Bourbon Banana Bread

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.

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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.

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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

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