This peanut butter banana bread is a delicious twist on a classic, made with peanut butter powder for a surprisingly light, moist crumb without feeling heavy. It's an easy, cozy bake that's perfect for using up overripe bananas and gives you big peanut-butter that's ideal for everyday snacking, breakfasts, or lunchboxes.
I've tried making peanut butter banana bread a few times over the years, but I always ran into the same issue. The peanut butter flavor was there, but the texture ended up a little dense and stodgy. Enter peanut butter powder. It delivers all that rich, nutty flavor without the heavy, pasty quality, giving this loaf a lighter, more tender crumb. As a bonus, it has about a third of the calories of traditional peanut butter and adds a nice boost of protein.
This peanut butter banana bread is perfect for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or even a not-too-sweet dessert. It's one of those cozy, dependable recipes that disappears fast in our house, and I hope your family loves it just as much as we do.
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What is peanut butter powder?
Peanut butter powder is made from roasted peanuts that have been pressed to remove most of the oil from them and then ground into a powder. Some brands, including the one I recommend PBFit Original Peanut Butter Powder, have a little sugar added. Although you can totally use sugar free peanut butter powder if you prefer.
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Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Whisk
- Parchment lined bread pan
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Peanut butter powder: Peanut butter powder is what gives this recipe it's great peanut butter flavor without the stodgy quality of using fresh peanut butter. I recommend using PBFit and if you use my code "JAMJAR15" you can get 15% off.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Unsalted butter: I recommend Kerrygold Butter.
- Light brown sugar
- Sour cream: I recommend using full fat.
- Vanilla extract
- Ripe bananas
- Eggs
Step-by-Step Photos
Recipe FAQs
Unfortunately no. Regular peanut butter results in a high dense, stodgy crumb and ultimately not very enjoyable. Peanut butter powder on the other hand gives a bit punch of peanut butter flavor without weighing down the bread.
The easiest way to tell if the bread is finished cooking is to insert a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean then the bread is done baking. If there's wet batter stuck to it then it needs a little longer in the oven.
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Made this Peanut Butter Banana Bread recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Recipe
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup peanut butter powder I recommend PBFit Original Peanut Butter Powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 bananas, mashed about 1.5 cups
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium size mixing bowl combine flour, peanut butter powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Stir until combined. In a separate large mixing bowl combine melted butter and sugar. Whisk until well combined. Then add eggs and whisk together before adding sour cream, vanilla extract and mashed bananas.
- Add about half of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix to combine. Then add the remaining flour mixture and stir until no white steaks remain. Pour the batter into a prepared bread pan (I recommend lining with parchment paper and then greasing). Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 10 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing and place on a wire rack to cool for around 20 minutes. Slice and serve. Enjoy!
Joyce
Has anyone made muffins with this recipe instead?
jamjarkitchen
Hi Joyce, I haven’t yet but that’s a great idea. I actually might give it a try this weekend because I think my kids would love it.
I typically cook muffins by preheating the oven pretty hot, to around 400 degrees. And then turning the heat down to 350 to cook for 16-20 minutes. Feel free to give it a try if you’d like. Or check back here next week after I’ve recipe tested a muffin version with exact heat and time.
Joyce
Thank you! I did make them into muffins. They were moist and delicious! Thank you.
Pam
Just made this today! It was really good! I subbed the flour for one cup of whole wheat, and a half a cup of almond flour, I subbed a flax egg for one of the eggs, and I used a half a cup of applesauce, and 2 tablespoons of oil instead of the butter.
Next time I will try subbing half of the brown sugar for Monk fruit sweetener. Also, I will add cinnamon. Thanks for the great recipe! I was looking for something like this to use my powdered peanut butter. The peanut butter flavor does seem pretty subtle.
Pam
Casey
Can I add chopped nuts and what size bread pan did you use?
jamjarkitchen
Hi Casey - you can absolutely add chopped nuts and I recommend a 9-10 inch loaf pan.
Nicole
Haven’t tried these but the combination I must try ?Thank you
Christa
Great recipe! I wanted a bit healthier bread, so I used only a 1/2 cup of coconut sugar instead of a cup of regular, melted coconut oil instead of butter, organic oat flour blend instead of AP flour, yogurt instead of sour cream, and added a 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. Worked perfectly!
Gert
Hello, I’m wondering if I can swirl in some jam on either the loaf or the muffins. Recommendations? Thank you!
jamjarkitchen
Hi there - Yes, I haven't tried that myself but I think that would be delicious. Just a few things to keep in mind. You'll want to use a thicker jam and probably no more than 1/4th to 1/3rd cup at most. Spoon in and then gently swirl, as you don't want to over mix. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