Banana bread is a great use of overripe bananas, and this moist banana bread recipe can be made in either an air fryer or the oven. But which method is best? A senior lifestyle reporter put both to the test.
Whenever I buy bananas, there's invariably one that gets overlooked and goes brown before I can eat it. The silver lining is that a single banana is sufficient to produce two small loaf tins of banana bread.
Alongside the banana, I enjoy adding chopped dark chocolate, though nuts or raisins work equally well as alternatives.
What makes the banana bread recipe I use particularly appealing is that no sophisticated mixer is required. Simply a mixing bowl, a fork for whisking eggs, and a spatula for combining the batter are all that's necessary.
As with most cake recipes, my traditional approach to baking banana bread involves using the oven. However, I've lately noticed considerable enthusiasm online and across social media about opting for the air fryer instead.
To determine which method delivers superior results, I divided the banana bread mixture equally – placing half in a tin in the air fryer and the remainder in the oven.
Air Fryer Banana Bread
While I'm keen on preparing savoury meals in the air fryer, I rarely use it for baked goods like biscuits or cakes.
Having prepared a batch of banana bread batter, I transferred half the mixture into a mini greased and lined loaf tin, then preheated my air fryer to 150C.
After preheating, I placed the loaf tin in the air fryer and cooked for slightly over 20 minutes. For those working with mini loaf tins, I'd suggest checking the banana bread after 15 minutes, since these smaller vessels mean the air fryer cooks them more quickly than a conventional oven. After removing the loaf tin from the air fryer, I left it to cool for 10 minutes before transferring the banana bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
The air fryer produced a surprisingly decent result, though the top remained somewhat firm, almost crust-like in texture. The chocolate also appeared to have caught slightly during cooking.
While the interior remained soft, it lacked that wonderfully moist quality that makes banana bread so irresistible.
Oven Banana Bread
For this method, I preheated my oven to 160C Fan before placing the second banana bread loaf tin inside.
The banana bread baked for just over 25 minutes, though I kept a close eye on it from the 20-minute mark.
Once the time was up, the results were immediately impressive. Fresh from the oven, the cake looked delightfully moist, with the chocolate pieces having melted to perfection.
In stark contrast to the air fryer version, the top was wonderfully soft, and the inside was so gloriously moist it practically dissolved on the tongue. The better-melted chocolate significantly elevated the overall flavour.
While the oven is undoubtedly the superior method for baking banana bread, if you're short on time, the air fryer delivers a respectable result in a fraction of the time.
