Ask any parent who’s recently sent their kids back to school and they’ll confirm: Kids come home at the end of the school day ready for a snack. We’ve learned all kinds of delicious, quick snack recipes from our favorite celebrities, from Jennifer Garner’s pizza crackers to the Jonas Brothers’ almond butter-topped version of ants on a log, and now we’re adding a recipe from Joanna Gaines to our after-school snack list.
The Fixer Upper star and home improvement mogul shared her After-School Banana Bread recipe on the Magnolia Network Instagram account, and it looks incredibly easy and delicious. The simple recipe also fixes a common food waste issue: In her video about the recipe, Gaines calls overripe bananas “a staple in the Gaines household,” sharing her way of using bananas up before they go bad.
“This is a recipe that my kids love,” she says. “They ask for it on a weekly basis… nothing says ‘welcome home’ better than after-school banana bread.”
To make this delicious-sounding banana bread, start with four overripe bananas and some classic pantry ingredients: melted butter, brown sugar, a couple of eggs, some vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, a little salt and some baking soda.
First, blend the melted butter and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl, then blend in the eggs and vanilla. Peel and mash the overripe bananas, add the bananas to the wet ingredients, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda, then pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.
“That’s all the ingredients,” says Gaines. “This is a recipe that’s so quick and easy.”
Next, it’s time to bake your banana bread. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan—you may want to grease the pan first or use parchment paper—and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bread is fully baked and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
“That’s not cake, it’s bready,” says Gaines at the end of the video, while slathering butter on top of a slice of fresh-from-the-oven banana bread. “You can never go wrong with banana bread.”
This isn’t the first time Gaines has wowed us with a banana bread recipe. Gaines shared another method of making the delicious, sweet treat a few years ago on an episode of Magnolia Table. In this version, Gaines adds nuts like pecans or walnuts to the banana bread and tops the loaf with sugar before baking it. “Some people might call this dessert,” she said of the recipe, “but I call this a snack.”
Looking for other ways to use up overripe bananas? Try our Peanut Butter-Banana Flaxseed Smoothie or Blueberry-Banana Peanut Butter Parfait, or one of our other favorite Healthy Banana Recipes. And, since bananas are packed with plenty of good-for-you nutrients, adding the yellow fruit to your cooking is something you can feel great about.
