14 Delicious Ways To Kick Your Banana Bread Up A Notch
Bananas are one of the most popular fruits around. They taste great and are widely available and inexpensive, unlike other tropical fruits. You can slice them up and top your cereal, freeze them for smoothies, or just simply throw them in your bag for a great on-the-go snack. This bright yellow fruit is an excellent potassium source, making them a great post-workout snack, too. And bananas are rich in vitamins and antioxidants, so it's a no-brainer to fill up your grocery cart with this amazing tropical fruit whenever you go shopping.
Overzealous shoppers sometimes buy too many bananas, and those tasty bananas sit on the kitchen counter too long and begin to spoil. If you find yourself with some overripe bananas that you just didn't get to during the week, don't throw them out. Instead, make some banana bread.
Banana bread is the perfect way to use those blackened bananas. It's a classic sweet bread that makes a tasty breakfast with coffee or an afternoon snack with tea. While just about everybody has a classic banana bread recipe, there are a few ways to kick your banana bread up a notch. And you probably already have most of these in your kitchen pantry already.
1. Peanut Butter
It's a well known fact that peanut butter makes everything better. And changing up your classic banana bread is as easy as adding in some peanut butter. Choose between smooth, crunchy, or natural peanut butter to mix into your banana bread batter for a creamy, nutty flavor. You can even try filling half the bread pan with batter, then a layer of peanut butter, and top with the rest of the batter for banana bread with a peanut butter surprise.
Peanut butter and bananas are not a crazy new combination. After all, peanut butter and banana sandwiches have been popular for years. The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis, loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches fried in a pool of butter (via Southern Living). So if the combination is endorsed by the King, you know it's going to be good.
Besides amazing flavor, adding peanut butter to your banana bread gives it an added dose of protein, and we all need more protein on the menu.
2. Cocoa
Bananas and chocolate are a perfect duo. From chocolate-covered frozen bananas to banana splits covered in chocolate syrup, the dynamic duo has been satisfying those with a sweet tooth for a long time. So adding cocoa to your banana bread is a great idea to combine the tasty tropical fruit with the chocolatey goodness of cocoa. The best way to add it to banana bread is to mix it right into the batter. The banana bread will have a darker hue and a rich flavor as a result.
When shopping for cocoa, be careful not to mix it up with cacao. While they both come from the same plant, they have a few key differences that can affect the final product. Cacao is considered a more natural form of chocolate as it is roasted on low and still keeps some of the natural bitterness, While cocoa is roasted longer and has a sweetness to it. According to Masterclass, cocoa is best for baking, and cacao is good for sprinkling on a finished product. For a deep chocolatey taste on your banana bread, opt for cocoa.
3. Orange
Brighten up your basic banana bread with some citrus. Bananas and oranges are two complementary fruit and, when paired together, bring out a fresh flavor profile. The best way to add citrus to your banana bread is to add some orange zest. To get zest, you use the outer part of the peel that you'd normally discard. When grating an orange for the zest, apply it against a zester or box grater and grate only the colorful part. The white inner part of the peel should be avoided because it is bitter. When you get to the white part, just rotate the orange and zest another side.
If you are out of orange and wondering if any other citrus will work, the answer is probably not. Lemon and lime zest aren't as sweet, so they won't mix well with sweet banana bread. The best options are tangerines, mandarins, or blood oranges, which all have a sweet zest.
Another option to add in some tasty citrus is to reach for your favorite breakfast juice. You can simply add orange juice to the batter. This will give you plenty of citrus flavor with the added bonus of making the banana bread extra moist.
4. Berries
You add berries to your cereal and oatmeal, so why not add these tasty little fruits to your banana bread? Adding in other fruits like berries can change up your stale banana bread recipe. Blueberries are an excellent choice for banana bread. But other berries like raspberries, blackberries, and huckleberries would be delicious additions, too. Plus, adding colorful berries to your banana bread turns your sweet bread into a healthier dessert. According to Healthline, berries are high in fiber, filled with antioxidants, and loaded with vitamins and minerals.
Summertime is the peak season for fresh berries, but you can find them year-round at supermarkets, but they can be expensive. To keep your fresh berries from going bad too quickly, just wash what you plan on using and keep the rest in the refrigerator. You can even load up on fresh berries in the peak season and freeze them.
