“healthy”
26 recipes vs 470Recipes called “healthy”: less fat (25% vs 45%); less sugar (56% vs 80%).
“healthy” (26)the rest (470)middle half of all
Fatrecipes called healthy 25% vs the rest 45%
Sugarrecipes called healthy 56% vs the rest 80%
Banana Bread Lab
Banana Bread: what 708 recipes agree on
How much banana, which fat, how much sugar: the loaf across hundreds of recipes.
708 recipes from 162 sites, each reduced to grams and written as baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient per 100 g of flour, so a small recipe and a double batch line up. Below: the typical loaf, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.
Recipes
708
from 162 sites
Typical flour
250 g
about 2 cups
Oven
350°F
175°C · median of 641
Bake time
55 min
most 45 to 60 min
The typical loaf of banana bread
The median of all 708 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 250 g of flour. No single recipe is exactly this: each line is the middle of its own distribution. “Most recipes” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| FlourThe scale for everything else | 250 gabout 2 cups |
| BananaMost recipes use 300 to 470 g | 370 gabout 3 medium bananas |
| SugarMost recipes use 145 to 235 g | 195 gabout 1 cup |
| FatMost recipes use 80 to 135 g | 115 gabout 1/2 cup |
| EggMost recipes use 90 to 130 g | 100 gabout 2 large eggs |
| Dairy45% use none; the rest mostly 60 to 150 g | 37 gabout 2 1/2 tbsp |
| LeaveningMost recipes use 6 to 12 g | 9 g |
| SaltMost recipes use 0.5 to 3.5 g | 2.5 g |
Bake350°F (175°C) for about 55 minutes.
Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, milk and other liquids 240 g, a large egg 50 g, a medium banana 115 g peeled.
Every recipe, ingredient by ingredient
Each dot is a recipe, placed by grams of the ingredient per 100 g of flour (100% would be as much as the flour). The shaded band is the middle half of recipes and the line is the median.
Banana
median 148% · most 120 to 189%
The main liquid and much of the sweetness. More banana makes a denser, moister loaf that takes longer to bake through.
Each dot is up to 12 recipes. range 40 to 315%
Sugar
median 78% · most 58 to 94%
Keeps the crumb tender and moist and browns the crust. Very ripe bananas let a recipe use less.
Each dot is up to 12 recipes. range 8 to 160%
Fat
median 45% · most 32 to 54%
Coats the flour and limits gluten. Oil keeps the loaf soft for days; butter adds flavor and a firmer crumb when cool.
Each dot is up to 15 recipes. range 0 to 125% · 7% use none
Egg
median 40% · most 36 to 52%
Sets the structure and adds lift. Fewer eggs give a denser, fudgier slice.
Each dot is up to 22 recipes. range 0 to 104% · 6% use none
Dairy
median 15% · 45% use none
Buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream add acid for the baking soda and a finer, moister crumb.
Each dot is up to 36 recipes. range 0 to 138% · those that use some, mostly 25 to 60%
Leavening
median 3.5% · most 2.5 to 4.7%
Baking soda reacts with the acid in banana and brown sugar and deepens browning; too much tastes soapy.
Each dot is up to 9 recipes. range 1.2 to 9.8%
Salt
median 1% · most 0.2 to 1.4%
Sharpens the banana and balances the sugar.
Each dot is up to 17 recipes. range 0 to 3.8% · 19% use none
Where recipes disagree
Measured by how far apart the 25th and 75th percentile recipes are. The widest gaps are where the choice of recipe matters most.
- Dairy. 45% of recipes use no dairy, and the rest disagree too: the middle half of them add 25 to 60% of the flour weight.
- Salt. The middle half of recipes use 0.2 to 1.4% of the flour weight in salt, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 7.0 times as much as one at the 25th.
Recipes agree most on egg and banana: egg 36 to 52%, banana 120 to 189% for the middle half.
Around the world
708 of the recipes come in 7 languages with enough of each to compare: English 496, French 88, Dutch 43, German 38, Portuguese 18, Italian 17, Spanish 8.
- Italian recipes use 65% more leavening than English ones (5.3% against 3.2% of the flour weight) and under a third as much salt (0.1% against 1.2%).
- German recipes use 41% less sugar than English ones (47% against 80% of the flour weight) and under a third as much salt (0.2% against 1.2%).
What the words in titles mean
English recipes whose titles use a word, against the ones that do not. What recipe writers do when they pick the word, not proof that it makes the texture.
Recipes called “best” (25), “easy” (18) or “moist” (12) use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient measured here.
“double chocolate”
17 recipes vs 479Recipes with “double chocolate” in the title: more banana (236% vs 143%); more egg (53% vs 40%); more leavening (4.8% vs 3.2%).
“double chocolate” (17)the rest (479)middle half of all
Bananarecipes with double chocolate in the title 236% vs the rest 143%
Eggrecipes with double chocolate in the title 53% vs the rest 40%
Leaveningrecipes with double chocolate in the title 4.8% vs the rest 3.2%
The most-reviewed recipes
143 banana bread recipes have 50 or more reader ratings. A rating count says how many people rated a page, which follows its traffic more than its quality. Against the other 565, medians per 100 g of flour, compared within each language:
On no ingredient do the most-reviewed recipes differ from the rest by more than chance would explain.
