Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

Banana Bread with Streusel Topping is a classic moist and sweet banana bread with a thick and crumbly streusel topping. This banana bread is made with sour cream to give it an extra moist texture. It is coffee cake-like in style, but with lots of banana flavor. The buttery crumb topping makes the banana bread perfect to have with a cup of coffee, tea, or for kids’ afternoon snack.

This banana bread comes together quickly and does not require any special techniques or ingredients.

If you do not have a loaf pan, you can check out this recipe for Banana Bread without a Loaf Pan. I also love this Lemon Raspberry Loaf, which is great for warmer weather, this Loaf Pan Monkey Bread for cooler weather or these Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins any time of year.

Ingredients

Below are the ingredients needed to make the Streusel Topping.

• Butter: I use salted butter. Ensure the butter is softened, but not melted.
• Flour: All-purpose unbleached flour.
• Dark Brown Sugar: Key to a great streusel topping, adds flavor, color, and moisture. You can substitute light brown sugar if needed.
• Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness.
• Salt: To balance and bring out the other flavors.
• Cinnamon: For a coffee cake-like flavor.

Below are the ingredients needed to make Banana Bread.

• Butter: I use only ¼ cup, which is less than typical. There is plenty of moisture and flavor in the bananas that adding more butter tends to give the banana bread a greasy feel and taste. I use salted butter.
• Granulated Sugar: I use only ½ cup, also less than typical. I find that the bananas are sweet enough and adding only ½ cup sugar means that this bread is not too sweet for an afternoon snack. If you prefer a sweeter banana bread increase the sugar to ¾ cup or 1 cup (this will be very sweet).
• Mashed Bananas: Two cups mashed, this is between 4 and 5 medium bananas. Be sure to measure because the liquid content impacts the overall result.
• Eggs: Two large eggs.
• Vanilla: One teaspoon vanilla to complement the banana flavor.
• Sour Cream: Adds moisture and makes for a more coffee-cake like texture.
• Baking Soda: Helps the bread rise.
• Salt: To bring out and balance the other flavors.
• Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour.

How to Make Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make Banana Bread with Streusel Topping. The two most important things to keep in mind are what "ripeness" of bananas you are using and to not over bake the bread. See sections further below for more details.

Step 1. In a medium bowl, add the butter, flour, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and cinnamon. Use your hands to combine the ingredients, scrunching them up together to form large crumbs (some will be smaller, some larger). Place in the refrigerator while you make the batter for the banana bread. This will help cool the butter.

Step 2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

Step 3. Add the mashed bananas and mix to combine.

Step 4. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine.

Step 5. Add the sour cream, baking soda and salt and combine.

Step 6. Lastly, add the flour and mix in with a spoon until just combined. Incorporating the flour with a spoon helps to prevent overmixing.

Step 7. Pour the batter in the prepared baking dish.

Step 8. Top with the streusel crumb topping.

For a ceramic 9x5 loaf pan, bake at 350℉ for 1 hour 5 minutes up to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

For a metal 9x5 loaf pan, bake at 350℉ for 50 minutes up to 1 hour and 5 minutes.

The best way to ensure a moist banana bread is to not overbake it. When checking that the banana bread is done insert a knife into the middle of the banana bread and ensure that there is not wet batter. If you can tell that there’s only a little bit of wet batter at the top, you may only need a few minutes for it to finish baking. If you’re at the 1 hour mark, check back every 2-3 minutes until it is done.

Ripe vs. Overripe Bananas

As bananas change from unripe to ripe the sugar content increases significantly. But the sugar content actually decreases (slightly) when bananas go from ripe to overripe. Overripe bananas do not have more sugar than ripe bananas!

The big difference is that the banana aroma and flavor increase when bananas go from ripe to overripe. See more about choosing bananas and how the sugar content changes for banana bread in my Comprehensive Guide to Baking Banana Bread.

With this in mind, I like to choose bananas that are between ripe and overripe. These are bananas that are no longer green. They are bright yellow, but have a good amount of brown spots. Ones that you might still consider eating, or at the tail end of that “still okay to eat” window. They should be more yellow than brown.  I prefer these bananas because they have a good banana flavor, but the flavor is not overpowering.

