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Banana bread bars are moist and flavorful and land somewhere between a cake and a bread with the most amazing brown butter frosting on top! Great for breakfast or an afternoon treat.
Both the texture and flavor are crave-worthy! If you love the moist, sweet flavor of banana try my Award Winning Banana Bread or Banana Bread Crumb Cake.
Banana Bread Bars
Well friends, I have found another great recipe for those over-ripe bananas! If you are like me, you do your best to get your kids to eat healthy, but many times in my house, a little brown spot on a banana is enough to keep my kids from eating it. Well, now those seemingly over ripe bananas have a great use!
This banana bread bar recipe is so delicious and filling and best of all easy to make! My kids love helping me mash the bananas! In just a little over 30 minutes, I have a full 9 x 13 pan of banana bread bars that I can cut into servings that are ready to go for busy weekdays. I love having them on hand to grab and eat on the way out the door in the mornings.
The moist, dense texture of the banana bread bar is both hearty and satisfying and the brown butter frosting is the most amazing frosting I have ever had! Somewhere between a glaze and a frosting, it is the perfect amount of sweetness that is not overpowering. This recipe is too good not to try, so stop what you are doing and go preheat your oven for this winning banana bread!
Ingredients:
- Sugar: Adds sweetness
- Sour cream: Adds moisture without thinning the batter, adds fat for creaminess, and activates the baking soda.
- Butter: Allow to soften to room temperature on the counter while you are prepping so that it will mix in easier.
- Eggs: Stability and structure
- Bananas: Make sure the bananas are ripe by using bananas that are at least spotted or a dark brown or black color. Mash them up with a fork or a mixer.
- Vanilla extract: Brings out the flavor of the banana and add its own rich flavor.
- All purpose flour: Thickens and adds the base of the bread bars
- Baking soda: This helps the bread rise as it is baking.
- Salt: Just a pinch
- Optional: Chopped walnuts or pecans.
Frosting
- Butter: The butter makes this frosting rich and smooth.
- Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness without being grainy.
- Vanilla extract: The great flavor you would expect from any great glaze.
- Milk: Thins the frosting to keep it somewhere between a regular frosting and a glaze.
Let’s Make Banana Bread Bars!
- Prep: Heat oven to 375F. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
- Make batter: In a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. (Stir in nuts here if using.)
- Cook bars: Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Make frosting: While your bars are baking, heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).
- Frost the bread bars: Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).
Recipe Adapted From: All Recipes
Variations:
Whether you are out of an ingredient or have a food sensitivity, there will be times where swapping ingredients is necessary. (Options shown below). What I would definitely not change is the 9 x 13 pan. I tried this recipe in other pans, but I find that it works best using that pan.
- Applesauce: Replace the butter in these banana bars with unsweetened applesauce by using half of the amount of applesauce as the amount of butter called for in the recipe. Or even use it as an egg substitute. Use a quarter cup of unsweetened applesauce in place of one egg. (Optional: Mix the applesauce with half a teaspoon of baking powder). If all you have on hand is sweetened applesauce, then cut down on the amount of sugar you add in.
- Vegetable Oil: You can substitute 3/4 cup of vegetable oil for every 1 cup of butter called for.
- Yogurt: Swap out the sour cream for yogurt. The yogurt will add moisture to this banana bread. In fact, you can use the two interchangeably in most baking recipes.
- Nuts: 3/4 cup of chopped nuts give a great toasty crunch to each bite of bread. Not to mention the nutrients they will add. I like to use walnuts or pecans.
- Brown Sugar: Use brown sugar instead of white sugar for a richer taste.
Moist Banana Bread Bars:
We all want our banana bread to be moist and flavorful, but not wet in the middle or gooey. Here are my tips to ensure your bread has that soft even texture you are looking for.
- Mash the bananas well: Using a fork to mash the bananas works great, but if you are having trouble getting a good mash try beating with a mixer after you have mashed them with a fork. Gradually increase from low speed to medium-high speed as the bananas break down further. This will keep the texture more even and avoid over moist areas in your bread.
- Perfect batter: Do not over mix the batter, simply stir all ingredients together until incorporated. Otherwise it will turn out too dense and rubbery. Also, avoid the urge to add extra bananas, or more liquid if you feel it is too thick.
How to Store Banana Bread Bars:
As I mentioned, I love to make these on the weekend with my kids and have them ready to grab during the week for a quick snack or breakfast. To be sure they are fresh and tasty for days, I have learned some great ways to store my bread bars.
- Wrap well: I prefer using plastic wrap, but storing in Aluminium foil, or an airtight container would also work to keep the bread bars from drying out or spoiling too quickly.
