Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread Recipe

Every slice of this cinnamon swirl banana bread features a moist crumb, lots of banana flavor, and a thick ribbon of cinnamon sugar swirled through the center. Top with a simple vanilla icing to turn this quick bread into a delightful dessert-like treat.

You know I love a good cinnamon sugar swirl. (I mean, have you tried this homemade cinnamon swirl bread?? Put it on your Baking Bucket List!) While I also love a good crumb streusel topping, there’s just something extra special about slicing into a coffee cake or a chai cinnamon swirl Bundt cake and discovering a surprise-inside layer of cinnamon-sugar.

Banana bread is no exception.

What You’ll Love About This Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

• A delicious mash-up of my super-popular banana bread and cinnamon swirl quick bread recipes
• Quick and easy to make
• Sweet flavors of banana, vanilla, and cinnamon sugar
• Cake-like texture stays moist for days
• Excellent use for over-ripe bananas; or you can thaw frozen bananas
• Extra delicious with creamy vanilla icing
• A great treat any time of day
• Freezes well, so make ahead and stock your freezer for banana bread emergencies!

Today’s recipe was the predecessor of my original banana bread recipe. Because of the added richness and sweetness in the glaze and cinnamon-sugar ribbon, I don’t use quite as much sugar and butter in the bread itself. I usually receive a lot of questions about substitutions, so let me review some of the key ingredients you need and why.

Key Ingredients You Need & Why

• Flour: I typically use all-purpose flour in this recipe, but I’ve made it with whole wheat flour on occasion… and it’s still incredible. So if you’d like to include some whole grain in your bread, go ahead and use whole wheat flour with no other changes in the recipe needed. (Like a richer, sweeter version of my healthy whole wheat banana bread!)
• Ground Cinnamon: We’re using cinnamon in the banana bread batter as well as the cinnamon swirl.
• Sugar: You need regular white granulated sugar for the cinnamon swirl, so you can go ahead and use that in the bread as well. If you’d like, feel free to use brown sugar in the bread batter instead.
• Butter: You need 4 Tablespoons (1/2 a stick, or 57g) of butter for this loaf. The bread bakes up moist and tender from the Greek yogurt, bananas, and cinnamon swirl, so there really isn’t any need for more butter.
• Ripe Bananas: You need about 3 large bananas or 4 medium bananas—and the riper, the better, just like I recommend for Nutella swirl peanut butter banana bread. You can use thawed frozen bananas, too. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
• Plain Yogurt: Regular or Greek, any fat percentage. If you don’t have yogurt, you can substitute sour cream.

How to Mash Bananas

Did you know you can use your electric mixer to mash bananas? Break or slice the ripe bananas into large pieces and place in the bowl of your stand mixer—or use a regular mixing bowl and your hand mixer. Begin beating on low, then gradually increase to medium-high speed as the bananas begin to mash. Transfer the bananas to another bowl and use the mixing bowl to cream the butter and sugar. (No need to wash it first.)

Expect a thick batter:

Create a Beautiful Cinnamon Swirl in Your Banana Bread

You need 2 ingredients for the cinnamon swirl, and both are used in the banana bread batter: granulated sugar and cinnamon. I don’t use quite as much cinnamon swirl as my cinnamon swirl quick bread, and that’s mostly because there’s a lot of flavor in the banana bread itself. (The regular cinnamon swirl bread doesn’t have that other flavor, you know?)

Vanilla Icing

The vanilla icing below is my regular vanilla icing recipe, only halved. You don’t need much. Grab some confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream or milk, and a little vanilla extract, and whisk it all together. Drizzle over the bread before serving. This is exactly how we top strawberry bread, too!

Slice and just wait until the iced banana bread reveals its inner beauty: the pretty cinnamon ribbon hiding inside. LOVE!

If you love these flavors together, be sure to try my banana crumb cake next!