Banana Blondies
If you have overripe bananas but are tired of banana bread, bake up these soft and chewy Banana Blondies with nuts instead! They taste like banana bread in bar form and are a great on-the-go snack. Made in an 8×8 square pan with no mixer required!
Every week there’s at least one overripe banana on my counter.
You see, I like to buy an avocado each week to make a dinner salad (such as my chicken fajita salad), but most of the time they’re rock hard at the store.
But if you pair an avocado with a banana in a brown bag, the avocado softens a lot faster for dinner later in the week.
That means I’m often stuck with one brown banana. Most of the time I make my mini banana bread or small batch banana muffins.
However, you can only make so much banana bread until you want something new.
Enter these Banana Blondies.
They’re soft and chewy caramel-like bars that taste like banana bread without actually being banana bread.
And as mentioned this banana blondies recipe requires only 1 overripe banana, which is perfect for us small batch bakers.
No mixer is required either! Just melt everything together on the stovetop then bake away in an 8×8 square pan.
For a bit of crunch I added chopped nuts, but you also add chocolate chips for some extra sweetness.
What are blondies?
Blondies are rich, chewy dessert bars similar to brownies but gets its caramel flavor from brown sugar instead of chocolate.
They’re slightly different than my snickerdoodle cookie bars because blondies are more dense and gooey.
And much like brownies, you can have different flavor variations such as peanut butter blondies or gingerbread blondies.
Ingredients For Banana Blondies
Here are the ingredients needed to make your banana bread blondies:
- Butter: Melted butter is the key to giving blondies their rich, fudgy, chewy texture. Plus you don’t have to wait for it to soften at room temperature!
- Brown sugar: Adds moisture and caramel flavor that granulated sugar cannot achieve
- Banana: Use a very overripe, almost black banana for best results.
- Egg: Moisture needed for the batter plus helps with the chewy texture
- Vanilla: I bumped up the vanilla flavor as it really enhances the peanut butter
- Flour: Brings the dough together
- Baking powder: A bit of a controversial ingredient for blondies, I liked the batch with baking powder better than without (more on that below)
- Salt: I didn’t add as much salt because peanut butter is salty, but you still want a little bit to ensure your blondies aren’t bland.
- Mix-ins: I used walnuts but you can also use pecans or chocolate chips.
How To Make Banana Blondies
Ready to make your one pan banana blondie recipe? Leave the mixer off and grab a whisk!
- Melt the butter in a saucepan.
- Whisk in brown sugar, banana, egg, and vanilla.
- Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and mix-ins of choice.
- Bake at 350F for 20-23 minutes or until edges pull away from the sides, center no longer looks wet, and a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
Store leftover blondies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
How To Freeze Blondies
Place cut cooled blondies in a single layer on a cookie sheet or plate then freeze for 1 hour or until firm.
Wrap individually then place in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Do you frost blondies?
Banana blondies do not require frosting for serving. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt!
I have plenty of frosting recipes to recommend, which include:
Buttercream based:
- Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Frosting
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Cinnamon Buttercream
- Coconut Frosting
Cream cheese based:
Chocolate gananche would make a great icing as well.
More Banana Recipes
If you enjoyed this banana blondie recipe and still have more bananas left to use up, check out the following recipes using banana:
- Banana Cupcakes
- Small Banana Cake
- Banana Snack Cake
- Banana Biscotti
- Banana Mango Smoothie
- Banana Fudge Ice Cream
Banana Blondies
If you have overripe bananas but are tired of banana bread, bake up these soft and chewy Banana Blondies with nuts instead! They taste like banana bread in bar form and are a great on-the-go snack. Made in an 8×8 square pan with no mixer required!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 tablespoons
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (soft and moist, not dry and crumbly)
- 1/2 cup mashed banana (roughly 1 large banana)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, and/or chocolate chips (can use a mixture or only one type)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar, banana, egg, and vanilla.
- Switch to a rubber spatula and gradually stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the nuts/chips.
- Transfer the batter to the pan and bake 20-23 minutes or until the edges pull away from the sides, the center no longer looks wet (it may wiggle slightly), and a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs (no wet batter). Cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Enjoyed this recipe? Check out my Peanut Butter Blondies and Gingerbread Blondies.
- Still have bananas left? Check out Mini Banana Bread, Small Batch Banana Muffins, and Banana Cupcakes.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchase.
Those look wonderful! I’d love to try these instead of making banana bread with overripe bananas sometime :)
They are faster to bake than banana bread too ;) Thanks, June!
Sorry for not posting so often as Your recipies deserve. They are awesome and absolutedly foulproof. Every time they trurn out yummy. simply love to indulge :)
Thank you so muck, Wikkori! Your words really mean a lot <3
These are perfect! Yes, I’m always running out of way to use up all those bananas sitting around. Can’t wait to try this next time :)
Now you can add blondies to your list ;)
I actually wondered what made a blondie “blonde,” minus leaving out the cocoa! That brown sugar and banana combo sounds DEEEEVINE! I’ve actually never had blondie (I KNOW.) so these are totally my starting point! Pinned!
The more you know :D And never ever? Oh you need to fix that stat!
Congrats on winning the Diamond Nuts giveaway! I love your creation – I always have ripe bananas in my freezer so I’m always looking for new ways to bake with them. These look perfectly dense ‘n toothsome!
Time for some blondies with those frozen bananas ;D
Thank you. I feel like my bananas get overripe at least once a month, and while my fiance is excited about the banana bread while it’s cooking, after one piece he’s all set and the whole thing usually goes stale… Gah.
I will definitely have to mix it up using a recipe like this. Thanks!
Oh that happens to me too. I get a craving, make a loaf, then I’m stuck with half a loaf I didn’t eat. I need to look into a mini loaf pan.
Wonderful blondies. Time to make this with my bananas and peanuts which are really good source of protein. Delicious and healthy banana nut blondies!
Just made this this morning — plain but still tasted awesome. I used the same amount of olive oil instead of butter. It turned out moist and delicious. Thanks for this simple yet yummy recipe.
Happy to hear they worked for you using olive oil!