Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread Recipe (2024)

Love banana bread in almost all its forms and have baked many over the years. My fav recipe is very similar to this one but with one substantial difference: It uses 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup and 1/3 cup of oil instead of a 1/2. The result is a plenty sweet enough, moist bread that tastes like banana and cinnamon instead of sugar.

She's in the oven right now and I also added one cup of chocolate chips because WHY NOT??

Because I bake banana bread fairly often, I buy one or two more bananas than I expect to use. A few days later, I take the last seriously ripe, bananas, and pop them into the freezer, skin and all. If I want to make banana bread later this afternoon, I take 3 frozen bananas out of the freezer and let them thaw on the counter. Three hours later, I cut the stem off each thawed banana and squeeze it directly into the batter, as if it were a tube of toothpaste.

Go completely nuts and add a cup of roughly chopped walnuts or pecans. A hefty teaspoon of vanilla wouldn't hurt either.

We baked this with 1/2 cup sugar instead of 1 full cup and it was delicious and still sweet. I would even consider reducing it to 1/3 sugar.

Seems like replacing the water with rum or bourbon would be a great way to introduce a little more flavor into the recipe.

We didn’t have honey so we substituted maple syrup. The bread was great!

No bananas so used one cup of pumpkin puree. Wonderfully moist and great flavor. Loved the Demerara sugar and cinnamon on top-such an easy topping instead of a streusel topping. In my oven loaf was done at 50 minutes so it is good to keep an eye on it. Highly recommend.

Soak some raisins or dried cranberries in that rum or bourbon for 30 minutes or so before you bake. Use orange juice if you don't want to use alcohol.

Really delicious! After seeing all of the comments about the cinnamon topping, I replaced it with a version of Deb Pearlman of Smitten Kitchen's streusel topping. Worked really well:1/2 c. flour1 tb. granulated sugar3 tb. brown sugar1/4 tsp. cinnamonPinch of nutmegPinch of salt3 tb. melted butterStir all together until slightly lumpy, sprinkled on top before baking (pressed in slightly).

Love banana bread in almost all its forms and have baked many over the years. My fav recipe is very similar to this one but with one substantial difference: It uses 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup and 1/3 cup of oil instead of a 1/2. The result is a plenty sweet enough, moist bread that tastes like banana and cinnamon instead of sugar.

Drop blobs of nutella on top and gently push them down into the batter before sprinkling on the topping.

I made this gluten free using Bob's Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 flour. The banana bread came out very tasty!

Just a note for someone who thought wax paper could not go in the over. Not true. Years ago, [40's-50's] parchment paper was not readily available, especially for home bakers. Wax paper was the standard for lining pans. In loaf pans, it can extend a bit on the long sides to make removing the loaf easier. If the oven temperature is really high, the paper may brown a bit on the exposed edges, but it is still safe and works great. Use parchment paper instead if you are concerned.

Add chopped nuts, teaspoon of vanilla.

Usually, I am not a fan of banana bread. However, baking eliminates the stress of life in my being! This recipe is amazing! The crunchy top made it fabulous!!

Delicious recipe. I love that it has oil instead of butter. I followed Jody’s suggestion and used 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup of sugar, also added 1 cup of chopped, toasted pecans. It was delicious, great for bringing to a gathering.

I made a topping that turned out crunchy, covered the loaf well, and didn’t fall off: 1/8 C sugar in the raw, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbs flour, 1 Tbs white sugar, 2 Tbs butter, 1 tsp cinnamon.

I have made this probably 10 times, it is my go to banana bread recipe now. I use a little more banana and make sure it stays a little chunky for more banana flavor and use slightly less ripe bananas. I have also halved the sugar every time and it is plenty sweet. Sometimes I up the cinnamon and add other spices. Also mix wheat flour with the white and add walnuts. I am trying it with molasses this time rather than honey. I skip the topping but that is just my personal preference.

This is the best banana bread I have ever made. Highly recommend.

Can also be waffled!

So yummy! The crust on top is fantastic and adds some excitement to the recipe. We added some chocolate chunks and loved it. I think this will be my new go-to banana bread recipe.

Making this for the 3rd time in 2 weeks! Awesome bread. Reduced the sugar in 2nd batch to 1/2 cup. My bananas had been frozen and were pretty wet so skipped the water. Added chopped pecans.

Delicious! I looked at the other notes and decreased the granulated sugar by half but could have decreased further. I also added a splash of vanilla as others suggested.

10/13/23. - The Mark Bittman banana bread with unsweetened coconut is better

My husband loves banana bread. He loves walnuts in it, but I’m not a fan, so I opted for this cinnamon crunch recipe to add the extra texture. Instead of adding the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, I did a stick of unsalted butter and 1/4 cup of canola oil. It was perfect! This recipe is a little on the sweeter side, but I love how easy it is to adjust to your liking.

Tried it with 1/2 cup sugar and it was perfect. May try next time with 3 bananas, just to see the difference, but it was great with two. Got rave reviews at home.

1/2 c sugar

I made this to the recipe except I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and did not add the honey.I also substituted half spelt flour to make it a little healthier. It didn't rise as much which was expected since spelt flour is somewhat heavier than white flour. I think 1 cup of sugar is too much since the recipe already has a topping that has sugar as well. The bread turned out well flavored and moist.

I made this banana bread according to the recipe and with the subtractions suggested by the notes from Laura. 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of oil. A cup of sugar would be way too sweet for me considering the topping has sugar in it and the bananas add a natural sweetness to the batter. I also changed the type of flour to 3/4 white unbleached and 3/4 spelt flour. It probably didn't rise as much as the original recipe but the spelt adds some fiber. Turned out very well and plenty sweet.