This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Bourbon Banana Bread with walnuts is full flavored, moist, sweet Banana nut bread recipe, and a great way to use older bananas. Try it for a special breakfast like Christmas day or Mother’s Day brunch.
We appreciate your support
Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.
What to do with extra bananas?
I often find myself with a couple extra bananas, meaning to eat them. I really do. But, for one reason or another, there they are, sitting on the counter looking all brown and kinda mushy.
Sometimes I’ll take the bananas and make that banana “ice cream” you see all over Pinterest.
Ripe bananas are necessary
Sometimes, when I have time, I’ll make this awesome banana bread.
It’s a moist, tender quick bread with loads of banana flavor. The trick to getting a sweet moist bread is to use really ripe bananas.
Ones that are covered with little brown spots. No green at all.
At that point, the starches in the banana have converted to sugars, and the banana is so sweet, so good.
Take a look at the picture below for the stage of banana I’m talking about. really ripe bananas – loads of brown spots all over & when you pick them up, they’re soft.
changes to the recipe
I’ve been asked about changing up the recipe a few times, so here are some of the suggestions.
can I use different nuts?
Feel free to swap the walnut for you favorite nuts. Pecans would be lovely, and my first choice. Hazelnuts and almonds would also be great.
You could also try these Bourbon Candied Pecans!
other ad-ins
Other add-ins would be great too, like chocolate chips, vegan chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips.
Shredded coconut, blueberries, or raisins would be fantastic as well. I’d recommend 1/2 cup of additional add-ins would be great.
can I use something other than bourbon?
If you don’t like bourbon or don’t have any, yes, you can swap it for another liquor.
Try rum, Whiskey, Irish whisky, honey bourbon, or even Franglico. Or you can simply leave the liquor out of this recipe.
use more bourbon?
If you really like the flavor, you can double the amount of bourbon in the recipe.
topping
I love the banana bread plain, but you could add a topping to it as well.
Try a streusel topping or a dusting of brown sugar before baking. Add some nuts or a banana split in half lengthwise to the top and let them bake in.
My favorite icing recipe (if you want to try it) is a nice basic one that you can embellish if you like. Make it fancy with browned butter or a nice bourbon glaze. Just mix the ingredients together and pour or drizzle over the cooled bread. You may need to add a little more milk to get a thinner icing if desired.
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk or cream
- 1 tablespoon liquid like maple syrup, bourbon,
- 1 tablespoon melted butter, optional
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
After baking it, allow it to cool and top it with icing, frosting, or a drizzle of caramel.
changing the size
Instead of making a loaf, make it in muffin pans or cupcake pans for individual servings. Keep an eye on the muffins as the bake, they’ll probably take less time to bake.
You can also bake it in {affiliate link} mini loaf pans to give as gifts.
It also doubles well, keep an eye on baking time if you bake it in a larger pan, as it will probably take a bit more time.
is this gluten free?
This recipe is not gluten free, though I suspect that it would be very easy to swap the all purpose flour for a {affiliate link} one for one flour. Let me know if you try it, I’d love to hear back.
Thanksgiving
I like to serve this bread at Thanksgiving dinner.
I know, that sounds a bit odd, but who doesn’t love banana bread? And, it goes so well on the Thanksgiving table.
Or serve it on the dessert table as a kind of cake. And, Taylor Swift’s Chai Cookies are another great treat on the Thanksgiving dessert table!
Great breakfast
You can have any Banana walnut bread recipe leftovers for breakfast the next day too; toast it up and smear some butter on it.
Or, use it as French Toast. So yummy!
Some of my other favorite things to have for breakfast are Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole, Cinnamon Sore Throat Tea, Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, or Homemade Granola.
Other quick bread recipes
Quick breads are great; they don’t take much time or effort. You’ll want to try Cherry Bread, Orange Marmalade Bread, and Best Zucchini Bread.
And don’t ignore yeast breads; they’re amazing and really not that difficult to make. Check out No Knead Parmesan Rosemary Bread and Garlic Tomato Twist Bread.
Follow me on Social Media
If you like seeing my recipes subscribe via email in the upper right.
Or, connect with me on your favorite social media channel for recipes, photos, & much more:
Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter!
And find my shop on Amazon for recommendations on cool tools
If you try this recipe,
please come back & leave a comment below letting us know how it goes.
Share a picture & tag @lifecurrents on Instagram.
Or you can upload a “tried it” photo (I would love to see)
via the pin.
