These Banana Bread Cookies just might be the best cookies I have EVER made, and I’ve made a lot of cookies. I know that’s a bold statement, and it’s one I do not make lightly. I can’t express how incredible these are. It took a few months of repeated recipe testing and tweaking to get them just right, but I am thrilled with the result and can’t wait for you to try them!

When making these I knew I wanted a chewy cookie with the texture of a classic chocolate chip cookie along with the comforting flavor of banana bread. Most recipes I tried came out too cakey, a common issue with cookies when you use banana or pumpkin in them. After a lot of trial and error to get the ingredients and amounts just right, I am so happy to share this recipe with you.

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Christi, author of Love From The Oven, wearing a blue sweater and smiling.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Get ready to take your chocolate chip cookies to the next level with these amazing Banana Bread Cookies! They are everything you love about chocolate chip cookies along with that warm and cozy banana bread flavor.

If you’ve ever had a banana bread cookie and it seemed more cakey or bread like than you hoped for – than you’re in luck, this is the recipe for you. Banana bread flavor but with that classic, chewy cookie texture.

What I Love:

These have a true chocolate chip cookie texture. A lot of banana cookies come out cake-like, but this one is all cookie!
The banana taste in these isn’t overwhelming – it’s still very much a chocolate chip cookie, but with just the right amount of banana bread flavor throughout.
These are just as easy to make as your standard chocolate chip cookies.
You likely have everything you need in your pantry to make these banana bread cookies.
Get ready for rave reviews – my recipe testers and family couldn’t get enough of these cookies.

This is a discussion about the ingredients to help answer common questions and provide tips for success. For the actual recipe with amounts, please see the recipe below.

Butter – For this recipe you’ll be melting the butter, then allowing it to cool. You don’t want to combine hot butter with the egg yolk, unless you want to make scrambled eggs. While I keep unsalted butter on hand, it’s fine if you use salted.
Banana – You want a VERY ripe banana for this recipe. It should be heavily spotted to all brown. Because the banana is providing crucial moisture for these cookies, a banana that isn’t is ripe won’t provide what you need.
Dark Brown Sugar – I prefer dark brown sugar for the caramel like flavor, but if light is what you have on hand, that will work.
Egg Yolk – Because the banana provides moisture, this recipe only calls for one large egg yolk. While we want moist cookies, too much moisture will result in cakey cookies, and we are going for chewy. You’ll want to make sure it’s at room temperature.
Flour – Simple all-purpose flour works perfectly in this recipe, keeping the cookies light yet chewy. Make sure you measure correctly! More about that can be found in the next section.
Cornstarch – Remember when pudding cookies were all the rage? It wasn’t so much the pudding mix that made them soft and chewy, it was the cornstarch. It helps give that nice chew and locks in moisture.
Cinnamon – This really helps bring out the banana bread flavor. While you could skip it, the banana bread flavor would be impacted.
Baking Soda – Make sure to check the expiration date.
Salt
Chocolate Chips – Personally I prefer using semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips. I think milk chocolate is too sweet for this recipe. That said, if you love milk chocolate, you might feel differently.

Measure Flour Correctly

For the best results, make sure to measure flour correctly using the following steps:

Fluff the flour by giving it a stir. This will aerate it so that it’s not compacted.
Using a spoon, spoon flour into a measuring cup until it’s overflowing. Do not scoop the flour with the measuring cup as this will compact it, giving you more than you need.
Level the flour using a flat edge, such as a butter knife or spoon handle.

Following these steps helps to avoid adding too much flour to the recipe, which can result in dry and dense baked goods. If measuring by weight this should be in the 125-135 gram range. Get all my flour tips, tricks and info here!

Straining extra liquid out of mashed banana to make banana bread cookies.

Please Read: About The Bananas

I want to make sure that your banana bread cookies turn out the very best they can. So here are a few important notes about the banana in this recipe that I want to make sure you get.

As noted above you must use a ripe banana. It should be dark and spotty, well past the point of eating on it’s own. That banana is going to provide not just flavor but necessary moisture for these cookies. If your banana isn’t ripe, it’s going to be much dryer, and so will your cookies.

That said, we also don’t want too much moisture – which can lead to cakey cookies when the goal is chewy. If you have a fine mesh sieve or strainer and can place your mashed banana into that and tap off just a touch of the excess moisture, that is great. If not they will still turn out great, I promise.

It’s hard to account for all the varying moisture levels that bananas provide and this was the best solution I found while testing this recipe.

How To Make Banana Bread Cookies

This is just a visual overview of how this recipe is made to help you visualize the process. For the actual recipe directions with full details, please see the recipe card below.

Step 1: Combine butter, banana and brown sugar, followed by egg yolk and vanilla.

Step 2: Add flour and other dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Step 3: Chill the dough for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.

Step 4: Scoop cookie dough onto a baking sheet and bake.

Christi, author of Love From The Oven, holding a mixing bowl and smiling.

Christi’s Tips For Success!

Get It Just Ripe: I can’t say it enough, you have to use ripe bananas!

Chill Out: Nobody likes taking the time to chill cookie dough, but it makes a huge difference. It helps create chewy banana bread cookies that don’t spread all over the pan. Chill for at least one hour, or up to 24 hours. If you skip this step your cookies may come out flat – though they’ll still taste delicious.

Spooning over Scooping: No I’m not talking about cuddling, I’m talking about measuring flour. Read the tips above and make sure you measure your flour by giving it a stir and spooning it into a measuring cup – resist the urge to use the measuring cup to scoop up the flour. It compacts the flour, you get too much, then your cookies are too dry.

Easy Does It: Don’t overwork the dough. Once you add your flour and dry ingredients, stir just until things are combined. Overtaxing will create tough cookies and the goal here is soft ad chewy.

Storage Tips

Store in an air-tight container for 3-4 days. To keep cookies soft, or to soften up cookies that have gotten a bit hard, put a piece of plain old sandwich bread in the container as well. It works like magic!

If you want to freeze cookies, I recommend freezing these banana bread cookies after baking vs in the dough state.