods out a bit, I’ve added an extra egg and a little sour cream (yum!). They are the secret to why this turns out so rich, perfectly chocolatey, and honestly, the best chocolate banana bread we’ve made in our kitchen.
Key Ingredients
- Bananas: If you’ve followed any of our other banana recipes, you probably already know what I am going to say. Use very ripe bananas with plenty of brown spots. The riper, the better! This recipe calls for three medium bananas.
- Cocoa Powder: Choose natural unsweetened cocoa powder (like Hershey’s or Ghirardelli). Dutch-process cocoa isn’t ideal for this recipe because it doesn’t react as well with baking soda.
- Flour: All-purpose flour works perfectly. White whole wheat or whole wheat should work, too (although the loaf may turn out slightly less moist).
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: I use both to get that tall, evenly risen loaf you see in our photos.
- Butter and Oil: Melted butter adds a lot of flavor, while a bit of vegetable oil keeps the loaf extra moist, even after it’s been sitting on the counter for a day or two. I use the same combo for my favorite chocolate cake.
- Sugar: I mostly use brown sugar, but like mixing in a little granulated sugar for a bit more lift and moisture.
- Eggs: Three eggs give this loaf structure, help it rise, and keep it moist.
- Sour Cream: I love baking with sour cream since it adds tenderness, moisture, and a really lovely flavor. Use full-fat sour cream. You can substitute plain Greek yogurt. I also use sour cream when making this banana cake!
- Salt and Vanilla: These bring out the chocolate and banana.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Chocolate Banana Bread
Tip 1: Mix the hot butter and cocoa powder first. Whenever I bake with cocoa powder, I always make sure that some time rehydrating the cocoa is built into the recipe. Hot butter is perfect for this, helping break apart any clumps and bringing out the flavor of the cocoa. I do this for brownies, chocolate cake, and pretty much any chocolate recipe with butter and cocoa.
Whisk the hot butter with both sugars, vanilla, and the cocoa powder before adding any more ingredients.
Tip 2: Make the batter. Next come the eggs, mashed bananas, and sour cream. Then, when that’s combined, you can fold in the dry ingredients. Pretty easy!
Tip 3: Bake the bread. This bread rises nicely at 350°F and stays soft and moist in the center without browning too much on the outside. I bake my loaf in a 9×5-inch pan with an 8-cup capacity, and I recommend you do the same. A smaller loaf pan might cause the batter to overflow.
More Banana Recipes
Easy Chocolate Banana Bread
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We are so excited to share this chocolate banana bread with you! It’s moist, rich, and perfectly chocolatey. I’m actually stuck between calling it a loaf or a dessert! It really is excellent. For the best results, use natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed), full-fat sour cream, and very ripe bananas. For double chocolate banana bread, add the optional chocolate chips to the batter before baking.
You Will Need
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (228g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, reduce to ½ teaspoon if sensitive to salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85g)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
⅔ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder, like Ghirardelli or Hershey’s, spooned and leveled (60g)
1 cup light brown sugar (200g)
¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed, about 1 ½ cups (340g)
½ cup sour cream or full-fat Greek yogurt (120g)
½ cup chocolate chips, optional (85g)
Directions
1Prep: Heat to 350°F (175°C). Butter and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan (8-cup capacity). Place it onto a baking sheet.
2Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until evenly blended.
3Melt the butter: Melt the butter with the oil in a small saucepan (or use a microwave-safe bowl).
4Make the batter: Whisk the hot melted butter mixture with the cocoa powder, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until well combined and mostly smooth. When only warm, whisk in the eggs. Then, whisk in the mashed banana and sour cream. Switch to a rubber spatula to fold in the dry ingredients, adding half at a time, folding until that’s mostly incorporated, then finishing with the remaining half. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
5Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake, with the pan set on the baking sheet, for 55 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few moist crumbs are okay).
6Cool: Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: This lasts in an airtight container, on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week. To freeze, double wrap it with one layer of plastic wrap and one layer of aluminum foil, then freeze it for up to 6 months.
- Measuring your flour and cocoa: Either weigh it or use the “spoon and level” method: Fluff the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, and level off the top with a flat edge. You can see me do this in our video!
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We did not include chocolate chips.
This is a fantastic loaf. I have made it about 6 times. We like it so much that I always make a double batch and put in a few extra chocolate chips. . I provided it recently to the refreshments at a church Christmas event and some of the compliments that I received were
‘It’s to die for’.
Wow, that’s such a lovely compliment! This is an amazing loaf to bake for others (people always get so excited when they see it!). Thanks for coming back and sharing with us, Janice!
Hi Adam and Joanne, I made ‘both’ of your recipes: Easy Flaky Butter Pie Crust with your Best Apple Pie and they are both EXCELLENT! (No more pie crusts with shortening in our house, its your Flaky crust); it is so similar to a pastry crust in pastries/cookies. Speaking of that, can I use this recipe to make filled cookies, for example Kolaczki cookies..possibly just roll it thin? Thank you very much for your delicious recipes and website. Happy Holidays! Jane
such a great recipe! just what i need for all those frozen bananas i have. it’s moist and delicious and super chocolaty!
When and where do you add the oil? Since I couldn’t wait to try this I just winged it and added it with the cocoa. In the oven now- let’s see what we get!
Hi Sheila, I apologize! It was missed in the instructions, but is fixed now. Your instinct to add along eith the butter to the cocoa was correct!
There is 3 tbsp vegetable oil in the ingredients list but it doesn’t appear in the instructions.
Hi Isobel! I apologize, it was missed and is not fixed. It’s added to the butter in the saucepan.
Can you use dark brown sugar in place of light brown sugar in the chocolate banana bread recipe?
Yes, that sub will work really well 🙂
I love your receipe. I enjoyed baking now love love
Yay! We are so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