Orange Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe | White On Rice Couple (2024)

Video Orange Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe

Garden Oranges for Banana Bread

Yes, it is a beautiful time in Southern California and the rock stars of the show are the citrus. This is the triple-play time of year for so many of our citrus. Much of the fruit is getting close or perfectly ripe. The branches are sending out a ton of new growth. And the flowers are going absolutely crazy, filling the air with their sweetness and the lacing the ground with their fallen petals.

Back in the kitchen, not wanting to waste a speck of the citrus glory, we’ll often zest the oranges before juicing them. There is so much goodness in the rinds. And when we had a load of leftover “hero” bananas after shooting nearly 60 banana recipes for a client, we came up with this gem of a loaf. An orange-spiced chocolate chip banana bread.

Tips for making Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

• Bananas: Start with really ripe bananas. They give a better sweetness and moistness to the banana bread over semi-ripe banana. If you need to expedite ripening the bananas, put them in a paper bag for a day or two.
• Orange: The fresher the oranges, the better the zest will be. The oils in citrus zest start to dry out after being picked, so if you can get your hands on some freshly picked oranges, the zest will be amazing!
• Orange bitters give the loaf a extra little kick of flavor. Use it if you have them, but don’t worry if you don’t have any orange bitters. The banana bread is still excellent without the orange bitters.
• Chocolate: Use chocolate chips, chunks, or whatever you like. We prefer a nice dark chocolate chip. Or leave out the chocolate completely you prefer.
• Butter: Use salted butter or unsalted butter, whichever you have on hand. If using unsalted butter, add a touch more salt to the recipe.
• Salt: If using table salt instead of kosher salt, reduce the salt amount slightly.
• Make sure the butter and sugar are well creamed together enough. It doesn’t happen often to us when we use a stand mixer, but will sometime when using a hand mixer. The batter won’t be aerated enough, making it too dense and not allowing it to bake all the way through the center.
• If it is the first time baking the banana bread in a particular oven, check the doneness of the loaf after 45 minutes. Poke it with a toothpick and see if it comes out clean (unless you hit a big chocolate bit, in which case try a different spot).
• Lining the loaf pan with parchment will make taking the finished loaf out of the pan so much easier. We highly recommend using it if you have some. It doesn’t even need to line the whole pan, just a wide strip about the length of the pan and going up two sides is perfect. Make sure to leave it high enough to grab onto after the loaf bakes.

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 363kcal, Carbohydrates: 55g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 60mg, Sodium: 253mg, Potassium: 198mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 37g, Vitamin A: 402IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 35mg, Iron: 1mg

Can you freeze leftover orange banana bread?

These definitely freezer great. Just wrap them in plastic wrap very tightly after they have cooled. We will always make these in smaller loaves, then freeze them. When ever we want some orange banana bread, we’ll thaw a small loaf. It’s perfect for the two of us. Or you can cook one loaf then cut it in half or thirds and freeze in smaller portions.

Other types of citrus to replace orange zest

A reader used mandarins and it gave great flavor. So mandarin zest is a great alternative to using orange zest. What a perfect mandarin banana bread to share and devour!

This recipe was originally published in 2014 and re-published with a new video.