Super Tasty Dark Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Recipe
Fun fact about this Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Recipe – it was the very first recipe I ever posted to my website! It’s been 7 years (crazy how this seems so long ago and also like yesterday!), which means the recipe was definitely due for a bit of an update. This recipe is everything banana bread should be. Impossibly moist (ugh….hate that word, but it fits), sweet and rich (thanks to the addition of mascarpone), and full of giant chunks of chocolate that melt into ooey gooey bits. Whether you enjoy a slice for breakfast, Sunday brunch or an afternoon snack, it’s the perfect tasty recipe for those overripe bananas on your kitchen counter!
As soon as Fall weather arrives and I start getting the itch to pull on my favorite cozy sweater, light some candles, and bake, this is the recipe I reach for first. For one thing, it’s an easy recipe and I always have the ingredients on hand. And, best of all, it fills my house with the most insanely delicious aroma!!
Personally, I can’t do banana bread without adding chocolate and nuts — they’re such a great combination! I love chopping up a really high-quality chocolate bar and mixing that into the batter. A couple of my favorite brands are Guittard, Ghirardelli, and Hu. I’ve found that adding large chunks of chocolate to the batter means bigger pools of melty chocolate……and what’s not to love about that, right?
But if, like me, you’ve eaten the large chocolate bars (they are very hard to resist, aren’t they!), you can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chunks, or bittersweet chocolate. As you can probably see in my ingredient shot, I used chocolate chunks for this loaf because I was out of chocolate bars.
If you’re an empty nester like me, a big bonus is that we don’t have to share! We get the entire loaf to ourselves! 😆 My favorite way to enjoy a slice (or two!) is with a generous swipe of French salted butter, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Top 3 Reasons You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe
1. Pantry Ingredients — no need to run out to the store! This recipe uses simple ingredients you should already have on hand.
2. Moist and Delicious – the addition of mascarpone adds a sweet, rich flavor and also ensures it stays moist.
3. Full of Chocolate and Crunchy Nuts – the chocolate chunks melt right into the bread, and the nuts add crunch and texture to every bite!
⭐️Star Ingredients
Bananas – You definitely can’t have banana bread without bananas, right…..lol!! You want really, really ripe bananas, so let your bananas sit on the counter long enough for the peel to get black. The darker the peel, the sweeter your bananas. As the bread bakes, the natural sugars in the bananas will caramelize, which sweetens the bread and also creates a perfect layer of banana flavor. Side note: thaw bananas first if they’ve been in your freezer.
Dark Brown Sugar – dark brown sugar has a higher molasses content than light brown sugar (also called golden brown sugar), which creates a richer flavor. Fun fact about brown sugar: it’s granulated sugar with the addition of molasses. The amount of molasses depends on whether the sugar is dark brown or light brown.
Mascarpone – This is a rich, creamy Italian cheese you’ll probably recognize as a key ingredient in tiramisu. When I was testing this recipe, I was curious to see if swapping out sour cream or Greek yogurt for mascarpone would make a difference in the flavor or texture. While both sour cream and yogurt have a tangier, more acidic flavor, mascarpone adds a sweeter, richer flavor. After testing, I definitely think using mascarpone is the perfect way to add just the right amount of sweetness.
Chocolate Chunks – Dark chocolate chunks create melty pools of chocolate in every bite!
Demerara Sugar – this is a raw cane sugar that has large crystals. Sprinkling demerara sugar over the batter before baking creates an impossible-to-resist crunchy topping.
Let’s Make Banana Bread!
Step One: Gather all your ingredients and prepare your loaf pan. First, butter the loaf pan. The easiest way is to melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Then use a silicon brush to brush the butter all over the pan. Next, line the pan with parchment paper, and brush melted butter over the parchment paper.
Step Two: Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl: the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda.
Step Three: Add your brown sugar, softened butter and mascarpone to the bowl of a stand mixer.
Step Four: Then give your bananas a really good mash. I like the fork method best. Don’t worry about getting them completely smooth. The bananas will retain a bit of lumpiness, which is just fine.
Step Five: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the mascarpone, butter, and brown sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Beat for 4-5 minutes. The longer you beat, the more air you incorporate, and the lighter your bread will be.
Step Six: On low speed, add the large eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture all at once and beat just until the flour is combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate and nuts.
Step Seven: Scoop banana bread batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake it at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you’re not sure about your oven temperature, I recommend setting a timer for 45 minutes. Add more time in 5-minute increments until it’s done. This will save you from overbaking the bread.
Step Eight: Insert a toothpick in the center (because that’s the part that will take the longest to bake) to check and see if it’s done baking. The bread is done when a toothpick comes out clean with just a few crumbs. Cool on a wire rack, in the loaf pan, for 1 hour. Then remove from loaf pan, and continue cooling banana bread for an additional 30 minutes.
I know there’s a lot of cooling time. Trust me, the hardest part about this recipe is waiting to dig in!
Not to toot my own horn, but this is the best banana bread recipe and I can’t wait for you to bake it! If you love all things banana bread and can’t get enough chocolate, go check out my Double Chocolate Banana Bread!
Leftover Mascarpone? No Problem!
There’s nothing worse than buying an ingredient for a specific recipe, and not knowing how to use any leftovers. I highly recommend this Creamy Dreamy Mac ‘N Cheese or, if you’re craving a leveled up chicken dinner, this Chicken Marsala is a winner!
