Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

Name: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Streusel Topping
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 small/medium bananas; 1/4 cup melted butter; 1/4 cup apple sauce; 1 egg; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 3/4 cup all purpose flour; 1 cup regular rolled oats; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup chocolate chips; 1/4 cup flour; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 2 tablespoons butter

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Every bite of this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Streusel Topping starts with cinnamon crumbly crunch and ends with soft, sweet bread. It is the perfect way to start OR end your day!

Banana bread on parchment paper with slices cut.

Banana bread? Sure! Banana bread with chocolate chips? YES, please! Banana bread with chocolate chips AND sweet, crunchy streusel topping!?! Now you're talking!

When you search "banana bread" in Google you get 315,000,000 results! Yikes! Obviously, banana bread is very popular. The popularity of banana bread made me want to get a little creative with my recipe!

Recipe highlights

Less fat - Many recipes call for 1 whole stick of butter. Mine only calls for ½ a stick.
More fiber - This recipe contains an entire cup of rolled oats!
One bowl (for mixing the batter) - Less dirty dishes!
No electric mixer - The bread is easily mixed together with a whisk or a spoon.
Streusel topping - I love the sweet crunch of streusel topping. It only made sense to add it to my banana bread recipe!

Ingredients

Ingredients needed for the banana bread:

Ingredients needed for the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread streusel topping:

Photo of the ingredients needed for the streusel topping. Ingredients displayed are brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter.

How to make

Step 1: Measure out 1 cup of rolled oats. Process the rolled outs down to a course flour using a blender or a food processor.

Step 2: Mash your bananas in a bowl. This recipe calls for 3 small bananas or 2 large bananas. I mashed my bananas with a potato masher.

Bananas mashed in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Step 3: Add the remaining wet ingredients to the bowl with the mashed bananas. The wet ingredients include the melted butter, applesauce, vanilla and egg. Whisk all of the wet ingredients together until well combined.

All wet ingredients mixed together in a mixing bowl.

Step 4: Add the remaining dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients. The dry ingredients include the flour, ground rolled oats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix thoroughly to combine.

Dry and wet ingredients mixed in a mixing bowl.

Step 5: Mix the chocolate chips into the batter. Pour the batter into a bread/loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Cut your parchment paper down so that the parchment is the exact length of the bread pan. Leave a few inches of parchment overhanging on both sides. This will allow you to easily lift the bread out of the pan after it has finished baking.

***Tip - Crinkle your sheet of parchment paper into a loose ball before using. This will help the parchment paper flatten out instead of continuing to roll up.

Banana bread batter with chocolate chips added is in a loaf pan. The loaf pan is lined with parchment paper.

Step 6: Make your streusel topping. Combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Next, cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the bowl with the flour mixture. Using either a fork, pastry blender or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture. Do this until the mixture resembles course crumbs. It will be crumbly and not a cohesive dough.

Image shows a bowl with the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon mixed together. The mixture is topped the 2 tablespoons of butter cut into small cubes. — Brown sugar, flour and cinnamon mixed together and topped with cubes of butter.

Streusel topping with butter cut in. Topping resembles course crumbs.

Step 7: Top the chocolate chip banana bread batter with the streusel topping. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Banana bread batter in a parchment lined loaf pan. The batter is now topped with streusel.

Variations

Add walnuts, pecans or slivered almonds.
Skip the chocolate chips or swap in white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips.
Instead of streusel topping, try out a cream cheese frosting or a caramel drizzle.
Swap the melted butter for melted coconut oil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I freeze banana bread?

Yes, you can absolutely freeze banana bread. I recommend letting the bread cool completely before freezing. Then, tightly wrap the bread in plastic wrap and put the wrapped banana bread in a plastic zip top freezer bag.

How long will banana bread last?

In my house, only about an hour! However, if your family has more self-control than mine, I would store this covered on the kitchen counter for 1-2 days. Banana bread is very moist. Moist breads are more prone to mold growth, which is why I do not recommend keeping cooked banana bread for too long.

How to thaw frozen banana bread:

Simply remove the banana bread from the plastic wrap and set it on the kitchen counter on a paper towel. Is should fully thaw in about 2-3 hours.

How to ripen bananas quickly:

To ripen bananas more quickly, put them in a paper bag and fold the top down. Place the bag in a warm location and let it sit for 24 hours.

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