I Tried Martha Stewart’s Popular Banana Bread Recipe (& Loved the Secret Ingredient)

This dish was featured in Stewart’s first cookbook, Entertaining, so she’s been whipping this breakfast treat up since 1982. The secret to the recipe is sour cream in the batter, which not only gives it a tangy edge, but also infuses every crumb with moisture. Other recipes typically use buttermilk, yogurt or even applesauce instead. Another essential step is using a very, very ripe banana for maximum sweetness. She also substitutes usual walnuts with pecans, which somehow feels incredibly on-brand and classy.

I used walnuts instead because that’s what I had on hand and opted for unsalted butter—although the recipe didn’t specify—since kosher salt is added in later. I appreciated how simple the measurements are (mostly single teaspoons and ½ or whole cups); the process won’t leave you with a mountain’s worth of measuring implements to clean. I can also see the simplicity of the measurements making this recipe easy to memorize after a few bakes.

It’s pretty standard: Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer (alternatively, you can whisk the batter by hand), add the eggs, combine the dry ingredients, add them to the wet, toss in the bananas, sour cream, vanilla and nuts, transfer the batter to a loaf pan and bake for an hour and ten minutes.

One unexpected tip I learned was to cool the banana bread completely before slicing or wrapping it to keep condensation from altering its texture and appearance (no one wants gummy ’nana bread) and to prevent it from tearing when cut. I did let it cool completely but removed it from the loaf pan after ten minutes of cooling.

It looked shockingly sort of…perfect? For someone who never bakes (or enjoys it…), the banana bread looked pretty damn flawless to me. It slid straight out of the pan as well. In terms of taste, it was very nutty (½ a cup of walnuts went a long way here), slightly earthy and sweet without being cloying. I wouldn’t have minded a touch more salt or some spices in the mix, but it’s certainly nostalgic, comforting and kid-friendly. The texture was very moist and tender.

My tips for baking Martha Stewart’s banana bread? Make sure your bananas are as ripe as possible (like, literally black); it makes all the difference as far as that jammy, sticky sweetness banana bread is known for goes. I’d also suggest adding chocolate chips, streusel or demerara sugar to the top (sub these for nuts, if you don’t like them). You could, alternatively, top it with frosting (perhaps the cream cheese variety?) if you’re feeling extra ambitious.