Best Easy Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Recipe

Of all the easy baking recipes you can make, banana bread has a reputation for being the easiest. It's often the first thing that people learn to make, getting etched into our consciousness as a fundamental recipe. Maybe that's why it holds such an important place in our hearts (and on our cooling racks).

But when you add chocolate chunks, then it becomes a whole other thing altogether! That one ingredient turns it into a must-have snack or dessert.

Whether you're making banana bread for the first time, or for the 5,000th, we hope this recipe offers few new tricks or tips worth trying. Here's what we love about it.

How to Keep Banana Bread Moist

One of the reasons banana bread is so easy is that the flavoring ingredient — in this case, bananas — adds both moisture and body to the bread without making it overly wet. This makes banana bread batter extremely forgiving, but it's still possible to err. If your bread comes out too try, chances are either that the ratio of flour to banana was a little heavy on the flour — or that the bananas you were using were underripe.

The best bananas for banana breads are the ones where all or nearly all of the starches in the banana have turned to sugar — this means that they're incredibly soft and not just deeply yellow but so spotted that they're practically black.

So if you've got a couple bananas that are a little too past their prime to pack in a lunch, chances are they'll be great for banana bread. Not ready to make the bread just yet? Simply peel them, put 'em in a zip-top bag, and put 'em in the freezer. As soon as you have enough, and are ready, you can thaw them out and whip up a bread!

Can you Make Banana Bread Gluten Free?

Want to make your banana bread gluten free? It's not difficult at all. This recipe will work perfectly well with many gluten-free flour alternatives. We like Bob's Red Mill, but your favorite gluten-free flour will likely also work.

Can You Use Regular Yogurt Instead?

Quick breads like this rise because, instead of yeast, they use baking soda and an acid to create bubbles in the batter. If you've ever mixed baking soda and vinegar (say to clean a kitchen sink) and watched it burble away, you'll understand why it works. Instead of adding vinegar, which isn't a flavor we're really looking for in banana bread, our recipe uses greek yogurt, which is pleasantly tangy. It reacts well with the soda to create a lighter loaf than many recipes. Greek yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt, so if you decide to substitute it in, you may want to add a little more flour if the batter looks too wet or soupy.