How do I keep my banana bread good/fresh for a long time?

April 28, 2024 8:10 AM

I tend to make banana bread every now and then from scratch in a 13x9 pan. Oftentimes, the bread goes bad before I could finish it. As I live alone, it's hard to consume all of it. Tips for longevity?

The recipe includes two eggs, brown sugar, flour, salt/baking soda/baking powder, vegetable oil, and chocolate chips, if that makes any difference.

Also, I've seen mixed results online if the bread should be refrigerated or not. Can it be frozen? How to thaw and enjoy/eat properly? How long does that kind of concoction ^ last, really? I end up just tossing most of it away once it starts tasting old/off. I don't have a smaller pan and the recipe specifically calls for a 13x9 pan.

Help me understand my banana bread better, please! 🍌

posted by dubious_dude to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

It freezes well. Not as good as fresh but in the range of 8.5/10.
posted by Depressed Obese Nightmare Man at 8:15 AM on April 28 [28 favorites]

I freeze banana bread and other sweet breads/muffins all the time! The effect on the texture is minimal, and a freezer bag will minimize it tasting like the inside of the freezer. You can preslice it or freeze larger chunks. Refrigerating it does sometimes dry it out more, so I usually leave out an amount that my household will eat in 2-3 days and freeze the rest.
posted by tchemgrrl at 8:15 AM on April 28 [4 favorites]

You can totally freeze it!
posted by In Your Shell Like at 8:17 AM on April 28

Slice it as soon as it is cool, freeze it, stick it in the toaster straight from the freezer when you want a slice. Now you have pretty fresh, warm banana bread on demand!
posted by ssg at 8:24 AM on April 28 [16 favorites]

Make sure it's cool before you freeze and get all of the air out of the bag/wrapper, as it seems to stay fresher and more moist. I freeze mine in wrap rather than in a container just for that reason. It's good when thawed and at room temp, but best when heated for a couple seconds in the microwave with a smidge of butter.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:42 AM on April 28 [5 favorites]

Should you obtain a smaller pan, Alice Medrich has a helpful guide to scaling recipes to fit any pan.
posted by jknx at 8:44 AM on April 28 [6 favorites]

My mom is a banana bread master. She often makes them in pan that is 6 tiny pans, and the way she freezes the surplus is to wait until cool, then wrap each loaf in saran wrap, and then put multiple saran wrapped loaves into a gallon freezer bag. Then they can be removed individually, thawed on the counter, and enjoyed.

In your case, you could cut the larger pan into cubes and wrap those and let them thaw before eating in a cube shape.

Or, you could do something like cut your pan into 6 rectangles, then cut those into small slices, wrap a grouping that you think would be the amount you eat in 1-2 days, and put those in a freezer baggie. That would let you toast them as mentioned above (something I've never tried, tbh).

(What a great problem too much banana bread is!)
posted by past unusual at 8:53 AM on April 28 [2 favorites]

Definitely, freeze it. Banana bread has often been a holiday gift in my family, with batches made over weeks and then frozen.

On a second glance through previous answers: we've always done exactly what past unusual's mom does. Small loaves are generally the most convenient, but once in a while we'll make medium or normal-size, too. They all freeze the same, it's just a matter of preference and how much you want to take out of the freezer at once.

And if we do have extra fresh that we don't want to freeze, or some thawing bread, it's just fine in the fridge in a ziplock, too.

(I'm considered weird in my family, but one way I like it is still very cold, barely thawed, with a very thin layer of nice cold butter on it. I also like muffins the same way. My impatience discovered that for me as a kid, lol.)
posted by stormyteal at 9:15 AM on April 28 [1 favorite]

I would try what past_unusual suggested, or instead of a 13x9" pan, try baking your next banana bread recipe in a cupcake pan, (adjusting the baking time downwards, of course), cooling them thoroughly on a wire rack and then bagging them and freezing to be used as desired. IME, banana bread freezes well.
posted by Lynsey at 9:17 AM on April 28

I pour my banana bread batter into cupcakes. Then, I freeze the number of cupcakes I think are extra. I also frost a few before freezing, but most are "naked". Taste great weeks later!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:10 AM on April 28 [1 favorite]

I make banana bread every once in awhile and am usually the only one in the house who eats it. When I'm working my way through a loaf, I always keep it in the fridge, either with a bit of plastic wrap over the baking pan, or removed from the pan completely and put into a container. Before I eat it, I set it out on the kitchen counter for an hour or so to warm up a little, then back into the fridge it goes.

Also, as others have said, banana bread can be frozen!
posted by May Kasahara at 10:15 AM on April 28

Should you obtain a smaller pan, Alice Medrich has a helpful guide to scaling recipes to fit any pan.

13x9 is pretty enormous for banana bread. I’d definitely work on halving the recipe, and maybe bake it in a loaf pan.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:53 AM on April 28 [3 favorites]

I'd cut it into slices, wrap each slice in wax paper, then place into a ziploc bag and freeze. Take pieces out individually as needed. You can microwave them to warm up from frozen, or take out a few each week, place in the fridge to defrost, then eat as desired.
posted by hydra77 at 1:09 PM on April 28

Pre slice fairly thin before freezing and then you can grill them to heat the slices up. Grilled banana bread is wonderful.
posted by Mitheral at 6:14 PM on April 28 [2 favorites]

To keep frozen baked goods for LONG time, a vacuum bag is really good. No freezer taste; no freezer burn. Note that baked goods are soft so must be frozen BEFORE you vacuum them. Otherwise, the vacuum device will flatten the baked good.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:28 AM on April 29

We freeze our banana loaf before it's baked, and bake it right from the freezer - I use a tiny loaf tin (think 2 person serving of cake) and freeze in the tin (in baking parchment), pop frozen chunk into a ziploc and then get on and freeze the next portion. When hot cake is required, pop the chunk back in the tin and add...about half an hour to your cooking time.
posted by london explorer girl at 6:52 AM on April 29

Yes freezing (especially in slices!) works great. I just want to add that once you thaw slices of banana bread, toast them on a stovetop griddle, it is absolute perfection.
posted by MiraK at 8:56 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all the helpful responses! I ended up, this time, making banana muffins, following this recipe (swapping out white sugar for brown sugar). So delicious!

Good to know for future reference, though!
posted by dubious_dude at 6:02 AM on April 30