APPLE BANANA BREAD

Apple Banana Bread made with ripe bananas and diced sweet apple, topped with a cinnamon streusel and drizzled with icing. Our favorite banana bread recipe ever!

I’ve made many a banana bread recipe in my life, but I am going on record saying, this is my absolute favorite. It’s a moist and flavorful banana bread with apple chunks in every bite, what’s not to like? This recipe is so simple and easy to make that it might quickly become one of your favorites too. 

If not, I’m about to blow your mind! Can you imagine a banana bread filled with chunks of diced apple?! To make it even better, it’s covered in an easy homemade cinnamon streusel topping and then topped with a powdered sugar glaze. In fact, you may never be able to enjoy a plain banana bread recipe again- it’s THAT good!

Apple Banana Bread Ingredients

-Eggs: Eggs are important for leavening, adding flavor, and with the flour, combine to make the perfect crumb.  

-Sour cream: You can use sour cream or plain/vanilla Greek yogurt, both have similar results and make this bread rich and moist.

-Vegetable oil: Using vegetable oil or canola oil you get the needed fats to make this bread irresistible and moist.

-Mashed bananas: Using ripe bananas is ideal for banana bread, the darker the color, the sweeter and stronger their presence will be in the final results!

-Sugars: Using a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar, we get the needed sweetness this apple banana bread needs.

-Vanilla extract: A very common baking ingredient and found in most recipes, it helps to highlight the flavors in a recipe without overpowering them. 

-Flour: Using all purpose flour or bread flour, you can get that tasty crumb from the bread once baked. Bread flour has more protein and can alter the flavor for the better, but using either will give your bread tasty results!

-Baking soda: The leavening agent in this quick bread recipe. It helps to give the bread the much needed height and without it your bread will fall flat, pun intended.

-Cinnamon: A great flavorful addition to help meld together the flavors of apple and banana. Cinnamon is always welcomed in my book!

-Salt: Salt is a basic staple in recipes because it not only helps to give it a little something extra, but it helps to highlight the flavors in recipes and really makes them POP.

-Apple: You’ll want your apple diced and peeled so it’s ready to go but you can choose between apple varieties and select a sweet or tart apple based on what you’re looking for.

Streusel Topping Ingredients

Flour: The base of the streusel. It helps to absorb liquids and create the little crumbly bits you’ll be sprinkling over the bread.

Brown Sugar: Adding a level of sweetness and depth to the molasses without being overpoweringly sweet, this brown sugar gives that caramelization we want to see.

Cinnamon: A streusel topping almost wouldn’t exist without cinnamon. The flavor, smell, and nice brown color it gives really helps to make the streusel incredible.

Butter: Melt your butter and use it to help bring together the dry ingredients in this streusel and give it that much needed depth and richness.

Icing Ingredients

-Powdered sugar: This sugar will give us a great white glaze that’s smooth and sweet.

-Hot water: Using hot water we can dissolve the sugar and turn it into a spreadable glaze. You can add a little more or less depending on the desired glaze thickness you want but don’t overdo it. A little water goes a long way!

Storage & Freezing

Store baked loaves of bread in a ziplock bag or airtight container. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated, but it will last longer than 2-3 days, if you chill it.

Quick bread freeze beautifully! Store it similarly for up to 2 months.

Best Apples for Baking

When choosing apples for baking, it’s important to choose one that hold their shape and provides a balance of sweet and tart flavors. Here are my favorites:

• Granny Smith: Known for its vibrant green color and tartness, this apple maintains structure beautifully when baked.
• Honeycrisp: They are sweet with a nice crunch, and remain firm after cooking. They can be pricier!
• Fuji: These apples are on the sweeter side but still bake well. I like that they’re often on sale!
• Gala: Probably the most cost efficient variety, a great all-around apple for baking.
• Braeburn: A balanced apple that’s both sweet and slightly tart; it is sturdy enough for baking.

AVOID SUNKEN BREAD

The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!

How ripe should banana be for banana bread?

You want your bananas to be at the very least yellow with brown spots. But at most they can be solid black. The more ripe that the bananas are the sweeter they are (and the easier they are to mash). 

How long does apple banana bread last on the counter?

Because of the diced apples, this bread will last just 2-3 days on the counter. (You can get most other banana bread to last up to 5 days on the counter at room temperature f you keep it well wrapped and covered.) You can store it in the fridge to help it last longer.

Why is there sour cream in banana bread?

Sour cream is one of those awesome baking secrets that helps to add a deeper level of richness and moisture when it comes to the flavor and texture. What makes it really great is that it’s completely unnoticeable once baked into goods and if you hadn’t put it in there, you probably wouldn’t know it was in there.

For the love of homemade bread

Once you make one loaf of homemade bread, you’ll be hooked and want more! Our Buttermilk Bread is always a big hit, as is our Soft White Bread which is perfect for sandwiches.

If you love banana bread like we do, you’ll want to try our White Chocolate Banana Bread as well as our Caramel Banana Nut Bread. Yum!

Come Fall, baking apple breads is just tradition! Our Dutch Apple Bread is always amazing, as is our Caramel Apple Bread. Happy Baking!

You’re going to love this Apple Banana Bread. Made with fresh diced apples and topped with a cinnamon streusel crumb topping and drizzled in a powdered sugar icing, it’s simply the best banana bread recipe ever.