There is literally millions of banana bread recipes out there - 368,000,000 according to Google to be exact. And 304,000,000 of the claim to be the best. But this is the best banana bread, I promise you.
I have been making it forever, and I have been through like 28 different recipes and could not find a favorite. Until this one. 
I honestly thought for a while I thought maybe I just didn’t like banana bread. Eating bananas by themselves is not something I really enjoy, but I love banana cream pie, so I couldn’t figure out wtf my problem was with this. Fast forward to 2022 - literally six years later...and I I might have more banana bread, cake and dessert recipes on this blog than anything else!
About this best banana bread recipe...
So real quick this is my adaptation of the banana bread my husband and I had on our first vacation together in Maui. We were riding around the outside of the island on a Harley for a day trip and came up on this little shack selling banana bread and coconut candy. It was magical. I don't know if it was new love or if it really was as magical as I remember, but I came home dreaming of this bread and certain I could come up with something close. This recipe is pretty f'ing close.
This bread is not too sweet, and while it doesn’t have fresh pineapple, the crushed pineapple keep the bread moist. The bread in Maui also had coconut in it, fresh from the coconuts growing right outside the door of the shack. This recipe has no coconut bc I just can’t get the same texture or coconut flavor using shredded coconut I have, even the unsweetened coconut flakes just didn’t do it right, so I leave it out. I am far too lazy to work with a whole coconut. But by all means, throw some in if you want. Honestly, get yourself to Maui for the real deal, you won’t be sorry. Find Lorraine in a lil shack off a cliff town on the northern most part of the island. You will thank me one day.
Best Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup oil
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
- 3 ½ bananas very ripe, mashed
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, pineapple, sour cream, and vanilla. Gently fold in the flour mixture and mix only to combine (do not overdo it). Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Bob says
Hmm interesting twist on an old chestnut kid, but while I applaud your newfound adventurism, I'm a purist. Gimme the old school real deal chock full of tasty mushy bananas and a handful of walnuts. Or if you want me to go "Hawaiian" on ya, let's use macadamia nuts instead. Nice twist though and fun story.