This Stovetop Banana Bread can cook an entire skillet's worth of banana bread in under 20 minutes, start to finish. Enjoy a slice of warm sweet bread and forget about the oven!
Recipe: $1.64 | Per Serving: $0.21 | Servings: 8
Ever find yourself without an oven and with ripe bananas? It happens more often than we'd like to admit and while you could simply freeze those bananas for later, why not enjoy them now?
While frozen bananas are great for smoothies and milkshakes like our Strawberry Banana Orange Smoothie or Banana Oreo Milkshake, we all know they were truly meant for banana bread.
With this no oven banana bread recipe you can enjoy the flavor of a freshly baked loaf in under half the time it would normally take to bake it. While it won't be exactly the same, it is a good little snack in its own right. Enjoy your skillet banana bread warm and within minutes.
For more banana bread recipes, be sure to check out my Cinnamon Crumble Banana Bread, One Bowl Banana Bread, and Oreo Banana Bread.
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- Simplicity at its finest. Made with just a few simple ingredients and without dirtying every dish in the house, it's as easy to make as you can imagine.
- Quick prep. It's so fast to throw together that you can have the batter ready to cook in just a few minutes flat. And because we use the stovetop, the cooking time is lessened too!
- It's always popular. Banana bread doesn't need a time of the year to make an entrance at your house. It's evergreen and always well-received.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Ripe bananas- You will need some ripe spotted bananas to make this banana bread well flavored and sweeter.
Vegetable oil- Adding in vegetable oil will give the bread the necessary fats needed to stay moist.
Baking soda- Use baking soda as a leaving agent to help the bread puff up nicely as it bakes.
Egg- Use an egg to help bind the bread together so it doesn't turn out too crumbly. Don't want to use an egg? Try our Eggless Banana Bread or Vegan Banana Bread with Applesauce.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
🔪 Instructions for Stovetop Banana Bread
Step 1: Grease the bottoms and sides of your skillet or pot and set it on a stove burner over medium-low heat to preheat.
Step 2: In a large bowl, mash your bananas (Images 1&2).
Step 3: Stir in the oil, baking soda, and salt (Images 3&4).
Step 4: Add in the egg, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar (Image 5).
Step 5: Mix until smooth (Image 6).
Step 6: Add in the flour (Image 7).
Step 7: Stir until no flour streaks remain (Image 8). Do not overmix.
Step 8: Pour the batter into a preheated, greased skillet (Image 9).
Step 9: Add the lid and place over low-medium heat (Image 10).
Step 10: Cook with the lid on for 15 minutes (Image 11).
Step 12: When the bread is ready turn off the burner and place an upside-down plate on top.
Step 13: Flip the skillet so that the bread is on the plate. The bottom will be up and it will look a little darker/burnt in the center.
Step 14: Serve with powdered sugar or flip the bread back over so that it's upright and slice into wedges for serving (Image 12).
Watch closely during the last 7 minutes of baking, as the bread may finish earlier than expected. During the initial 6 minutes, the top of the bread may appear raw, wet, and gooey, resembling a pancake waiting to be flipped.
Towards the end of the baking time, the top will become solid and dry-looking. Test the bread's doneness with a toothpick, ensuring it comes out clean.
🍴 Recipe Tips
- Cookware Considerations- For successful stove-top baking of banana bread, opt for nonstick or ceramic pans to avoid burning and ensure even cooking. Stainless steel pans may require longer cooking times at lower temperatures to prevent sticking and burning.
- Choose the Right Pan- If you lack a large skillet with a lid, a large pot with a lid can serve as an alternative for stove-top baking.
- Expect a Different Appearance- Stove-top baking differs from oven baking, resulting in a unique appearance for the banana bread. Due to heat primarily coming from the bottom, the bread may lack the typical golden-brown crust associated with oven-baked loaves.
- Monitor Closely- While making banana bread on a stove-top range is straightforward, it requires vigilance to prevent overcooking or burning. Keep a close eye on the bread during the cooking process and avoid leaving it unattended. This ensures optimal results without the risk of burning.
💭 Recipe FAQs
I recommend eating this stove top banana bread while it's still warm for best tasting results. Due to the manner in which it is cooked the longer it sits out the less pretty it becomes. You could store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, but it's best served almost immediately.
Stovetop banana bread tends to be more dense and moist than oven-baked banana bread, as it's cooked differently. It has a texture similar to griddled pancakes.
You'll need a skillet with a fitted lid to make stovetop banana bread. It's best to use a non-stick skillet or one that's well-seasoned to prevent sticking.
❤️ More Delicious Banana Recipes
If you tried this Stovetop Banana Bread, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Stovetop Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups mashed bananas (about 2-3 ripe) ($0.75)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil ($0.23)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda ($0.01)
- ¼ teaspoon salt ($0.01)
- 1 large egg ($0.15)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ($0.03)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ($0.08)
- ½ cup granulated sugar ($0.18)
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour ($0.20)
Instructions
- Grease the bottoms and sides of your skillet or pot and set it on a stove burner over medium-low heat to preheat.
- In a large bowl, mash your bananas.
- Stir in the oil, baking soda, and salt.
- Add in the egg, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar. Mix until smooth.
- Add in the flour. Stir until no flour streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into a preheated, greased skillet.
- Add the lid and place over low-medium heat.
- Cook with the lid on for 15 minutes. Keep a watchful eye during the last 7 minutes as it will go by quickly and your bread could be finished early.
- During the first 6 minutes of baking the top appears raw, wet, and gooey with cooked edges (like a pancake waiting to be flipped).
- During the last portion of time, the top becomes solid and dry-looking. Test with a toothpick shortly after. You want it to come out clean.
- When the bread is ready turn off the burner and place an upside-down plate on top.
- Flip the skillet so that the bread is on the plate. The bottom will be up and it will look a little darker/burnt in the center.
- Serve with powdered sugar or flip the bread back over so that it's upright and slice into wedges for serving.
tiasha says
We are currently between moving right now sold our house and now staying in a RV till find a new home so I've limited cooking options appliance wise due afraid use the propane oven so I stick to a plug in deep stovetop pan so was happy come across this recipe also like to add I was limited on ingredients so used powdered sugar instead granulated, sour cream replace the egg and baking powder instead of soda ..I'd like to say even so it turned out exceptionally well & it really does look like it's going to mit cook through but like noted it really comes together at the 6 min mark ! a soft banana bread a lot quicker than the oven method!
Mary says
This is amazing. We are in the middle of snow storm and have been stranded in our house for a week due to downed trees and power lines. Since we haven’t had power, I can only use the stove top to cook. I made this and because I only had one banana, I added frozen blueberries to the mix. When my son tried this he said, “OMG, this amazing.” I had to remind him that there were four other people in the house and he couldn’t eat the whole thing.
Nicole says
I'm so glad you liked the recipe, (blueberries sound like a wonderful addition!)
Mel says
This is going to be super specific but maybe it will help another foreigner in Korea also trying to bake with an ovenless kitchen.
This recipe worked really well even with substitutes.
If you're having trouble finding regular flour, you can use Korean pancake mix and skip the salt. The pancake mix already has some salt in it.
I had trouble finding baking soda as well so I went with the whipped egg white method and folded that in last. Got a good rise out of it and it turned out fairly fluffy but maybe a little more on the pudding side.
Didn't have vanilla but I think the brown sugar kinda made up for it (I used brown sugar instead of white)
Overall it came out nicely sweet with a lovely balance between the cinnamon, brown sugar and banana.
Husband loved it, the kids loved it, definitely making this again!
Nicole says
Thank you so much for sharing these substitutions/tips, I'm sure it will be very helpful to many readers. I'm lad you all enjoyed this recipe too 🙂
Tsioyna says
I'm about to try this
Funke says
Thank you very much, dear Nicole! The instructions are really easy to follow, and the detailed tips are a huge bonus ?
Amanda says
You say to preheat the pot on a medium or low heat.but l can see no mention of the setting needed to cook this
NicoleDurham says
The banana bread is cooked at medium-low heat (the temperature between medium and low). I have edited the recipe card to reflect this in hopes it makes things clearer.