Strawberry Banana Bread is beyond delicious; it’s moist, tender, and the perfect combination of strawberry bread and banana bread in one magical loaf.
Strawberry Banana Bread
Banana bread is our all-time favorite solution to a bunch of overly ripe bananas. One of our boys is a self-proclaimed banana king, but even banana kings can’t outdo the lightening-speed ripening of bananas on warm days. Bananas go from perfectly yellow to profusely spotted in the blink of an eye. My freezer tells me she just hasn’t got the space for more.
Thus, we are a banana bread making bunch. Our moist banana bread with yogurt (often with chocolate) gets its share of appearances around here. Sometimes we luck out and find ourselves with an extra carton of plump, fresh strawberries that needed some attention. Hello, Strawberry Banana Bread.
This Strawberry Banana Bread is moist, dense, and chock full of sweet berries and bananas. It’s super easy and keeps well for breakfast, snack, or sneak a scoop of vanilla ice cream over it for dessert. The ripe strawberries make a world of difference in this magnificent bread.
Baking with Strawberries
We were originally inspired to start making strawberry bread about ten years ago, and once it happened, we never looked back. Baking with strawberries is amazing.
Not only are fresh, ripe strawberries fabulous in this fresh strawberry pie and in this strawberry crumb cake, now you can toss your pretty red berries into an outstanding quick bread. Simply use strawberries as you would blueberries when it comes to baking; gently fold them in at the end, right before transferring to baking pan.
Tip: chop or gently mash the strawberries for even dispersement of berries throughout the bread. This prevents heavy chunks of fruit from sinking to the bottom of your strawberry bread.
Our strawberry banana bread calls for fresh berries that are mashed and macerated, making them extra plump. We recommend sticking with fresh berries here, but if you do bake with frozen strawberries, be sure to keep them frozen and chop them up just prior to folding into the batter.
Strawberry bread all by itself is superbly delish, even without bananas. But two good things coming together can turn into something great, and that’s what happened here.
Buying Strawberries
Keep in mind that size doesn’t correlate with sweetness, as there are many varieties of strawberries with various sizes.
Look for berries that are evenly vibrant and deep red in color throughout the entire strawberry. Berries that are lighter in color or whitish near the caps indicate underripe fruit. Green caps are a good indicator of freshness, while brownish caps should be avoided.
Because strawberries do not continue to ripen once picked, do look for berries that are ripened but not moldy. Wet strawberries or stained containers can mean there is mold underneath the fruit, so go for strawberries and containers that are dry.
Be sure to keep your fresh strawberries dry, covered, and chilled in fridge; wash them only when ready to use. Because fresh strawberries don’t last long, extra berries are perfect to bake with.
Try This One-Bowl Fresh Apple Cake, Too:
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PinDescription
This strawberry banana bread is bursting with fresh berries and sweet bananas. It is moist and keeps well.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, with rack on lower middle. Grease and flour a glass 8×5″ loaf pan.
- In a bowl, gently toss strawberries with the granulated sugar, coating all strawberries with sugar. Let sit.
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In separate bowl, beat eggs until slightly foamy. Add vanilla, brown sugar, and melted butter (not too hot.) Add in the macerated strawberries and mashed bananas.
- Using rubber spatula, gently fold flour mixture into the egg/butter mixture, just until dry ingredients are moistened.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake about 1 hour to 1.5 hours, or until toothpick in center comes out almost clean, with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Let bread cool completely in pan on wire rack prior to slicing. Overnight works best.
Notes
For extra tips on buying and baking with strawberries, see original article.
If desired, you can use a combination of whole wheat and regular flour (up to half of each) or try white-whole-wheat flour.
Bread can be frozen airtight for several weeks.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ♡
Keywords: Strawberry banana bread, Strawberry bread
This was wonderful, thanks for sharing.
So glad you liked it, Melissa 🙂
hello
do u think this recipe would work with prev frozen fresh strawberries??
Yes, I do think it will work fine! Use them straight from the freezer. If you already defrosted them, be sure to drain out the excess liquid. Enjoy, Roxanne, and thanks for writing! 🙂
I tried this recipe and it came out very nice. The aroma of banana & strawberries filled the whole house. It tasted more of yummy pudding which I liked it most. I replaced butter with corn oil and 1/4 cup brown sugar with white sugar. It took me just an hour to bake it. Thanks for the tasty recipe.
How awesome, Ash! Great job! Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for writing in today 🙂
Can’t wait to try this!!!
If you like bananas and strawberries, you’ll love this bread :). Thanks for coming over, Debbie!
What if I add chocolate chips? Hmmmm 🙂
Absolutely, Teeka!! 🙂
I’m trying it out today, thanks!
Bananas and strawberries on the counter just waiting to dive into this recipe. Can’t wait to try. I’ll let you know!
