This easy Chocolate Banana Bread is moist, tender, and a chocolate lovers dream! It is the BEST banana bread recipe.
I am super excited to share this Chocolate Banana Bread recipe with you today. I have been testing the recipe for a few weeks and it is finally perfection. It is probably the best banana bread in the history of all banana breads…if you like chocolate. But who doesn’t like chocolate? If you don’t, I am not sure we can be friends. Just kidding, we can be friends because that means I can eat your slice of Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:)
It has taken me a few weeks to get this recipe absolutely perfect because we keep running out of bananas. Our boys are little monkeys and I can’t keep enough bananas in the house to bake banana bread. Last week, I hid some bananas in the back of the pantry so the boys wouldn’t find them. The bananas turned brown and I used them to make this EPIC loaf of Chocolate Banana Bread. I nailed the cocoa banana bread recipe this time. It is absolutely perfect!
So what makes this banana bread so special?
- Well, first the chocolate, duh. Chocolate makes everything better. It is made with Dutch process cocoa and chocolate chips. I use Dutch process cocoa because the chocolate flavor is so intense. The bread has chocolate chips in the loaf and on top. YES!
- Next, the bananas. Obviously, it is banana bread. Overripe bananas are the key. If you have to hide bananas to get them to turn brown, do it. When I first made the recipe, I only used one cup of mashed bananas and the bread was good, but not great. I increased the bananas to 1 ½ cups mashed bananas and BINGO! It is the perfect banana/chocolate ratio. The bananas make the bread super moist and you can still taste the bananas. I like chocolate, but it is chocolate BANANA bread so I wanted to be able to taste the bananas too. 1 ½ cups mashed bananas is the magic number.
- This recipe also calls for melted unsalted butter AND oil. The butter gives the bread a nice flavor and the oil keeps the bread extra moist. The combo produces a tender crumb with great flavor.
- I used brown sugar and only brown sugar in this recipe because again, I wanted the bread to be super moist and brown sugar keeps baked goods more moist because of the molasses content. And I know, I have used the word moist a million times in this post and I am sorry, but the bread is really moist and I promise that is a really good thing.
- Another key ingredient is sea salt. I tried the recipe with regular salt and again, it was good, but not great. I used sea salt this last time and it was the kicker, literally. I loved getting little kicks of salt with the chocolate. Sweet and salty is my jam!
- Make sure you don’t overbake the bread. Take it out of the oven when a toothpick comes out clean or cleanish. If you hit a chocolate chip, there will be melted chocolate on the toothpick. Don’t let that fool you for the batter. You don’t want to overbake the loaf. You might need to test the bread in a few spots.
- Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack until warm. Slice and enjoy every last crumb.
This Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is the ultimate banana bread. It is SO rich and divine. And it is bread so it is totally acceptable to eat a slice for breakfast. Or you can eat a slice as a 3 p.m. for a chocolate pick me up. Or you can eat a slice after dinner for dessert. Or you can eat a slice topped with ice cream at midnight. It is the BEST banana bread and I think you should make a loaf TODAY. I hope you have brown bananas handy.
Oh, and if you want to really impress your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, make a loaf of this Chocolate Banana Bread. It is chocolate heaven and better than store bought chocolates or flowers because it is baked with LOVE! And I promise it is easy to make. And if you are a peanut butter fan, check out my Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread. You will FLIP over this recipe!
If you like this Chocolate Banana Bread, you might also like:
- Best Banana Bread
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Salted Caramel Cashew Banana Bread
- Buttermilk Banana Bread
- Zucchini Banana Bread
- Biscoff Banana Bread with Biscoff Cookie Streusel Topping
Chocolate Banana Bread
Equipment
- 9 x 5 Loaf Pan (This Le Crueset one is so pretty!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 large brown bananas (1 ½ cups mashed)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/4 cup canola vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter and oil and stir until combined. Stir in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, don't overmix. Stir in ¾ cup of the chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate chips over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean, you might have some melted chocolate chips on the toothpick and that is fine. You just don't want a lot of gooey batter. Check at 50 minutes, just to be safe. Oven times vary.
- Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire cooling rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove from the pan. Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack until slightly warm. Cut into slices and serve.
- Note-the bread will keep on the counter, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days. This bread also freezes well. To freeze, cool the bread completely and wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost before slicing.
Have you tried this recipe?
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I used a large muffin too ( it makes 4 or 5), 1/2 whole wheat flour/ 1/2 white. Baked about 16 minutes… SO GOOD ! Would love to post a picture but haven’t figured out how yet
Sorry – large muffin tin
The best banana-chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried. Thanks for sharing.
It is the very best!
I love this recipe so much I have my third loaf in the oven right now. Perfect recipe 🙂 my only note is it always takes me 4 bananas and mine are have been ~7″ bananas, but I’ve been either baking to brown or defrosting browned bananas, so its probably moisture loss because I strain out the water.
For fellow high altitude people, I didn’t change anything and it came out great. (6000 ft/1828 M)
This was very easy & turned out DELICIOUS! I put mine in small aluminum pans & had a nice treat for my elder neighbor. Will definitely make again. Thanks
So glad you loved the banana bread!
This chocolate banana bread is amazing. Easy and delicious. I have prepared it several times and it’s always perfection.
My favorite!
This is truly THE chocolate lover’s banana bread. I just made it for the first time and it’s FANTASTIC. The perfect crumb, a wonderfully balanced flavor of banana and chocolate, the sweetness level is just perfect, and it’s not too rich either! Kudos author!
