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This sourdough banana bread is the perfect way to use all that extra sourdough and brown bananas. Your whole family will go crazy for this twist on traditional banana bread.
If there is one thing I have learned these past few months, sourdough has had a glow-up.
But, with the making of sourdough comes the dreaded discard.
I wanted to learn a few recipes to help me use that discard instead of tossing it into the trash or compost pile. So now I give you one of the best ways to use all that discard – sourdough banana bread!
You don’t need to add yeast or let the banana bread sit for hours. This is not a traditional “sourdough” type of recipe.
It’s banana bread with a little of the thrown-away unfed discard.
It brings a tang to the bread and gives it a beautiful texture not typically found in traditional banana bread.
If you’re gluten-free, try these super delicious gluten-free banana muffins!
Ingredients needed
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Cinnamon
- Brown sugar
- Butter
- Egg
- Sourdough discard
- Mashed banana
- Vanilla bean paste
What is sourdough discard?
Not familiar with sourdough making? That’s ok!
When you feed your sourdough, you mix fresh flour and water into a small portion of the starter. The remaining starter can be thrown away, given to a friend, or added to a compost pile.
It seems wasteful, but that is just the life of a sourdough.
Since my sourdough sits on my counter, I must feed it twice daily.
I didn’t want to be wasteful, so I started brainstorming ideas for using my leftovers.
This is the first recipe I’m sharing, but be on the lookout for more. I went baking crazy and had lots of fun sourdough discard recipes coming up.
Need more sourdough recipes? Try this Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Crumb Cake, No Yeast Sourdough Bread, or sourdough flake potato bread.
Adaptations and Substitutions
I know you all love to add in mixins, so here are a few delicious recommendations!
- Add up to 3/4 cup chopped nuts – pecans and walnuts do best in banana bread.
- Want more spice? Instead of just cinnamon, add ginger, allspice, or even a mix of spices like pumpkin pie.
- Don’t have all-purpose flour? You can use white whole wheat flour with no changes needed.
- Run out of brown sugar? Granulated white sugar can be used in its place.
- Throw in a handful of chocolate chips to get your chocolate fix.
Tips and Tricks
Before pulling your bread out of the oven, use a thermometer to ensure it is fully cooked. I like using an instant-read thermometer, as it measures quickly and efficiently. When tested in the middle, you want the bread to register 200 to 205 degrees F.
Use dark brown bananas that are soft and ripe to ensure your bread turns out sweet and caramelized in flavor.
Serve your sliced banana bread by warming it and slathering it with butter and honey. It’s so delicious!
More banana bread recipes
- Want to add more veggies to your bread? Try my Carrot Cake Banana Bread.
- Craving a wintertime twist to banana bread? Try my Gingerbread Banana Bread.
- Love tropical tastes? Try my Coconut Rum Lime Glazed Banana Bread.
- Need a classic recipe? Try my Graham Flour Banana Bread.
Sourdough Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 170 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, 160 grams
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 113 grams
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup unfed sourdough starter discard, 227 grams
- 1 cup mashed ripe banana, 227 grams
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick spray, set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and cinnamon.
- Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer add brown sugar and butter.
- Cream together until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture.
- Scape down the sides and mix in the egg, sourdough starter, mashed banana, and the vanilla bean paste.
- Mix gently until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture.
- Continue mixing just until the batter comes together.
- Spread batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested in the center of the loaf or until the loaf registers 200F-205 degrees F with an instant-read thermometer.
Notes
- Use white whole wheat flour in place for all purposes if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is our new favorite recipe! The brown sugar makes it taste incredible. We followed the recipe exactly and added walnuts. Highly recommend others do the same.
@Victoria – thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoy the bread. The addition of walnuts is perfect!
This is the best banana bread ever! This is what I heard from every single person that tried this recipe. Loooove it. Extra love with chocolate chips added.
I found this banana bread recipe very weak on banana flavor. My banana was ripe. I added some walnuts, my only recipe modification.
I made it and did throw in some dark chocolate chips. I find it a little dry. I might swap butter for oil next time. Great way to use up discard though!
This was so good! So moist and I love how the edges get nice and crispy. I ran out of cinnamon so I used cardamom. My starter was getting out of hand and I had some bananas to use up and this was perfect!
This recipe was soo good! I had so much discard to use and didn’t know what to do with it until I stumbled upon this recipe. I followed it exactly as written, just added a handful of walnuts in, and it was fantastic!
Great recipe. My go-to recipe now. I follow it as written. But I just noticed, isn’t 1.5 cups of flour 210g?
I have been looking for a good banana bread recipe for a long time. This is it! I did add in pecans. And as I didn’t have vanilla paste I used about a tsp of vanilla flavouring. It came out great. I will definitely make this again. It also gave me a sense of accomplishment in that I made use of some of the sourdough starter I had on hand. 😜
I’ve tried this twice already and it’s my new go-to sourdough recipe. Super deelish and easy plus I add chocolate chips and walnuts on top for extra fun. Side note that we always half the sugar across all recipes and it still tastes good.