Kitchen tools you may need
Note: these are affiliate links
9×5 loaf pan
Whisk
Mixing bowls
Hand held mixer
Stand mixer
Toothpicks
Hot pads
Cooling rack
You can bake them in paper loaf pans as gifts
Loaf keeper storage container
Recipe
Bourbon Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon fine grain salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 2 very ripe bananas mashed
- ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
Instructions
- Have all ingredients at room temperature. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan, and set aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients (flour through baking powder) together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a sturdy fork or in a Kitchen-aid until it’s lightened in color and texture. Mix in the flour mixture until well blended and the consistency of brown sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs.
- Fold in the mashed bananas, walnuts, and bourbon. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake at 350° F for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 – 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Shauna
Love this banana bread! Thanks for sharing 🙂 It also gives me a few new ideas for the next time I whip a batch!
Linda
Your bread is absolutely mouthwatering! The pairing of bourbon with bananas is brilliant and delish!
Norma Seymore
Can you use bourbon extract instead?
Debi
Norma, yes, you could use bourbon extract if you’d like. Or, even vanilla extract would work just fine. I’d probably cut back from 1 tablespoon to maybe 1 teaspoon if using an extract because they are a bit more concentrated.
Lyle
Great recipe, it doubles well, works well in muffin pans and is a great base recipe. Have added 1 cup of coconut and 1 cup fresh raspberries with and without nuts.
Joanie Wharff
OK, I love this one . The only thing I do a little different…I Always toast my nuts when baking. They just taste Better….crunchy…Yum! I just don’t like chewy nuts !
Heidi
Has any one used coconut oil to replace the butter?
Debi
Heidi, I haven’t tried that in this recipe, but I do replace butter with coconut oil fairly often. I believe it should work just fine. I think the texture/feel of coconut oil is very similar to butter. Let me know if you try it; I’d love to hear how it comes out.
Meg
For me it needs more banana flavor. Ill try again with 3 bananas.
Paula Cantrell
Can I make the banana bread in mason jars?
Thank you
Debi
Paula, I’ve never done that. But, I think it would be similar to making cupcakes/mini loaves out of it, so I think it should work just fine. You’ll need to shorten the baking time. Keep an eye on them as they bake. Let me know how it goes; that will be fun!
Rebecca K. Richmond
This looks amazing. I was wondering though, could almond flour replace the all purpose in the recipe?
Debi
Rebecca, I haven’t tried that, but I bet it would be super yummy. They flour does hold everything together a bit, so you would lose some of that, but these are small bites, so the almond flour may work just fine. Please let me know if you try it; I’d love to hear how it goes!
Sharon
I added the eggs to the butter sugar mixture the the flour. Did I make a terrible mistake?
Debi
Sharon, it should be fine. It all gets mixed together in the end anyway.
Dianne
If I would double the recipe, do I need to bake it longer than the 50-60 minutes?
Debi
Dianne, if you’re doubling and baking all in a large container, yes, you’ll need to bake it for longer. If you’re doubling and baking in two separate containers, the time to bake should be just fine. Happy baking!
Dianne
I made this bread and we all just loved it!! My new favorite banana bread recipe 🙂
Doug Hasler
I used this recipe last week, and found the result to be somewhat unsatisfying. The size of the loaf was much smaller than I am accustomed to when making other banana or pumpkin bread loaves. I note that the amount of flour in this recipe was 1 1/3 cups. Other quick bread recipes use more flour — typically 1 3/4 to 2 cups. Based on a quick websearch, I did not find anything using less than 1 1/2 cups. I also found it interesting that this recipe directs that the flour be incorporated into the creamed sugar, followed by the addition of the eggs and mashed bananas. Again, other quick breads that I have used incorporate all the wet ingredients into the creamed sugar (eggs, banana or pumpkin) with flour incorporated in the final step.
The taste of my bread was fine, but I would not rate it as great. I am just a home baker and claim no particular expertise. I have used a number of other banana and pumpkin quick bread recipes, and find those other breads to be of better quality than the bread I prepared with this recipe. I will not be using this recipe in the future.
Debi
Thank you for taking the time to post this negative review, Doug. So many others would disagree. Life is too short to make banana bread you don’t like, so you should make the one that works for you. And, though it might have given you an idea that it was smaller based on the fact that there is less flour, I can see how a smaller loaf would be so disappointing for some people. There is also a handy dandy option, right on the recipe card, to double and even triple the recipe.