Make soft, rich, same-day sourdough banana bread at home with active starter or sourdough discard. One bowl. Simple recipe. My secret? All brown sugar, overripe bananas, and a specific mixing order for a velvety soft texture and bold, caramel taste.
I’ve tested hundreds of banana bread recipes in my career and here’s what I know: this is not your average sourdough banana bread. The texture is soft and smooth, like velvet. Everyone asks for the recipe. It’s the only banana bread recipe I make.
The original version comes from The Boathouse restaurant in Manly, Australia, which I adapted to include sourdough. You can use bubbly, active sourdough or sourdough discard– whatever you have is fine.
I like to make this recipe on the same day using leftover discard from fluffy sourdough pancakes, sourdough pasta or even sourdough bread. However, feel free to ferment the batter overnight if you prefer. The texture will only change slightly due to how much the flour absorbs overnight.
Want to bake more? Check out my full collection of sourdough discard recipes here.
What Makes It Ultimate?
- All brown sugar. When combined with perfectly overripe bananas and pure vanilla extract, it creates the most exquisite caramel taste. It will blow you away. No white sugar is used in this recipe.
- Specific mixing order. Typically when making a quick bread like this, you’d simply combine the wet and dry ingredients and call it a day. But here, you’ll cream a portion of the wet ingredients first, then add the dry ingredients, followed by the milk and olive oil. I was definitely hesitant about this mixing order (the batter looks totally strange when you get to the oil part). But it’s the science behind the banana bread’s velvety soft texture.
- No cinnamon. Shocking, I know. But your won’t miss it. Cinnamon is lovely but strong and the lack of it really let’s that caramel flavor shine through.
How To make Sourdough Banana Bread {Step-by-Step Recipe}
To Start: Preheat the oven to 360 F (that’s not a typo). Baking at 10 degrees higher than the standard 350 F gives this sourdough banana bread a nice lift. Thn coast your loaf pan with softened butter Normally, I use a 9×5-inch pan. You can also use three 7x3x2 mini loaf pans instead. I like to freeze the little ones individually. So cute!
Next: Add the bananas, brown sugar and vanilla extract to a bowl. Don’t bother slicing the bananas, just break them up by hand. Cream together with a stand mixer or hand held mixer. Add the eggs and the sourdough starter.
Add: The dry ingredients, followed by the milk and oil. The liquids will not blend in right away. Just keep mixing on low speed until completely absorbed. Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s).
To Finish: Place into a sheet pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Plan on 60-65 minutes for a standard loaf pan and 45 minutes for the mini pans. Cool before cutting into thick, sturdy slices.
Final Thoughts:
Friends, please look no further. This sourdough banana bread is truly the very best. It’s soft and moist, packed with caramel-banana flavor in every bit. Take a cue from The Boathouse restaurant and serve it with salted butter or mascarpone cheese for a decadent treat! Then come back and bake my moist sourdough blueberry muffins, these easy, no-roll sourdough scones, sourdough waffles (overnight or same day) and more.
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Ultimate Sourdough Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf or 3 mini loaves 1x
- Category: Sourdough Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Banana bread is a comfort food classic. My secret is plenty of brown sugar, overripe bananas, and a specific mixing order for the ultimate sourdough banana bread. Recipe adapted from The Boathouse restaurant in Manly, Australia.
Notes:
Out of sourdough starter? You can still make this recipe (and it’s delicious!). Increase the milk to 125 ml (1/2 cup) total.
You will need a standard 9×5-inch loaf pan or three 7x3x2 mini loaf pans for baking.
Ingredients
- Butter, for coating the pan
- 375 g overripe bananas (appx. 1 1/2 cups lightly smashed)
- 225 g (1 1/4 cups lightly packed) light or dark brown sugar
- 1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g (appx. 1/2 cup) active sourdough starter or or sourdough discard
- 250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 60ml (1/4 cup) milk
- 125ml (½ cup) neutral flavored oil
- Powdered sugar, butter, and mascarpone cheese for serving, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360 F.
- Lightly coat three 7x3x2 mini loaf pans or one 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter.
- Add the bananas, sugar, and vanilla to a bowl. Cream with a hand held mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, about 30 seconds to 1 minute (some small lumps of banana are okay).
- Add the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Add the sourdough starter.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl. Working in batches, add this to the banana mixture.
