The taste of classic apple pie merges with the steadfast staple of banana bread to make this recipe for Apple Pie Banana Bread. Cinnamon sugar-coated apples are folded into a spiced and moist banana bread batter and topped with a cinnamon streusel crumble to drive home that feeling of a fresh-from-the-oven pie.
Apple Pie Banana Bread is the best of both worlds. It has the flavors of your favorite holiday pie but with the ease of making a quick bread. The crumb topping and diced apple filling are sweetened with the golden notes of brown sugar and warmed up with ground cinnamon.
Making the batter for the bread uses the simple muffin method of combining the whisked dry ingredients with the whisked wet ingredients.
Once the batter comes together, fold in the apple filling.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top it with the crumble.
Since this bread is moist and rich, it needs a bit of a longer bake time. Depending on your oven, you’ll want to check for doneness after fifty-five minutes in.
And that’s it! This Apple Pie Banana Bread is done!
To get clean slices from the bread, make sure to cool down the bread completely before slicing it.
The crumb is tender yet has a satisfying weight thanks to the bananas and apples.
While the foundation of the bread is banana bread, the apple pie flavor is front and center, amplified by the cinnamon and brown sugar.
The crumb topping drives home the apple pie feeling, giving you a sense of eating the pie topping. What’s missing here is the a-la-mode ice cream to have alongside a slice!
Apple Pie Banana Bread
Yield(s): Makes 1 9x5 loaf
15m prep time
55m cook time
For the Crumb Topping:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
For the apple filling:
- 1 large apple, peeled and diced
- 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the apple pie banana bread:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups ripe mashed bananas, about 3 large bananas
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the crumble:
- In a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Using a fork, pastry cutter, or clean hands, cut the butter until the dry ingredients until large crumbles start to form. Set aside.
To make the apple pie filling:
- In another bowl combine apples, light brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon, set aside.
To make the apple pie banana bread:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, set aside.
- In one bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, set aside.
- In another bowl whisk together mashed bananas, butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
- Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add in vanilla.
- Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and there are no streaks of flour.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold in the apple filling.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, tapping the pan slightly on the counter to removed any air pockets.
- Top batter with prepared crumble and bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a few moist, not wet crumbs.
- Let bread cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from What Molly Made.