Last Updated on September 14, 2021 by Chenée Lewis
This easy pineapple banana bread is such a fun twist! It’s a classic, moist banana bread with pineapple and walnuts and it’s sure to be your new favorite banana bread! And if you like this pineapple walnut banana bread, you’ll definitely love Pineapple Bars with Cream Cheese and Coconut Drizzle, Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Dairy Free Banana Bread, and Banana Blondies!
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What can I add to banana bread for flavor?
Today we’re making pineapple banana bread! It’s got that great banana flavor we all love, but we’re adding even more flavor with crushed pineapple! The tropical hint of pineapple complements the banana so well, and adds more moisture to make this banana bread absolutely irresistible!
How do I make sure my banana bread is moist?
Banana bread is a favorite for a reason — it’s easy to make and so tasty! And it’s often got a soft, moist texture that everyone loves! That comes from the bananas, mainly — in this pineapple banana bread we’re using three overripe bananas, full of sweetness and ready to add moisture.
But also, if you’ve worked with pineapple in baking before, you know that it often helps produce a moist result and add flavor. Carrot cake or hummingbird cake are perfect examples! So the pineapple in this banana bread gives us the texture we want, plus a fun hint of pineapple flavor!
And finally, we’re using an ingredient that I LOVE: sour cream! You’ll note that I use sour cream a lot in my baking: my Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake or my Lemon Poppyseed Scones are examples of that. I find that it adds to that moist texture that we want, plus it reacts with the baking soda in this banana bread to give it a bit more rise.
Ingredients
- browned butter – check out this blog post for details on how to brown butter with images and step-by-step instructions! Once your butter is browned, let it cool a bit to room temperature.
- granulated sugar and light brown sugar – this combination of sugars gives this banana bread a nice balanced sweetness. The brown sugar also adds a bit of moisture as well.
- eggs – make sure your eggs are room temperature so that they can help to give you the maximum rise and help your banana bread to bake evenly.
- sour cream – adds moisture, lift, and added flavor!
- overripe bananas – they should be nice and spotty, almost black. Mash them up really well!
- canned crushed pineapple – adds a bit of pineapple flavor and a lot of moisture.
- pure vanilla extract – the vanilla adds great flavor to this banana bread. Make sure you’re using high-quality pure vanilla extract. Or better yet, check out my post on how to make vanilla extract at home with just 2 ingredients!
- all-purpose flour – measure it out using the spoon-and-level method, or even better, use a food scale to measure out 256 grams.
- baking soda – gives everything a nice lift, interacting with the acid in the sour cream and the bananas.
- salt – brings out all those flavors!
- chopped toasted pecans – my favorite part – I love pecans, and they work so well in this recipe. You can also use walnuts and they work just as well, but you don’t need to toast them beforehand.
What happens if you don’t use ripe bananas for banana bread?
Most banana bread recipes call for overripe bananas, and this banana bread with pineapple and walnuts is no different! But why? Well, overripe bananas add lots of sweetness and a stronger banana flavor to make our banana bread taste amazing. Plus, overripe bananas have more moisture, which gives us that moist pineapple banana bread we crave! If your bananas aren’t quite there yet, see below for some tips!
Tips and F.A.Q.
Almost! Your bananas should be overripe — definitely past the point where you would eat them. They should have lots of dark spots and should basically be black.
The difficulty with this is that sometimes you’ll want to make this pineapple banana bread, but your bananas aren’t ripe enough! To prevent that, just save some bananas that are overripe and ready to use for baking, peel them, and pop them in the freezer! That’s what I do whenever I have one or two extra bananas, so that I always have a stockpile of frozen overripe bananas ready to go!
If you’re in a banana bread emergency and need to ripen your bananas quickly, check out these tips to get your bananas ready ASAP!
Banana cake has a more “cakey” texture, so it’s ideally more soft, light, and fluffy than banana bread. Banana bread typically has a denser, more intense banana flavor than banana cake.
One great idea that fits this recipe perfectly is pineapples! If you’re missing a banana, just add in another 1/2 cup or so of crushed pineapple and it’ll help to keep your banana bread moist. You won’t have as strong of a banana flavor, but it’ll still be delicious!
You should let your banana bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it to a wire rack to cool almost completely before cutting. This helps to let it complete the baking process. I like to let it cool completely, so I wait an hour or two, but you can likely cut into your banana bread after 45 minutes or so.
You can store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Also, this pineapple banana bread freezes so well! Just let it cool completely, and wrap the loaf or slices in foil and place in a zipper freezer bag. Then freeze for up to 2 months!
Once your butter is melted and the milk solids have sunk to the bottom of the pan, they’ll start to turn a deep golden brown. You may also smell a nutty or toasty aroma. That’s when your brown butter is ready and when you should remove it from the heat right away! For more details on browning butter, check out my Brown Butter Appreciation Post.