Hope you love it, Julie! Thanks for writing 🙂
It’s in the oven as I type, hope it turns out, I can’t wait to surprise my family! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Sheri Lynn! Hope you guys love it 🙂
How big or little do you slice the strawberries?
Hi, Jen! I just do diced, about 1/4 inch maybe? Enjoy!! 🙂
Thanks, its in the oven now 🙂
i do have bunch of strawberry preserve? pcan i use them in this recipe. thanks
Strawberry Preserves will be more liquid than chunks of fresh strawberries. I would recommend using the fresh strawberries (or even frozen) rather than the preserves, as the liquid ratio will alter the final result. You could swirl a few tablespoons of preserves over the top, before baking, if you’re really wanting to use up those preserves :).
many thanks to u. im so excited to try it today. 🙂
were camping this weekend so i cannot wait to impress everyone. thanks for the recipe
Hope you guys love it! And have an awesome camping weekend. 🙂
HI! Only had 1 very ripe banana, so I made 1/2 a recipe and put it in 2 mini loaf pans. Don’t know how long I cooked them for because I forgot to set the timer, but less than an hour. Perfect. My husband ate slices with ice cream for dessert and raved! Thanks!
Awesome job, Melissa! We love the feedback. So glad you liked it 🙂
I made this bread a couple weeks ago with some left over strawberries from strawberry shortcake. It turned out do good! From now on, this recipe is one of my favorites! No more “plain” banana bread! Your recipe is the best!
Good job, Elizabeth!! :). So glad you liked it. We really appreciate your letting us know 🙂
Just made this tonight – fabulously delicious!! It was still warm for dessert n nice n moist due to throwing in an extra overripe banana. Put a dollop of whipped cream on it. Nirvana… 🙂 Thank you for the latest permanent addition to my recipe collection!
You’re so welcome, Jen! Thanks for taking the time to come over and let us know. So happy you liked 🙂
Could you replace the butter with coconut oil? Hoping to try this recipe this week!
Valerie, I have never tried that, but don’t see why not! You can certainly give it a go. Here’s an article I found for subbing butter with coconut oil. http://www.md-health.com/Substitute-Coconut-Oil-For-Butter.html
Enjoy, I hope you love this moist bread! 🙂
Made it this week for company, using coconut oil…it was fantastic! Super light, but still had that dense “breadiness” that makes banana bread so yummy?? And the strawberries add a nice sort of sweet but kind of tart hint to it. Sooo good! I don’t know if I’ll be able to make just plain banana bread for my husband again…my daughter says it needs extra strawberries, but she’s 4, so her life revolves around anything sweet!
Thank you again for the helpful hints and the great recipe 🙂
Valerie
Oh, my 5 year old could eat buckets of strawberries all by himself, too! 😉 So glad you guys like it! Makes my day, Valerie 🙂
I made this today! It was delicious. I cut the butter in half by using 1/4 cup applesauce and I also reduced the sugar a bit. I don’t think anyone would notice the difference (it was still super moist). I also sprinkled unsweetened shredded coconut on top.
Yay, great baking, Jodi! Thanks so much for coming over to let us know how much you liked it. I’m so happy to hear it 🙂
Making my 5th strawberry banana bread — we totally love it! Even tho strawberries are just coming into season, Ive been buying them all along just to make this recipe. Thank you!
Yay, Barbara! Glad you guys love it so much! Thanks for taking the time to come tell us 🙂
Great recipe!!! I added slices of banana and strawberry along with some cinnamon sugar on top! It’s in the over now and smells so yummy!!!!!!
Great job, Amber! So glad you like it! Thanks for coming over to let us know 🙂
Thanks for posting this recipe. My husband, toddler and I all loved this banana bread! I had to make do with a carton of sour raspberries instead of strawberries and I only had unsalted butter but it came out great .
My question—can I use raisins instead of fresh fruit? If so, how do I proceed? I’m a novice baker so I’d appreciate any tips!
Fantastic! So happy your family loved this bread as much as we do, and yes, any berries can be subbed 🙂 You can use any dried fruits, including raisins – just sub 1-1 in place of the berries. The bake time will likely be less if using dried fruit. Start checking your bread 15 minutes earlier and check every 5 min until it’s done (toothpick in center should come out with a few tender crumbs attached.)
Hello Amy
I’m wondering if you’ve ever made this into muffins instead of a loaf and if so, did you use the same oven temperature ( I’m thinking it might need to be at 375 for muffins ) and how long you baked the muffins for. I’m guessing 20-25 minutes like most average muffins but wanted to check with you before going ahead.
Thank you
Great question, Jocelyn! I would do 350F for 20 minutes, but start checking centers as soon as the tops look puffy and golden. Happy baking!!
Thanks Amy!
It IS awesome! love the mild flavour of the strawberries in combo with the banana!
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed this, Shirlann! 🙂