3 Ingredient Banana Bread

Easy, quick and delicious banana bread made with only 3 ingredients – overripe bananas, eggs and yellow cake mix. Add a 4th ingredient – chocolate chips – if you love them!

We love banana bread in all its forms – traditional banana bread, banana bread muffins, cream cheese filled banana bread – the list goes on and on. This recipe is no different! And we especially love that it only takes three ingredients!

Yes – Just 3 Ingredients!

We are ALLLLL about simple recipes – and today’s bread recipe is just that – SIMPLE!

We have always been long time fans of banana bread, and we wanted to have a recipe on the site that was made with just 3 ingredients – yellow cake mix, eggs and overripe bananas. Yes, the cake mix is filled with several ingredients which is kind of cheating, but it’s only ONE ingredient to buy. 😉

This three ingredient banana bread ends up a little more cake-y than some of our other banana breads but it was delicious and loved by the entire family. It’s especially great to make when you are running low on pantry staples but still want some yummy bread.

You’ll need Overripe bananas

Ripe or better yet, overripe bananas are needed for this simple recipe. You can tell when your bananas are ripe when the majority of the peel is a speckled brown. 

When my bananas reach that stage I put them in the freezer. That way I have them on hand to use in recipes. Bananas can be frozen for up to 3 months. When you want to use them, allow them to thaw, cut the tip of the peel, gently squeeze the other end and the banana will slide right out. 

If you want to make this recipe, but don’t have bananas ripe enough you can speed up the process by doing the following:

• Placing the bananas, along with an apple, in a brown bag for a day or two.
• Put the bananas, with the peel intact, on a baking sheet. Heat the oven to 300°F and bake the banana for about 15 minutes, or until the peel turns completely black. Allow the bananas to cool, slice open the peel and scoop out the banana

How to Make 3 Ingredient Banana Bread

This recipe is beyond simple – as you can imagine.

To make the bread, begin by mashing the bananas in a medium bowl.

Add the eggs and cake mix and mix by hand with a wooden spoon.

Grease only the bottoms of your bread pans and split the batter in half and pour into the bread pans. Bake at 325 for 28-35 minutes.

OPTIONAL: Sprinkle on some chocolate chips before baking if you love the addition of chocolate to your banana bread.

Variations + Storing

You can easily switch up the flavor of this banana bread by using different cake mixes a spice cake mix would taste great. For a chocolate banana bread use a box of chocolate cake mix, or use a strawberry cake mix for a strawberry banana bread. You get the idea!

• Depending on the flavor of cake mix try using white chocolate chips or cinnamon chips.
• Add chopped nuts, like walnuts, to the top before baking.

Banana Muffins: I love making quick bread muffins for my kids. I usually leave a few out and then put the rest in the freezer. They are an easy snack to have on hand or something quick to grab for breakfast. 

• Muffins: evenly divide the batter into about 24 muffin tins. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
• Mini Loaf: you can also use 4-5 mini bread loaf pans and bake at 350° for about 20-25 min., or until cooked throughout. 

How to store? The bread batter can be covered and placed in the fridge for a few hours before baking. To store the baked bread, allow the loaf to cool completely before placing it in an airtight container. I usually just use a Ziploc bag. 

• Store at room temperature for 2-3 days.
• In the fridge for up to week.
• Freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure you wrap the loaf with plastic wrap before placing it in a Ziploc, or you can wrap it a second time with aluminum foil. 

For more quick bread recipes, check out:

• Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Bread
• Chocolate Banana Bread
• White Chocolate Lemon Bread