Chai Spice Banana Bread

In a true signal of adulthood, I buy bananas about every other week solely to let them get overripe and bake with them. But here’s the thing—I don’t actually like banana bread. It doesn’t appeal to me at all. So what I’ve ended up doing as a non-banana bread lover is accidentally starting a tradition of finding souped-up banana bread recipes to bring you.

Chai spices have been a favorite flavor combination of mine since I was in college and discovered Starbucks’ chai lattes (grande nonfat no-water chai, please!). So when I saw this recipe I knew I had to give it a try…the fragrant combination of the traditional cinnamon and ginger, with the warmth of cardamom and kick of black pepper and cloves is just divine.

So here’s another amazing OTT (over the top) banana bread recipe for you, and it’s definitely going in my regular rotation. I’ve linked to a few of my favorite other banana bread recipes at the bottom of this post if you’d like to give them a try as well!

One thing I’ll tell you up front—don’t be intimidated by the number of ingredients in the recipe. The lazy person in me kept me from trying this recipe for quite a while after I’d bookmarked it, but everything comes together very quickly and simply.

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or if it’s non-stick, you can just use cooking spray.

In a tiny bowl, combine all the spices to make your chai spice mix, and set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the mashed bananas with the melted butter. Then mix in both sugars, the eggs, greek yogurt, and vanilla.

Gently stir in the flours, baking soda, salt, and a little over half the chai spice mix, mixing until just combined. Spoon the batter into your loaf pan.

In a separate bowl, make the streusel topping by mixing together the chopped cashews, sugar, flour, melted butter, and the remaining chai spice mix. Use your hands to work the streusel together.

Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the loaf, covering it entirely.

Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf. If your streusel begins to get golden before the first 30 minutes of cooking, gently cover the top of the loaf with tin foil to make sure it doesn’t get too dark.

This will give you such a complex, rich, spiced, moist banana bread, you’ll want to eat that chai spice streusel for the rest of your life!

Other souped-up banana bread recipes you’ll love:

For the chai spice mix (you’ll divide this in half)

1 teaspoon of ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon of fresh ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves

For the banana bread

3 extremely ripe (even brown) bananas, mashed
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/4 cup of white sugar (I went light on this)
1/2 cup of light brown sugar (I went light on this)
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup of full-fat plain greek yogurt
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 scant cup of white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
A little over half the chai spice mix

For the streusel

1/2 cup of cashews, finely chopped
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of flour
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
Remaining chai spice mix

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or if it’s non-stick, you can just use cooking spray.
In a tiny bowl, combine all the spices to make your chai spice mix, and set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the mashed bananas with the melted butter. Then mix in both sugars, the eggs, greek yogurt, and vanilla.
Gently stir in the flours, baking soda, salt, and a little over half the chai spice mix, mixing until just combined. Spoon the batter into your loaf pan.
In a separate bowl, make the streusel topping by mixing together the chopped cashews, sugar, flour, melted butter, and the remaining chai spice mix. Use your hands to work the streusel together, then sprinkle the streusel evenly over the loaf, covering it entirely.
Bake the loaf for about 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf. If your streusel begins to get golden before the first 30 minutes of cooking, gently cover the top of the loaf with tin foil to make sure it doesn’t get too dark.

Adapted from Broma Bakery