My reader-favorite recipe for the best banana bread gets *fancy* with the addition of dark chocolate chips and raspberries. Each slice is incredibly moist, full of flavor, and bursting with sweet raspberries and chocolate in every bite. Enjoy a slice for a special breakfast treat or end your day on a high note with dark chocolate chip raspberry banana bread for dessert. A true anytime treat!
My recipes for banana bread and banana muffins are consistently in the top 10 most popular recipes on my website. And I mean top of the top… not just seasonally, not just of all my quick bread recipes or muffin recipes… I’m talking the favorite of more than 1,300 published recipes.
That sure says something!
When you have recipes that tasty, it only makes sense to create flavorful variations! And today’s dark chocolate raspberry version is one of my absolute favorites. (Like chocolate raspberry cake and banana bread combined. Swoon!)
All About Dark Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread
- Taste: Chocolate and berries are always an indulgent pairing, and taste unbelievable with the sweet, comforting notes of banana. A lovely trio!
- Texture: Thanks to a handful of powerhouse ingredients like mashed banana and Greek yogurt/sour cream, the bread is supremely moist with a tight crumb. Not quite as dense as lemon pound cake, but not quite as light as this chocolate chip loaf cake. Texture-wise, it’s situated perfectly in the middle.
- Time: Quick bread loaves typically take about an hour or more in the oven, and this loaf is no exception. However, all the prep leading up to bake time takes about 10 minutes—so most of the total time is hand-off.
One reader, Paige, commented: “What a wonderful combination of flavors! Every bite is different, yet always delicious.”
Key Ingredients to Use & Why
- Butter: Creamed butter gives the loaf structure and melt-in-your-mouth buttery flavor.
- Sugar: Just enough to sweeten the bread (the bananas provide some sweetness too).
- Eggs: These bind the ingredients, and also add a little richness.
- Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream: Plain Greek yogurt helps guarantee a moist, dense loaf. I use it quite a bit in my bread and muffin recipes, like these lemon blueberry muffins.
- Mashed Bananas: You want 4 large, extra-spotty bananas for best flavor. Just like I recommend for my cinnamon swirl banana bread, too.
- Vanilla Extract, Salt, and Cinnamon: Little bits of each promise plenty of flavor enhancement.
- Flour: To maintain the intended texture, I recommend all-purpose flour. If you’re looking for a whole wheat recipe, try my healthier whole wheat banana bread and feel free to add raspberries and dark chocolate to that recipe.
- Baking Soda: Helps the bread rise.
- Dark Chocolate Chips: I love using dark chocolate with raspberries, but semi-sweet is also delicious. Whatever type of chocolate you enjoy in your chocolate chip cookies, you’ll love here as well.
- Raspberries: If you can, reach for fresh raspberries. Frozen raspberries will release extra moisture in the batter and leave the bread a light shade of pink, no matter how gently you incorporate them. If using frozen, do not thaw, and know that your bread may take a few minutes longer in the oven due to the added moisture.
Success Tip: Mashing the Bananas
I started doing this a while ago and it’s been a total game changer whenever I make recipes like banana chocolate chip breakfast cookies, chocolate banana muffins, or chocolate marble banana Bundt cake. Just use your mixer to mash bananas! Peel the bananas, place in your mixer’s bowl, and beat until mashed. Transfer them to another bowl, then use the same mixing bowl to cream the butter and sugar together and proceed with the recipe.
If you’d rather not use the mixer, just mash the bananas in a big bowl with a fork or even a potato masher. You need 2 cups (460g) of mashed ripe bananas, which is about 4 large bananas.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas in This Dark Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread?
Yes, and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash the thawed and drained bananas, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with 2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
More Quick Bread Recipes
- Pumpkin Bread
- Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread
- Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Nutella Swirl Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Zucchini Bread & Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
And don’t forget about my savory sun-dried tomato and cheese quick bread!
Print
Dark Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
My reader-favorite recipe for the best banana bread gets *fancy* with the addition of dark chocolate chips and juicy raspberries. Enjoy a slice for a special breakfast treat or end your day on a high note with dark chocolate chip raspberry banana bread for dessert. A true anytime treat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80g) plain Greek yogurt or sour cream*
- 2 cups (460g) mashed bananas (about 4 large ripe bananas)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (135g) dark chocolate chips (or semi-sweet)
- 1 cup (150g) halved raspberries, tossed in 1 Tablespoon (8g) all-purpose flour to prevent sinking*
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a metal 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract until combined.
- With the mixer running on low speed, slowly beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Do not over-mix. Fold in the chocolate chips and floured raspberries.
- Pour and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60–75 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. This may be after 70 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 60-minute mark.
- Remove banana bread from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 1 hour. Remove bread from the pan and cool bread directly on the wire rack until ready to slice and serve.
- Cover and store banana bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Banana bread tastes best on day 2, after the flavors have settled together.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled loaf for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving. To learn more details about how to freeze quick breads, see my post called Make-Ahead Baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Mixing Bowls | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Butter: If needed, you can use salted butter in this recipe with no other changes needed. I’ve also successfully reduced the butter down to 6 Tablespoons (85g) with no issue (just as tasty).
- Sugar: Feel free to substitute the same amount of light or dark brown sugar or coconut sugar. I do not recommend any liquid sweeteners.
- Yogurt: You can use nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, Greek or regular. You can also use sour cream, either full-fat or low-fat.
- Raspberries: I prefer using fresh raspberries in this recipe because frozen berries tint the banana bread pink, no matter how gently you fold them in. The bread also takes longer to bake when using frozen berries due to their added moisture.
- Muffins: Use this banana bread recipe to make 2 dozen dark chocolate raspberry banana muffins. Pour the batter into lined or greased muffin pans and bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C); then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total bake time for the muffins is about 22–23 minutes. The initial burst of hot air helps those muffins rise nice and tall!
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Adapted from Recipe Boy
Can I make this chocolate chocolate banana bread by adding cocoa powder. Does that change any of the other proportions?
Hi Pat, we’d follow our double chocolate banana bread recipe instead, using raspberries and dark chocolate chips as your add-ins. Enjoy!
Hi Sally!
What could I sub for the sour crea/greek yogurt? Could I use applesauce instead?
Thank you!
Hi Hailey, yogurt or sour cream is really best. You want the creaminess and acidity from those ingredients.
Do you know how many cups of batter this recipe yields? Could I make it in an 11×7 dish, like your dark chocolate raspberry coffee cake? Thank you.
Hi Shannon, this yields about 4 cups of batter. You could try baking it in an 11×7 pan, but it would be quite thin. We’re unsure of the exact bake time.
Calorie content?
Hi Jacquie, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I made this once before for my parents and I baked it for the recommended time, but when it cooled it sank a little. My parents said it wasn’t cooked in the middle. I made it again last night and ended up baking it 30 minutes longer than the recipe calls for to get a toothpick to come out clean. I’m not sure why it took so long to bake, but it was baked through. The texture and density were on point, but for my personal taste I felt like the banana got masked by the chocolate and raspberry combo. It was nice to change things up, but in the future I’ll probably stick to more traditional banana bread.