Zebra Banana Bread

Check out this mesmerizing zebra banana loaf I made just last week! I was thinking how I could make my usual banana bread look a little more exciting so I decided to use my simple banana bread recipe and create some wicked patterns out of it. Zebra? Leopard? Whirlwind? I don’t know! Make your own designs and interpret it for yourself! The best part is that it only takes an extra 2 minutes of your time to create these swirly effects so I definitely think it’s worth it! Simple, creative, delicious and time-friendly. Wow your family and friends with this amazing bread this week!

Zebra Banana Bread

This recipe builds on my original banana bread recipe, adding rich chocolate swirls for a marbled effect. The result is a fun, eye-catching loaf with the perfect balance of banana and chocolate in every slice.

Prep time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola, grape-seed all work great!)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk (or almond milk)
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk or dark chocolate, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease or line loaf pan with parchment.
Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl.
In a large bowl, mix mashed bananas, eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar, and milk.
Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. (Do not overmix)
Transfer around 1/3 of the batter into another bowl.
Add cocoa powder into the bowl with 1/3 batter. Mix. Add melted chocolate and mix until well combined.
Scoop around 1/4 cup of pure banana batter into the left and right sides of the loaf pan. Using another spoon, scoop around 1/4 cup of chocolate batter into the middle. Keep alternating the colors on top of one another until you are finished with both batters.
To create the cool “zebra” swirl effect, use a small sharp knife to run ~1/2 way down the batter repeating the figure 8 motion 2-3 times. You can repeat the swirls with other patterns to make more swirls inside. *Make sure you get to the sides as well!*
Optional: top with chopped walnuts.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 mins. Insert a chopstick or a long thin toothpick into center to check if cooked. (If it sticks to batter, put it back into the oven). Repeat this method every 10 minutes if it needs more time!
Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!