Our Loaded Banana Bread recipe is delicious and visually stunning. Made with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, sprouted hemp hearts, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries, this is one banana bread recipe you’ll want to try!

Loaded Banana Bread Recipe

Banana bread recipes come and go, but this is one banana bread recipe you’ll want to make again and again! This banana bread recipe is its topping; the topping is kind of ornamental with a patchwork of textures and flavors that come together unexpectedly with a scrumptious mix of flavors.

Yes. This isn’t your grandmother’s banana bread. It is loaded with all the good things! Like five impossibly yummy good things, and they’ll all make your tastes sing out load for so much more!

Other banana bread recipes to try:

Banana Bread Muffins

Banana Bread with Samoas Cookie Buttercream

Banana Bread is versatile.

One of the things I love about banana bread is its versatility! You can add applesauce, sour cream, or use yogurt. And when it comes to spices, I have added cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and clove to spice things up a bit. I also added toasted shredded coconut, chopped walnuts, praline pecans, sliced almonds, chopped macadamia nut, and pistachios. This list is almost endless!

Also, who hasn’t added a few chocolate chips to make their banana bread a little more irresistible? But I have taken it a bit further and added chocolate chips and peanut butter chips!

Here’s What You Will Need To Make Our Loaded Banana Bread:

Bananas & Apple Sauce. I love using organic bananas with lots of brown spots on them. Those brown spots indicate the banana is sweet but not yet ready for the rubbish bin. I used medium-size bananas. I mashed them up using a fork, and I was good to go! And to keep them moist, I also used a bit of plain organic apple sauce.

Butter. Sugar. Eggs. Nothing unusual about this trio. Cream the butter into the white and dark brown sugar, then add the eggs. I love using fresh farm eggs, but use whatever eggs you have on hand. Want to turn your sugar game up a notch? Try Turbinado or Muscovado. You will not be disappointed. Want to keep this recipe dairy-free? Use flaxseed instead of eggs and a quality plant butter instead of butter made from dairy.

Pure Vanilla Extract. Coconut Oil. I love adding pure vanilla extract when making banana bread, and I find adding a tablespoon of coconut oil goes a long way in ensuring a moist banana bread. Don’t have vanilla extract? No worries. My go-to substitute is maple syrup. I also love using Almond extract, but it’s a lot stronger than vanilla extract, so you only half the amount. Have you tried using whiskey, brandy, or rum? These all work well instead of vanilla extract. You can also use orange or lemon zest, honey,

All-Purpose Flour. Baking Soda. Sea Salt. All-purpose flour is a standard-issue, but if you have dietary restrictions, you can most certainly use gluten-free flour as well. The baking soda acts as a leavening agent and makes the bread rise. But you knew already, didn’t you? I use sea salt in lots of baked goods like brownies, cookies, and sweet bread like banana, pumpkin, or zucchini bread because it enhances the sweet and salty aspects I love. If you don’t have sea salt, you can use regular salt of Kosher salt.

Dark Chocolate Chips. Peanut Butter Chips. I mean, how can you say no to dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chips? But if neither of those blows your hair back, maybe try butterscotch chips or milk chocolate chips.

Dried Cherries. Sunflower Seeds. Sprouted Hemp Hearts. I added these items because they were lying around in my pantry, begging to be used. So like a good man who cares about kitchen ingredients, I threw them into the mix, and the results were pretty amazing. I also love how these ingredients add sweetness, texture, and a beneficial aspect to this delicious banana bread.

That extra bit of all-purpose flour will change your life! Naturally, if I were to toss these ingredients on top of the banana bread batter, they would sink to the bread’s bottom while it was baking. Adding a little bit of flour to the mix suspends all of these yummy ingredients on top of the banana bread. How cool is that?

Banana Bread Recipe

6-8 Servings

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted sweet cream butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1 1/3 cup of mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup plain apple sauce
2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp peanut butter chips
2 tbsp dried cherries or dried cranberries
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp sprouted hemp hearts
1/4 tsp all-purpose flour

Directions:

Into the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the unsalted butter and the sugars together. Add the eggs one at a time, only adding the second after the first egg is fully incorporated.
Add the pure vanilla extract and coconut oil, and continue to mix.
Next, add the mashed bananas and plain apple sauce and mix well.
In a separate bowl, add all of the dry ingredients: the all-purpose flour, sea salt, and baking soda. Mix the ingredients and with the stand mixer on low, add the dry ingredients a spoonful at a time into the wet ingredients.
Pour the banana bread batter into a bread pan lined with parchment paper.
Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, sprouted hemp hearts, and the 1/4 teaspoon of all-flour into a bowl and mix. Spoon the mixture over the banana bread batter, place the bread pan onto the center rack of a 350°F oven and bake for an hour; midway through baking the banana bread, check to see if the top of the bread to browning too fast. If so, tent aluminum foil over the bread and continue baking. Use a toothpick inserted in the center of the banana bread to check for doneness.

Can I make this banana bread recipe gluten-free?

Absolutely. Use a quality gluten-free flour like this one (insert affiliate link via Amazon for Bob’s Redmill Gluten-Free all-purpose flour). We love this one, too (insert affiliate link via Amazon for King Arthur Gluten-Free all-purpose flour).

Can I make banana bread dairy-free?

You sure can by using a dairy-free plant-based butter, we love Flora Plant Butter. I recommend using softened coconut oil like Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil with Non-Dairy Butter Flavor (add Amazon affiliate link) or vegetable oil sticks. And when it comes to chocolate chips, use dark chocolate chips, which contain no dairy additives.

Can I make banana bread egg-free?

Yes, by using a flaxseed egg. You can buy flaxseed egg ready-made or make them by adding a single tbsp of ground flaxseed and three tbsps of water, mix and allow the mixture to set for 15-minutes.

Now that you have the recipe for our Loaded Banana Bread, all you need to do is get the ingredients out and start baking! Bon appetite!

More baking recipes to check out:

100 Homemade Bread Recipes

Easy Recipe for Pumpkin Banana Bread

Raisin Cinnamon Walnut Old Fashioned Bread Pudding

Loaded Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted sweet cream butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1 1/3 cup of mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup plain apple sauce
2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp peanut butter chips
2 tbsp dried cherries or dried cranberries
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp sprouted hemp hearts
1/4 tsp all-purpose flour

Instructions

Into the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the unsalted butter and the sugars together. Add the eggs one at a time, only adding the second after the first egg is fully incorporated.
Add the pure vanilla extract and coconut oil, and continue to mix.
Next, add the mashed bananas and plain apple sauce and mix well.
In a separate bowl, add all of the dry ingredients: the all-purpose flour, sea salt, and baking soda. Mix the ingredients and with the stand mixer on low, add the dry ingredients a spoonful at a time into the wet ingredients.
Pour the banana bread batter into a bread pan lined with parchment paper.
Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, sprouted hemp hearts, and the 1/4 teaspoon of all-flour into a bowl and mix. Spoon the mixture over the banana bread batter, place the bread pan onto the center rack of a 350°F oven and bake for an hour; midway through baking the banana bread, check to see if the top of the bread to browning too fast. If so, tent aluminum foil over the bread and continue baking.
Use a toothpick inserted in the center of the banana bread to check for doneness.