Remember back in 2020 when people were obsessed with banana bread? Everyone had that one person they knew who kept trying to feed you, or get you to make banana bread. Well, surprisingly that wasn’t me in my family. That was my aunt. Not a conversation went by without the mention of banana bread and I’m finally honouring her by sharing her blender banana bread recipe albeit with a few changes!
Farm to Table Banana Bread
Like most houses in Kerala we grow our own bananas. If you’ve grown bananas you’ll know that consuming an entire stem is no easy feat. So we’ve always got some over ripe bananas sitting in our kitchen. My family enjoys banana bread so much that every time we have overripe bananas threatening to go to waste, my grandma will force me to make this some ‘banana cake’ as she calls it. But I don’t mind since the effort to result pay off is ridiculous.
How Many Bananas Should You Use?
The number of bananas a recipe calls for always stumps me. We get bananas of all shapes and sizes in Kerala so I’m never sure how many to use. Google tells me that a standard banana is about 126 grams so three standard bananas would be 378 grams. Going by weight ensures that I get fairly consistent results no matter the type of banana. I would highly recommend investing in kitchen scales, they make your life os much easier. The recipe also calls for ripe bananas so don’t rush them. Use bananas with a fair number of brown spots for best results. However, just be careful not to use bananas that are too far gone; they’ll usually smell a bit funny, almost too ripe. The flavour will transfer to the bread which isn’t ideal.
Using a Blender for Banana Bread??
The one thing I detest about making banana bread is mashing bananas. With this convenient recipe, all you have to do is dump the bananas, milk, oil and sugar into the blender jar and blitz. Add the wet mix to the dry ingredients, fold and it’s ready for the oven! I’ll admit I scoffed at my aunt when she revealed her dump and blend method but I soon realised that it was a genius move! The bananas break down a lot better and the sugar is more evenly distributed. The milk and oil emulsify a whole lot better as well.
The only downside to this recipe is that you’re going to have a dirty mixer jar to clean! The banana mix is sticky and will get into every nook and cranny so it’s particularly annoying. However, there are two things you can do to make it easier. The first is to use a silicone spatula to empty the contents of the jar. This ensures that you get the most of the banana mixture for your bread. The second is to run the mixer with a little soap and water to clean those pesky hard to reach places. Voila, good as new!
Banana Bread Mix-Ins
There’s a reason why banana bread is so popular and i’ll bet its partly due to how customisable and forgiving the recipe is. I’ve chosen to go with chocolate chunks but here’s a list of mix-ins you could opt for instead:
- Any type of nut – Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds etc
- Fresh fruit – Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries
- Dried Fruit – Cranberries, Raisins, Dried Berries
- Shredded Toasted Coconut
- Rolled Oats
- And of course, Dark, Milk or White Chocolate!
Banana bread is a great tea time snack but my personal favourite is a thick slice of banana bread with a large mug of coffee for breakfast! You can store this in an airtight container on your counter for 4-5 days. You can also keep this for about a week in the fridge but I wouldn’t recommend this since it dries out the bread. If you feel the need to keep it for longer in the fridge then warming it up for 30 seconds in a microwave before serving should make it better.
Check out some of my other favourite breakfast recipes!
Blender Banana Bread
Equipment
- Blender
- Banana
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 3 Ripe Bananas (Regular Size) (380g)
- ½ cup Neutral Oil
- ¼ cup Milk
- ¾ cup White Sugar
- 150-170 grams Chocolate Chunks or Chocolate Chips
- ½ cup Chopped Nuts
- ½ cup Chopped Raisins/Cranberries
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 170°c
- Grease and line a loaf pan.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and set aside.
- Chop the chocolate into small chunks and set aside.
- In a blender jar, add the bananas, milk, oil and sugar and blend till you get a homogenous smoothie-like mixture. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold through with a spatula. Mix till you can still see several streaks of flour running through the batter.
- Add the chocolate, reserving a few chunks for the top, and fold through until evenly distributed, be careful not to over-mix.
- Add the batter to the lined loaf pan and smooth out the top.
- Add the reserved chocolate to the top and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 1 hr or until a knife comes out with a few crumbs rather than streaks of batter.*
