This twist on classic banana bread is sure to become your new favorite! Ripe bananas are quickly caramelized in brown sugar on the stovetop before adding to the batter, creating a moist, flavorful bread. The rich caramel flavors are intensified by a sweet browned butter glaze that takes this bread over the top!
Ingredient Notes
- Bananas – You’ll want your bananas to be nice and ripe, but not squishy like with other banana breads. The peels should have some brown spots, but not be all the way brown. This way, the fruit will hold up well to caramelizing.
- Dark Brown Sugar – Dark brown sugar adds more depth to your caramel flavor. In a pinch, any brown sugar will do.
- Butter – Unless you have a dietary restriction, use real butter. Butter substitutes can affect the texture of the bread and will not brown appropriately for the brown butter glaze.
Instructions
- First prep a loaf pan by lining a loaf pan with parchment or spraying with nonstick spray and set aside. Slice up some bananas and set those aside, too.
- Next melt some butter on the stovetop, add the bananas and brown sugar, and sauté until nice and caramelized. Allow to cool, and then transfer to the bowl of an electric stand mixer and beat until smooth. It’s normal for it to still have small chunks of banana in there.
- In a large liquid measuring cup, combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, mixing at low speed until just combined.
- Pour the batter into your preapared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then remove the loaf from the pan and allow the loaf to cool all the way on a cooling rack.
- To prepare the glaze, melt a little butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until it begins to get brown and fragrant. (Careful…things can go south REALLY quickly. Be sure to remove from heat as soon as it starts to get brown.) Whisk in some powdered sugar and milk or half and half, drizzle over the cooled banana bread and allow the glaze to set before slicing.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make this ahead of time? Feel free to bake your bread a day ahead of time. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and store on the counter. Prepare the glaze fresh, and allow enough time before serving to allow the glaze to cool and harden.
Related Recipes
Have bananas on the brain? Check out some other favorite banana recipes:
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Caramelized Banana Bread with Browned Butter Glaze
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
Description
Sweet banana bread with caramelized bananas in a rich, brown butter glaze.
Ingredients
Banana Bread
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 medium ripe bananas (about 120g each, without the peels)
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
9 ounces (about 2 cups) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Glaze
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons milk or half and half
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9×5″ loaf pan with parchment or spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Slice the bananas. Set aside.
Over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the sliced bananas and brown sugar and sauté for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently. The sugar should turn into a light caramel and come to a mild simmer. It’s okay for the bananas to get broken up a bit as you stir. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.
Place the banana mixture in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on medium speed until mostly smooth- it’s normal to still have some banana pieces.
In a large measuring glass, combine the buttermilk, oil, vanilla and eggs and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternately add it to the banana mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until golden brown on top and a pick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool for 10 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
To prepare the glaze, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until it begins to get brown specks in it and smells nutty and fragrant. Whisk in the powdered sugar and use a tiny bit of milk if needed to get smooth consistency. Drizzle over the bread when it’s just barely warm. Slice and serve.
- Prep Time: 15minutes
- Cook Time: 45-60 minutes
Don’t forget! We’ve got a couple of book signings this weekend:
Boise, Idaho: Saturday September 22, 11:30am-1pm.
Deseret Book Store, Boise Idaho (that’s the store on Overland, not Eagle Road)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Friday September 21, 7 pm.
Barnes and Noble 7707 Bluebonnet Blvd, Baton Rouge
Questions & Reviews
This recipe was so good!
Could these be made into bars? If so how long would est. cooking time be?
I’m not sure, I’ve never tried that!
I would have to hide this to allow it to cool. I only got to glaze the remaining half. All my household agrees it is delicious.
Hi Kate, I want to add some chocolate chips. Is 1 cup ok?
I am assuming the canola oil should go in with the other wet ingredients? Maybe I read through too quickly but I cannot see where the canola oil belongs . . . Thanks!!
Hi Kate! I made this banana bread last night and it is SO good! I am so tired of breads that are super dry and this one was moist and yummy perfection! I would like to make it again but in my mini loaf pans. Any recommendations for how long I should bake them? Can’t wait to make it again! (And I love that it’s a light recipe, but doesn’t lack any flavor!)
You know, I’ve found that mini loaves tend to take almost as long (which is surprising). BUT. I wouldn’t count on it. I’d start with about half of the baking time and keep checking it until it’s done and then you’ll know.
Hope that helps!!
Have made this more than once now and it never fails to please. Delish!!
So, I have a question about the following directions:
“Combine the buttermilk, oil, rum or extracts, and eggs in a large liquid measuring cup. Set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternately add it to the banana mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined.”
So… you’ve set aside your buttermilk mixture, but you never say add it to your flour/banana mixture. I’m guessing that was implied with the “alternately” part, but I got really confused while reading this. “Wait, I set the buttermilk mixture aside… but what do I do with it?” was my thought process.
Yes…alternate the liquid (buttermilk) and flour mixture.
I changed just a couple things with this awesome recipe. Instead of 2 cups flour I used 1 cup flour and 1 cup jiffy mix. I also used 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice and 4 banana’s instead of 3.
