Fact: you will want a slice of this soft, moist, light, fluffy sour cream banana bread with sweet crunchy pecan streusel tucked in the middle of the bread as well as on top! Needless to say, it’s perfect with coffee, tea, milk, or any warm beverage you’d serve with a side of sweets.
This sour cream banana bread with pecans combines mashed bananas and sour cream in the batter making it lighter and fluffier than the classic dense but moist banana bread. Also, you can use pretty much any amount of bananas and this recipe will still work.
So if you’re looking for a one banana banana bread recipe, or two banana banana bread recipe, or even one and a half banana banana bread recipe, you can use this super versatile recipe for all of them.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Wonderful texture – The addition of sour cream lightens the batter making this pecan banana loaf fluffier and lighter.
- Nutty and crunchy – The cinnamon pecan streusel adds extra flavor, sweetness and a crunchy texture.
- Versatile – It’s great as a quick breakfast, a snack or even dessert.
- Reduce waste – This is also a great recipe to use up excess bananas, even in odd quantities (if you have a kid who eats only half a banana!)
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Banana – super ripe bananas are a must for banana bread to maximize flavor. Fresh or frozen bananas will work here. As for the amount, you can use anything between one and two bananas (what? how?? See below).
- Sour cream – full fat sour cream works the best. You’ll want to measure it with the mashed bananas to make up a total of 1 ⅓ cup or 320 grams (if you’re used to using a kitchen scale). Use a little more sour cream if you have less banana and a little less sour cream if you have more bananas. A good substitution for sour cream would be plain yogurt or buttermilk.
- Butter – I use brown butter in the banana bread batter for that delicious nutty flavor and regular unsalted butter in the streusel.
- Egg – I use 2 eggs in this recipe.
- Vanilla – pure vanilla extract is used to enhance the flavor and add complexity.
- Brown sugar – brown sugar adds depth, richness and moisture to the banana bread, dark or light brown sugar will both work. But if you don’t have brown sugar, you can substitute granulated sugar; however, I think the resulting bread will lack some complexity.
- Flour – all purpose flour is all you need. If you want to make this gluten free, I recommend Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur gluten free flour; however, note that I have not tried making this recipe gluten free personally.
- Leavening agents – I use both baking soda and baking powder. The baking soda will be activated by the acidity in the brown sugar as well as sour cream.
- Salt – I always use kosher salt in all my recipes. For table salt, use about half to two thirds as much.
- Pecans – pecans are used in the streusel. Other nuts will work too, like walnuts, macadamia nuts, and hazelnuts. Toasting the nuts before using them in recipes will bring out their flavor, highly recommended.
- Cinnamon – cinnamon is used to flavor the streusel topping, feel free to use more or less depending on your liking of cinnamon. You could also add cinnamon in the batter but I didn’t think it needed the extra flavor.
Tools you’ll need
No special tools are necessary for this recipe as you can make both the banana bread batter and streusel entirely by hand. You do need:
- A loaf pan to bake the bread in.
- And a pastry blender could be useful for making the streusel but I always just use my bare hands.
How to make sour cream banana bread with pecans
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Make the pecan streusel by whisking together flour, brown sugar, kosher salt, and cinnamon. Add cold butter and cut with a pastry blender or press with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Then, toss in the chopped toasted pecans. Refrigerate until you are ready to use it.
Start making the banana bread batter by beating together mashed banana, sour cream, brown butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
Add brown sugar and beat again until thoroughly combined.
Sift in the dry ingredients and fold until a batter forms with a few streaks of dry flour left.
Add half of the batter into a prepared loaf pan, spread about half the streusel – roughly 1 cup – over it.
Spoon the remaining batter on top of the streusel and sprinkle the rest of the streusel on top.
Bake for approximately 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached.
How many bananas to use?
I tested this pecan banana bread multiple times, each time using a different amount of bananas to find the optimal ratio of banana and sour cream.
Using one banana maximizes the amount of sour cream to be added to the recipe, which gives the bread a lighter and fluffier texture. However, the banana flavor was not as strong, though still very nice.
Using two bananas leaves less room for sour cream, which resulted in a denser banana bread. Of course the bread turns out a lot more banana-y and delicious nonetheless.
