This Discard Banana Bread with greek yogurt and chocolate chips can be made with fed or unfed discard starter. Uses only one bowl!
We love to slather Honey Butter Spread over slices of warm banana bread fresh from the oven. This is a fantastic way to use sourdough discard! It turns overripe bananas and discard into moist, fluffy banana bread. It uses two bananas just like in my Strawberry Banana Bread and Banana Sourdough Muffins.
This sourdough starter banana bread recipe uses ½ cup of sourdough starter. I don't like wasting the discard so I save it in a container in the fridge to use in recipes like this!
Using ½ cup of discard in the banana bread gives it flavor, just like in my Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies, and it makes it a little more fluffy and less dense because of the acid and baking soda reaction, and works with the greek yogurt (or sour cream) to keep it moist and fresh for longer.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
- Active starter or cold unfed sourdough discard can be used for this recipe!
- Simple wet ingredients to dry ingredients mixing technique that uses one bowl.
- More fluffy and less dense from the acid in the discard and greek yogurt reacting with the baking soda.
- Measured by weight and volume, so it's easier to make successfully. Sometimes it can be difficult when bananas are different sizes!
🛒 Ingredients
- Bananas - make sure to wait until the are at least all the way yellow and not green, and preferably with brown spots on them. Overripe bananas have more flavor and are softer and easier to mash.
- Sourdough Discard - it can be active fed starter or cold unfed (refrigerated) discard, both work for this recipe! Just make sure you stir it to get the bubbles out and/or weigh it to get the right volume of liquid.
- Brown Sugar - used as the sweetener aside from the bananas, brown sugar helps to hold the moisture in during the long bake time of the banana bread.
- Baking Soda - the rising agent in the banana bread, it reacts with the acid in the discard and yogurt.
- Greek Yogurt - adding yogurt helps the bread stay fresher, longer. It also helps activate the baking soda to give the bread more lift and be less dense.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Greek Yogurt - substitute with sour cream! Can be fat free or full fat.
- Melted Butter - Can be substituted with a neutral flavored oil like olive oil or vegetable oil.
- Brown Sugar - coconut sugar or white granulated sugar would also work.
- Use peanut butter chips or white chocolate chips for a fun flavor switch!
- Add ½ cup chopped peanuts, walnuts, or pecans to the batter for more texture and crunch in the banana bread.
- Leave out the chocolate chips and replace with nuts if you wish, or have both! Both. Both is good.
🧑🍳 Instructions
Having sourdough discard (sourdough starter) in banana bread doesn't make the recipe very different from regular banana bread. This recipe mixes the wet ingredients together first, then the dry ingredients last.
Don't forget to preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a 9x5 inch bread loaf pan with parchment paper or baking spray.
- Step 1. Mash bananas with a fork, potato masher, or immersion blender. I prefer to do this in a measuring cup so that I can get an accurate measurement of the banana puree.
It's okay if the measurement isn't exactly 200mL (a little more than ¾ cup), but it should be close!
- Step 2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, eggs, greek yogurt, sourdough discard, melted butter, and vanilla.
- Step 3. Add in the brown sugar and salt and whisk together.
- Step 4. Add in the flour and baking soda, and stir together until just combined with no flour pockets left. Don't overmix once the dry flour is gone, too much mixing makes tough bread.
- Step 5. Add in the chocolate chips last and stir them in gently until just mixed in.
- Step 6. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, then place in the center rack of the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
After removing it from the oven, let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes before trying to slice it. Slicing it hot can make it squish or crumble apart, cooling it down a little makes more even slices.
📌 Top Tips For Success
- Stir the sourdough starter if it's active and room temperature before measuring it, this will help get rid of some bubbles. Weighing it is the most accurate though!
- Bake the sourdough starter banana bread on the middle shelf of the oven. The bottom shelf may brown the bottom too much and the top shelf may burn the top!
- Measure the dry ingredients by weight and volume for the banana! It's much more accurate, especially with the dry ingredients and bananas being different sizes.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
While sourdough in general is considered easier on the gut and this recipe does have greek yogurt and eggs meaning it has a decent amount of protein, this bread also has sugar, butter, and chocolate in it. I treat it as a sweet treat, and eat it in moderation.
Either! Just make sure if it's fed and active to stir it well before measuring it so there's no bubbles puffing it up.
3 days at room temperature.
3 months in the freezer.
This recipe was tested using a 9x5 inch bread loaf pan.
🍌 More Ways To Use Bananas
I'm ALWAYS looking for ways to use ripe bananas. Here are a few of our family favorites!
📝 Printable Recipe
Sourdough Discard Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 bananas (a little more than ¾ cup) 200mL mashed
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sourdough discard, fed or unfed 125g
- ⅓ cup salted butter, melted 78g
- ⅓ cup plain greek yogurt 88g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup brown sugar 146g
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups all purpose flour 200g
- 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ cup chocolate chips, optional 90g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a 9x5 inch bread loaf pan with parchment paper or spray with baking spray.
- In a glass measuring cup, mash 2 bananas to equal about 200 mL or a little over ¾ cup. It's okay if it's not exact, but it should be close.
- Add the banana puree to a mixing bowl, then add in eggs, sourdough discard, melted butter, plain greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth.
- Add in the brown sugar and salt and whisk together.
- Add in the flour and baking soda, and stir together until just combined with no flour pockets left. Don't overmix once the dry flour is gone, too much mixing makes tough bread.
- Add in the chocolate chips last and stir them in gently until just mixed in.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, then place in the center rack of the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Abby says
THIS IS MY FAV!!! I've made it 3 times now, it's always moist and tastes amazing. Definitely a fan favorite in our house! I didn't measure my bananas, I used 2 or 3 each time, unfed sourdough starter. It was fresh for up to 4 days (not sure after because we ate it lol) Easy recipe and directions!
Sara says
I’m so glad to hear you guys love it as much as we do! Thank you for coming back to share, it always makes my day.
Kyson says
I like it with and without chocolate chips. It stays fresh for about 3 days but it’s better the first two days. It turned out fine even though I didn’t measure the bananas.