Once you’ve finished browning your butter, you’ll need to cool it to room temperature before adding it to this recipe.
I love to eat this banana bread still warm, or even better — toasted! With a bit of salted butter melted on top of the slice. And as you can see in the image above, a little honey just adds that much more deliciousness, since this banana bread isn’t overly sweet. Other topping ideas are softened cream cheese, Nutella, or coconut whipped cream!
You can also use this banana bread in my banana bread french toast recipe, as I mention below, or top it with ice cream and caramel sauce for a decadent dessert!
More Banana Recipes You’ll Love!
- Banana Blondies
- Banana Bread French Toast
- Fluffy Banana Pancakes with Pecans and Maple Brown Butter Glaze
- Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Strawberry Banana Sorbet
Pineapple Banana Bread Recipe
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Ingredients
- ½ cup (114 g) brown butter - cooled to room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup (147 g) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs - beaten
- ¼ cup (58 g) sour cream - room temperature
- 3 medium overripe bananas - mashed (see note)
- 1/2 cup (118 g) crushed pineapple - drained
- 1 tsp (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda
- ½ tsp (2 ml) salt
- ½ cup (50 g) roasted pecans - chopped (or raw walnuts)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, cream brown butter and sugars until smooth.½ cup brown butter, 2/3 cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar
- Add vanilla, pineapple, eggs, sour cream, and crushed bananas. Stir until smooth.2 large eggs, ¼ cup sour cream, 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 3 medium overripe bananas
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt
- Fold flour mixture and pecans (or walnuts) gently into wet ingredients until just combined.½ cup roasted pecans
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth evenly.
- Bake in preheated oven for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick entered in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Cool at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or room temperature.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi Chenée. Could I use grated fresh pineapple in stead of tinned?
This sounds so delisious. I want to try it.
I think fresh pineapple would be even better! Definitely let me know how it turns out! 🙂
I did with fresh pineapple and it was definitely better than tinned 😊
Yum!! That’s good to know that it works with fresh pineapple!
My eggs with sugar don’t go smooth and fluffy what do I do wrong?
The whole recipe sounds great but I cant make my butter with sugars right please help
Hi! Are you using an electric mixer? If not, that might be making it a little more difficult. It usually takes a full minute or two with an electric mixer. But either way, as long as your butter and sugars are well combined, you should be all good!
Yes I have, I have made this recipe twice second time I have even tried a different attachment and still it was the same. what consistency should butter be? and it is both sugars that you are adding together with it? my sugars are just combined with butter even after at least 5 min in my electric mixer.
Even that I cant get this right this is my favorite banana bread.
The butter should be soft, and I use both sugars at once. But I have had it happen for me that it wasn’t really fluffy in the creaming stage. So that’s nothing to worry about 🙂 In any case, I’m so glad you like the banana bread!!
Great banana bread
So glad you liked it!
The pineapple adds a great texture and slightly sweet taste to the bread. What a great addition.
Thanks so much!
This is such a fun twist on traditional banana bread!! Loved the addition of the pineapples, they made the banana bread perfectly sweet and moist and my whole family devoured this recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad it was a hit with the family!
I love this fun twist on a classic recipe!
Thank you so much! 🙂
This was so moist and so easy to pull together!! Thank you!
So glad you liked it! 🙂
Yum!! Banana and pineapple are so perfect together in this banana bread.
Thank you! It’s one of my favorites!
Love the idea of pineapple in banana bread! Beautiful photos!
Thank you very much!
This looks amazing! And I’m sure it tastes amazing, too. Never really thought about if pineapple and bananas would match, but this seems like a super lovely combination that’s worth trying!
It’s definitely worth a try! 🙂
I so love your addition of pineapple to banana bread! What a fun twist on a classic!
Thanks! It’s so good!
? This pineapple banana bread looks so moist and soft ?
Thanks! It’s such a treat!!
I love the combination of flavors in this recipe – the browned butter, the pineapple (whose flavor doesn’t come through strongly in the finished product but adds an extra something to it) and the toasted pecans all make this way more special than a regular banana bread. I will definitely make this again – it felt like the kind of thing I’d love to give away to others (if I can resist the temptation to eat it all myself). Thank you, Chenée, for this awesome recipe!
Thank you so much for your feedback! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it — I definitely agree that it would make a great edible gift. Unfortunately mine has never lasted that long! lol Thanks again!
This banana bread is so moist and delicious! My family absolutely loved it and it is now our favorite banana bread recipe!
I’m so glad! Thank you for giving it a try!
Thanks! It’s a fun twist on banana bread 🙂
Looks amazing!! Tomorrow is Fathers Day here in Germany, I am going to bake this for my husband.
Thanks Kate!! I hope he loves it!
Yum! Love this. I love banana bread, but adding pineapple says amazing 🙂
Thank you I’m glad you like it! It’s one of my favorite variations on banana bread!