High altitude banana bread that’s quick and easy to make, incredibly moist and flavorful, and lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. This bread is wonderful plain, with nuts, or with chocolate chips.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for walnut zucchini bread, banana snack cake with chocolate buttercream, and banana cream pie.
This post was updated in 2025 with new photos, but the recipe is unchanged.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Simple and Classic. There’s nothing fancy about a loaf of classic banana bread. Sure, you could add a streusel topping (a delicious option), or a handful of chocolate chips, or drizzle it with icing. You could swirl in some Nutella, or spread the slices with butter or jam. A trend these days is to slice a whole banana lengthwise, and then bake half the banana on top of the batter for a pretty presentation. But a really good banana bread recipe that’s moist and flavorful doesn’t need anything else to recommend itself. A thick slice of plain and simple banana bread for an after school snack makes my kids pretty happy.
Easy to Make. The batter comes together quickly, with no mixer or special equipment needed.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Bananas. With three bananas in one loaf, the bananas are the star ingredient, as they should be. If my bananas are on the small side and don’t fill up 1 1/2 cups after I mash them, I’ll often substitute some applesauce, or extra sour cream (if I don’t have any more bananas to use).
- Sour Cream. Adds moisture, flavor, and acidity, which helps the bread rise when it reacts with the leavening.
- Butter. The butter keeps the bread moist and delicious. I don’t recommend replacing the butter with oil in this recipe, as that actually makes the bread too moist and a little soggy.
- Spices. You can add any spices that you like – I spice mine lightly with a little cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. The spices shouldn’t be too overpowering, but just enough to complement all the other flavors in the banana bread.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan, or line it with a piece of parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two sides, and spray with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, mash the bananas. Whisk in the sour cream, melted butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until smooth.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir just until moistened. If adding chocolate chips or chopped nuts, fold them in now.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for about 55 minutes, until the top is cracked and a cake tester or sharp knife comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift the bread out by the paper and set on a cooling rack to cool for several hours before slicing. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to three days.
Recipe Variations
Add Nuts or Chocolate Chips.
I didn’t add any nuts or chocolate chips, because I kind of prefer it plain. It’s great on its own, or spread with a little nut butter or jam. But I wouldn’t turn down a slice of banana bread with chocolate chips, chopped pecans or walnuts.
Try it with a Crumb Topping.
What’s better than buttery, crumbly streusel topping? It adds a crunchy texture and salty-sweet flavor that’s just wonderful. I recommend the crumb topping recipe from my pumpkin streusel bread.
Drizzle with Icing.
A pretty loaf bread drizzled with icing is irresistible. Make a simple powdered sugar glaze and pour it over the top. Vanilla or maple icing would both be great. For a fancy finish, sprinkle the icing with chopped nuts or dried banana slices.
Double the Recipe.
This bread is so good that I usually plan ahead so I can have enough over-ripe bananas to just double the recipe. That way we can have one loaf of bread to enjoy right away, and another to tuck away in the freezer for later.
Bake it in a Showstopper Loaf Pan.
I recently bought the Nordic Ware Fluted Loaf Pan, and I’m completely in love with it. It makes the most gorgeous loaf breads and cakes, and can turn something simple into a showstopper.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrapped well and frozen for up to 3-6 months.
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High Altitude Banana Bread
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed over-ripe bananas (about 3 large or 4 medium bananas, or 13.6 oz mashed bananas)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan, or line it with a piece of parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two sides, and spray with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, mash the bananas. Whisk in the sour cream, melted butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until smooth.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir just until moistened. If adding chocolate chips or chopped nuts, fold them in now.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for about 55 minutes, until the top is cracked and a cake tester or sharp knife comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift the bread out by the paper and set on a cooling rack to cool for several hours before slicing. Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to three days.
Notes
- Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Banana bread can also be baked in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap, and frozen for 3-6 months.
- Chocolate chips and/or chopped pecans would be great in this recipe – about 1/2 cup of each.
- If you like your banana bread with crumb topping, I’d recommend this recipe for streusel topping.
Made this using bread flour and it looks and smells wonderful. We will have it for breakfast and.share reviews.
I don’t have Cardamon. Is it okay to omit or is there a substitute?
You can just leave it out.
I made this recipe last weekend! It came out beautifully, moist and delicious. And I always add mini chocolate chips for the grandkids. I love all your recipes!! Thank you!!
Is there anything I can substitute for the sour cream? I have a milk allergy?
You might try a non-dairy alternative to sour cream or Greek yogurt, but I haven’t tested this without the sour cream.
Durango Colorado here – 6500 ft. I’ve used this recipe 4 times now and every time it’s come out perfectly.
I’m so glad you love it!
How are we feeling about subbing greek yogurt for sour cream in this?
I don’t think I’ve tried it in this recipe, but it would likely work just fine.