Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread

A slice of warm and comforting Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread is the perfect way to start or end your day. This one-bowl banana bread recipe is easy to make and packed with wholesome, nutritious ingredients.

Banana bread is one of my favorite sweet treats to enjoy in the morning with a cup of coffee, or in the afternoon as a quick pick-me-up. Whenever I make this recipe, I double the batch so I have one loaf to enjoy now, and one loaf for the freezer!

There are so many different banana bread recipe variations to choose from.  My Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe is my absolute favorite because it’s super moist, hearty, and only slightly sweet.

While banana bread is absolutely perfect on its own, you can serve it with just about any breakfast dish. I recommend serving oatmeal banana bread with my Sausage Spinach Quiche, Scrambled Eggs with Zucchini, and Matcha Chai Latte.

Why you'll love this recipe

• Making this a one-bowl recipe was one of the most important factors to me when I was creating this recipe! One bowl means fewer dirty dishes.
• Whole rolled oats add so much delicious, chewy, hearty texture to this banana bread.
• You don't need an electric mixer for this recipe! A large mixing spoon is all you need.
• This is a recipe that your whole family will love! My kids would easily finish off a loaf of banana bread in a single day if I let them!

Bananas: You'll need two large bananas or three small bananas to make this chocolate oatmeal banana bread recipe. The bananas should be very ripe. You'll know a banana is ripe enough for banana bread when it has turned dark yellow and is covered in brown spots.

All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is a multi-purpose, plain white wheat flour. I don't recommend using 100% whole wheat flour for this recipe because whole wheat flour can be much more dense and heavy than all-purpose white flour.

Rolled oats: You'll need regular rolled oats, not quick oats, steel-cut oats, or oat flour.

Brown sugar: Don't skip the brown sugar! Either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will work.

Butter: Cut your stick of salted butter at the ¼ cup measurement line and then melt the butter in the microwave in a microwave-safe dish.

Mini chocolate chips: I prefer to use mini chocolate chips but you could also use regular-sized milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or semi-sweet chocolate chips.

You'll also need 2 large eggs, pure vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and regular salt.

*See the recipe card below for a detailed list of ingredients.

Equipment needed

You only need a standard-size loaf pan (8x4 or 9x5 inches) one large mixing bowl (I prefer glass), a large mixing spoon, a fork to mash the bananas, measuring cups, and measuring spoons.

How to make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread

Recipe rundown

1. Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the wet ingredients.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Bake for 40 minutes and enjoy!

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350°F and either grease your loaf pan with butter or line it with parchment paper.

Step 2: Peel your ripe bananas and place them in a large mixing bowl. Use the back of a fork to mash the bananas. They don't have to be perfectly smooth. Some lumps can remain.

Step 3: Add all of the wet ingredients (including the sugar) to the mixing bowl. The wet ingredients are the brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Use a mixing spoon to mix until smooth.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients. This includes the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the wet ingredients.

Step 6: Pour the oatmeal banana bread batter into your prepared loaf pan. Use a silicone bowl scraper to get every last bit of the batter out of the mixing bowl. Spread the batter out into the loaf pan evenly.

Step 7: Bake the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Banana Bread for 35-40 minutes at 350°F or until done in the middle. Let the bread fully cool before slicing and then enjoy!

Expert tips

• The best bananas for banana bread will be overripe, spotty, dark yellow, and brown bananas. The darker the bananas the sweeter they'll be! You do not want to use green or light yellow bananas.
• If you don't have ripe bananas on hand, you can quickly ripen them in the oven! Place your unripened bananas on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven for 10-20 minutes at 300°F.
• This recipe calls for melted butter which means you'll take a stick of butter, cut it at the ¼ cup measurement line, and then melt the butter in the microwave.
• Make sure you properly measure your all-purpose flour. You need to spoon your flour into the measuring cup until the cup is overflowing with flour. You'll then want to level the measuring cup off using the back of a butter knife.
• You'll need to use a standard-size loaf pan. A standard-size loaf pan is either an 8" x 4" loaf pan or a 9" x 5" loaf pan.
• I originally wrote this recipe using homemade oat flour. I chose to update the recipe to include whole, rolled oats and all-purpose flour. I did this because I wanted to make the recipe more simple with fewer steps and less kitchen equipment needed.

Variations and substitutions

• Add nuts: Chopped walnuts, pecans, or slivered almonds would all add a crunchy texture to each bite.
• Use different chocolate chips: Swap in white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips.
• Add crumbly toppings: Add streusel topping or a generous layer of cinnamon sugar.
• Add spreads: Add spreads like peanut butter, almond butter, cream cheese, and hazelnut butter to the sliced banana bread. A drizzle of honey or caramel would also be amazing!

How to store, freeze and reheat

How to store: You can leave leftover banana bread on the counter at room temperature for 2-3 days. If your house is very hot or it's the middle of summer, you might want to store your leftover banana bread in the refrigerator. I like to keep banana bread leftovers covered in plastic wrap.

How to freeze: Let your banana bread fully cool. After it's cooled, tightly wrap the banana bread in plastic wrap and then place it in a freezer-safe bag. Banana bread can stay frozen for up to 3 months.

How to reheat: Reheat individual slices of banana bread in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Frequently Asked Questions