Banana Bread Brownies

Banana Bread Brownies are the perfect combination of a moist banana bread swirled with a dense chocolate brownie. Banana brownies are a must make dessert!

Banana bread brownies are unique. Go ahead and do a search for banana bread brownies and see what pops up. I mostly see recipes for things that look more like banana bars than desserts that resemble brownies. To me, if you’re going to call something a brownie, it must have two things: a) chocolate and b) a brownie texture. These banana brownies have both!

I absolute love my pumpkin swirl brownies. I make them every fall. That recipe basically pairs a very thick, dense, chocolate layer with a pumpkin puree brownie batter (minus the chocolate layer). Those two layers get swirled together and baked to perfection. The result is an incredibly moist and flavorful dessert. I used that same exact recipe to make these banana bread brownies, but I just swapped the pumpkin puree and spices for mashed banana. Our house always seems to have overly ripe bananas laying around. If it’s the same in your household, you’ll want to save this banana brownie recipe to make over and over again!

How to make the perfect Banana Bread Brownies:

• I explain in the banana bread brownie recipe below the steps to make these awesome brownies, but here are some tips to make them perfect!
• Any time you bake with bananas, you’ll want to choose ones that are very ripe. My preference is to use bananas that have an equal amount of yellow and brown.
• Here’s another ripe banana tip for you: before you peel the banana, give it gentle but firm squeezes up and down until the entire fruit it mush. Then, when you peel it the entire banana will still stay whole but will already be perfectly mashed for your banana brownie batter.
• Always use parchment paper when you make these banana bread brownies. It’s not necessary, but it makes it oh-so-easy to lift them out of the pan for easy cutting.
• The chocolate portion of the batter is very thick. You may even need to use your hands to spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan.
• If your chocolate brownie portion is too thick to squeeze on through a plastic bag, just use a spoon to throw globs on top of the banana batter. Then use a butter knife to swirl it all together. I’ve made this banana brownie recipe many times and it always seems to turn out perfectly.
• I highly recommend storing these banana bread brownies in the freezer in an air tight freezer bag. It prevents me from eating the entire pan in one sitting and because the banana brownies stay so incredibly moist, you can eat them straight out of the freezer because they’re soft!

Kitchen tools used to make banana brownies:

Pan lining paper: Anytime I make a baked good that I will want to take out of the pan and slice or cut, I almost always use this foil parchment pan liner.
Spatula: One can never have too many good quality silcone spatulas, and this one is my favorite. It’s a great size, has the perfect firmness, and doesn’t leave a nasty silcone taste on your food.
Nesting bowls: Every good recipe requires a good set of nesting bowls. I just ordered this set and love them! Light weight, great price, sturdy – perfect!
Square cake pan: I use this for cakes and brownies. It’s the perfect size to cut nice little squares.

Banana Bread Brownies

Banana Bread Brownies are the perfect combination of a moist banana bread swirled with a dense chocolate brownie. Banana brownies are a must make dessert!

4.67 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: banana bread brownies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings: 16 servings

Calories: 204kcal

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup bananas mashed, about 2 large ripe bananas

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350o F. Line or grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.
• Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• In a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt butter. Continue to cook while it foams and stir constantly until it browns and you see some brown specks at the bottom and it starts to smell a bit toasted. Remove from heat. Once butter cools a bit, add sugar and vanilla extract. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it's evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half to two separate bowls.
• Into one bowl of batter, blend the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. This mixture will be very thick. In the second bowl of batter, stir in the mashed banana.
• Spread 1/2 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with all of the banana batter. For the remaining chocolate batter, you can either spoon it on top or you can put it in a plastic bag, snip off the corner, and squeeze it onto the banana batter in lines. Use a butter knife or a spatula to swirl the two batters together to create a marbled appearance.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (mine took exactly 40 minutes and they were perfect). Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 140mg | Potassium: 121mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 4.9% | Vitamin C: 1.5% | Calcium: 2.3% | Iron: 5%

Questions about the nutrition information?Check out my Nutrition Disclaimer

Love banana bread recipes?

You’ll definitely want to try these:

• Super Moist Banana Bread with sour cream
• Carrot Cake Banana Bread
• Triple Chocolate Banana Bread
• Raspberry Banana Bread
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Banana Bread with Walnut Streusel Topping 
• Chocolate Tahini Banana Bread
• Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread
• Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce