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Put your overripe bananas to work in a big pan of Banana Bars, one of the most spectacular banana desserts ever. The bars are soft and cake-like with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. And for some crazy reason, I think they taste best served cold.
This is one of my all-time favorite desserts. The bar base is a super-soft, moist Banana Cake with serious banana flavor, but you make it in a jelly roll pan so the bars are short and squat. Then, you slather the whole pan in a thick layer of cream cheese frosting, and the ratio of cake-to-frosting is bordering on 1:1. It’s ideal!
For whatever reason, and maybe it’s the cream cheese frosting, I think these bars are best served cold. You have to store them in the refrigerator anyway, for food safety reasons, so it works out.
Try these easy Banana Bars for a scrumptious afternoon snack, for a potluck, or for your next bake sale. In my opinion, this is the best recipe out there!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Equipment and ingredient notes
- Jelly roll pan: To get the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio, bake this cake in a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan (I love this one by OXO).
- Mashed ripe bananas: If frozen, thaw on the counter while you prep the other ingredients. To ripen bananas in real time, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet. Bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Scoop the banana pulp from the peel, then mash.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15” x 10” x 1” pan (jelly roll pan) with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl of an stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs to the large bowl with the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Beat in mashed banana and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until uniformly combined.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish (in this case, the jelly roll pan) and smooth the top.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, in a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add the 4 cups confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat well.
- Spread evenly over cooled bars and cut to serve.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration. Obviously you can cut the bars however you want!
- Storage: Refrigerate any uneaten bars within 2 hours and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can bring them to room temperature before serving or eat them cold (I personally love cold cream cheese frosting).
- Freezer: Tightly cover unfrosted or frosted bars and freeze them up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cool completely before frosting: Frosting spreads most easily on cooled bars. If the bars are still warm, you might end up lifting part of the cake off as you spread, making holes in the top and mixing cake with frosting.
- Travel: To bring frosted banana bars to a party, cut them at home but keep them in the pan. Stick toothpicks at regular intervals into the top of the frosting, then drape plastic wrap lightly over the toothpicks to prevent the plastic from sticking to the frosting.
- More mix-ins: Stir in toasted walnuts, toasted pecans, or mini chocolate chips before baking.
- More banana recipes:Try Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Banana Pancakes, Banana Pudding, Banana Split Recipe, Banana Nutella Croissants, or Bananas Foster.
- More dessert recipes: Try these delicious Pumpkin Cookies with brown butter frosting, Cheesecake Bars made with tangy sour cream, and Lemon Yogurt Cake made with plain Greek yogurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Arrange the unpeeled bananas on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Scoop the banana pulp from the peel, then mash.
If you have a few days to spare, put bananas in a brown paper bag and fold over the top. If you have other ripe, ethylene-producing fruit, like avocados or apples, add them to the bag with the bananas. The ethylene gas will circulate and should ripen your fruit in about 24 to 36 hours
Overripe bananas are excellent (ideal, even!) for baking banana-flavored desserts and treats like muffins, cakes, bars, and of course banana bread. You can also blend them into smoothies. Take care that your bananas are just dark and spotted, though, and not moldy. Once mold shows up on a banana, it’s time to toss it.
That bunch of dark bananas on your counter is perfect for the freezer! Carefully peel each banana and add them to a freezer-safe plastic bag (you can leave them whole, cut them in half, or chop them). Label, date, and freeze up to 3 months. For baked goods, thaw frozen bananas at room temperature for mashing. For smoothies, add directly to the blender still frozen. Some smoothies rely on frozen bananas for that icy texture and temperature.
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Banana Bars
Equipment
- 1 10" x 15" jelly roll pan (see note 1)
Ingredients
For the bars:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium, see note 2)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the bars:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15” x 10” x 1” pan (jelly roll pan) with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and beat until incorporated. Beat in banana and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until uniformly combined. Spread into prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
To make the frosting:
- In a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat well. Spread evenly over cooled bars.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Jelly roll pan: To get the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio, bake this cake in a 10-inch by 15-inch jelly roll pan (I love this one by OXO).
- Mashed ripe bananas: If frozen, thaw on the counter while you prep the other ingredients. To ripen bananas in real time, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet. Bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Scoop the banana pulp from the peel, then mash.
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration. Obviously you can cut the bars however you want!
- Storage: Refrigerate any uneaten bars within 2 hours and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can bring them to room temperature before serving or eat them cold (I personally love cold cream cheese frosting).
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Very good bars
Thank you, Tanna! – Meggan