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The Best Sourdough Banana Bread

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This delicious sourdough banana bread will quickly be a new favorite! Not quite as cake like as some other banana breads can be, with also a bit more spice due to the lemon zest and ginger, its makes a great breakfast or snack – especially warmed and slathered with butter! This is a perfect use of your sourdough starter discard!

This delicious sourdough banana bread will quickly be a new favorite. Not quite as cake like as some other banana breads can be, with also a bit more spice due to the lemon zest and ginger, its makes a great winter breakfast - especially warmed and slathered with butter!
loaf of sourdough banana bread on white platter with four cut slices beside it
three plates with sourdough banana bread slices beside loaf

Sourdough banana bread

This is a great recipe way to use up not only those pesky over ripe bananas on your kitchen counter, but also some sourdough discard as well!

Banana bread is a classic comfort food recipe, and turning it into one of your favorite sourdough recipes in a brilliant idea. This sourdough banana bread recipe is flavored not only with cinnamon but also with ginger and lemon zest, making it a perfect breakfast or mid day snack.

loaf of sourdough banana bread on white platter sitting on green napkin and wooden cutting board

How to make sourdough banana bread

This quick bread recipe is easy to make! For the full directions, please scroll down to the full recipe card below, but here is a simple overview of how to make this bread:

For this recipe, you will need a 1/2 cup of fed, active sourdough starter discard. Please read “Feeding your sourdough starter” for more information.

  1. Preheat your oven to 350.
  2. Prepare a metal loaf pan.
  3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas.
  4. To the mashed bananas, whisk in the brown sugar, sourdough starter, eggs, olive oil, melted butter, vanilla and lemon zest.
  5. In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. 
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the starter and bananas and mix to just barely combine. Don’t over-mix!
  7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
  8. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes, or until the top of the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
  9. Cool in the pan.
  10. Enjoy!
collage showing images of steps to make sourdough banana bread

Recipe Notes:

Muffins: You can also use this recipe to make muffins! Just evenly divide the batter amongst 12 prepared muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean.

Variations: You can mix up this bread recipe by adding some fun additional ingredients, like 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips!

A note on bananas: The riper your bananas are, the more pronounced your banana flavor will be in this recipe! Not only are overly ripe bananas easier to mash, but as they ripen the fruit develops more sugar, leading to a more intense flavor. You want them to be at least starting to turn brown with spots all over.

slice of banana bread with butter next to loaf and jar of sourdough stater

What does sourdough banana bread taste like?

You might be wondering what this bread tastes like. And I want to tell you – amazing! My kids can’t get enough of this quick bread and are always asking for it.

Sourdough banana bread doesn’t have a very strong sourdough tang, but just enough so to combine perfectly with the ginger and cinnamon. It helps deepen the flavor of the bread without being overwhelmingly sour.

We use active sourdough discard in the recipe, but we aren’t giving it a fermentation period, so the flavor will be mild and the recipe will still need baking soda and baking powder to help get that classic quick bread rise that we are used to.

close up of sourdough banana bread slices with loaf in the background

This recipe uses sourdough discard. “Discard” is the unfortunate term that we gave to the portion of the sourdough starter that we remove when we are feeding our starters. We only do this so we don’t quickly become overrun with too much starter! But just because it is called “discard” doesn’t mean we have to throw it away! There are so many great uses for it:

Check out over 60 great sourdough recipes, including other fun breakfast sourdough recipes:

  • Sourdough Croissant – Flakey and buttery, these croissants are perfect with a slight sourdough tang!
  • Sourdough Crepes – Perfect crepes with a slight sourdough tang, these are a great breakfast or brunch recipe.
  • Sourdough Danish Pastry – These sourdough cream cheese danish pastry recipe is a fun sourdough recipe. Tender, Flakey pastry dough is filled with cream cheese pastry filling and topped with fruit.
  • Sourdough Blueberry Muffins – This easy sourdough muffin recipe is a perfect use of your sourdough starter discard! These muffins are dense and flavorful, with just a hint of sourdough tang, and many juicy blueberries. Topped with a lovely crunchy topping, these sourdough blueberry muffins are a breakfast delight!
  • Gingered Pear and Cranberry Sourdough Scones – These scones are hearty and flavorful.
loaf of sourdough banana bread on white platter with four cut slices beside it

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two plates with slices of sourdough banana bread smeared with butter, next to loaf
graphic for sourdough course - reads "new to sourdough? learn the skills to impress your family and friends with your sourdough baking. Click here".
loaf of sourdough banana bread on white platter with four cut slices beside it

The Best Sourdough Banana Bread Recipe

This delicious sourdough banana bread will quickly be a new favorite. Not quite as cake like as some other banana breads can be, with also a bit more spice due to the lemon zest and ginger, its makes a great winter breakfast - especially warmed and slathered with butter!
4.41 from 22 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 24 Servings
Calories: 242kcal
Author: Jenni

Ingredients

  • 2 very ripe bananas
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup 100% hydration sourdough starter fed and active
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons butter melted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • grated lemon zest from 1/2 medium lemon
  • 1 ⅛ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 ⅕ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • ¾ cup toasted chopped walnuts

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350.
  • Butter and flour a metal loaf pan.
  • In a large bowl, mash the bananas.
  • To the mashed bananas, whisk in the brown sugar, sourdough starter, eggs, olive oil, melted butter, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk well to combine.
  • In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking soda.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the starter and bananas and mix to just barely combine. Don't overmix!
  • Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
  • Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes, or until the top of the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Cool in the pan.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

Store this bread at room temperature in air tight container for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 202mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 14g
sourdough banana bread on cutting board

7 Comments

  1. What a wonderful reminder.
    Wishing you love and peace this season and always. 🙂

  2. What a lovely, wonderful post, Jenni. ll too often people get so caught up in preparing for the holidays, they forget that there are people who won't be, animals who will be spending Christmas in cages, people who will be alone etc etc etc. I try to do something every time of the year, but it's always a little extra come holiday time. This SD banana bread would make a lovely gift to anyone, but I know the perfect person this year 🙂

  3. These are wonderful ideas and reminders for people. Thank you. The bread also looks scrumptious!

  4. Cheryl VanDerMeer says:

    Heads up on the US version of the ingredients….. when I switched it over, it said 9 1/2 CUPS of sourdough starter. It should be 2 cups. I’m going to make this tomorrow. Cant wait.

    1. Ha! That would definitely be way too much starter! 🙂

  5. In the recipe of the banana bread you forgot the step to add the walnuts … I used pecan nuts .. that is also delicious! Thanks for sharing!

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