This turned out so fluffy and the flavor was so amazing . I don’t care for a dense banana bread. I like it to be light and bursting with flavor. This with my version has now become the best banana bread I have made to date. Fantastic! Thank you so much for a different version and my new family recipe
I LOVED the glaze! It was so delicious! I usually use the Lion house recipe for banana bread but I have to make small loaves, else it’s runny in the middle and burnt on the bottom. I was nervous this recipe would do the same, but it was delightful! I may have taken it out a little early, though, it was a little dense. Nevertheless, definitely a keeper! Thanks!
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a month to make, and yesterday was the day. I have re-read the recipe over and over to see where it went awry, because it was AWFUL. So bad, we threw it in the trash. It was…..tasteless, like it needed sugar added to the batter or something, and no mix of spices to flavor it up were even called for…. I even used my most excellent rum from Barbados, but all that did was waste a good amount of rum. Sad 🙁
Quick Question!! In the process of making this delicious – looking banana bread but I’m thrown off by the amount of flour.. 9 ounces versus 2 cups is very different… what do you recommend?? Thanks!!!
It’s 9 ounces by weight, do if you have a good scale, go by the weight; otherwise, use the 2 cups. 🙂
Thanks a billion!!
I am so excited! I made this, and it looks just like yours!!
I thought your pronouncement was probably an exaggeration…but man, my daughter and I have spent the past two days commenting that this was absolutely the best banana bread we’ve had. She’s eleven, so her life experience with banana bread is fairly limited, but I am a bit (!) older and I’ve tasted enough to know! I was too tired to even make the glaze, so I can’t wait to make this again and try the full deal. May just blow me away!
Just made this….it is so very good! Every time I make banana bread I try a new recipe because I just haven’t found one I love. This will now be the recipe I will always use! Super moist and flavorful. Thanks for sharing!
Just wanted to report that I made this banana bread last night and it is absolutely DELISH!!!!!! The glaze just puts it over the top! Highly recommend everyone trying it 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I lived in Boise (Kuna) did a year and we LOVED the Boise fry company! These look amazing and I just got a bunch of sweet potatoes in my bountiful basket today. Perfect timing!
I have a 2 month old and reading about your trip made me start to sweat. Seriously. I can’t imagine going through that and not completely falling apart. You are amazing!
I’m sorry you had such a rough trip- it can only get better! I just tried this recipe this afternoon and it was wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing, I love “my” banana bread recipe so I was nervous to try it but SO glad I did! Thanks!
I’m so sorry to hear about all your misadventures, and with a newborn in tow, no less.
I once broke a tooth on mashed potatoes. True story. I now take my calcium faithfully!
Oh my goodness, what a nightmare!! So sorry you had to go through this! This recipe looks amazing! Looking forward to trying it out!! Yummy!
Wow, what a crazy trip!
I made this bread today with a few slight tweaks based on what I had on hand, and it is delicious! (I used sour cream instead of buttermilk and white sugar instead of brown sugar) The crust has a nice crunch to it, and the glaze is amazing. Don’t leave out the glaze! It compliments the bread in a crazy-awesome way! My husband and I just ate two pieces each. 🙂
The best part about this recipe is that there are no walnuts in it! P.S. Did you get your tooth fixed yet?
I made this yesterday and it was delicious! The glaze is to-die-for and the bread is very moist. However, I don’t think the flavor difference between this and my regular banana bread is significant enough to take the extra time to caramelize the bananas (though, I’ll admit it was fun). I plan to add this glaze to my regular ol’ banana bread in the future. I’m trying to think of other things to pour this glaze on too because it was divine!
I’m actually totally with you 100%–it’s fun caramelizing the bananas, and if you’ve struggled with banana bread in the past or if you don’t have a good recipe, this is a good one. But the flavor difference isn’t huge. But the glaze…to die for!!
Oh my goodness! I am so sorry you had such a yucky trip. I’m glad you got home okay and that you found your luggage. I bought your book hastily at costco this week. I was going to ask for it for Christmas, but I just had to have it NOW. I think (if I ever get the counters cleared from masses of dishes) I will make the chocolate cupcakes today. They have been calling my name since I saw the picture. This bread looks yummy too. I just love all the chatty stories you girls share along with the latest recipes!
This banana bread sounds absolutely delicious! I am thinking that it would be perfect to bring to our next faculty meeting; maybe we’ll all make sweet decisions regarding all the children that need our help.
Did you ever think things couldn’t get any worst?!? I’ve been trying to work in some overtime to maybe get adhead – it’s just not meant to be. My husband got a ticket, the brakes went out on a vehicle so between the ticket, the towing and the repair bill I may just break even in October, and it’s still September. Holy Cow – I think I need a new cookbook to read, I think I have one in mind. Congrats on your newest release, loved your first book. I wish I lived in an area to see you to have you sign a book, that would be a treat.
Wow! So sorry for what you’ve gone through. Bet this delicious banana bread made up for it 🙂
That made me exhausted just reading it! Glad your home and making banana bread now! I always have 2-3 bananas that start to go brown before we eat them and my go to is always banana bread. I like changing it up and trying different versions and this one looks great!
This looks YUM! Will have to give this one a try for sure.