Best Sour Cream Banana Bread Recipe
Ultra-moist and full of flavor, this Sour Cream Banana Bread combines sweet ripe bananas, tangy sour cream, and crunchy walnuts for a perfectly tender crumb. Easy to make and impossible to resist, it’s a delicious treat for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. And your kitchen will smell amazing while it bakes!
If you’re on the hunt for the best sour cream banana bread recipe, you’ve found it. This recipe makes either one large loaf or three smaller ones, with easy baking time adjustments listed for you below.
Make this sour cream banana bread your own by adding warm spices, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, or bits of other fruit for extra texture and flavor. Want to dress it up? Drizzle the cooled loaf with a simple vanilla icing or frosting.
What is sour cream banana bread?
Sour cream banana bread is a moist, sweet loaf that works beautifully as a comforting treat or a delicious breakfast snack. It pairs the bold flavor of ripe bananas with tangy sour cream and crunchy walnuts, resulting in a soft, tender crumb and an irresistible golden crust. With its delicate sweetness, it’s perfect on its own or spread with butter, jam, or whipped cream.
Why you’ll love sour cream banana bread
- The recipe guides you with sufficient detail to bake either one large loaf or three smaller loaves, depending on your needs.
- This sour cream banana bread freezes beautifully, making it a convenient make-ahead snack you can pull out and serve whenever needed.
- It takes classic banana bread and instantly elevates the flavor with the simple addition of sour cream. No fancy techniques or hard-to-find ingredients required!
Ingredients needed to make sour cream banana bread
- Butter: Unsalted butter will give you better control of the level of salt in this recipe, but you could use salted butter instead. Allow the butter to soften at room temperature for easy mixing.
- Sugar: Feel free to use only granulated sugar or a combination of granulated sugar (for sweetness and a delicious crust on the top of the banana bread) and brown sugar (for moisture and a caramel-like flavor).
- Eggs: Allow your eggs to reach room temperature before beating. For an egg-free bread, use 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce per egg.
- Flour: My go-to flour for this sour cream banana bread is all-purpose flour. For a lighter texture, substitute 1 cup with cake flour.
- Baking soda: Reacts with the sour cream’s acidity for the perfect rise.
- Salt: Enhances the flavors in this bread. Omit when using salted butter.
- Mashed bananas: Use 3 ripe bananas for this banana bread. The riper the better for a deliciously sweet and moist bread with stronger banana flavor.
- Sour cream: Provides moisture to the bread batter and offers a lovely tang to balance the sweet flavors. You could use Greek yogurt instead.
- Vanilla extract: For added depth of flavor. Add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract for nutty notes, if desired.
- Walnuts: The perfect addition to any banana bread recipe, offering delicious crunch and nutty flavor throughout.
How do you make this sour cream banana bread?
Prepare the batter:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the eggs.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Combine with the butter mixture.
- Add the sour cream, mashed potatoes, and vanilla. Stir well.
Bake the banana bread:
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan so that the pan is ¾ full and bake for 50-55 minutes.
Cool and slice:
- Cool the baked bread for at least 10 minutes in the pan before turning out on a rack.
- Slice and serve!
Serving
Serve your sour cream banana bread with regular butter or Sweet Spiced Apple Butter, homemade or store-bought jam, or whipped cream for a bit of decadence!
This moist and comforting banana bread also makes the ideal addition to your breakfast spread, alongside a bowl of Coconut Almond Granola, this Breakfast Fresh Fruit Yogurt Platter, a mug of hot coffee or a cozy Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Store leftover sour cream banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Freezing: Wrap individual slices of this banana bread in foil and then transfer them to a Ziploc bag. Your banana bread will last for up to 3 months and can be thawed later at room temperature before serving as is or lightly toasted.
- Don’t overmix: Be careful that you don’t overmix the bread batter or you will create an overly dense bread loaf.
- Test for doneness: Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should return clean. If you see wet batter, return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- Cover with foil: If the top of your bread is browning too quickly in the oven, simply cover it with foil.
- How to ripen bananas: To quickly ripen bananas for this sour cream banana bread, place them in a paper bag on a warm counter. The bag traps the natural ethylene gas the fruit emits, which significantly speeds up the ripening process.
Variations:
- Spices: For a touch of warmth, add a mixture of cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg to the banana bread batter.
- Sour cream banana bread muffins: Make muffins by baking the batter in muffin molds. You will need to reduce the baking time to about 20-25 minutes at the same oven temperature.
- Loaf pan size: You can either bake one large banana bread in a standard 9-inch loaf pan for 50-55 minutes or three smaller loaves in small loaf pans at the same oven temperature for 35 minutes.
