Pan Fried Banana Bread

Imagine your favorite Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Now imagine your favorite chocolate chip banana bread pan-fried in butter.

Use your own recipe or follow my super easy banana bread recipe that gets into the oven in 15 minutes. But don’t miss out on a warm, melting chocolatey slice of pan fried banana bread, whether you top it with ice cream and butterscotch sauce or just eat it straight with your fingers.

Ingredients

Overripe bananas are the secret to the best banana bread. That’s because the sugars increase as bananas ripen. So you’ll get a sweeter bake with more banana flavor for your banana muffins, mixed berry smoothies, or even mashed purple sweet potatoes!

Chocolate chips are the other key ingredient. I always recommend using Ghirardelli chocolate and chocolate chips.

Flouring cake pans makes your cakes release easily. Shredded unsweetened coconut provides the same function here and gives this banana bread a hint of coconut flavor. You can always flour the pan with all-purpose flour if you are allergic or don’t like coconut.

Variations and substitutions

• Omit the chips and use one half cup of raisins and a half cup of chopped walnuts.
• Use a different kind of chips like peanut butter or salted caramel chips.
• Make this recipe as banana bread chocolate chip muffins.
• Make it even more decadent with this Nutella banana bread recipe.
• Skip the pan-frying and just eat it baked!

This recipe for pan fried banana bread was inspired by a conversation about spreading butter on banana bread. Butter on banana bread isn’t typical in my household, but it reminded me of grilled honey buns served in my college’s snack bar. And that led to grilled banana bread.

Although banana bread is a quick bread, this banana bread recipe doesn’t follow the typical quick bread baking ratio. You can see that formula in my kale and cheese quick bread and orange poppy seed muffins.

Making the chocolate chip banana bread

Step 1: Butter and flour your loaf pan. Sift or whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Step 2: To make the batter, first beat butter and sugar together in a medium to large mixing bowl (Panel #1, below). Then add the bananas (Panel #2).

Step 3: Mix in the dry ingredients (Panel #3).

Step 4: Then stir in the chocolate chips by hand (Panel #4).

Step 5: Scrape the banana bread batter from your bowl into the prepared loaf pan (Panel #1, below) and sprinkle with more chocolate chips (Panel #2). I won’t tell if you sneak one or two as a snack!

Step 6: Bake until the banana bread is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the banana bread is browning quickly, cover it loosely with foil.

Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn onto a cooling rack. It can be sliced when warm, but it’s best after it has cooled, been wrapped in foil, and the crust has softened a bit.

Making pan fried banana bread

To pan fry your banana bread, heat a small cast iron pan or other skillet on the stove over low heat. Add half a tablespoon of butter per slice to the pan.

When the butter has melted, add a slice of banana bread – thicker slices work best – and cook for about three minutes, until the banana bread has browned.

Use a spatula to carefully flip the banana bread over, add another half tablespoon of butter, and cook the other side for about two to three minutes. Serve warm.

Recipe FAQs

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