Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
Do you know what is even better than classic banana bread? Whole wheat (healthier) and chocolate chips +pecans! Check out this recipe for all the details.
Servings: 10
Equipment
- 1 medium and small bowl
- 1 9x4 loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup whole wheat flour in this recipe I used a white whole wheat.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 ripe bananas
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ⅓ cup canola oil or other oil of choice.
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup chocolate chips ¾ cups inside the batter, and ¼ cup for the topping.
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray your loaf pan and set it aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside.
- In another medium-sized bowl, combine the butter, oil, and brown sugar. Mix well, then add bananas. Next up are the eggs and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix only until they are just combined. You do not want to overmix at this point. Last, add in the chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them, making sure to reserve about ¼ cup chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts. I like to sprinkle these down the center of the loaf once I pour the batter into the pan. Mix to combine.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan, sprinkle with the chocolate chips and nut, and place it in the oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Remember, as noted in the recipe post, you do not want to overbake whole-grain baked goods. Mine took 50 minutes right on the dot.
- I like to check by gently pressing the very center of the loaf. It should be just slightly underbaked. It will continue to cook even when removed from the oven.
- Now, remove from the oven and let this sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. Then gently remove the bread from the pan by inverting, then turning it right side up again.
- This is delicious warm, it is delicious cooled. You cannot go wrong with this bread!
Notes
- First up, do not overmix your batter. This will result in a dense loaf. This is important with any quick bread, but really important when you are using whole wheat.
- Also, make sure and use the spoon method for measuring wheat flour, if you aren't grinding your own. The flour will compact in shipping. Make sure and give it a quick mix, then spoon it into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
- The next biggest tip I have is not to overbake. Those dry baked goods I talked about, the baking time is the biggest culprit. Let me share my favorite trick for avoiding this.
- Underbake your loaf just slightly. I know, this might sound like a bad idea but hear me out. Any baked good will experience "carry-over cooking" when they are removed from the heat source.
- What this means is the residual heat in the baked good will continue to cook the loaf even after it is pulled from the oven. This is really important to remember with whole wheat as it absorbs more moisture.
- If you pull this loaf out when it is perfectly baked, it will continue to cook over the next 5-10 minutes and become dry. So, underbake it just slightly and it will be perfect when you are ready to slice! My perfect time in the oven was 50 minutes