Yield: 1 large loaf
Pan: 9 × 5-inch loaf pan
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 55–70 minutes
Cooling Time: 1 hour
Oven Temperature: 175°C / 350°F

🛒 INGREDIENTS

🍌 For the Banana Bread

Wet Ingredients

3 large very ripe bananas — about 300–330 g peeled
115 g unsalted butter — ½ cup, melted
120 g brown sugar — ½ cup, packed
50 g granulated sugar — ¼ cup
2 large eggs, preferably room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
60 g sour cream or Greek yogurt — ¼ cup

Dry Ingredients

250 g all-purpose flour — approximately 2 cups
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Chocolate

170 g chocolate chips — about 1 cup
50 g chopped chocolate, optional, for larger melted chocolate pockets

🍫 FOR THE TOPPING

50 g chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coarse/raw sugar
Pinch of flaky sea salt, optional

For an especially chocolate-heavy loaf like the photograph, you can use 220–250 g total chocolate.

🥣 EQUIPMENT

You will need:

9 × 5-inch loaf pan
Parchment paper
2 mixing bowls
Whisk
Rubber spatula
Fork or potato masher
Kitchen scale, preferably
Cooling rack
Wooden skewer or toothpick

🔥 STEP 1 — PREPARE THE OVEN AND PAN

Preheat your oven to:

175°C / 350°F

Place the oven rack in the center position.

Grease a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray.

Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving some parchment hanging over the two long sides.

These overhanging pieces will act as handles, making it much easier to remove the finished bread.

🍌 STEP 2 — PREPARE THE BANANAS

Choose bananas that are very ripe, preferably with lots of brown or black spots on the peel.

These bananas are ideal because they are:

Sweeter
Softer
More flavorful
Easier to mash
Better for creating a moist banana bread

Peel the bananas and place them in a large bowl.

Mash them thoroughly with a fork.

You don’t need the bananas completely smooth. A few small pieces are actually desirable because they create little pockets of banana throughout the bread.

Target amount:

300–330 g mashed banana

If your bananas are significantly larger or smaller, weigh the mashed banana rather than relying only on the number of bananas.

🧈 STEP 3 — MELT THE BUTTER

Melt:

115 g / ½ cup unsalted butter

Allow the butter to cool formixing can develop too much gluten, resulting in a chewy or tough loaf instead of the soft, tender texture the bread bakes, these pieces melt into the crumb avoid inserting it directly through a large melted chocolate pocket because the chocolate can make an otherwise perfectly baked loaf appear under is becoming very dark while the center is still baking, loosely cover the loaf slicing too early can cause the center to appear the appearance in your photo, make the slices fairly HOW TO GET THE MELTED-ey again after cooling, place one slice in MAKING IT several minutes.

You don’t want it extremely hot when adding the eggs because very hot butter can partially cook the eggs.

The butter should be melted but comfortably warm.

🥚 STEP 4 — MIX THE WET INGREDIENTS

To the bowl containing your mashed bananas, add:

Melted butter
Brown sugar
Granulated sugar

Whisk for about 30–60 seconds.

Then add:

2 eggs
Vanilla extract
Sour cream or Greek yogurt

Whisk until everything is evenly combined.

The mixture should look thick, creamy, and slightly glossy.

Why sour cream?

The sour cream isn’t essential, but it gives the loaf a particularly soft and moist crumb and helps prevent the banana bread from becoming dry.

Greek yogurt works equally well.

🌾 STEP 5 — COMBINE THE DRY INGREDIENTS

In a separate bowl, combine:

250 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk the dry ingredients together for about 20 seconds.

This distributes the baking soda and salt evenly throughout the flour.

🥄 STEP 6 — COMBINE WET AND DRY INGREDIENTS

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold everything together.

IMPORTANT: DON’T OVERMIX

Stop mixing as soon as you can no longer see large streaks of dry flour.

A few small lumps are perfectly fine.

Overmixing can develop too much gluten, resulting in a chewy or tough loaf instead of the soft, tender texture seen in your picture.

🍫 STEP 7 — ADD THE CHOCOLATE

Add:

170 g chocolate chips

and, if using:

50 g chopped chocolate

Fold them gently into the batter.

For the best texture, use a combination of chocolate chips and roughly chopped chocolate.

Why use chopped chocolate?

Chocolate chips hold their shape relatively well.

Chopped chocolate melts into irregular pockets, giving you the gooey chocolate streaks and pools visible throughout the loaf in your photo.

🍞 STEP 8 — TRANSFER TO THE LOAF PAN

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan.

Use a spatula to gently spread it evenly.

The batter should fill the pan roughly ⅔ to ¾ full.

Don’t pack or press the batter down.

🍫 STEP 9 — ADD THE CHOCOLATE TOPPING

Scatter the reserved chocolate chips over the surface.

For an appearance closer to your photograph, use a mixture of:

Chocolate chips
Larger chocolate chunks

Then sprinkle approximately:

1 tablespoon coarse sugar

over the top.