- Fruity twist: Banana pairs well with a variety of fruit. Feel free to add in strawberries, pineapple, pears, dates, like I’ve done in my Hawaiian Banana Bread, Strawberry Banana Bread, and Healthy Banana Bread with Dates.
- Mix-ins: Chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and seeds are delicious additions to this sour cream banana bread.
- Gluten-free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend, and add 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum if needed.
- Add a sweet topping: For a sweeter option, top the baked and cooled sour cream banana bread with a simple vanilla icing/glaze or a luxurious frosting.
Don’t know what to do with excess ripe bananas? They promise to add moisture and rich flavor to an array of treats, including these Banana Popsicles, Banana Meringue Cookies, and Banana Breakfast Cake.
More breakfast bread recipes you may want to try:
- Banana Lemon Bread
- Lavender Tea Bread
- Carrot Zucchini Pineapple Bread
- Orange Almond Scone Loaf Bread
Get the Recipe:
Sour Cream Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup mashed bananas, about 3
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Equipment
- 9-inch loaf pan (I like this ceramic one from Good Cook)
- Large bowl (These glass bowls are so handy for baking)
- Hand mixer (I like that this Cuisinart mixer has 5 speeds)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one 9-inch loaf pan (or 3 small ones). Pan should be 3/4 full of batter.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix well.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; combine with the butter mixture.
- Add the sour cream, bananas, and vanilla; stir well.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 50-55 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes and then turn the loaf out onto a rack.
Notes
Sandy’s tips for best banana bread:
- Storage: Store leftover sour cream banana bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days.
- Freezing: Wrap individual slices of this banana bread in foil and then transfer them to a Ziploc bag. Your banana bread will last for up to 3 months and can be thawed later at room temperature before serving as is or lightly toasted.
- Don’t overmix: Be careful that you don’t overmix the bread batter or you will create an overly dense bread loaf.
- Test for doneness: Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should return clean. If you see wet batter, return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- How to ripen bananas: To quickly ripen bananas for this sour cream banana bread, place them in a paper bag on a warm counter. The bag traps the natural ethylene gas the fruit emits, which significantly speeds up the ripening process.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
I have two loaves of this along right now! It looks and smells amazing. It has been in for 50 mins though and still uncooked in the middle. I’m going to cover with foil, let it bake longer and see what happens.
Every oven is different. Yes, cook it a bit longer if you need to. Always check first (like you did) before pulling out of the oven. ENJOY!
Do you use real butter in banana bread
I do use butter in my banana bread, Diane. :)
Would you be able to use this for muffins? If so, would the baking time change?
Yes, Kat! I’d try about 5-10 minutes less, but make sure and check them!
We are starting our homeschool morning with a little science/math in the kitchen by making this recipe! Happy September!
i love gifting it!! I tend to give it at the holidays wrapped in waxed paper tied with ribbon and a note tucked in along with a coffee gift card, people really like it!
I think banana bread makes everyone happy, Angela :) Love the idea with a gift card!
This bread looks amazing!!!
This recipe looks so lovely! Sour cream is truly one of my favorite baking ingredients, and the smell of banana bread baking is one of my all-time favorite smells. :) I look forward to trying this!
ENJOY, Joan! :)
Yum! I often make banana bread with sour cream. We have new neighbors and I’ll either do banana bread or chocolate chip cookies. They have several little ones.
Lucky new neighbors, Kirstin! :)
Oh yes!!
The Blessing Meal.
The Mission -Kindness.
Just Because.
Banana or Pumpkin or Zucchini. Either or all three. :)
I love how you said …”Life has moved toward tender and lovely, as our family has changed and the kids have grown.”
I’m seeing the change(s) here, in our home – ever. so. slowly. Just as the kids are growing. Ever.so.slowly. But, ever so sure!!
Thanks for sharing, Bevy. I know … it goes so quickly … sigh.
Six years ago, my sister and best friend Molly, passed away suddenly. Every year for Christmas and thank you gifts, she made banana bread for her husband’s clients. Her husband is an architect and she was his office manager. I promised my brother-in-law that as long as he worked I would take up the “banana bread baking” each year. I make 18 loaves and wrap them with a bright red ribbon just like Molly used to do. It keeps me feel close to Molly and my brother-in-law. His clients, who knew Molly well, are always appreciative and send the sweetest notes. So my house pretty much smells like banana bread the months of November and December!
Oh, Clare, thank you for sharing your beautiful story of Molly and her loaves of banana bread. So special you kept the tradition going!