With a few quick tips, ripe bananas, and some chopped walnuts for nutty flavor and crunchy texture, you'll have an irresistible loaf of banana nut bread at your fingertips! It may be hard to have just one slice.
Preheat oven to 350˚F and line an 8x4 loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Place 4 ripe bananas into the bowl of an electric mixer and mash well with the paddle attachment.
Add vegetable oil, sugars, egg, and vanilla to the mixer bowl and mix on the lowest setting for about 2 minutes.
Add in the flour mixture on low speed, mixing just until combined.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the chopped walnuts into the batter.
Pour into your prepared 8x4 loaf pan. If garnishing with a banana, carefully slice it in half and place it on top.
Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the highest point in the center, but with some moist bits.
Allow the banana bread to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes before removing.
Notes
This recipe will make 1 loaf. Easily double the ingredients to make two loaves.
Your bananas can be black, brown, or yellow with brown spots - so long as the banana is nice and ripe your bread will come out tasty. When the banana peel has developed freckles, they are ready for making banana bread. The riper the banana, the stronger the banana flavor in your finished bread. Dark/black bananas are perfectly okay to use.
Too much flour will result in dry, crumbly, and stiff bread - the exact opposite of what you want your banana bread to be! Do not scoop your flour straight from the bag. Instead, mix the flour in the bag with a spoon to aerate it (so you're not scooping packed in flour), then use the spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Level it off with the flat end of a butter knife but do NOT pack the flour into the cup or tap it on the counter. Lastly, use room temperature eggs. If you are using cold ingredients in your batter, it can cause it to stiffen up. The batter is already heavy, you don't want to make it even more so.
The banana slice as garnish adds a pretty touch to your bread, however, it is optional and can be omitted if you would prefer.
To freeze, wrap the fully cooled banana bread in plastic wrap, place it in a large ziptop bag, press it down to remove air, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also freeze individual slices by wrapping each slice in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and placing it in a sealed ziptop bag. Thaw uncovered at room temperature for about an hour to an hour and a half and enjoy!
Store leftover banana bread wrapped with plastic wrap and sealed in a large ziptop bag at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also store it in an air-tight container.