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Banana Bread Bars

May 29, 2024 by Julie - The Recipe Life Leave a Comment

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This Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting recipe is a delightful, sweet breakfast or brunch treat that melts in your mouth. It is the perfect banana bread recipe made into frosted dessert bars.

A single frosted banana bread bar.

These Banana Bread Bars are the perfect recipe for browning overripe bananas. So, when our bananas get to the point where no one wants to eat them, this recipe saves the day. This is a delightful way not to waste food and enjoy the ‘fruits’ of my labor. My whole family loves snacking on these banana bars. They are excellent for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacking! “They are extremely versatile yet simple enough for everyone to appreciate and enjoy!”

Plated warm and tasty banana bread bar with a bite bitten out of it.

Don’t want to frost these banana bars? Are you trying to cut down on the sweets? Are you short on time? I get it! We often enjoy this banana bread bar unfrosted and don’t miss the frosting at all. That’s a testimony to how good these bars taste!

How to Make Amazing Banana Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

The recipe for banana bread bars is straightforward and pretty simple, with no surprising ingredients. Then, prepare the frosting as the bars cool until warm, frost, and enjoy!!

Ingredients for Banana Bars

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups or 3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed
Four overly ripe bananas on a kitchen towel.
Four ripe bananas peeled in a glass bowl.
Four mashed bananas in a glass bowl.
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • optional: 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Ingredients for Banana Bread Bars.

Ingredients for Brown Butter Frosting

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • about 3 tablespoons milk. We used whole milk.
Ingredients for browned butter frosting.

Directions

Banana Bread Bars:

First, preheat your oven to 375°F. Then, grease and flour a 10×15-inch jelly roll pan.

Next, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, sour cream, softened butter, and eggs until well incorporated.

Sugar, sour cream, softened butter, and eggs in a mixing bowl.
Creamed together sugar, sour cream, softened butter and eggs in a mixing bowl.

Then, blend in the mashed bananas and vanilla for one minute. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Blend for one more minute.

Blended mashed bananas and vanilla with the butter mixture.
Added flour, baking soda, and salt on the banana mixture.
Completely mixed banana bread bar batter in a white mixing bowl

Stir in any optional nuts. Then, pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly until warm and then frost.

Banana bread bar batter evenly spread into a 10x15 inch baking sheet.
Golden brown baked Banana Bread Bars.

Brown Butter Frosting:

First, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it is boiling and light brown in color.

A saucepan of boiled butter golden brown in color and ready to be used in frosting.

Then, remove it from the heat and add it to the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir the frosting until it is thicker than a glaze but thinner than a frosting. Add a splash of milk to thin the frosting until it’s the correct consistency. Spread the frosting evenly over the warm banana bread bars.

Powdered sugar and vanilla mixed into the browned butter for a creamy frosting.
Frosted banana bread bars ready to eat!

Tips:

Use a 9×13-inch baking dish for thicker bars and bake 10 mins longer than directed.

Frosting the bars while still warm helps the frosting spread more easily.

Banana bread bars cut into 28 square pieces.

More Great Bread Recipes

Need some quick homemade bread with a delicious buttery crust? This no-knead Peasant Bread recipe uses simple pantry staples to make easy, no-fuss bread ready in just a few hours.

This Easy Overnight Monkey Bread recipe is made from frozen bread dough pieces, covered in cinnamon and brown sugar, and drizzled in maple syrup and butter for a light and fluffy monkey bread that’s the perfect sweet treat for any breakfast and brunch!

This Lemon Poppy Seed Bread recipe makes a refreshing, light, and perfectly sweet lemon-flavored bread. It’s also a quick and easy option for a brunch date or an extra lunch side.

Plated warm and tasty banana bread bar with a bite bitten out of it.
A single frosted banana bread bar.

Banana Bread Bars

Banana Bread Bars are the best banana bread recipe ever made into melt-in-your-mouth sweet and tasty bars. They do not disappoint!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 28

Ingredients
  

Banana Bread Bars

  • 1½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • ½ cup butter softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1¾ cups ripened bananas mashed
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts optional

Brown Butter Frosting

  • ½ cup butter
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons milk about

Instructions
 

Banana Bread Bars

  • Preheat your oven to 375°F. Then, grease and flour a 10×15-inch jelly roll pan.
    Next, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, sour cream, softened butter, and eggs until well incorporated.
  • Blend in the mashed bananas and vanilla for one minute. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Blend for one more minute.
  • Stir in any optional nuts. Then, pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly until warm and then frost.

Brown Butter Frosting

  • Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it is boiling and light brown in color.
  • Remove it from the heat and add it to the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir the frosting until it is thicker than a glaze but thinner than a frosting. Add a splash of milk to thin the frosting until it's the correct consistency. Spread the frosting evenly over the warm banana bread bars.

Notes

Tips: 
Use a 9×13-inch baking dish for thicker bars and bake 10 mins longer than directed.
Keyword banana bread

Filed Under: Desserts, Food & Recipes, Side Dish, Snack Tagged With: breakfast, delicious dessert, snack

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