If you are baking banana bread on a budget, then opt for frozen berries as they are cheaper than using fresh berries.
5. Carrots or Zucchini
Go out to your garden and get inspired to remake your banana bread. Turn your banana bread into a garden delight by adding shredded carrots or zucchini. Carrots are a naturally sweet vegetable that have been used in desserts since the 10th century to replace honey (via Culture Trip). Later, when sugar was rationed during World War II, many turned to carrots to satisfy their sweet tooth. Adding this humble orange colored root vegetable is an excellent addition to banana bread. The best way to use it is to grate raw carrots on a box shredder to add them to the batter.
Zucchini works in banana bread, too. Any home gardener can tell you that towards the end of the summer when zucchini is everywhere, and home cooks are looking for creative ways to use their zucchini, zucchini bread is an obvious choice. So beef up your banana bread with some tasty zucchini for a healthier bread.
6. Nuts and Seeds
If you want your banana bread to have a little crunch, reach for some nuts and seeds. Traditional banana bread recipes usually have walnuts, but they aren't the only nuts in town. Other nuts like almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts are all great choices to give some texture to your banana bread. Seeds like sunflower, sesame, chia, flax, and pumpkin are good additions to banana bread, too. Not only do nuts and seeds amp up the crunch factor, but they also turn your banana bread into a healthier version of itself.
According to Healthline, nuts are full of antioxidants and healthy fats. And seeds add much-needed fiber and healthy fats. The best way to add nuts to banana bread is to chop them or crush them into smaller pieces. Almonds work best slivered. And seeds can just be sprinkled in the batter or added on top. So turn your banana bread into granola bread with nuts and seeds.
7. Maple Syrup
While you may be familiar with maple syrup on pancakes or waffles at breakfast, maple syrup on its own is a sweet addition to kick your banana bread up a notch. Banana bread with maple syrup is a sweet treat perfect for breakfast. You can add the maple syrup directly to the batter for a sugary spike or make a maple syrup glaze and use it to top your banana bread.
When buying maple syrup, you want to choose real maple syrup to get the complex flavoring without the artificial nonsense. Pancake syrup, which is usually right next to the pure maple syrup on the shelves, is a highly processed product with high fructose corn syrup and added coloring and flavoring (via Consumer Reports). So it's a good idea to read labels to make sure you are getting true maple syrup. Otherwise, you are just adding more sugar to your banana bread without the full, rich taste of real maple syrup.
8. Matcha
Have you heard of matcha? This green tea has made a huge splash on the food scene recently. In case you didn't know, matcha is a Japanese green tea that can be used for more than just beverages. Matcha-flavored desserts like ice cream, truffles, and cheesecake can be found everywhere nowadays. So why not throw some matcha in your banana bread?
Matcha has a unique flavor with a sweet nuttiness and a touch of savory umami. It is the right amount of earthy, sweet, and savory that complements the other sweet tones of the dessert.
You can add matcha directly to the banana bread batter. But Japanese Green Tea Co. recommends mixing it with a bit of liquid first and then adding it because matcha will clump together, so pre-mixing it to dissolve it makes it easier to use in baking. Matcha powder rather than tea leaves are the best option for baking. The tea leaves make a great tea, but the leaves aren't ideal to use in desserts.
9. Dried Fruit
Turn your banana bread into a fruit cake with dried fruits. Dried cranberries, apricots, raisins, figs, dates, and pineapple are all excellent ways to transform your banana bread into something unforgettable. Dried fruit is sweet and has a chewy texture, making for a unique tasting experience. You can find dried fruit in any grocery store, or you can make your own. Making your own dried fruit is a great way to make your produce last longer, too.
Using a dehydrator is the easiest way to dry your own fruit, but it's possible to do it with your basic kitchen oven too. Just remove the cores and pits, then roast on the lowest setting for several hours.
Dried fruit is high in calories and sugar, so if you are watching your waistline, you might consider that when adding dried fruit to banana bread. To get the tastiness of dried fruit without over-sweetening your banana bread, try cutting back on the sugar in the recipe and let the dried fruit sweeten the loaf on its own. The end result will be a perfectly sweet loaf.
10. Nutella
It's no secret that Nutella is a beloved spread. This decadent hazelnut spread was created as an alternative to chocolate when cocoa was difficult to find post-World War II. The creative genius behind Nutella finally finished tweaking his recipe, and the Nutella we know today was finalized and bottled in 1964 (via Nutella). And the rest is delicious history.