Splitting the difference at one and a half bananas seems to do the trick, yielding a flavorful banana bread that’s lighter and fluffier than your typical banana bread. This ends up to be my preferred ratio. But for your convenience, use however many bananas you want and make up the rest of the liquid ingredient needed with sour cream.
More baker’s tips
- Fresh or frozen bananas can be used in this sour cream banana bread. If you’re using frozen bananas, don’t throw away the liquid that comes out when the bananas thaw, simply mash the bananas and the liquid all together.
- Ripe bananas are a must! If you don’t have ripe bananas, you can “ripen” them in the oven at 300°F for 20-40 minutes, until their peel turns black.
- How to measure – If you have a kitchen scale, simply measure the bananas and sour cream together to make 320 grams. If not, mash the bananas first and add it to a measuring cup along with the sour cream to get a total of 1 ⅓ cup.
- Don’t try to use more than two bananas as that will leave no room to add sour cream to the batter.
Storage
Room temperature: Store banana nut bread with pecans in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Refrigerator: Beyond 3 days, you can transfer the leftovers to the refrigerator for another 3-4 days. You can also store it in the refrigerator directly after it has cooled and it will last up to a week.
Freezer: This banana loaf also freezes well and can last up to 3 months. I recommend freezing individual slices, wrapped tightly in plastic, and stored in a freezer bag. You can thaw them at room temperature before serving. If you like warm bread, heat defrosted slices in the microwave for about 15 seconds each.
FAQs
Sure, you can bake this easy banana bread recipe in muffin tins, just make sure to shorten baking time. Check out this banana muffins recipe for more tips and tricks.
The amount of batter for this pecan banana loaf is not quite enough for a bundt cake. You can check out my banana bundt cake recipe instead.
The pecans are in the streusel, so you can omit the streusel completely if you want just a classic sour cream banana bread with no frill. Or you can omit the pecans in the streusel and make the banana bread with the cinnamon streusel, it will still be delicious.
More banana recipes
- No Bake Banana Cream Pie
- Banana Bread Coffee Cake
- Matcha Banana Bread
- Banana Cookies
- Banana Bread French Toast
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
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📖 Recipe card
Sour Cream Banana Bread with Pecans
Ingredients
Pecan Streusel
- ¼ cup light brown sugar (packed, 50 g)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (64 g)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- A pinch of kosher salt
- 2 ounce unsalted butter (cold and cubed, 57 g)
- ½ cup pecans (roasted and chopped, 52 g)
Banana Bread
- 1 ⅓ cup mashed banana + sour cream (see notes, 320 g)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (113 g, brown and cool)
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar (lightly packed, 133 g)
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (230 g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Prepare the streusel: First, toast the pecans in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Set aside to cool and then coarsely chop. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the cold cubed butter to it and cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or just use the tip of your fingers to press the butter into flat pieces. The streusel should resemble wet sand. Toss in the chopped pecans and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Brown the butter: Heat unsalted butter in a light colored saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, it will become foamy. When the foam subsides, you will see clear bubbles, start whisking continuously at this point to keep the milk solids from burning. When the butter is caramel in color and smells nutty, turn off the heat and set aside to cool. This will take approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Make the banana bread: Mash the banana with a potato masher in a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, brown butter, vanilla and eggs, whisk together to combine. Add brown sugar and beat until smooth.
- Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a small mixing bowl. Stir in the kosher salt. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and fold until just combined.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F while the batter rests.
- Brush a loaf pan generously with melted butter, line it with a longer piece of parchment paper leaving the excess hanging over the sides.
- Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan, spread about 1 cup of streusel over it. Spoon the rest of the batter on top of the streusel and spread the rest of the streusel over the top.
- Bake for 60 – 62 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached.
- Remove from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. To remove the banana loaf from the pan, simply lift it out using the excess parchment paper as handles.
Notes
- You can use one, one and a half, or two bananas in this recipe, depending on what you have. Simply combine the mashed banana and sour cream to measure 1 ⅓ cup or weigh everything to measure 320 grams.
- Always use overripe bananas for the most banana flavor.
- You can use frozen bananas. When thawing frozen bananas, you’ll see liquid come out, just mash the bananas with the liquid all together.
- You can substitute other nuts in the streusel: walnuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts are all great in banana bread.
Nutrition
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