- Add the milk and oil and mix until just combined. Do not over do it; the banana bread will be tough.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). If using the mini loaf pans, place them onto a baking sheet and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 45 minutes (for the mini loaf pans) or 60- 65 minutes (for the standard 9×5-inch pan), until rich golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cover with foil if the loaf browns too quickly.
- Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve with powdered sugar for a nice touch!
Comments
Erin says
The best banana bread! Added walnuts and a little cinnamon.
CC says
I need some advice- what temp and time are you guys baking this at for a glass loaf pan? Has anyone tried it? I’ve done it 3x and can’t seem to get it right. The outside is so dark, almost burnt. Today I did 325° for 70 min. It’s not as dark as it has been, but still too much for my liking and needed additional time for the middle to cook 😓HELP!
Jnish says
Amazing banana bread! I split it into two loaf pans and it made two nice sized loaves. For me a single loaf would be too large and difficult to cook through. Will definitely be my go to recipe for banana bread.
Laura Lieber says
I always make some kind of sweet – a cake, a quick bread, something – when I bake my sourdough because the oven is already hot, and I had some over-the-hill bananas around, so this seemed worth trying. Banana bread has always been one of those things that is….ok? Fine? Not special but something to keep a cup of tea from being lonely. This, though, was AMAZING. It was so flavorful! So tender, with such a perfect, barely-there-but-definitely-there crust. I do not understand the alchemy but I will be making this again as soon as I can age some more bananas!!
Abi says
Yep, this is legit the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever made! It has this shattering thin crust which gives way to the soft tender crumb. Using all brown sugar is an absolute gamerchanger as well.
I only made this to use up some frozen bananas that were taking up loads of awkward space in the freezer, and I’m really glad I did.
Susie says
First time ever leaving a comment on a recipe. This recipe is easy to make, and is SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. My husband said it tastes just like the Starbucks banana bread, only better, and that was with replacing half of the brown sugar with monk fruit (for less sugar).
Seema says
Do you long ferment these (overnight)? If so, when would you do that for this recipe and what ingredients would you ferment with the starter?
Theresa says
This is the BEST Banana bread I have ever had, I used buttermilk in lieu of regular milk, extra discard, also incorporated pecans, coconut and raisins. AMAZING!! I also used pecan oil for the oil WONDERFUL!!
Emilie Raffa says
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Momo says
This time I made it in a 9 x 9 square pan this time I’m baking it as muffins I absolutely love how easy this recipe is and it’s delicious and not overly sweet
Jen says
What a find of a recipe! The batter easily comes together. The baked texture is super lush. Loved the banana flavor without adding spices, nuts, etc. The end slice was my favorite as the browned edges were extra delicious. I subbed half the flour for whole wheat flour, subbed Greek yogurt for the eggs, reduced sugar by 100g. This is an absolute keeper and I now want to try more of Emilie’s recipes!
Emilie Raffa says
Love the Greek yogurt sub for the eggs! Thanks for sharing! 🥰
Sandstorm says
Everyone loves this banana bread. It Actual gets eaten. Also, it gets requested.
Alissa says
I am staying at my parents house right now. So I don’t have my starter. I subbed Greek yogurt for the starter and I only did one cup of brown sugar. Also subbed butter. I made this batch into cupcakes while I normally just do a loaf. When I’m at home with my starter I normally add protein powder and it turns out great. This recipe is no fail!
Jewel says
I’ve made this about four times now—always comes out perfect! My 3 and 5-year-old love to help me! It’s a family favorite! Love the small loaves so I can make one with walnuts for myself hehe
Amelie Muller says
Literally the best recipe I’ve ever baked! I’ve also replaced a few ingredients to accommodate gluten and sugar intolerance. I replaced the flour with a combination of almond, buckwheat, oat, rice and spelt flour with psyllium husk to keep it super moist. As for the sugar, I found that coconut palm sugar works really well! Love the recipe!!! ❤️
Janine says
Ok this is the best banana bread recipe I have found! Only thing I changed is I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar because I didn’t have brown sugar.
I fed my starter on September 18th, didn’t have time to bake so put it in the fridge until September 20th, took it out and made this recipe after the starter was room temperature.
I had to bake it 70 minutes, but at the 60 minute mark I covered it with tinfoil.