chocolate swirl marbled banana bread

we've made many loaves of banana bread over the years.  we've made traditional banana walnut bread, and we've switched it up by adding other things in (peanut butter banana bread and chocolate chip banana bread) but we've never marbled banana bread.

we've made marbled cakes and love them because the swirl pattern is always so pretty and because you don't have to choose between vanilla and chocolate cake since you get both!

we had some bananas on the kitchen counter that took some abuse from the recent high heat and humidity.  i took one off the banana tree for a smoothie and the others fell right off because their peels were so ripe.  oops!  i couldn't let those bananas sit with open peels, so i had to drop what i was doing and make something with them.

i wanted to make something a bit different than a traditional banana bread, and after just a few moments of searching banana bread images on pinterest, i came across a marbled banana bread and was intrigued.

this recipe is so easy.  it's a simple base banana bread recipe that takes half of the batter and adds melted chocolate in order to make two contrasting colored batters.  since chocolate and banana are two flavors that go great together, these two batters marbled together give this bread a great flavor!

chocolate swirl marbled banana bread
prep time: 10 minutes
baking time: 55 minutes
yields: 1 loaf
adapted from just a taste

ingredients:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 large eggs
5 tablespoons melted coconut oil, cooled
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup granulated white sugar

directions:
preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips for 30-second increments, stirring between until smooth.  set aside to cool.

in a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla.  beat with an electric hand mixer to combine.  add the flour, baking soda, and sugar.  beat just until combined.  remove half of the batter and place it in a separate bowl.  fold the melted chocolate into one half of the batter.

grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper.  fill the loaf pan with alternating scoops of the banana batter and the chocolate batter.  use a knife to gently swirl the batters together for a marbled look.  bake for 55 minutes until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean.  allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan and transferring it to a wire rack to finish cooling.

enjoy!

love, laurie