This best-ever banana bread recipe is kept super moist, thanks to the addition of sour cream! It’s light in color and perfect in texture!
Perfectly moist sour cream banana bread is light, fluffy, velvety goodness–never dense and gray. This easy recipe is the best!
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Banana bread is one of those heartwarming comfort foods that I think every home cook should know how to bake.
It has a way of lifting the spirits, and the simple act of baking it will make your house smell heavenly. You can easily make variations, too–such as adding nuts or chocolate chips, or by making pistachio banana bread, strawberry banana bread, cranberry banana bread, banana pear bread, or chocolate peanut butter banana bread!
Let’s be honest–classic banana bread one of those treats that practically everyone loves.
Well, if you do it right, that is.
Have you ever had a piece of banana bread that was dense and gray, possibly even undercooked in the middle?
I shudder at the thought.
That, my friend, is not the way banana bread should be. Instead, the best banana breads should be soft, fluffy, and light in color. The ideal loaf should be tender and perfectly moist.
Just like this sour cream banana bread that I make on the regular. This recipe has been my go-to for years now, and it really is the best banana bread–it always gets rave reviews!
Have an Instant Pot? Check out this Instant Pot Banana Bread!
Why You’ll Love Sour Cream Banana Bread
I’ve found that sour cream is one of the keys to creating perfectly moist banana bread! It’s such a simple addition, but it really makes a big difference!
I use sour cream in a lot of baked goods, including my peach sour cream pound cake, chocolate sour cream pound cake, chocolate sour cream bundt cake, my one-bowl chocolate cake, my doctored-up Jiffy cornbread, Italian sour cream cookies, and more!
This bread is light in color, so it’s much more appetizing than dark, heavy bricks of banana bread.
Plus, it’s super easy to make, and the absolute perfect way to use up ripe bananas!
I have been known to buy extra bananas just so that I can let some get over-ripe so I’ll have an excuse to make this banana bread.
My kids can practically inhale it, and who can blame them? It really is the most delicious banana bread. Seriously.
More Delicious Quickbread Recipes:
- Pistachio Bread
- Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
- Grandma Wilhelm’s Pumpkin Bread
- Healthier Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Pumpkin Banana Muffins
- Best Ever Pear Bread
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How to Make Banana Bread with Sour Cream
It’s really easy to make this ultra moist banana bread with a handful of simple ingredients!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 Tbsp sour cream
- 2 large or 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed well (you want about 1 cup of mashed bananas)
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
How to Make It:
(Full printable recipe is available below)
Cream butter and sugar. First, you’ll cream together the butter and sugar int he bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Once it’s nice and fluffy, add in the eggs and sour cream, mixing to combine.
Combine dry ingredients. Next, in a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda by whisking together.
Alternate. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and mashed bananas in separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
Once the batter is mixed, pour it into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake. You’ll bake the loaf at 350F for about 50-55 minutes. Let it cool a bit before slicing, then serve!
Notes and Adaptations:
- Feel free to add some nuts if you want banana nut bread–I think pecans or walnuts make lovely additions.
- If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can substitute buttermilk.
- If you want to make sugar free banana bread, you can substitute a cup-for-cup sweetener instead of the sugar (such as Lakanto or Splenda granulated sweeteners)
Recommended Equipment:
- Loaf pan (I use a 9″x5″ pan)
- Pastry blender or potato masher for mashing bananas (you can also use a plain ol’ fork, but I think these tools speed up the process a bit)
Perfectly Moist Sour Cream Banana Bread
This light and fluffy sour cream banana bread is a far cry from the dark, dense loaves you may have tried before. It's perfectly moist and delicious, as the best banana bread should be!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 4 Tbs sour cream
- 2 large or 3 medium bananas, mashed well (approx. 1 cup mashed)
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5" loaf pan.
- Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together.
- Add eggs and sour cream, mixing well to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Alternate adding mashed bananas and flour mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (1/3 of flour mixture, 1/2 of mashed bananas, 1/3 of flour mixture, remaining bananas, remaining 1/3 of flour mixture).
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
Feel free to add some nuts if you want banana nut bread--I think pecans or walnuts make lovely additions.
