Mary Berry Banana Bread Recipe

There’s a particular kind of banana that sits in the fruit bowl getting steadily more freckled and sad looking, and you keep telling yourself you’ll use it, until one day it’s basically a banana-shaped bag of mush. If that sentence made you wince because you’re currently avoiding eye contact with three of them on your worktop, this is the recipe you want.

I’ve got a soft spot for a fancier banana bake too (my banana and date loaf is the one I make when I want to look a bit more together), but this is the one I come back to most, because it’s Mary Berry’s actual original. Not a version that’s been quietly swapped to plain flour because self-raising is apparently too tricky to find. Not a “healthier” reimagining. Just the real recipe, made the way she wrote it, with the mistakes I’ve made along the way so you don’t have to repeat them. My nine year old currently views a loaf of this cooling on the side as roughly equivalent to a personal invitation, and has been caught more than once picking crumbs off the top before it’s even out of the tin.

Key takeaways

• Self-raising flour is doing real work here. Swap it for plain flour and baking powder and you’ll get a flatter, denser loaf, not the same result with extra steps.
• The riper your bananas, the better. Properly speckled, almost embarrassing to hand over at the school gate ripe.
• Overmixing once the flour goes in is the single biggest reason banana bread turns gummy. Fold it in, don’t beat it.
• It bakes for about an hour at 180°C (160°C fan, Gas 4) in a 900g (2lb) loaf tin. Start checking at 50 minutes.
• It freezes brilliantly for up to three months, sliced and wrapped, so it’s worth making even when you’ve only got two sad bananas rather than a genuine glut.

At a glance

Why I’m still making the original

There are a good few “Mary Berry banana bread” recipes floating about online these days, and a fair number of them aren’t really hers at all. They’ve been rewritten and tweaked, sometimes with a completely different flour, method, or tin size, and dressed up with a vague reference to her being the queen of baking. I’ve made this specific version, from her Baking Bible, more times than I can reasonably count, for birthdays, for using up bananas after a holiday, for the school cake sale when I’d completely forgotten it was happening. I’ve made it in two different homes with two very different ovens, and both times it’s behaved exactly the same way, which says a lot about how solid the original method is. It’s never once let me down, and it’s never needed reinventing.

What you actually need

The ingredient list is short, which is half the appeal on a Tuesday when you haven’t got the energy for anything with more than one bowl.

Bananas are the obvious star, and this is not a recipe where you want to be precious about them. Two decent-sized ripe bananas, mashed, is what Mary’s original calls for, and the riper they are, the more sweetness and moisture you get for free. If yours are still mostly yellow, you’re better off waiting a day or two, or doing the oven trick I’ll come to in the FAQs.

Then it’s soft butter, caster sugar, two eggs, self-raising flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, and a splash of milk to loosen things. That’s genuinely it. I’ll say it again because it trips people up: self-raising flour, not plain. Mary’s recipe is built around it, and it’s part of why this version comes out lighter than some of the denser, more American-style loaves you’ll find elsewhere.

I usually use butter rather than a baking spread, but Stork works fine too if that’s what’s in your fridge, plenty of people bake with it for a reason. Just make sure it’s properly soft before you start, cold butter refuses to combine properly and you’ll be left with little lumps running through the batter.

A couple of tablespoons of Demerara sugar sprinkled over the top before baking isn’t in Mary’s original but it’s the one addition I never skip. It goes crunchy and slightly toffee-ish in the oven and turns a plain loaf into something that looks like you tried.

The method

Full quantities and timings are in the recipe card below, but here’s how it actually goes.

You grease and line your loaf tin first, because there’s nothing worse than a beautifully risen loaf welded to the base. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, Gas 4).

Mash your bananas in a separate bowl first rather than trying to do it in with everything else. I learned this one the hard way, chasing lumps of unmashed banana around a mixing bowl full of batter with a wooden spoon, swearing quietly. A fork does the job in under a minute.

Then everything goes into one bowl and gets beaten together for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth. This is the classic Mary Berry “all in one” method, and it’s genuinely as simple as it sounds. An electric hand mixer makes it faster, but a wooden spoon and a bit of elbow grease works fine too. The batter will look thicker than a lot of cake mixtures, closer to a scone dough than a Victoria sponge, and that’s exactly right. Don’t be tempted to add extra milk to loosen it further, it firms up again once it’s baking, and a wetter batter is part of what causes a sunken middle.

Pour the batter into your prepared tin, scatter over the Demerara sugar if you’re using it, and bake for about an hour. You’re looking for a well risen, deep golden top, and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Mine usually needs the full hour and sometimes a few minutes more, so start checking properly from around 50 minutes rather than trusting the clock blindly. Every oven is a law unto itself.

Let it cool in the tin for about ten minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. It’s tempting to slice into it while it’s still warm and steaming, and honestly, go for it, just know it’ll be slightly more crumbly than if you wait.

Getting it right when it goes wrong

Banana bread has a reputation for being foolproof, and mostly it is, but there are a few specific ways it can go sideways.

If the middle sinks, it’s almost always one of two things. Either it came out of the oven before it was properly cooked through (that skewer test matters more than the timer), or the oven door got opened too early and the whole thing deflated before the structure had set. Resist the urge to peek before the 50 minute mark.

If it comes out dense or slightly gummy, you’ve probably overmixed once the flour went in, or your bananas were on the wetter side and threw off the balance. Mash them with a fork rather than blitzing them to a liquid in a blender, which pushes too much extra moisture into the batter.

If the top’s gone dark before the middle’s cooked, your oven is running hotter than it thinks it is, which is more common than you’d expect. Loosely tent the top with foil from about the 40 minute mark and carry on baking underneath it.

If it tastes a bit bland rather than properly banana-forward, your bananas probably weren’t ripe enough when you started. This is one you can’t really fix once it’s in the oven, so it’s worth being patient and waiting for proper ripeness next time, or using the oven-ripening trick in the FAQs below.

Making it your own

Once you’ve made the classic version a few times, it’s a genuinely forgiving base to play with.

• Chocolate chips: fold through a handful just before baking. My lot vote for this every single time, and it’s one of our faves!
• Walnuts or pecans: toasted first if you’ve got a spare five minutes, scattered on top before baking or folded through the batter.
• A spoonful of cinnamon or mixed spice added with the dry ingredients gives it a warmer, more autumnal flavour.
• A ribbon of Nutella, swirled through the batter with a knife just before it goes in the oven, if you’re feeling indulgent.
• Soured cream or natural yoghurt in place of the milk gives a slightly tangier flavour and an even moister crumb.

If you want a completely different banana bake rather than a variation on this one, my banana and date loaf takes things in a stickier, more caramel-ish direction and is worth a go when you fancy something a bit different.

Storing and freezing yours

Keep it in an airtight tin at room temperature and it’ll stay good for three to four days. Don’t be tempted to put it in the fridge, it dries the loaf out and makes it go stale faster rather than slower.

It also freezes really well, which is genuinely useful if you’ve ended up with more bananas than one loaf can use, or if you’ve made it purely as a “just in case” bake for a week that turns out calmer than expected. Slice it first, wrap the slices well, and freeze for up to three months. To defrost, leave slices out at room temperature for about half an hour, or give them a short blast in the microwave if you can’t wait that long. You can also toast slices straight from frozen, which makes a very good case for always having a stash in the freezer for school-morning emergencies.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use plain flour instead of self-raising?

You can, but you’ll need to add extra baking powder to compensate (roughly one teaspoon per 100g of plain flour), and the texture won’t be quite the same as Mary’s original. If you’ve got self-raising flour in the cupboard, use that.

Can bananas be too ripe for banana bread?

Genuinely no, within reason. Even bananas that have gone almost entirely black are fine to use, as long as they haven’t started leaking or growing anything unwelcome. If yours aren’t ripe enough yet and you’re short on time, you can bake them whole and unpeeled on a tray at 180°C for about 15 minutes, which softens and sweetens them enough to use straight away.

Can I use frozen bananas?

Yes, this is actually one of the best ways to store bananas specifically for baking. Peel them before freezing, then thaw fully and drain off any excess liquid before mashing, otherwise your batter can end up too wet.

What if I don’t have a 2lb loaf tin?

A slightly smaller or larger tin will still work, you’ll just need to keep a closer eye on the timing. A smaller, deeper tin needs longer in the middle, while a larger, shallower one will bake faster and flatter, so start checking about ten minutes either side of the time given.

Can I freeze banana bread?

Yes, and it’s one of the better cakes for freezing. Wrap slices individually once fully cooled and freeze for up to three months.

Why did my banana bread sink in the middle?

Most often it’s slightly underbaked, so the structure hasn’t set enough to support itself once it cools. Give it longer next time and rely on the skewer test rather than the clock.

Can I turn this into muffins?

Yes, and it’s a good option if you want something ready faster. Divide the batter between a lined muffin tin and reduce the baking time to around 20-25 minutes, checking with a skewer from 18 minutes.

If you’re building up a small collection of Mary Berry favourites, my Mary Berry drop scones are another one I’d genuinely put money on working every time, and if it’s a Sunday roast you’re planning rather than a bake, my Mary Berry roast potatoes with semolina follow the same principle of trusting her original method rather than fiddling with it.

If you’d like more on getting the most out of ripening bananas before they go to waste, Love Food Hate Waste has some good practical storage tips.

Liked this Mary Berry Recipe? Explore my takes on other recipes from the queen of cooking and baking!

Mary Berry Victoria Sponge with Buttercream

Mary Berry Swiss Roll

Mary Berry Treacle Tart

Mary Berry Raspberry Jam

Mary Berry Buttercream

Mary Berry Coffee and Walnut Cake

Mary Berry Ginger Cake

Mary Berry Blueberry Muffins

Mary Berry Marmalade

Mary Berry Cheese Scones

Mary Berry Roast Potatoes with Semolina

Mary Berry Chocolate Swiss Roll

Mary Berry Drop Scones

Mary Berry Rice Pudding

Mary Berry Yorkshire Puddings

Mary Berry Apple Cake

Mary Berry Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake

Mary Berry No Bake Cheesecake

Mary Berry Soda Bread

Mary Berry Coronation Chicken

Mary Berry Rhubarb Cake

Mary Berry Macaroni Cheese

Mary Berry Pavlova

Mary Berry Fork Biscuits

Browse my full Mary Berry recipe collection here!

Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.