3 Delicious Ways To Elevate The Flavor Of Banana Bread
Banana bread is one of those treats that's pretty much always in our kitchens. You can make the easiest banana bread with just three ingredients and hardly any prep work — just let nature take its course. Within a few days, the fruits ripen enough to be used for the quick bread. With banana bread being such a fixture, we're always looking for more ways to improve it.
Even with nothing but a few basic ingredients, banana bread is incredibly good. The sweet fruit and moist, fluffy texture is something we look forward to time and time again. Of course, there are other pantry staples that can be used to spruce it up, but after a few rounds of chocolate chip or chopped nut banana bread, the treat gets a little tiring. Nisha Vora, the New York Times Best Selling Cookbook Author behind "Big Vegan Flavor," is a banana bread aficionado. Her plant-based takes on the dessert are filled with creative, delicious flavors, so we got her to spill her secrets on the top ways to amp up banana bread.
Elevate your banana bread with delectable designs
Is there such a thing as using too many bananas when making banana bread? Adding plenty of the fruit to the batter does ensure it's chock-full of flavor, but Vora likes to take things to another level by decorating the exterior with the leftover bananas. "I like to go heavy on the bananas by halving a banana lengthwise, then pressing it into the top of the batter," she says. When baked, the crescent-shaped slices turn tender, making the loaf even more moist.
The ripe bananas are already sweet, but Vora has a tip to give the fruit topping some more depth. "Sprinkle it with some brown sugar and the banana bread comes out of the oven looking gorgeous with caramelized bananas on top," she says. The brown sugar creates a decadent, rich exterior for the bananas while giving them a gooey center that melts perfectly into the loaf. Along with adding brown sugar to the bananas, sprinkle it on top of the batter then gently run the tip of a knife in zig-zag movements to create a swirled design.
If you like banana bread with more of a kick, add a dash of baking spices on top, as well. Cinnamon sugar, ground nutmeg, or ground cloves complement the deep taste of the brown sugar while leaving the dessert with a heavenly smell. Mix the spices with the sugar before sprinkling it on top of the loaf before baking.
Get nutty with your banana bread
Though some people bemoan the presence of nuts in banana bread, the earthy pieces work extremely well with the dessert. Walnuts in particular are buttery, mild, and a little bitter, perfect for balancing out the honeyed taste of overripe bananas. To make sure the nuts don't get too bitter, Vora likes to combine them with a sweet ingredient before adding the walnuts to banana bread. "A walnut-brown sugar crumble is also a fun topping for vegan banana bread or banana muffins," she says. "Just sprinkle it on top of the batter before baking."
The crumble is a sweet, crunchy addition to the quick bread, and it comes together pretty quickly. Chop up the walnuts and mix them with some flour, butter or vegetable oil, and brown sugar before spreading it evenly on top of the batter. If you're making plain banana bread, you can make some easy adjustments to give the crumble a richer taste. Toasting the walnuts in the oven or on the stovetop emphasizes their buttery, earthy flavor while ridding the nuts of their bitterness. You can also make the crumble with brown butter, which adds to the caramelized taste of the banana bread.
For banana bread with other add-ins, flavor the walnut crumble to complement the other ingredients. Pumpkin banana bread has a decadently sweet taste that would be perfect with the heady ingredients of a pumpkin spice latte. When mixing up the walnut crumble, add some ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and allspice.
Give your banana bread a savory spin
While we do love to flavor the sweet fruit with even more saccharine ingredients, going for something a little more savory gives it an interesting spin while emphasizing the banana's taste. "For something less traditional but very delicious, fold in a few tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds into the batter, then sprinkle the top of the batter with more sesame seeds," Vora recommends.
Toasting the seeds strengthens their nutty flavor while giving the banana bread a satisfying crunch. Sesame seeds work well in place of chopped nuts; they're also a great choice for when you want to take the banana bread in a more umami direction.
Miso is a fermented ingredient that adds complexity to banana bread and balances its honeyed flavor. The funky paste gives the treat depth, while also working surprisingly well with other sweet add-ins you may include in the batter. It would balance the bitterness of semi-sweet chocolate chips and pull out their depth, just like adding sea salt to chocolate chip cookies does.
You can also whip up a sweet and salty glaze using the paste and sesame seeds. Whisk miso, brown butter, toasted sesame seeds, and honey together and drizzle it over the banana bread halfway through baking for a tangy, caramelized topping.