Although it might sound fancier or more complicated than a traditional banana bread, this sourdough banana bread recipe is even easier to put together than regular banana bread. And it’s so delicious your friends and neighbors will be begging to know your secret ingredient.

The reason this sourdough banana bread is so easy to make is that I use my food processor to combine all the ingredients. You can make this with a mixer if you don’t have a food processor, but my Cuisinart whips it up in no time!

Because it’s blended together in the food processor, you don’t even have to mash the bananas first! In fact, I even let the Cuisinart chop the walnuts for me as it’s mixing. Easy peasy.

Like the sourdough biscuit and pancake recipes I have posted recently, this banana bread recipe uses a cup of sourdough starter straight from the refrigerator so it’s a perfect way to use up the sourdough discard when feeding your starter.

Sourdough banana bread is put together like a regular quick bread but it uses a cup of sourdough starter to replace part of the flour and liquid from a traditional banana bread recipe. The sourdough starter adds extra flavor, but doesn’t actually make the banana bread taste like sourdough bread.

Your sourdough banana bread will just have that little something special that will make people wonder what your secret is.

If you’d like to keep your own sourdough starter so you can make sourdough bread, biscuits, pancakes, chocolate cake, pumpkin cake, banana bread, and more, you should make your own.

I’ve recently updated my sourdough starter post to include printable instructions. And I have shared step-by-step, day-by-day photos of the entire process in case you want to check back in to compare your results with mine along the way. It takes about a week to create a sourdough starter from scratch, but it’s easy to do and only takes a couple minutes of work each day.

If you’d prefer to purchase a sourdough starter instead, King Arthur Flour sells one and it works great. In fact, my very first sourdough starter was one I purchased from them over ten years ago!

If you already have a sourdough starter ready to go, lucky you! Let’s make some banana bread! Make sure to check out the links below the printable recipe because I’m sharing some great sourdough ideas this week.

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Sourdough Banana Bread

Yield: 16 slices

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sourdough starter (cold is fine)
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 1/2 medium bananas)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup walnut halves (or 3/4 cup chopped walnuts)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with butter or baking spray. (use a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan if that’s all you have. The loaf will be a bit shorter than pictured and might bake slightly faster.)

Food Processor Instructions:

1. Fit your food processor with the standard mixing blade. Add flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt to the bowl and pulse to combine.

2. Pour sourdough starter over the top of the flour (if it’s thick, just spread it out as evenly as possible over the flour), cut softened butter into about 5 chunks and distribute over the top of the starter and flour. Break bananas into chunks and distribute them over the other ingredients (or just spread the mashed banana over the top). Add the egg and vanilla. Cover and pulse all the ingredients together until a thick, smooth batter is formed.

3. Add the walnut halves and pulse a few more times until they are chopped and evenly distributed (if your walnuts are already chopped, just pulse to quickly combine.

4. Carefully remove the blade and scrape any batter off the blade back into the bowl. Scrape the batter into the greased loaf pan then smooth the top.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until well browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Mixer instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. In a separate large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light.

3. Beat in egg, vanilla, sourdough starter, and mashed banana. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well combined, scraping the bowl occasionally as you go. Stir in chopped walnuts.

4. Scrape batter into greased loaf pan and smooth the top.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until well browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Notes

Sugar can be reduced to 3/4 cup if you like a slightly less sweet banana bread. Whole wheat flour can be used in place of all purpose flour (white whole wheat flour makes a great banana bread). If you use kosher salt instead of table salt, increase to 1 teaspoon.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 303Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 261mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 2gSugar: 19gProtein: 5g

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More Sourdough Recipes:

• How to Make a Sourdough Starter
• Pumpkin Maple Sourdough Cake
• How to Make Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough Pancakes
• Sourdough Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
• Buttery Sourdough Biscuits

Sourdough Recipes Around the Web:

• Sourdough Fettuccine from Salty Seattle <— Delicious!!
• Norwich Sourdough from Wild Yeast <— My go-to bread recipe!
• Sourdough Blueberry Muffins from Sourdough Home
• Sourdough Pita from Weekend Bakery
• Grilled Sourdough Pizza from Breadtopia