Is there anything in life more comforting than the smell of banana bread baking in the oven? We think not. This right here is our favorite banana bread recipe - it's wholesome, it's moist and it uses as little equipment as possible so it's perfect for the days where you're craving something freshly baked but want as little mess as possible.

How To Make Banana Bread: The Simple 4-Step Process

There are millions of recipes circulating online that claim to be 'the easiest recipe ever', but we've all had at least one experience with those recipes where when you actually start making it you end up in your kitchen, sweating profusely wondering what's gone wrong, scrambling your local store for a rare ingredients or when you're finally done, your previously tidy space looks like a tornado just hit it. This banana bread recipe on the other hand requires 4 steps, 9 ingredients (which you most likely already have) and one bowl - now tell me that's not a contender for the easiest recipe ever?

All jokes aside, most of you have probably made banana bread before but if you haven't simply follow these steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F
2. Mix all wet and dry ingredients together in one bowl
3. Pour the batter into a greased baking tin and sprinkle with some chopped walnuts
4. Bake for 35-45 mins

What You'll Need To Make Banana Bread:

Ripe bananas: The blacker the banana, the sweeter the bread!

Butter: You can use salted or unsalted butter for banana bread, just make sure its softened to get a soft texture and buttery flavour.

Brown sugar: Using brown sugar in banana bread helps yield a soft, moist texture and also adds a wonderful flavour.

Eggs: For stability and structure.

Walnuts: For an irresistible nutty crunch.

Quick oats: Healthy and wholesome, oats add a great texture to bread.

All purpose flour and baking soda: to help your bread rise.

Vanilla: the hidden yet hugely important addition to many of your favorite baked goods.

Tips For A Great Banana Bread:

Use overly ripe bananas: Many fruits are useless when they become overly ripe, but not bananas! During the ripening process the starch in bananas gets converted to sugar, this makes for a delicious (almost) naturally sweet banana bread but with a great banana flavour!

Don't over mix: This is so important! The more you mix the batter the more gluten is developing in the bread, so the chewier it gets. If you're looking for a moist and crumbly banana bread, just mix until combined

Be patient!: When the glorious smell of banana bread is swirling around your kitchen, we know it can be hard to wait, but you have to. Don't crank up the temperature, don't take it out early, we mean it - patience is key! 

Banana Bread Variations:

There is so much you can do with banana bread to switch it up, here's some of our favourite ways:

Chocolate chips: Man, chocolate chips in banana bread is TOO good. Add some to the batter at the same time you add the walnuts, and stir gently. And then sprinkle some on top for some extra ooey, gooey chocolatey goodness.

Pecans: If your not a fan of walnuts, pecans are also a great option for banana bread due to their buttery taste and crunchy texture, they are the perfect addition to this loaf.

Maple banana bread: This is where you use maple syrup instead of brown sugar to sweeten the loaf. Check out a recipe here.