Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Moist brown butter chocolate chip banana bread with ripe bananas, brown sugar, vanilla, and plenty of semisweet chocolate.
Ingredients
- 113 g unsalted butter
- 340 g very ripe mashed banana
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 60 g sour cream or full-fat Greek yogurt
- 240 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 170 g semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- flaky sea salt for top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and parchment-line 9x5 loaf pan.
- Brown butter in saucepan until golden-brown milk solids develop and aroma becomes nutty.
- Transfer to mixing bowl. Cool approximately 10 minutes.
- Whisk mashed banana, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into browned butter.
- Separately whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet just until almost incorporated.
- Fold in approximately 140 g chocolate. Do not overmix.
- Transfer to pan. Scatter remaining chocolate across top.
- Bake approximately 55-65 minutes. Tent if browning excessively. A tester should emerge with moist crumbs but no raw batter. Internal temperature near center should generally be around 200-205F.
- Cool in pan 15 minutes.
- Transfer to rack. Cool significantly before slicing.
Nutrition
Chef's Notes
CHEF'S NOTES - WHY THIS AVOIDS GUMMY BANANA BREAD: - Measure banana rather than adding unlimited bananas - too much banana makes it gummy. - Don't overmix flour - mix just until incorporated. - Use a metal loaf pan for predictable baking. - Bake center thoroughly - target 200-205F internal. - Allow loaf to cool before slicing. - Brown butter adds nutty depth that complements banana beautifully. TROUBLESHOOTING: - Why is banana bread gummy? Too much banana, underbaked, overmixed, or sliced warm. - How ripe should bananas be? Very ripe - heavily speckled or fully black skins. - Can I freeze banana bread? Yes - wrap well and freeze up to 3 months. STORAGE: Room temperature 3-4 days. Refrigerator 1 week. Freezer 3 months. SCALING: 2x = use two 9x5 pans. Bake time may need adjustment. Do not double filling into one pan. ALLERGENS: Contains wheat, milk, egg. May contain soy, tree nuts depending on chocolate. NUTRITION NOTE: Calculated per slice (1/10 of loaf) using standard USDA nutrition values.