Bananas that are overripe and more brown than yellow will lend a very strong banana taste to banana bread. This might be just fine for your preference, or that might be just what you have to work with. This is totally fine and the banana bread will still turn out great, it will just have a very strong banana flavor.

Measuring Mashed Bananas

It is important to measure the amount of mashed bananas. Too much and the bread will turn out gummy, too little and the bread will turn out dry.

Using Sour Cream in Banana Bread

Using sour cream in banana bread results in a banana bread that is extra moist and fluffy. However, it softens the banana flavor. This is because you’re adding an additional wet ingredient (sour cream) as well as additional flour to compensate, diluting the amount of bananas compared to the rest of the ingredients in the batter.

See my Detailed Guide on Baking Banana Bread which compares the results of baking a loaf of banana bread made with sour cream vs. a loaf made without sour cream.

I chose to add sour cream in this recipe to create a coffee-cake like style banana bread that pairs really well with a crunchy, decadent cinnamon streusel topping.

Streusel Topping

The streusel topping is quick and easy to make and comes together in under five minutes. The trick to making the streusel topping is to use softened butter, not melted butter. Add the softened butter, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt to a bowl. The easiest way to make the streusel is to use your hands to mix and scrunch together all of the ingredients. You do not need to use a pastry cutter.

Place the crumb topping in the fridge while you work on the rest of the banana bread. If you're concerned that the crumb topping is too soft, you can leave it in the fridge for an extra 15 or 20 minutes.

When is the Banana Bread Done?

To check whether or not your banana bread is done insert a toothpick in the middle of the banana bread. You can also use the prongs of a fork or a butter knife if you do not have a toothpick. The middle should come out without any wet batter but may look slightly moist from the crumb topping.

The biggest thing you can do to ensure that the banana bread is moist is to not overbake the banana bread. So, if the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, that is fine. As long as it does not come out with wet batter. If there is wet batter only at the very top of the banana bread, it will likely finish baking in just a few minutes. So check back soon after.

Keep in mind that if you end up checking the banana bread multiple times the temperature inside the oven will fall and prolong the overall baking time.

Variations

• Sugar: You can use granulated sugar and brown sugar fairly interchangeably in banana bread. The brown sugar does not noticeably alter the flavor or sweetness of the bread. It just adds a little darker color. See my guide on banana bread for more details.
• Because this banana bread has a sweet crumb topping, there will be plenty of sugar along with the ½ cup of sugar in the bread. However, if you have a sweet tooth and want a banana bread that is extra sweet add an additional ¼ - ½ cup sugar to the banana bread batter.
• Sour Cream: If you do not have sour cream on hand, you can use plain full fat Greek yogurt, or alternatively leave out the sour cream and reduce the flour by ¼ cup for 1 ½ cups flour total in the banana bread batter.
• Oats for Streusel Topping: If you have rolled oats, you can add ¼ to ½ cup of rolled oats to the topping mixture.
• Flour: You can substitute all-purpose flour with cake flour with equal results. See my guide including a section on banana bread with cake flour.

How to Store Banana Bread

To store banana bread with streusel topping, cover the baking dish that it was made in with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. It can be left on the counter. It keeps well for up to 3 days, but we often snack on it past that point

How to Freeze Banana Bread

Banana Bread can be wrapped in plastic wrap or placed in a large gallon sized plastic bag and placed in the freezer. I have frozen many, many loaves of banana bread. It reheats very well and is easy to thaw and warm through.

To defrost, place the loaf of banana bread (or any remaining portion) in the fridge or the counter overnight. Or if you’re short on time, cut slices (you may have to soften the cake loaf for a few seconds in the microwave) then microwave the slices at 50% power for 30 seconds to 1 minute until warmed through.

Banana Bread with Streusel Topping FAQs

If you're interested in more sweet bread recipes, you may love these:

If you make this Banana Bread with Streusel Topping, I'd love to hear from you and learn how it went. Leave a rating and a comment down below and let me know how it turns out and if you have any other tips and tricks. Your feedback means a lot!