Give Your Banana Bread A Flavor Upgrade With One Buzzy Addition

Whether you're making a simple three-ingredient banana bread or whipping up a batch of cinnamon banana bread muffins, you may be looking for easy ways to bring more flavor to your dessert. While there are tons of upgrades you can try, like giving your banana loaf a sweet topping with streusel, one of our favorite ones is to add a touch of espresso powder to the dry ingredients.

While espresso may not be the first ingredient you think of, it actually goes really well with the warm spices — like cinnamon and allspice — that are commonly used to make this dessert. The coffee brings complexity and depth to the bread, while also balancing all of the sweetness that's brought on by the ripe bananas and sugar. When adding it to your recipe, make sure you're using instant espresso powder, as this type is ground into a very fine consistency that easily melts into the batter. About 1 to 2 teaspoons mixed in should do the trick. 

If you're in a pinch, using a little bit of brewed espresso or an equal amount of regular instant coffee can also work. If you're using brewed coffee, make sure you're swapping it in for a little bit of the total amount of liquid in your recipe. Just adding more liquid on top can mess with the texture of your banana bread.

There are even more ingredients you can include in your banana bread that work well with the addition of strong coffee. For example, using espresso along with chocolate is a popular combo that can deliver rich, deep flavors. Espresso is known for bringing out the roasty, dark, somewhat bitter notes of cocoa, which is why it's commonly used to elevate brownies and chocolate cake. In this instance, adding chocolate chips to espresso-spiked banana bread is a no-brainer. It can also work well with double chocolate banana bread, helping to make the fudgey notes pop even more. 

Espresso can also highlight some delicious toppings you may use for banana bread. For instance, a maple glaze would be a delectable pairing for some extra woodsy sweetness. Coffee can also work well with nutty flavors, so a streusel with chopped hazelnuts, pecans, or almonds can be a show-stopper. If you're making seasonal banana bread, espresso can easily mesh with pumpkin puree and/or spice (and you might as well pair it with a pumpkin spice latte, since the drink takes over the world every fall). And since coffee goes surprisingly well with citrus, espresso can work with banana bread made with orange zest, for a more winter-inflected take.