Chocolate chip banana bars are soft and moist banana bars with a thick, chewy blondie-like texture and delicious chocolate chips inside. These banana chocolate chip bars are quick and easy to make, and they’re a terrific alternative to banana bread.

Banana bread and banana bars introduction

Banana bread (or any other kind) is so warm and inviting. My favorite recipes are for Brown Butter Banana Bread, Nutella Banana Bread, Banana Mug Cake, and Banana Mini Muffins. These banana bars with chocolate chips are just like that. This recipe is for you if you like banana desserts that are soft and moist.

You just need a few basic pantry items to produce a batch of quick, easy, soft, and chewy banana chocolate bars. You enjoy banana bread with a twist. These buttery banana bar cookies taste like a mix of blondies and banana bread.

Tools you will need:

• 1 8×8 (20 cm) metal pan
• 1 sheet parchment paper
• 3 mixing bowls
• 1 whisk and flexible spatula or spoon

Before I show you how to create banana and chocolate chip bars, make sure you have these easy-to-find items on hand.

Ingredients

Get your flour, baking powder, and salt together for the dry ingredients.
For the wet ingredients, get your butter, light brown sugar, an egg, ripe bananas, vanilla essence, and standard or small chocolate chips.

• ◯ 113 g of unsalted butter (½ cup)
• ◯ 1 cup (120 g) of all-purpose flour
• ◯ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ◯ ½ teaspoon of salt
• ◯ ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar
• ◯ One big egg at room temperature
• ◯ 1 cup of mashed bananas (approximately 2 medium bananas)
• ◯ 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
• ◯ ¾ cup (128 g) of small chocolate chips, split up

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Line an 8×8 (20 cm) pan with parchment paper along the bottom and two sides.
2. Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Put the butter in the microwave for one minute to melt it. Stir the butter and if needed, heat again for 15 seconds. Cool the melted butter for 10 – 15 minutes or until warm, but not hot. Set aside for now.
   ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
3. In another mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until thoroughly blended.
   1 cup (120 g) all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
4. Add the chilled butter and light brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and whisk them together until they are thoroughly mixed. Add the egg, mashed bananas, and vanilla essence and mix until smooth and well mixed. The mixture could seem a little bit like curdled milk. That’s perfectly fine! The batter will get smoother as the dry ingredients are added.
   1 large egg, ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, 1 cup mashed bananas, and 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until they are just mixed. I like to do this approximately ½ of the dry ingredients at a time. Fold in the small chocolate chips. Make careful to reserve some for topping the banana bars before baking.
   ¾ cup (128 g) small chocolate chips, split

6. Smooth the banana batter into the prepared pan. Use a flexible spatula to smooth the blonde brownie mixture evenly throughout the pan. Top with more small chocolate chips if you like.
7. Bake the chocolate chip banana bars for about 30 – 35 minutes or until the sides of the chocolate chip blondies are hard and the center is baked through. A toothpick placed into the center of the banana blondie bars should come out clean or with a few crumbs.
8. Cool the buttery banana chocolate bars in the pan to room temperature. Once the bars are completely cool, take the extra sides of the parchment paper to carefully lift the banana dessert out of the pan, cut it up, and enjoy!

Recipe variations and substitutions

If you need them, here are some suggestions for how to change this recipe for buttery banana blondie bars.

• If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, use a decent 1-1 gluten-free flour or oat flour. Change the amount of flour depending on weight instead of cups. It takes 120 g of flour to make this banana dessert bar.
• What may I use instead of baking powder? 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The blondie bars will taste great, but their texture will be different.
• You can use the same quantity of salted butter, vegan butter, or plant-based butter.
• Light Brown Sugar: This recipe for chocolate chip banana bread bars asks for light brown sugar, but maple sugar would also work nicely to make it free of refined sugar.
• Mashed Banana: The bananas should be totally ripe and have some brown stains on them.
• Egg: We haven’t tried this recipe without an egg yet.
• Vanilla Extract: This offers a crucial background taste that pairs wonderfully with the banana, light brown sugar and chocolate chips. Use vanilla bean paste if you don’t have vanilla extract.
• Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips: Feel free to use any chips or chocolate chunks you desire.
• Mix Ins: Feel free to put in ½ – 1 cup of chopped nuts such as pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts.
• 9 x 13 pan: To make enough banana chocolate chip bars for a lot of people, double the recipe as it is. Extend the baking time by 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the buttery banana and chocolate chip mixture comes out with a few moist crumbs, but not a smear.

Tips for best results

• Cool the melted butter. Melting the butter gives these banana bars a blondie cookie like texture. Make sure the melted butter is room temperature or a bit warm to the touch before using in the recipe.
• Use ripe bananas. Ripe bananas have more flavor and are sweeter, not to mention so much easier to mash than unrippen ones. A ripened bananas will be mushy and have lots of brown patches on the outside. Basically, bananas that are wonderful for banana bread are perfect for banana bars with chocolate chips.
• Let chilly ingredients warm up to room temperature. This lets the ingredients blend together better, which means you don’t have to stir them as much. The outcome is wonderfully brown sugar blondie bars.
• Check for signs that the bars are done. You should use the baking time as a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule. The banana bars are done baking when they are a light golden brown color, with firm edges that have pushed away from the edge of the pan, and a center that is fully baked.
• Cool the bars in the pan. These banana chocolate chip bars need time to thoroughly cool before coming out of the pan. Cool the pan on top of a cooling rack until the pan and banana bread bars are room temperature.

Storage instructions

Store: Place the banana chocolate chip bars in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 3 -4 days. If you would want to store them for longer, I recommend putting them to the fridge for up to a week or to the freezer for up to one month.

Freeze: Make sure the chewy banana bread bars with chocolate chips are totally cooled to room temperature. Place the banana squares in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Thaw: The quickest and tastiest way to thaw the chocolate chip banan bars is to let them sit out at room temperature until thoroughly defrosted.

Store: Put the banana chocolate chip bars in a container that won’t let air in. You can keep them at room temperature for up to three to four days. If you want to keep them for longer, I suggest putting them in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to a month.