Looking for a delicious twist on classic banana bread? My Chocolate Orange Banana Bread is soft, moist and full of flavour.
Made a bit healthier with ripe bananas and honey, it's perfect for snacks, lunchboxes or for an easy bake at home treat!
Why You'll Love My Chocolate Orange Banana Bread
- Naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and honey
- Easy to Make with no special equipment
- Great for packing into lunchboxes for kids
- Perfect for using up bananas that are overripe
- Lovely and moist and full of flavour from the orange and chocolate chips
- This is a great recipe to make with the kids. It's relatively simple to make, using just two bowls and no special equipment as everything is mixed by hand.
If you check out my Easy Snack Ideas For Kids, you'll see that my recipe for Strawberry Banana Bread has been really popular for a while now!
But I fancied changing up the flavours a little.
I had some oranges that needed to be eaten along with a packet of chocolate chips in the cupboard. So I decided to try out a chocolate orange version instead... and I wasn't disappointed!
🥦 Hidden Veg Hub 🥦
Struggling to get veggies into your kids?
I have lots of info on Hidden Veg in my Hub.
Hidden Veg Dinner, Lunchbox and Snack Recipes
Tips and advice for feeding kids and help with fussy eaters
How To Make Chocolate Orange Banana Bread
The full recipe with all the ingredients and measurements is in the recipe card towards the bottom of this post, but I've also included some step by step images here that you might find helpful.
- Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder to a large bowl and mix.
- In another bowl add the mashed banana, coconut oil or butter, honey, yogurt, egg, vanilla extract and orange and mix.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix.
- Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
Tips for Making The Best Banana Bread
Use very ripe bananas - The ones I used were almost black. The more ripe, the more sweet they will be!
Don't overmix the batter - If overmixed, you will end up with a dense loaf rather than a light and fluffy one!
Cover with foil during baking - This stops the banana bread over browning.
Let it cool before attempting to slice - It will be MUCH easier to slice if cooled first.
Yes! Slice into individual slices and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature in a couple of hours.
This chocolate orange banana bread will keep for up to 48 hours in an airtight tin. Although to be completely honest with you it probably won't last that long!
Absolutely. Replace the all purpose flour for a gluten free alternative.
If you try my chocolate banana bread recipe, please come back and let me know what you think in the comments!
And don't forget to tag us in your photos and videos on our socials! We love to see what you've been making.
More Kid-Friendly Recipes
As well as heaps of healthy snack recipes for kids, I also have lots of delicious Lunchbox Ideas For Kids that you might like!
MY FUSSY EATER APP
If you like my recipes then check out my App. Over 500 kid-friendly recipes with a meal planner and shopping list too.
Download Here:
Chocolate Orange Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: European
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Looking for a delicious twist on classic banana bread? My Chocolate Orange Banana Bread is soft, moist and full of flavour. Great for lunchboxes or as an afternoon snack.
Ingredients
- 275g / 1.75 cups plain or all purpose flour (can be gluten free)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 75g / 0.3 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
- 70g / 0.3 cup honey
- 50g / 0.25 cup plain yogurt
- 1 medium egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 orange
- 75g /0.5 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c/350f. Grease and line a 2lb baking tin with parchment paper.
- Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder to a large bowl and mix with a spoon.
- In another bowl add the mashed banana, coconut oil or butter, honey, yogurt, egg and vanilla extract and mix well with a spoon.
- Add the zest and juice of the whole orange and mix again.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon just enough until all the ingredients have combined.
- Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove, cover loosely with tin foil (this will stop the top of the bread getting too brown) and then return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes until the bread is cooked through and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out dry.
- Once the loaf has cooked, remove it from the oven.
- Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes to firm up. This will make it easier to cut into slices.
Notes
This bread will keep in an airtight tin for up to 48 hours.
It can also be sliced and frozen for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature in a couple of hours.
Aisling says
Hi Ciara. Can you use wholemeal flour for this?
Vicky says
Hi, Yes totally fine to use wholemeal flour, although the bread might feel a little more dense. Enjoy.
Anne says
Grated the rind BEFORE I squeezed the orange. 🍊 Safer and got more rind into the recipe
David says
Made this earlier fantastic banana bread tasted lush best banana bread I have made so far great recipe will be making this regularly
David says
Just made this and cooling down smells fantastic can’t wait to try it, great recipe and nice and easy to make
Preena says
Thankyou Ciara.
Preena says
Hi Ciara, which gluten free flour can I use instead of all purpose flour? I want to bake it for my 2.5 yr old son. He loves oranges, he may like the orange flavour in the bread.
Ciara Attwell says
Any gluten free flour that you can find in your shop/supermarket will work
Joelene says
So delicious! I love the tinfoil idea for covering it up halfway to avoid burning - as I find this happens usually. The batter tasted like a smoothie! My 2.5yr old devoured his piece & we call it “chocolate chip sunshine bread”. Note: I used maple syrup because we make our own & was out of raw honey.
Ciara Attwell says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Jo says
Delicious! Such an easy and reliable, not to mention tasty recipe. Just like others have said, this doesn’t last long, especially not once the aroma of the banana bread fills the house!
Kathy B says
This chocolate orange banana bread is absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Ciara Attwell says
Yay!! So glad you liked it!
Liza says
So good! The entire loaf was gone the same day we baked it!
c says
hello, could I use dates instead of chocolate chips or not add them at all? x
Ciara Attwell says
Yes you could leave them out altogether. You could add some chopped dates but not too many as it might change the consistency of the mixture and then alter the cooking time, etc
Carrie says
Kids loved this. Put some into their lunchbox today and it all came back eaten!
Lindsay says
Delicious! I love this recipie - tastes really good and great for using up bananas. Unfortunately it's so good, none of it has made it to the freezer yet!
Lisa P says
Tried this at the weekend and everyone loved it! It didn't even last an hour! Next time I'm making double!