Yield: 1 loaf blueberry banana bread // Total Time: 1 hr. 20 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. //
Moist banana bread filled with fresh blueberries and topped with a pistachio crust.
blueberry banana bread
If you’re looking for something to do with those sad bananas on your counter that isn’t throwing them away – consider turning them into this delicious blueberry banana bread! It’s super moist, loaded with fresh blueberries and banana flavor, and is topped with a crunchy pistachio crust.
why you’ll love this blueberry banana bread:
- It’s super moist – because who wants a dry banana bread?
- It comes together in one bowl, with no mixer – the best kind of recipe.
- It has a crunchy pistachio crust – or a crust of whichever nut you prefer!
expert baking tips
weigh your ingredients
Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient which can give you some undesirable results. This kitchen scale is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out!
mix the batter carefully
After adding in your flour, you’ll want to be careful to only mix until that last streak of flour disappears into the batter to avoid over-mixing. Over-mixing your batter leads to developing more gluten in the batter, which will make the bread more tough and chewy.
room temperature ingredients
It is important for the ingredients to be at room temperature so that they properly incorporate with each other. Take out the eggs and sour cream at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hr 30 min. before starting the recipe.
how to tell when banana bread is done baking
The toothpick test is great and all but for bread loaves I like to use a thermometer to check when the bread is done. Stick a thermometer directly down the middle of the cake, about half way through. When the thermometer reads 205°F / 96°C, it’s ready to be taken out.
ingredients and substitutions
For the banana bread:
Banana: you will need ~3 medium sized very ripe bananas for this recipe. Only ripe bananas will work here – bananas that are still very yellow/green will be less sweet and have less moisture in them.
Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the bread and giving it that classic buttery taste. You can substitute in salted butter, just omit the extra salt from the recipe.
Light brown sugar: for sweetening, flavor, and for moisture. For a deeper flavor, you can use dark brown sugar here.
Eggs: for moisture, structure, and binding the batter together.
Vanilla: for flavor.
Sour cream: for moisture and for keeping the bread tender. You can substitute in buttermilk, greek yogurt, yogurt, or kefir here as well!
All purpose flour: the structure of the bread.
Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the loaf rise.
Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the bread.
Ground cinnamon: for flavor.
Pistachios for flavor and texture! I used pistachios because they pair super well with the banana and blueberry, but you can use whatever nut you prefer or have on hand – or leave them out all together.
Blueberries: I recommend using fresh.
how to make blueberry banana bread
Here’s a few photos of the process of this bread – you can find the full recipe at the end of this blog post.
- Mash the banana, then mix in the melted bbutter and brown sugar.
- Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
- Fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until only a few streaks of flour remain, then fold in the blueberries.
- Pour the blueberry banana batter into a lined loaf pan, then top it generously with pistachios. Bake, cool, serve, and enjoy!
blueberry banana bread q&a
what size loaf pan do I need?
I used and recommend using an 1 lb. (8.5″ x 4.5″) metal loaf pan. If all you have is 9×5″ that will work perfectly as well, just note that the loaf will be a little shorter and will require a little less baking time. Please be sure to use a metal pan for the best results – if you use a glass pan your bread will take much longer to bake.
how to stop blueberries from sinking
To get the blueberries evenly distributed throughout the banana bread instead of them all sinking to the bottom, all we need to do is coat them in 1 tbsp. of flour before adding them into the batter!
why do you measure in grams?
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
a note on oven temperature
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and aren’t always at the temperature they claim to be. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
tools and ingredients
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this blueberry banana bread?
If you made this blueberry banana bread I would love to see it and know your thoughts! Please leave a comment and review down below, and tag me on Instagram @freshbeanbakery. If you have any questions about the recipe I will gladly do my best to answer them in the comments below!
Blueberry Banana Bread
Ingredients
Blueberry Banana Bread
- 150 g blueberries (1 c.) fresh, rinsed
- 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
- 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
- 250 g banana mashed (~3 medium bananas)
- 155 g light brown sugar (¾ c.)
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 75 g sour cream (¼ c. + 1 tbsp.) room temperature
- 190 g all purpose flour (1 ½ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 85 g pistachios crushed (¾ c.)
Instructions
Blueberry Banana Bread
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Butter a 1 lb. loaf pan and line it with parchment paper, to create a "hammock" for lifting the bread later on.
- In a small bowl, mix together the blueberries and 1 tbsp. all purpose flour until all the blueberries are coated. Set aside.
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval until it's just completely melted.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash up the banana until only a few small chunks remain.
- To the banana, mix in the melted butter and brown sugar.
- Add in both eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gently mix the ingredients together until only a few streaks of flour remain. Then, add in the blueberries and mix just until no flour streaks remain.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Top the batter with the crushed pistachios, very gently pressing the pistachios down so they stick to the batter.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes.* For the best doneness test, I recommend using a thermometer. Insert a thermometer into the center of the cake about half way down. When it reads 205°F / 96°C, it's ready to be taken out.
- Allow the cake to come to room temperature before slicing. Once it's room temperature, slice, serve, and enjoy!
Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!
I made this and it was absolutely delicious. Came out perfect and is now saved in my go to recipe folder. Thanks!
Tasty recipe, would definitely try it again.
However I followed the recipe bit by bit but for some reason it completely overflowed in the oven. Luckily I thought it looked quite full so put something under the baking tin to be sure. I’d love to know where I went wrong because I did all the measurements precise and even bought a 1lb tin especially for this!
Hi, that’s definitely odd that it overflowed! The only thing I could think of is that if you weren’t weighing the ingredients you may have added in a little more banana/flour/sugar/etc. than needed which resulted in too much batter for the pan. Also, if your oven is at a lower temperature than it claims to be at, the bread may have baked too slow so when it rose to the top of the pan, it spilled over rather than having some structure. Thank you for trying the recipe and I’m happy you liked it, I hope this helps!