I give you my best ever brown butter caramelized banana bread, which is without a doubt the banana bread of all banana breads. It is incredibly moist and tender, over the top flavorful, and basically just melts in your mouth.
I am so excited to bring you this brown butter caramelized banana bread! I shared a few behind the scenes of testing it over on Instagram the other day and received an outpouring of messages asking for the recipe. Well, it’s here! So let’s get right to it.
This recipe starts with your basic dry ingredients. I then combine both regular, granulated sugar and honey…along with some deliciously nutty brown butter. Basically, you’ll start by just melting the butter in a saucepan and then allowing it to cook even further until golden brown. You’ll want to watch this closely as it tends to burn quickly. The brown butter completely enhances the banana bread’s flavor and adds that little extra something that I love.
The bread also has mashed bananas (of course) and some tangy, creamy Greek yogurt. The yogurt adds a really nice richness that helps with the overall texture of the bread. And you definitely want to make sure to use extremely brown bananas for this. They should be extra dark and extra soft for the best tasting banana bread!
For a bit more flavor, I’m using both vanilla and almond extract. I love using almond extract in my baking and I think it plays really well here.
Once the batter comes together, it gets poured into a loaf pan. You’ll then quickly caramelize some additional bananas with butter and a little more honey. This is the secret to the best ever banana bread. Half of the mixture gets poured into the batter, creating an extra dense & moist interior. And then I like to save the rest of it to drizzle over the bread once it’s out of the oven.
IT IS HEAVEN.
And the final touch? Softened salted butter to slather on top. In my opinion, this is extra necessary and really drives home the wonderful buttery flavor of this banana bread. I hope you enjoy!!
PrintBrown Butter Caramelized Banana Bread
the most delicious, moist brown butter caramelized banana bread
yield: 1 large loaf of banana bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup greek yogurt
- 12 oz mashed *very* overripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp pure almond extract (optional)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 ripe bananas, sliced
- pinch of kosher salt
- 2 tbsp honey
- softened salted butter, for slathering
- more honey, to drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 10×5 (1 ½ lb) loaf pan and place a piece of parchment paper inside so that it sticks to the sides and hangs over the pan.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Add the butter to a 10″ sauté pan and melt over medium heat. Drop the heat to medium-low and continue to cook as it starts to bubble. After 3-4 minutes, the bubbling will begin to subside as it becomes browned and fragrant. The speckles should be a deep amber color. Turn off the heat and allow the butter to cool for a minute or so.
- Add the sugar to a large mixing bowl. Pour the brown butter in. Whisk vigorously until really well combined. Beat in the eggs. Whisk in the honey, greek yogurt, mashed bananas, vanilla, and almond extracts until incorporated.
- Whisk in the dry ingredients until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Wipe out the sauté pan and heat again over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter and let melt. Add the sliced bananas, spreading them out into an even layer. Let caramelize on one side until golden. Flip the bananas over and season with a pinch of salt. Drizzle in the honey. Let bubble for a minute or so. Turn off the heat.
- Spoon half of the caramelized bananas over the batter. Reserve the rest for serving.
- Bake the banana bread uncovered on the middle rack for 55 minutes until browned. Let cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Use the parchment paper to pull the bread out of the pan. Cool for another 30 minutes or so.
- Slice it into thick slices and serve with softened salted butter, a drizzle or so of honey, and the reserved caramelized bananas over top.
Notes
Use the darkest, softest bananas you can get your hands on for the best tasting banana bread!
Are the 12 oz. of bananas like volume, a cup and a half mashed, or 12 oz by weight?
This recipe looks amazing!
It’s 12 oz by weight. Thanks, and enjoy the recipe!
The best ever! Thanks!
So happy to hear that! Thanks!!
How would I alter this for high elevation?
Hi Cece! I don’t have much experience baking at high elevation, but I find this article to be a good place to start. They list a few different adjustments you can try. I hope this helps!
Great recipe! Love the flavor the vanilla and almond extract add to it. Definitely my top banana bread recipe!
Hi there, I was wondering if I could add sourdough discard to this recipe…its at 100% hydration so I was thinking that if I use a half a cup of discard then omit 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup yogurt it would probably be fine but wanted to double check!
Hello dying to make this! But what if I don’t have Greek yogurt? Will it alter the recipe at all if I don’t use it or substitute with something different like whole milk yogurt.???
Hello in weight how much butter?
Hi Ronita! It’s 4 oz of butter for the batter, and 1/2 oz for the caramelized banana mixture. I hope this helps!
What a wonderful recipe! I had to add about 20 minutes of baking time in the oven though. Still came out moist and delicious. I rarely bake, so it could be that my oven isn’t very efficient or I messed something up along the way…
Thanks for the feedback, Racheal, and I’m glad you enjoyed it! Ovens definitely can be tricky when it comes to baking. It’s actually really hard for me to list an exact time amount, because all ovens cook at somewhat different rates. As long as it came out well, that makes me happy to hear 🙂
I just made this and it’s honestly the best banana bread I’ve ever made!
That is amazing to hear!! Thanks so much for sharing, and I’m glad you loved it.
Made this, but didn’t have enough honey or any greek yogurt. Mixed pure maple syrup with the honey and subbed 1/4 cup buttermilk for the 1/2 cup Greek yogurt. Soooo good! Thank you for an awesome easy to throw together recipe.
Hi Betty! I’m so glad you liked this and I think your substitutions sound perfect. I’d love to try this with some maple syrup. Thanks for sharing!!
How about if I use JUST banana extract instead of vanilla/almond???
Ooooh that could be good! I personally really love the vanilla and almond flavors in this, though, and like to let the real bananas give the banana flavor. Let me know if you try it!