- Refrigerate: To extend the life of your banana bread by up to about a week, refrigerate it after wrapping tightly.
- Freeze: I like to keep some bread on hand in the freezer for unexpected overnight company. It will freeze well for up to 3 months. Use freezer wrap or a heavy freezer bag. I like to freeze mine in slices for easier thawing.
- Cool it! Allow your bread cool completely before storing it to prevent mold from developing faster due to the condensation of the warm bread. Take out of the pan immediately after cooking and turn upside down on a cooling rack so that the bottom does not become too moist.
More Sweet Breakfast Bread Recipes to try:
- Cinnamon Apple Bread
- Cherry Almond Bread
- Blueberry Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Swirl Cream Cheese Banana Bread
- Lemon Almond Poppyseed Quickbread
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Banana Bread Bars
Ingredients
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 3-4 ripe bananas, mashed (about 2 cups)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, optional
Brown Butter Frosting:
- ½ cup butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Bars
- In a large bowl, add the sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs. Using an electric hand mixer, beat until creamy.
- Blend in the mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and blend until incorporated. Stir in walnuts, if using.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Brown Butter Frosting
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Whisk together until smooth.
- Spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks good !
I could go with a cream cheese browned butter frosting!
Will make this as the dessert for my children’s cooking class. They will make some dishes and their dessert with be this.
That sounds great! Thank you for sharing! XOXO
You said you added extra butter. Was it to the frosting or to the batter?
The butter is already added into the recipe.
Making now hope they turn out good
Ok I’m going to critique your critiques I followed your suggestion and used a 13 x 9 pan but you didn’t recommend lowering the temperature or baking longer since they are now thincjer. I adjusted the temp to 350 and baked 10 min longer because they were browning quickly on the sides. Hopefully this works out
I am really looking forward to trying this recipe. I have made banana bread for years, typically using a great great aunt’s recipe. My question, possibly a dumb one, is did you add the extra Tablespoon of butter to the bread recipe or the frosting? I only ask because the recipe you give is a little different than my family’s old one, not that it is a bad thing-of course.
I added the extra tablespoon of butter already in the ingredients. Thanks so much for asking. Hope you enjoy! XOXO
I hardly ever bake, but your recipe really interested me.. Not to “beat a dead horse”,but maybe for the last time, how much butter goes into the bars and how much butter goes into the frosting! I know you said you had adjusted it,but… just to make it perfectly clear.. SOOO, the recipe says 1/2 cup of softened butter for the bars and 1/2 cup butter for the frosting..is that your final answer??(ha, ha)..Thanks so much!!
You are correct! I hope you enjoy your Banana Bread Bars! XOXO
Hi there and thank you for publishing the recipe. You said you added more butter. Was this to the batter of the frosting
Thank you for reaching out to me! I added it into the ingredients already into the list. Thanks so much for following along with me! XOXO
Ok help I made these this morning but it was a fail. Yes the frosting is great but I have issue with. Your bananas —-
Is it 1 3/4 cups of mashed banana or Is it One & 3/4 of a banana mashed. Then you say 3-4 bananas. Confused.
I put 1 3/4 cups of mashed banana and I have a flat bar with not enough flour mixture looks like a cake that had risen and then went flat and lost its air. Taste is good but need to understand how much banana?? I was going to give away to a teacher but not these
3 to 4 Bananas
Love your recipes
Did you add the extra 1 Tbsp of butter to the batter or the frosting?
I made these bars this afternoon. My family is bugging my to hurry up and cut them!! I tweaked the recipe a bit, I substituted Almond Milt for the regular and added an extra TBLS milk since I’m lactose intolerant. Oh I still plan on taking my Lactaid before I bite into them, but the frosting is so good.
Oh yeah I did add 10 minutes to the baking time also.
MMM! That sounds good! I like the Almond Milk idea! Thanks so much for sharing and letting me know your changes! So glad that everyone loved it! XOXO
I can’t wait to make these banana bars! My question is if you changed the pan to a 9×13 what is the exact amount of cooking time??
I use a 9 x 13 pan each time I a make them and I find that they still cook about the same amount of time. It tends to be towards the actual maximum time. For reference I am using a glass pan.
I made this and it was AWESOME. The only changes I made was dividing the batter Into 2 square glass dishes, and halved the frosting recipe. Only did this because My Husband and older son don’t like frosting (?still no idea why, but to each his own I guess)
Both dishes were gone in one day! The kids saved a piece for their school lunches as well ?
I can’t wait to make these recipes that I printed. They look great and mmmmmm good.