Muy Bueno: Fiestas 
Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread
This Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread is exotic, sweet, and supremely moist with the addition of sour cream. It is everything you love about classic banana bread with a few additional favorites—chocolate, pecans, and cinnamon.
When it comes to baking I usually try and find the easiest method to make a recipe. Another words – if I can bake something without having to lug out my stand mixer or dust off my food processor, then I will always find the lazy way out.
Don’t get me wrong, I love, ok; maybe love is a strong word – I like to bake. But I also like to find shortcuts and dirty the least amount of dishes possible.
No fancy baking tools needed
This banana bread is the perfect example of an easy no-mess recipe. All you need is two bowls to make this bread, one for the wet ingredients and one for the dry ingredients. This is a super simple recipe and the best part is that it is crazy-ridiculous-delicious.
Did you know that you could ripen bananas in the oven?
I always used to freeze my overripe bananas in hopes to make banana bread with them, but I can’t tell you how many times I have thrown away freezer burned bananas. I learned a really cool tip: Did you know that you could ripen bananas in the oven?
All you have to do is place the bananas on a cookie sheet with the peels on and bake at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes. The bananas ripen, soften, and sweeten. Learn detailed techniques at thekitchn.
Exotic flavors
When making this banana bread I didn’t want to make traditional banana bread – I wanted to make something a bit more exotic and the Mexican chocolate in this recipe gave it just the right flavor I was hoping for. I also added sour cream and melted unsalted butter making this bread extra moist and decadent, but not gooey and messy.
There’s nothing quite like warm bread with a small pad of butter — decadent!
Why This Recipe Works
- Butter and sour cream in the batter results in an incredibly moist and tender bread;
- Mexican chocolate (or chocolate chips) gives the bread a decadent melted chocolate texture;
- A hint of cinnamon complements the deep chocolate flavor perfectly.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I freeze chocolate banana bread? To freeze this bread, let it cool fully, then wrap it in plastic wrap. Place it in an airtight freezer safe bag and seal tightly.
- How to thaw frozen banana bread? Remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes to warm it.
- How long will banana bread last? It will last about 3 to 5 days wrapped in plastic (zip lock bag) stored at room temperature.
More easy bread recipes
Have you made this banana bread? Rate the recipe and leave me a comment below to let me know how it turned out!
Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided, (1 stick)
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
- 4 very ripe bananas
- ¼ cup crema Mexicana, or sour cream
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 (3.3 ounce) tablet Mexican chocolate, grated
- ¼ cup chopped pecan or walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
- Using a potato masher, mash peeled ripe bananas until smooth.
- Melt remaining butter and add to mashed bananas.
- Stir in crema, sugar, salt, beaten egg, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and grated chocolate.
- Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir until just incorporated and then fold in pecans.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula.
- Bake, rotating halfway through, until batter is set and sides are starting to pull away from pan, and a toothpick inserted into center of bread comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes.
- Cool in pan on a wire rack at least 15 minutes.
- Run a butter knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen loaf, then tap pan gently on its side until loaf releases. Transfer to a cutting board or plate and let cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- No very ripe bananas? Place bananas on a cookie sheet with the peels on and bake at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes. The bananas ripen, soften, and sweeten.
- No Mexican chocolate? Substitute with chocolate chips or omit. Double the amount of cinnamon if not using Mexican chocolate.
- No nuts? Feel free to omit.
- Can I freeze chocolate banana bread? To freeze this bread, let it cool fully, then wrap it in plastic wrap. Place it in an airtight freezer safe bag and seal tightly.
- How to thaw frozen banana bread? Remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes to warm it.
- How long will banana bread last? It will last about 3 to 5 days wrapped in plastic (zip lock bag) stored at room temperature.
Originally published: November 2016.
27 Comments on “Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread”
I took this to my Church Fish Fry as a donation for the dessert table. Many compliments from the parishioners.
I changed it up to bake in a bundt pan cake mold and added a good amount of powdered sugar dusting to the top.
This is so delicious! I love banana bread but this takes it to a whole new level.
I make this all the time. It is so fantastic!!
This was delicious!! I would love to make this in a Bundt pan. Would I be able to and how long would I bake it for?
Sorry to say this definitely won’t last 3 to 5 days in my house!!! ;o)
I’m making this bread this week. Looks lovely. How many cups of Banana? The are all different sizes and I don’t want to add too much and mess up the texture. I was thinking 1½-2 cups??
Thank you
Three bananas, ripe and squashed, equal one cup. I just made six loaves of banana bread yesterday so I’m an expert.
Can I make this in an 8×4 pan? It’s all I have.
Yes, you absolutely can!! Enjoy!
This was delightfully different and so easy to make. A keeper.
This was delicious! I used only 1/2 cup of sugar and at the halfway point when I turned the pan, I grated some of the Mexican chocolate tablet over the top and sprinkled a small amount of turbinado sugar on top. I will definitely make this again! Thank you Yvette!
I hate to bake, and I’m a trained professional chef, but this is the easiest and tastiest recipe I’ve ever made. That said, I recommend adding a little (very little) cayenne pepper to give a little flare.
Scott, I DID add 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne. Traditional, old-style hot Mexican chocolate is made with chili spice. It’s still baking as of this reply, but I’m 100% certain this recipe is the bomb! I would’ve added a bit more if not for my toddler granddaughter. So excited here! Good Day
The chocolate banana bread was delicious. However the instruction for butter amount was very confusing. How much did you mean to indicate? One 1/2 cup and I stick? Divided how? That’s a lot of butter, so I used one stick melted in the batter and a small amount to grease the pan. I also divided the sugar using white and brown sugar. Overalls a keeper. Thanks
The way I interpreted the recipe was to use 1/2 cup (which is one stick). Use one tablespoon to grease the pan and the rest gets added to the recipe.
I see Abuelita Mexican chocolate drink discs but not the plain chocolate. What brand do you recommend
Kenna, the disks is what you are looking for! She also adds unsweetened cocoa powder.
I already made this delicious bread. I made it as soon as you posted it, couldn’t resist it, I love chocolate. It is everything you wrote and more. My lady friends loved it, wanted the recipe as soon as they tasted it. Thank you, now it my favorite bread, since I’m a chocaholic, tastier than regular banana bread.
Could you make these into muffins? Is so how long would you recommend baking them for in the oven?
Yes, you can absolutely make them into muffins. I would estimate baking 30 to 40 minutes.
This sounds so good! I bought Land O Lakes butter after your lemonade stand post.:)
Hi, how about adding peanut butter with the Mexican chocolate banana bread, or reese’s cups inside the banana bread?A suggestion. Thanks.
Hi John! That sounds so yummy! I haven’t tried that but I’m sure it would be delicious, but the texture might be a bit soft or gooey.
What a delicious looking loaf of bread! I was wondering what a Mexican chocolate is. Is it similar to pure chocolate?
Hi Julia, Mexican chocolate is VERY different. Look in your Latin aisle or Amazon for brands like Abuelita, Taza, or Ibarra.
I would like to try this recipe with pumpkin instead of bananas. I think a Mexican chocolate pumpkin bread would be so delicious too! About how much pumpkin purée do you think to substitute for the four bananas? Thank you so much for your delicious recipes!
Hi Barbara! You read my mind. I would love to make this with pumpkin too! 3 mashed bananas are about 1 cup, so I’m guessing about 1 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree will do the trick. Please keep me posted.