This moist & flavorful Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread features super ripe bananas, melty chocolate throughout, and a delightful hint of espresso powder that complements the chocolate perfectly!
If you're tired of simple Banana Bread, then this one's for you. This Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread recipe is made with overripe bananas for extra sweetness and moisture, chocolate chunks for pools of melty chocolate, and a little espresso powder for a hint of additional flavor that pairs perfectly with the chocolate and bananas. You'll come back for seconds, thirds, and maybe the whole loaf!
This Banana Bread with chocolate chips recipe is adapted from my Caramelized Banana Bread, with just a few small changes that take a simple banana bread into a showstopper! It's going to be your new favorite.
Jump to:
♥ Why You'll Love This Recipe
Moist! - This Banana Bread recipe is incredibly moist, thanks to the loads of ripe bananas, sour cream, and oil in the batter!
Chocolate chunks - Who doesn't love chocolate with bananas? The chocolate creates such a wonderful flavor combo.
Espresso powder - I love adding espresso to my chocolate treats, and if you don't know yet, espresso goes SO well with bananas too. If you're an espresso lover, try my Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins or my Brown Butter Banana Cake that features a delicious espresso cream cheese frosting.
Easy & simple - No creaming required, so no fancy mixers. Just a bowl, whisk, and a spatula.
📝 Ingredient Notes
A full list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions are located in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Banana: Use very ripe bananas. For this recipe I used three large ripe banana, which is around 1 ½ cups of mashed bananas. If you don't have ripe bananas but would like to make this cake, see notes below for how to ripen bananas quickly.
- Flour: All purpose flour gives this cake the best crumb. Use a scale when measuring to get the best results.
- Leavener: Baking soda to help the muffins rise.
- Espresso powder: The espresso gives it hints of flavor, without it being overpowering. It also complements the chocolate and bananas very well.
- Sugar: I use both brown sugar as well as granulated sugar.
- Oil: Vegetable or any neutral oil.
- Eggs: Room temperature, large eggs.
- Sour cream: Just a little sour cream for extra moisture.
- Chocolate: I like to use chopped chocolate, but you could use chocolate chips as well.
See recipe card for quantities.
🍴Special Equipment
Kitchen Scale: It's so important to use a kitchen scale for accurate results.
Loaf Pan: You'll need a 9x5 loaf pan.
Mixing bowls: I love using glass Mixing Bowls when making batters and doughs.
⇄ Substitutions
Neutral oil - You can use any type of neutral oil, from vegetable, canola, avocado, or even a light olive oil.
Yogurt - if you don't have any sour cream on hand, you can substitute it for full fat greek yogurt
Chocolate - Instead of chocolate chunks, swap it for mini chocolate chips.
✨ Variations
Nuts - Add some walnuts or pecans for an extra crunch and more texture.
Spices - Add a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg, or any other spices you like to add to your banana muffins, like my Spiced Banana Cake or Banana Biscoff Cake.
Streusel - You could jazz it up with a streusel on top before popping it into the oven.
𓎩 Step-by-Step Instructions
A few instruction photos to help you nail this recipe every time.
Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder, and chocolate chunks and whisk until completely combined.
💡 Hint: If you don't have any ripe bananas but want to make this recipe, bake bananas on a lined baking sheet at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes until the peels are black. Let them cool, then peel and scoop out the bananas.
Step 2
In a large bowl, add ripe bananas, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract, and whisk until all is completely incorporated.
Step 3
Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and mix using a spatula until just combined (don't over mix).
Step 4
What batter should look like once it's all combined. Depending on how many bananas you end up with or how large your eggs are, you may end up with a slightly thicker or looser batter.
🎩Trick: Line the loaf pan with parchment paper and let it over hang a little so that it's easy to remove.
Step 5
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, top with chocolate chunks and turbinado sugar and bake for 50-60 minutes.
💬 FAQ
If you don't have any ripe bananas but want to make this recipe, bake bananas on a lined baking sheet at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes until the peels are black.
Yes! Absolutely. Just use 1 cup or 170g of chocolate chips in place of the chocolate chunks.
Yes, crush some walnuts or pecans and add it to the batter.
💡Pro Tips
Measure Flour Correctly - As always, with any recipe, use a kitchen scale, as it is the best form of measuring your ingredients. If you don't have a kitchen scale, fluff your flour, scoop flour with a spoon into a measuring cup and level off.
Line the pan - Make sure to line the pan with parchment paper so that it's easy to remove once cooled.
Don't over mix - Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing.
Don't over bake - Start checking at 50 minutes to avoid over baking.
Ripe bananas - If you don't have any ripe bananas but want to make this recipe, bake bananas on a lined baking sheet at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes until the peels are black. Let them cool, then peel and scoop out the bananas.
❄ Storage
Room temperature - Store Chocolate Chip Banana Bread in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Freezer - If you'd like to keep it longer, store loaf wrapped tightly in saran wrap, then in a Ziploc bag and freeze for 2 months. You can even slice and wrap individual slices.
📖 Recipe Card
Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
Equipment
- 1 9x5 loaf pan
Ingredients
Banana Bread
- 1½ cups (350 g) overripe mashed bananas* about 3-4
- 6 tablespoon (84 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ⅔ cup (133 g) dark brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 (112 g) large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (65 g) sour cream room temperature
- ¼ cup (56 g) neutral oil
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp (4 g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (1 g) espresso powder
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) salt
- 1 cup (170 g) dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips (I used half chocolate chunks and half chocolate chips) + extra for the top
Topping
- turbinado sugar
Instructions
Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Grease and line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add all purpose flour, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt and whisk together. Then add the chocolate chunks and mix to combine. Set aside.2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon espresso powder, 1 cup dark chocolate chunks, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, add melted butter, mashed bananas, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract, and whisk until all is completely incorporated.1½ cups overripe mashed bananas*, 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, ⅔ cup dark brown sugar, packed, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup sour cream, ¼ cup neutral oil, ¼ cup granulated sugar
- Add the dry ingredients and fold using a spatula until just combined. Do not over mix your batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared 9x5 loaf pan, then top with chunks of chocolate and turbinado sugar.turbinado sugar
- Bake in middle rack of preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mine took around 57 minutes.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from pan. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
- Store leftovers in airtight container.
This looks like PERFECTION! I need to try it!
Thank you, Kimberly! 🙂