Banana Bars made with Greek yogurt and milk chocolate chips. We love these banana bars for an after school snack and they're the perfect way to use up browned bananas.
BANANA BARS MADE WITH YOGURT
It's no secret that we love using up our old bananas around here. These banana bars made with yogurt and milk chocolate chips are one of the most delicious ways to use up those bananas. My kids love these as an after school snack because they look and taste like cake!
We also love to make this banana bread cake and these cinnamon banana bread muffins. It's so hard to pick my favorite so I would have to say that these are our top 3 most requested banana recipes.
HOW TO MAKE BANANA BARS
Butter
Granulated Sugar & Brown Sugar - I always use light brown sugar but feel free to use dark brown sugar if you like that stronger molasses taste in baked goods. Otherwise, stick with light brown sugar for all your baking as it's the most common.
Vanilla Greek Yogurt - You can also use plain Greek yogurt but I feel like the little touch of vanilla really makes the bars delicious.
Large Egg
Mashed Banana - You need 1 cup of mashed banana for this recipe which is equal to about 3 bananas. Make sure they are ripe and browned bananas. The browner and grosser looking they are the better!
All-Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Salt
Vanilla Extract
Milk Chocolate Chips - I have always made these with milk chocolate chips but feel free to use whatever you prefer. Semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips will work as well. I am thinking even peanut butter chips would be amazing too!
MY TIPS & HELPFUL HINTS
- These banana bars are more cake-like than bar like. Some people are surprised at how they bake up but it's normal.
- Use any kind of chocolate chips that you want. We prefer milk chocolate chips but there are so many great options like peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips, etc.
- These bars are not the prettiest things ever because they bake up really puffy and that is ok. Just don't expect a cookie bars with these because that's not what they are. They are a snack bar which is more cake-like.
- To make spreading the batter easier into the pan drop spoonfuls of it all over the pan and then spread it out. I like to spray the back of a silverware spoon with cooking spray to help push that batter into the pan.
TRY THESE OTHER BANANA RECIPES
- Banana Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Almond Banana Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Banana Bread
- Banana Cream Pie
- Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- Greek Yogurt Banana Muffins
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter softened
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup mashed banana about 3 bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray OR line with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, or bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, sugar, brown sugar, Greek yogurt, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined well. * At first it will look chunky like it's not mixing together but keep beating it for 1-2 minutes until it's creamy looking and combined.
- Add the egg, mashed banana, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
- Add in the flour and milk chocolate chips and beat on low speed just until combined and no flour spots remain.
- Evenly spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle some extra chocolate chips on top (if wanted).
- Cook for 22-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean. The bars will be puffy and the edges will have pulled away slightly from the pan. Don't take the bars out if the middle is still wet. They won't continue cooking once you take them out. Make sure a toothpick inserted into the middle does not come out with wet batter on it.
- Let the bars cool in the pan for 1 hour before cutting. You can also eat them warm but letting them cool helps the bars cut nicer.
- I store leftovers at room temperature in a covered container or a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.
Notes
Nutrition
Yum! Jax would love these. I worry about our grocery bill when he is older too!
Boys sure like to eat 🙂 I thought it was only going to get bad when he's a teenager, nope, it starts way earlier than that 😉
Totally late to your party! Love this recipe! Didn't have vanilla yogurt so I went with strawberry. My sister gave me 12 ready to use bananas yesterday, so she's getting this in return!
These look beyond amazing, I love the flavor profile! 🙂 Yummy!
Cathy
Thanks Cathy 🙂 They're really good and one of our favorite snacks to have around the house. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Love chocolate and banana! Looks amazing. visiting from What's Cooking Wednesdays. Pinning!
Thanks for visiting Kim. I agree, chocolate and banana is the best combo!
Made these today and they turned out well, I made it x 1.5 to do a 9x13 pan. I don't like banana too much so it was a little too much for me. But my daughter loved them. Great snack if you like banana and easy, thanks!
Thanks Anne. My kids all love bananas so these are favorite with them too. I have a hard time with banana as well.... I blame it on my first pregnancy 🙂
The ingredients states 1egg but in the directions it says eggs (plural). Is it one egg or two. I'm ready to make them now so I probably won't hear back right away so I don't know if they'll come out right
Hi Gayle! So sorry I am late getting back to you. It is just 1 egg. I will change the plural egg(s) in the directions. Sorry for the confusion 🙂
Can you use regular yogurt or do you have to use Greek?
Regular yogurt will work just fine 🙂
I made these in mini cupcake liners and they turned out so good. Such a yummy recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Tasted awesome thanks for recipe! