Delicious oatmeal banana bread with oatmeal in the bread and a tasty oatmeal topping. This hearty banana bread is perfect for breakfast or a midmorning snack.
This quick loaf is a great way to use up those ripe bananas!
Banana bread with oats
The most popular recipe on my blog is a recipe for Oatmeal Banana Muffins. They are a really great muffin that get rave reviews. Just lately I've had some readers ask if they can make the recipe into a banana bread instead of muffins.
I adjusted my original muffin recipe, just a bit, and made it into banana bread. This oatmeal banana bread is as delicious as the muffins!
This oatmeal banana bread recipe is full of banana flavor and is a moist and hearty loaf of bread. It has a delicious oatmeal topping that adds just a touch of sweetness.
Banana bread is always a great choice to make, especially if you have ripe bananas in your kitchen.
Another benefit to making this banana bread is your house will smell amazing while it's baking.
Key ingredients
- Bananas - really ripe bananas
- Oats - old fashioned oats, although quick oats can be used too
- All purpose flour
- Brown sugar
- Sour Cream
- Eggs
- Oil
- Vanilla
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking powder and soda
Step by Step Directions
- Combine flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Mix in brown sugar.
- Mash bananas using a fork or a potato masher
- Add mashed bananas to egg mixture
- Place egg mixture in bowl with flour mixture
- Stir together just until combined
- Place in a greased loaf pan
- Top with oat crumble
- Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 55-65 minutes
Oatmeal Crumb Topping
- Place oatmeal, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and oil in a bowl
- Mix until combined
- Sprinkle mixture over banana bread batter
How to test if bread is done?
- Cooking times vary depending on each oven
- At 55 minutes test bread with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick in the center of the bread. Bread is done if there are just a few crumbs stuck to toothpick.
- Bread needs more baking time if toothpick comes out with sticky batter, bake for 5-10 minutes longer
Tips for making
- Use really ripe bananas for making this bread.
- Mash the bananas well before adding to the mixture
- Do not overmix the batter
- Preheat oven before baking
- Check your bread to see if it's baked through at 55 minutes. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes if needed.
- Allow bread to fully cool before slicing. Warm bread tends to fall apart easily.
Recipe Faqs
Banana bread doesn't last long in my house, because my kids tend to eat it up right away!
However, it could last for up to three days if stored in an airtight container. Once bread has fully cooled slice bread and place in a zip top bag or container.
Yes, banana bread can be frozen. Allow bread to fully cool, slice, if desired and add to a freezer bag. Frozen banana bread is best if used within 2-3 months.
Ingredient substitutions
- Old Fashioned Oats - You can use one-minute or quick oats instead
- Sour Cream - Plain Greek yogurt may be used
- Canola Oil - Use vegetable oil or other light tasting oil
- Vanilla - If you don't have vanilla on hand, you may omit
More great recipes using ripe bananas
- Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Quinoa Banana Bread
- Walnut Banana Muffins
- Fruit and Veggie Smoothie
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Check out all my delicious bread recipes!
Oatmeal Banana Bread
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Bread Pan
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup oil (canola)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups ripe bananas (mashed, about 4 bananas)
Topping
- ¼ cup old fashioned oats
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon oil (canola)
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- dash salt
Instructions
Bread
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Lightly grease a loaf pan
- Combine flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon1 ½ cups flour, 1 cup old fashioned oats, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, sugar, oil and vanilla½ cup brown sugar, 2 eggs, ¼ cup oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ½ cup sour cream
- Mash bananas using a fork or a potato masher. Add mashed bananas to egg mixture and mix until combined.1 ½ cups ripe bananas
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir together just until combined
- Place batter in a lightly greased loaf pan.
Topping
- Combine oats, brown sugar, oil, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl¼ cup old fashioned oats, 1 Tablespoon brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon oil, ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon, dash salt
- Sprinkle mixture over prepared banana bread batter
- Bake bread for 55-65 minutes in preheated 350° F oven
- Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes in pan. Remove bread from pan and continue cooling on a baking rack.
- When bread has fully cooled, slice into 10 slices
Notes
- Use really ripe bananas for making this bread.
- Mash the bananas well before adding to the mixture
- Preheat oven before baking bread
- Check your bread to see if it's baked through at 55 minutes. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes if needed.
- Allow bread to fully cool before slicing. Warm bread tends to fall apart easily.
- Old Fashioned Oats - You can use one-minute or quick oats instead
- Canola Oil - Use vegetable oil or other light tasting oil
- Vanilla - If you don't have vanilla on hand, you may omit
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Stephanie says
Came out delicious! I ran out of oil for the topping (I used olive oil and my bottle had maybe 1/4 cup left) so I used 2 TBSP butter for the topping. I went heavy on the vanilla bc I’m a vanilla fiend and I tucked some raisins into the batter bc my boyfriend loves them. Came out nice and thick and delicious and we of course topped with more butter and it’s been a super tasty banana bread. Definitely nice and darker than my usual loaf but this was a very pleasant change. I will be saving this one thank you!
Kathy says
Thank you!!!
Donna says
I have made this recipe twice. Both times I followed the recipe exactly, except I used Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. My family loves this bread. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Kathy says
Thanks so much! Greek yogurt is a great substitute.
Jacqueline says
Made some changes: .5 cup apple sauce instead of oil. 1/4c. Of Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.1 tbs of honey instead of sugar. Added some walnuts. My best banana bread yet.
Kathy says
Perfect! Thanks for sharing your version. 🙂
Sarah says
could this be adapted for a bread machine??
Kathy says
I have not tried this in a bread machine so I don't know how it would work.
Beth253 says
Well hello there, and thanks! I wish I could post a photo of how gorgeous this bread is. Luckily I have instagram, so I can annoy people with the photo. 😂 I did everything according to the recipe, and then added walnuts, and a Tbsp of ground flax seed. Tis very very good. My bananas were very ripe. Near banana death. But they were the perfect candidates. Sometimes I’ll freeze them before I use them, because they’ll get very syrupy, and break down nice for the bread.
I appreciate the rather small amount of sugar used in this. I’ll be eating it for breakfast this week. Thanks again.
Kathy says
Hi Beth,
Thanks so much!!! I also freeze my really ripe bananas so I can use them when I'm ready. Otherwise they seem to go from ripe to overripe in a minute. Tag me on Instagram...I'd love to see your pics! 🙂
Kathy
Jay says
We love everything banana, so we have used this recipe many times and it is my family's favourite!
Always turns out to be wonderful and far from dry. I usually double up on the recipe so we have enough to last a few days! Keeps really well refrigerated too. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Kathy says
Hi Jay,
Thank you!!! I really appreciate your comment and am so glad this bread works perfect for you! You may notice that I did alter the recipe by adding 1/2 cup of sour cream to the batter. This was because I had some people stating the bread was too dry. Give it a try with the sour cream. You can always omit, if you'd prefer and have the original recipe.
Thank you!
Kathy 🙂
Kennty Schiff says
I have made this recipe twice and both times it was a tad dry, the 2nd time moreso. In reading the comments, it seems that the ripeness of the bananas really matters. They were fairly ripe (brown spotted) the 2nd time, and still produced a dry loaf. I've wondered whether adding more fat or using a different fat (butter) might make a difference. Other than super ripe bananas, any other ideas of moistening this?
Kathy says
Hi Kenny,
Thank you for your comment and question. I am going to go back and remake/rework this recipe this weekend. I'll try some options and I'll get back to you.
Thank you,
Kathy 🙂
Kathy says
I reworked this recipe and have added 1/2 cup of sour cream to the batter. That seems to add the extra moisture that was missing.
Let me know what you think!
Kathy 🙂
Nan says
Followed the recipe exactly and it was bone dry. Pretty much the worst banana bread ever. I’m an experienced baker and I’m mad I wasted ingredients. Should have stuck with my tried and true banana bread recipe but I had oats to use up.
Kathy says
Hi Nan,
I'm sorry this bread didn't work for you. It is a very hearty loaf of bread, but shouldn't be dry. You do need to use very ripe bananas and be careful to not overcook the bread.
Thank you,
Kathy
Cristina says
Can you add walnuts to the recipe? Just love nuts in my bread and wondering how it will come out?
Kathy says
Walnuts would be a delicious addition to this banana bread! I would fold in 1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts just before adding to the bread pan and then bake as normal.
Enjoy 🙂
Clementine says
My mind was really in the clouds this morning. I also accidentally added an extra 1/4c of coconut oil.
Kathy says
So glad they turned out!
Connie says
I wish i would have added a 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce or coconut oil. this bread was so dry; very disappointed. However i only had two bananas, so that could have made it more on the dry side too??
Kathy says
Hi Connie,
The bananas really are key to making a moist banana bread. If you put less in, the recipe will not be the same. You also need to use very ripe bananas in order for the bread to be moist. Sometimes changing a recipe works, but sometimes you are going to get less desirable results.
Kathy
Katie Jane says
Seriously??? You changed the recipe and it didn't work out and you are blaming the recipe? Not really fair to only give her 2 stars due to your error. I've made this banana bread and it works out beautifully - when you follow the recipe! 🙂
Clementine says
Replaced the sugar with maple syrup, added an extra 1t of cinnamon, and used coconut oil instead of canola oil. Super moist, flavorful, and not too sweet. Skipped the topping (I totally forgot. Doh.). Super moist and flavorful- not super dense like other banana breads. Love it! Can't want to try WITH the topping next time.
Kathy says
Sounds like they turned out just perfectly! I like the idea of adding maple syrup. It would add such great flavor!
Naomi A says
This is the BEST banana bread recipe I have ever made/eaten. Instead of regular sugars, I used maple syrup and monk fruit sugar and it still came out amazing. Saving and will be making again soon!
Kathy says
Wow!!! Thank you!!! You just made my day! 🙂
Bea says
You do not mention when you add the sugar. With the egg mixture or flour mixture
Kathy says
Oh dear, you are correct! Add the sugar with the egg mixture. I have gone in and corrected this in the instructions! Thank you and enjoy! 🙂
David @ Spiced says
I absolutely love quick breads, and I really love using oats in breads, too. The texture is amazing...not to mention the health benefits of the oats. But let's be real - it's not about the health. It's about the delicious bread! And the combination with banana bread here sounds like it's right up my alley. I would love a slice of this with my morning coffee tomorrow!
Alex says
I am always looking for new ways to use bananas - and I love banana bread, so I am really enjoying the oatmeal too! Delicious.
Kathy says
Thanks, Alex! I always seem to have a few extra ripe bananas around that just need to be used up.