If you don't have sour cream on hand, you can substitute buttermilk.
Did you make it and love it? I appareciate your 5-Star review!
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Recipe slightly adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 295Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 212mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 2gSugar: 25gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
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Hello,
Do you know what the total amount of mashed bananas is in cups? Also, is there a reason you alternate dry and wet ingredients? most recipes call for adding the dry at the very end and just folding until almost fully incorporated to keep the bread moist and not dense. Your method is very interesting.
Hi Meemz! Those are great questions. The mashed bananas usually ends up being about 1 cup. I’ll add that to the recipe to clarify. Sometimes, adding all of the dry ingredients at once causes the batter to be pretty thick, which can lead to overmixing and results in bread that is tougher. That’s why I like to alternate adding the wet and dry, because I find that method makes it easier to incorporate the dry ingredients without mixing too much. I hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you very much for your reply. I was wondering does beating eggs until light and fluffy helps with an airier texture?
I haven’t tried beating the eggs separately before adding them with this recipe. I do cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, which helps to aerate the batter, then I add the eggs afterward. You could certainly try beating the eggs first before adding them to the butter and sugar–it may help it be even lighter! If you do try it that way, I’d love to hear how it turns out! 🙂
And also does beating eggs until light and fluffy helps with an airier texture?
I love banana bread but have never been a fan of the dense brick-like recipes I’ve tasted over and over. I have constantly been searching for a light textured recipe for banana bread and hallelujah I’ve found it. This is an amazing recipe, so much so that after baking the first loaf, I baked another one (how I tracked more ripe bananas to make this loaf is another story) and took it to work. People went nuts over this bread because it was so different.
The only addition was a teaspoon of vanilla which I personally think makes it even richer.
So thanks for a great recipe!!!
Hi Susan! Thank you so much for your kind words–I’m thrilled to hear you’ve finally found a banana bread recipe that you love! Like you, I much prefer the lighter texture to the denser loaves. Your coworkers are a lucky bunch to receive such a tasty treat! And your addition of vanilla sounds delicious–I’ll have to try that next time I make it! 🙂
Can this be made into regular or mini muffins? If so, what would the cook time be?
Hi Angel! Sure, you can make muffins. You’d probably get about 14-16 regular-size muffins from the batch. Grease your muffin pan and fill each well about 2/3 full. Bake for about 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!
I made mine in muffins at 350 for only about 15/17 minutes and they were perfectly moist and cooked through☺️
Thanks so much for sharing, Sierra! I’m so glad it worked well as muffins for you! 🙂
Sounds delish! Can I substitute Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream?
Hi Dorothy! I’d recommend full-fat or 2% Greek yogurt if you’d like to substitute. Fat free Greek yogurt doesn’t work as well. Enjoy! 🙂
Can i use a hand mixer. I do not own a stand mixer but would really like to try your recipe i grew up on banana bread
Hi Linda! Yes, you can use a hand mixer. Enjoy! 🙂
While I agree that this bread is moist, I found it lacking flavor. I used 3 very ripe bananas, so that was not the problem. Your recipe did not call for salted butter and I used unsalted, was this the problem?
I feel that some salt, or vanilla extract may have made it better.
Hi Barbara! I’m sorry you found it lacking in flavor. I typically bake with unsalted butter, but you can increase the amount of salt from 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp if you’d like. I think vanilla extract would be a fine addition, too! 🙂
This recipe is amazing. I just threw the wet and butter in a bowl and whipped it all together. Then threw the dry in on top and mixed after I added the measured amounts on top. turned out great. Would add more bananas next time because I like a stronger banana flavor in mine. Also added a sprinkle of nutmeg and some vanilla(and an extra half teaspoon of baking powder but I always do with baked goods). I’m always skeptical of two eggs in banan bread because I’ve had them turn out too eggy as well but it turned out perfect!
Definitely going to be a new go to for banana bread.
Thank you for this one!
Also forgot to say I used half brown sugar/half white. So I changed it up a little but still same recipe and it was perfect.
I love your idea to add nutmeg–thank you for sharing!