You can also add a very small pinch of flaky sea salt.

The sugar helps create a lightly crisp, caramelized surface while the salt balances the sweetness.

🔪 OPTIONAL — CREATE EXTRA GOOEY CHOCOLATE POCKETS

For an extra chocolatey center, take 5–8 larger pieces of chocolate and gently push them into the top of the batter.

Push them down approximately 1–2 cm.

As the bread bakes, these pieces melt into the crumb.

This produces the large melted chocolate pockets that make the bread look especially indulgent.

🔥 STEP 10 — BAKE

Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven.

Bake at:

175°C / 350°F for approximately 55–70 minutes

The exact time depends on:

Size of your bananas
Moisture in the batter
Your loaf pan
Your oven
How much chocolate you use

Start checking at 50–55 minutes.

🧪 STEP 11 — CHECK FOR DONENESS

Insert a wooden skewer into the center of the loaf.

Try to avoid inserting it directly through a large melted chocolate pocket because the chocolate can make an otherwise perfectly baked loaf appear undercooked.

The skewer should have:

✅ A few moist crumbs
✅ Some banana crumbs

It should NOT have:

❌ Wet liquid batter
❌ Raw-looking dough

If the top is becoming very dark while the center is still baking, loosely cover the loaf with aluminum foil.

Continue baking until the center is cooked.

❄️ STEP 12 — COOL THE BREAD

Remove the loaf from the oven.

Let it sit in the pan for approximately:

10–15 minutes

Then carefully lift it out using the parchment-paper handles.

Place it on a cooling rack.

Allow it to cool for at least:

45–60 minutes

before slicing.

This waiting period is important.

The interior continues to set as it cools, and slicing too early can cause the center to appear excessively wet or gummy.

🔪 STEP 13 — SLICE

Use a sharp serrated knife.

Cut the loaf into thick slices, approximately:

2–3 cm thick

For the appearance in your photo, make the slices fairly thick.

You’ll get beautiful layers of:

🍌 banana crumb
🍫 melted chocolate
🍞 golden crust

♨️ HOW TO GET THE MELTED-CHOCOLATE EFFECT

If you want the chocolate to become gooey again after cooling, place one slice in the microwave for approximately:

10–15 seconds

Don’t overheat it.

The chocolate should soften and become glossy without making the bread hot or dry.

⭐ SECRETS TO MAKING IT LIKE THE PHOTO

1. Use VERY ripe bananas

Don’t use firm yellow bananas if you can avoid it.

The ideal bananas have heavily spotted or mostly brown peels.

2. Don’t reduce the chocolate

For a normal banana bread, 1 cup of chocolate chips is plenty.

For the loaf pictured, I’d use:

220–250 g chocolate total

This gives you the dramatic chocolate-filled appearance.

3. Use some chopped chocolate

Don’t rely exclusively on chocolate chips.

Roughly chopped chocolate creates much larger melted pockets.

4. Don’t overmix

Once the flour disappears, stop mixing.

This is one of the most important steps for achieving a soft bakery-style crumb.

5. Don’t overbake

Banana bread should remain moist.

You’re looking for moist crumbs, not a completely clean skewer.

🍫 EXTRA-GOOEY VERSION

If you want an even more indulgent loaf, use:

3 bananas
115 g butter
120 g brown sugar
50 g white sugar
2 eggs
60 g sour cream
250 g flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
250 g chocolate

Reserve approximately 60 g of the chocolate for the top and use the remaining chocolate inside the batter.

This will produce a loaf much closer to the extremely chocolate-loaded appearance of your reference photo.

🧊 STORAGE

Room Temperature

Store tightly wrapped or in an airtight container.

Best within 2–3 days.

Refrigerator

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for approximately 4–5 days.

Bring slices toward room temperature or microwave briefly before serving.

Freezer

Wrap individual slices tightly in plastic wrap, then place them in a freezer bag.

Freeze for up to approximately 3 months.

Thaw at room temperature and warm briefly before serving.

🍌🍫 FINAL RECIPE AT A GLANCE

Mash: 3 ripe bananas
↓
Whisk: butter + sugars + bananas
↓
Add: eggs + vanilla + sour cream
↓
Combine: flour + baking soda + salt + cinnamon
↓
Fold: dry ingredients into wet ingredients
↓
Add: chocolate chips + chopped chocolate
↓
Pour: into parchment-lined loaf pan
↓
Top: chocolate + coarse sugar
↓
Bake: 175°C / 350°F for 55–70 minutes
↓
Cool: 10–15 minutes in pan, then 45–60 minutes on rack
↓
Slice & serve warm 🍌🍫

For the closest match to the photo, my recommendation is 3 very ripe bananas + 115 g butter + 220–250 g mixed chocolate chips/chunks + the sour cream. That combination gives you the rich, moist crumb and generous melted-chocolate pockets you’re looking for.

🍌🍫 Chocolate Chip Banana Bread