50+ ratings (143)the rest (565)middle half of all
Bananathe most-reviewed recipes 161% vs the rest 144%
Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 78% vs the rest 78%
Fatthe most-reviewed recipes 46% vs the rest 44%
Eggthe most-reviewed recipes 43% vs the rest 40%
Dairythe most-reviewed recipes 0% vs the rest 21%
Leaveningthe most-reviewed recipes 3.2% vs the rest 3.5%
Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 1.1% vs the rest 1%
Most reviewed
- Bananenbrot · gutekueche.at · German4.5 from 8,105 ratings
- Moist Banana Bread Recipe · natashaskitchen.com5.0 from 7,010 ratings
- Best Banana Bread Recipe · thesaltymarshmallow.com5.0 from 3,799 ratings
- Easy Banana Bread Recipe · spendwithpennies.com5.0 from 2,761 ratings
- Bananenbrot · backenmachtgluecklich.de · German4.7 from 2,517 ratings
Oven temperature and time
641 of 708 recipes state an oven temperature, and 86% of those bake at 350°F (175°C). The other 67 do not say.
- 350°F556 recipes
- 325°F48 recipes
- 400°F12 recipes
- 375°F11 recipes
- 300°F7 recipes
- 275°F2 recipes
672 recipes state a bake time. Taking the middle of any stated range (“55 to 65 minutes” counts as 60), the median is 55 minutes and the middle half bake 45 to 60 minutes.
Temperature and time together
The single most common pairing is 350°F for 60 to 65 minutes, with 142 of the 624 recipes that state both.
≥400°F 205375°F 190350°F 175325°F 165300°F 150152535455565
Recipes to start with
Closest to the typical loaf
Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.
- Ultimate Sourdough Banana Bread · theclevercarrot.combanana 150% · sugar 90%
- Instant Pot Banana Bread · shugarysweets.combanana 142% · sugar 92%
- Crock-Pot Banana Bread · delish.combanana 142% · sugar 82%
- Banana Chocolate Chip Bread · thefirstyearblog.combanana 144% · sugar 63%
- Toasted Coconut Chocolate Banana Bread · iambaker.netbanana 142% · sugar 80%
Most banana
- Panqué de plátano con leche evaporada · recetasnestle.com.mxbanana 315% · sugar 8%
- Vegan banana bread · cuisineaz.combanana 315% · sugar 67%
- Bananas Foster Banana Bread · kingarthurbaking.combanana 303% · sugar 105%
Least banana
- Tropical Bliss Pineapple Coconut Banana Bread {Gluten Free} · thebakingchocolatess.combanana 40% · sugar 71%
- Bananabread aux épices chaï · chefsimon.combanana 44% · sugar 56%
- Pineapple Banana Bread · theviewfromgreatisland.combanana 45% · sugar 80%
Go deeper
- DiscoverEvery recipe plotted on any two ratios.
- CalculatorStart from the typical recipe, move the ratios, get grams.
- IngredientsWhich ingredients recipes use, and the choices they make.
- RatiosWhich ingredients rise and fall together.
- TimelineRecipes by publication year and how the typical one shifted.
- Around the WorldThe typical recipe in each language, and where French, German or Italian recipes part from English ones.
- Title WordsWhat recipes whose titles say fudgy, healthy or small batch do differently from the rest, and which words change nothing.
- All RecipesEvery recipe, sortable, with a page each.
- ClustersThe styles the numbers fall into.
- Decision TreeA few questions that narrow the recipes to the ones you want.
Top sources
- 12bakerbynature.com
- 12baketotheroots.de
- 12bromabakery.com
- 12chefsimon.com
- 12crazyforcrust.com
- 12cuisineaz.com
- 12delish.com
- 12iambaker.net
- 12shugarysweets.com
- 12tasteofhome.com
- 12twopeasandtheirpod.com
- 11bettycrocker.com
In 7 languages: English 496, French 88, Dutch 43, German 38, Portuguese 18, Italian 17, Spanish 8. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 162 sites in all. No site contributes more than 12 recipes.
How the numbers are made
Every ingredient line is converted to grams and grouped (butter and oil count as fat; white, brown and liquid sweeteners as sugar), then divided by the flour weight. That baker's percentage is the only comparison that holds across recipes of different sizes.
98% of the 7,829 ingredient lines got a weight. 24% of those weights were printed by the source; the rest were converted from cups and spoons with standard densities, so treat single recipes as close, not exact. Frosting, glaze, streusel and other toppings are listed on each recipe page but left out of the percentages.
A recipe outside the plausible range for any ingredient is left out rather than allowed to stretch every chart; it is usually a different dish with the same name or a misread line. Of the pages fetched, 310 were left out: 138 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (sugar 65, banana 38, leavening 22, egg 7, dairy 5, salt 1), 58 with a title that names a different dish, 58 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 17 duplicates of other pages, 15 over the 12-per-site cap, 11 made from a boxed mix, 7 with an ingredient in amounts that could not be weighed, 5 too many lines without an amount, and 1 a listing page, not a recipe page.
Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.