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Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe

Sour Cream–Banana Bread
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: | Makes: 1 (9-inch) loaf

This banana bread starts as a thick, tangy batter full of mashed banana, and emerges from the oven with a golden-brown crust and a moist, almost cakelike texture.

Game plan: We tested this recipe using a stand mixer, but it could easily be made by just stirring all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

This recipe was featured as part of our Winter Ingredients recipe slideshow.

INGREDIENTS
  • Butter, for coating the pan
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pan
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess. Whisk together the measured flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
  2. Place the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Add the bananas and sour cream and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
  3. Turn the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the top is golden brown, and the bread is pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.
  4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the perimeter of the pan, invert to release the bread, and cool completely on the wire rack before serving.
    Write a review | 29 Reviews
  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    5

    This is has become my go to banana bread recipe. I often sub half whole wheat flour and add a couple of handfuls of mini chocolate chips to appeal more to the kids.

  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    5

    I used about a 1/3 cup semi-melted butter in place of the oil, which I mixed with the sugar, as an old recipe of my mother's does. I used 1 cup whole-wheat flour ("grovmalt" in Norwegian) to make it more healthful (the other cup of flour was regular white flour), and added about 1/3 cup of pecans and 1/3 cup coffee. Mixed by hand. Turned out really delicious and moist, and was done in 50 minutes at 176 Celcius (~350 F). High altitude here and no problems.

  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    1

    WI was surprised to see that this recipe called for the addition of vegetable oil. Especially with the recipe's feature is sour cream. Many banana breads can be made oil free. In my case, I desperately try to steer away from any recipes that call for oil. In the case of something like Carrot Cake it's hard to do, but let’s face it. Oil in baking is not a healthy choice. Deb Peckham, London, Ontario, Canadarite a review

  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    5

    I didn't cook it for the full 60 minutes, but it was still amazing and fully cooked! Personally, I think it's my oven that seems to do what it wants some times!

  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    5

    Yummy. Not oily. I only needed 50 mins at high altitude.

  • Sour Cream–Banana Bread Recipe
    5

    When it comes time to baking breads and loaves, I've noticed that there are many factors to consider: Type of oven and temp, elevation, humidity in the home(eg. raining outside or really hot), time to cook fully and believe it or not...a perfectly level stove! For the life of me, I CANNOT bake a loaf of bread! I make a mean pumpkin or banana loaf, but not bread!!! Have fun with all the delicious recipes!

  • I used 1 cup white flour, lc. whole wheat, used a long narrow loaf pan, and it was cracked, browned and pulled away on the edges in 45min, could be because of the mountainous elevation . Very Yummy , and Moist

  • Like other folks, I subbed yogurt (nonfat Greek) for the sour cream, and had to bake for longer, 80 minutes in my 350° oven (have an oven thermometer, so the temp was confirmed). Oh, and I stirred the ingredients by hand. But it came out beautifully, moist and delicious. I've never been a fan of banana bread until now.

    (Full disclosure: I work for CHOW, but I'm a beginner cook.)

  • very moist and yummy! Loved it! It’s a keeper.

  • i made this recipe using mini loaf pans and it came out perfectly balanced and moist after about 50 minutes.

  • I had the timing problem as well (I baked and baked). I guess I have to find the right measure for my oven!

  • use whole milk greek yogurt and substitute some whole-wheat flour. for kids, add chopped jacques torres chocolate

  • I baked this for longer than the time recommended and when I finally cut it open, it still looked a little dough-y at the bottom, like it hadn't fully cooked. Otherwise, the taste was good. I think I'll try adding nuts next time for a crunchy factor and baking it for...even longer.

  • made this recipe with a big dose of texas pecans and they added a really nice toasty note. A+. i found my standard.

  • This one's foolproof no matter how you make it. I'm enjoying a slice now. Mixed entirely by hand, with maybe just a smidge more banana than it should have had, a tiny bit of nutmeg, and poured into a pyrex pan. Baked at 325° (in deference to the glass) in a countertop oven for two hours. It's brown, fragrant, tender, moist. Perfect.

  • I made this last night, followed the recipe. Really good. Baked for slightly over an hour and had a flavorful, moist bread. Even better this morning with a spread of peanut butter on top for breakfast.

  • I subbed in yogurt for the sour cream and went with 1/2 c whole wheat flour/ 1-1/2 c AP flour. Turned out very nice.

  • I replaced the oil with applesauce, and sour cream with non-fat yogurt, came out just fine!!!

  • I am going to attempt this bread tonight. Husband is going to use it for French Toast in the morning.

    I mentioned the possible addition of chocolate chips, and now he is talking about frying the bread in butter and adding vanilla ice cream. I told him he is the devil.

  • Replacing regular sour cream with low-fat tastes just as excellent!

  • I sub'd siggi's pomegrante yogurt for the sour cream and added pom seeds to the batter. YUMMY!

  • kahlua is not something I would have thought to put in. I will have to try that!!

  • I replaced 1/2 the oil with butter (2 1/2 tablespoons each) and added 2 tablespoons Kahlua, 1/4 cup toasted walnut pieces and 1/4 cup chocolate chips and cooked about 65 minutes...OMG

  • I made this bread Saturday night for a Sunday get together and one on Sunday night to bring to the office today. The second loaf was better, the first one got too brown (my fault). The bread received rave reviews from all who tasted it. Took about an hour to bake.

    I like this recipe because it isn't too mushy and dark on the inside - it's light in color and more cake-like yet moist. Highly recommend this recipe and it would be excellent too with some chopped walnuts or mini choc. chips or berries, etc.

  • I baked this bread this morning and brought it in for work; it turned out so moist and delicious. I think next time I will decrease the amt. of sugar slightly. Baking time for me was around 50minutes.

  • Oh yeah I actually added nutmeg to mine too. I took a photo of mine it looked so good.

  • Yum...this turned out so well! I added dried cranberries and walnuts (and I substituted canola oil for veggie oil because I didn't have any), and added a tiny bit of nutmeg and it is absolutely delicious. It looks magazine perfect and has a great fluffy yet moist texture. It actually took less than an hour so I guess it really depends on your oven. The Cook's Illustrated version is great too (they use melted butter instead of vegetable oil and yogurt instead of sour cream)...it is just a bit more dense but still really moist and yummy.

  • I made this yesterday after staring at a freezer full of bananas. It is super moist and yummy. I didn't even use that much oil. I increased the sour cream a bit. I also replaced half cup of sugar with chocolate chips instead. Yummy !! It did take longer than the one hour. It's all good though!!

  • This bread has a rich taste and a dense texture. Perfect for winter weather. I substituted butter for the oil, and my bread took about 1.5 hours to cook, as opposed to the 1 hour the recipe says.
    I served with butter and fig spread.

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