The VERY best!
thank you so much for sharing this recipe! i was too lazy to try and recreate my mom’s chocolate sourcream banana cake- and yours is even better- and without the sourcream! i used whole wheat flour and margarine to make it non dairy… delicious! brilliant idea to add the chips on top- makes like a quick frosting!
Fantastic recipe!! So glad I came across it. A definite keeper. I used a 9 x 9 pan to cut in squares. Every time I use a loaf pan, the family whacks off each end and leaves only about 3 pieces of the middle. I love the middle the best, but It is easier to portion for us if I do squares plus the pan has a lid for convenient storage. Other than pan size and baking time lessened according, I followed the recipe. Delicious!!
Made this yesterday and it’s now our favourite banana bread! Moist with great chocolate and banana flavour. Thanks for the recipe!
The very best!
I’ve lost count how many times I’ve made this bread and I can’t quantify the amount of rave reviews it gets. Seriously. I have shared this recipe with friends because they loved it so much. Seriously a decadent chocolate banana bread. This recipe is now laminated and in my binder of favorites. Thank you for such an incredible recipe!!!
I am so glad you love it.
My first time making a chocolate banana bread (didn’t know it was a thing!?). I used regular Hershey cocoa because that’s what I had on hand, salted butter, and omitted sea salt. Great recipe! Will most definitely make it again. Thank you.
This is the best Chocolate chocolate chip banana bread I have ever made and I have tried several recipes. I didn’t pack the brown sugar and it was plenty sweet from the banana. will be making this again soon!
This turned out great and went well with a cup of milk. I doubled the recipe-no problem. I also let my heart decide how many chocolate chips were needed-it was amazing. Thanks!
Hi Maria,
I made your Chocolate Banana Bread in mini loaf pans for several dads (Father’s Day), but haven’t tried it myself yet. I doubled the recipe but will triple it next time to make more and 1 for myself. My question is, no matter how many bananas are used (from 3 to 9 large), your recipe says 1 and half cups mashed in parenthesis. That doesn’t seem correct with tripling all the other ingredients…is that a typo? Thank you, Alana
If you are tripling the recipe, you will need to triple the amount of bananas too.
It’s delicious; but why did my chocolate chips (on top) get hard? Yours look great in the photos. If I make it again, I’m mixing them all into the batter.
It’s delicious; but why did my chocolate chips (on top) get hard? Yours look great in the photos. If I make it again, I’m mixing them all into the batter.
My 11 year old and I made this recipe together. We both agreed it came out delicious! The only thing we modified was substituting the unsalted butter with greek yogurt. We did a even ratio substitute and it came out great! This is definitely a keeper.
How fun! Thanks for sharing.
I adapted this recipe for high altitude and it came out wonderfully.
I added an egg, substituted half a teaspoon baking powder for the baking soda, and added a dash of milk. I’m around 6000 feet, if that helps anyone!
Thank you for sharing!
I only have dark brown sugar. Do I need to go out and get light brown? How will it change if I don’t?
dark brown sugar is fine!
Made it with Gluten Free flour! It was AMAZING!
YAY!
I’d love to make this for my daughter’s birthday- any idea what modifications I’d have to make to the recipe to make it in round pans (and look more like a traditional bday cake)?
I haven’t tried it as a layered cake. You would need to double the recipe for sure and reduce the baking time.
The search is over. This one is the best chocolate banana bread ever. Never fails me. I’ve made a ton of them . There always great . Everyone always asks me to make it. Look no further
It is the best!
I make this with gluten free flour due to allergies, and omit the butter. It’s just as good if not better then chocolate cake in my opinion! Excellent recipe, thank you!
You are welcome!
I made this last night and I’m not sure where I went wrong… I used 3 very ripe bananas, 3/4 cup brown sugar, Dutch cocoa…. And it has zero sweetness whatsoever. It’s pretty though…
Holy moly this was delicious!!!!! The chocolate, the bananas, yummmmmmmmm!!!!! My kids finished the entire loaf, officially my favorite bread recipe!
I love this recipe! I did make some changes though, especially since my family is trying to cut back on sugar. I eliminated the brown sugar completely. I also used a half a cup total, of the semisweet chocolate chips (quarter cup in batter, quarter cup on top). I also used an 8 x 8 square pan instead of a bread loaf pan which was inspired by a suggestion from an earlier reviewer. Also, my “brownies” were perfectly done at 30 minutes baking time. They were so moist and for my family, sufficiently sweet!
Our whole family loves this recipe and have been making it from the cookbook. I often make it as 12 count muffins, 28 minutes cooks them perfectly for us.
Yay!
I made this recipe for a church bake sale after making a few adjustments. I added a tablespoon of instant espresso to a double batch. I also added chopped walnuts, saving some for the top, and then baked them in the large muffin pans making a dozen of muffins.
They were one of the first items to sell out and a few days later, I started getting phone calls from parishioners for the recipe.
This is not a recommended recipe for children.
We love this recipe at our house! I make this recipe at least a couple times a month since we always have ripe bananas. I use dark brown sugar, which gives it a nice caramelized flavor and I add extra chocolate chips for good measure :D.
Really a great recipe that I keep coming back to over and over.
So happy you love it.
Really really good!
My favorite!
mine came out really dry. Don’t know what i did wrong=(
Did you over bake it?