Spreading this dark rich spread on banana bread isn't the only way to enjoy it. You can add it directly in to your banana bread batter for an over-the-top decadent banana bread experience. Take a couple of spoonfuls of Nutella and add it directly to the batter and mix together. Nutella doesn't disperse all that well, so your banana bread will have a marbled look that tastes amazing. Another option is to use Nutella as an added layer in the middle for a gooey surprise.
If you can get enough of this sweet combination of tropical banana and creamy Nutella, try creating a twist on frozen chocolate bananas with Nutella instead for more of this tasty combo.
11. Cream Cheese
Cream cheese isn't just for breakfast bagels. You can use it for baking, too. Think of creamy, rich cheesecake mixed with sweet banana bread, and you have yourself a new favorite dessert. The best way to add cream cheese to your banana bread is to mix in room-temperature cream cheese. It's important that it's room temperature because cold cream cheese will not completely mix together, and your banana bread will have an uneven texture.
If you want to go even richer, you can opt for cream cheese's cousin, the sweet Italian cheese known as mascarpone. Cream cheese and mascarpone are often mistaken for each other as they are both creamy and come from cow's milk, but mascarpone cheese has more fat than cream cheese. As a result, it makes richer desserts with a smooth and velvety texture. In banana bread, both types of cheeses add a little extra something to a loaf of basic banana bread.
12. Chocolate Chips
Make banana bread even sweeter with chocolate chips. You can add milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips for a unique banana bread that will make your sweet tooth smile.
Dark chocolate chips are made with just sugar, fat, and cocoa. Dark chocolate is at least 50% cacao and sometimes as high as 85% cocoa and is the healthiest chocolate. It has a richer flavor and a slight bitterness that contrasts sweet banana bread perfectly. Milk chocolate chips have milk in them that makes them smooth and melt in your mouth sweet. Using milk chocolate chips in your banana bread gives it a velvety texture and keeps it sweet. Finally, white chocolate chips are made with cocoa butter and sugar without the use of any cocoa. White chocolate is very sweet and lacks any of the health benefits of other chocolate because, without cocoa, there aren't any antioxidants (via Livestrong). Using white chocolate chips will take your banana bread into a decadent dessert. If you want to balance that sweet overload, pair white chocolate chips with macadamia nuts for both texture and balance.
13. Coconut
Bananas are tropical fruit, and you can keep your sweet loaf of banana bread tropical by adding another favorite tropical fruit in the form of coconut. Shredded coconut adds sweet flavor and an interesting texture to banana bread. You can find bags of shredded coconut that are unsweetened or sweetened at any supermarket, and depending on how sweet you like your banana bread, you can choose either. If you opt for the unsweetened but feel like it needs something, you can sweeten it by placing the unsweetened shredded coconut in a bag with a tablespoon of powdered sugar.
Depending on the season, you may be able to find fresh whole coconuts. Don't be intimidated by a whole coconut. You can use the meat for banana bread and enjoy the fresh coconut water. You can even skip the shredded coconut and just add fresh coconut water to your banana bread. This is a good way to add coconut flavor without the texture that can be a turn off for some people.
Finally, don't mistake coconut water for coconut milk. They are actually two different things. Coconut water is the water in the fresh coconut, and coconut milk is made by blending the meat of the coconut with water (via Healthline).
14. Rum
Turn your banana bread into a boozy treat with rum. Rum is a liquor made by distilling sugar, and it has a natural sweetness that is popular in desserts like rum cake and Bananas Foster. There are a few different types of rum, like white rum, gold rum, spiced rum, and dark rum to name a few. And you can use all of them for baking. But lighter rums won't have the richest taste in baked goods. Distillery Groove recommends using a darker rum in baking because it has a stronger and more intense flavor than light rum that won't get lost in the baking process.
Spiced rum is also a good option for baking. It's a rum that is sweeter than other rums and has nutty hints of vanilla and spice, which pairs well with banana bread.
When rum is used in baked goods, the baking process usually removes most of the alcohol but not completely. So keep this in mind if you are going to share your rum-infused banana bread with children or others who should avoid alcohol. It probably won't get a person drunk, but according to Insider, eating baked goods that contain alcohol can raise your blood alcohol level.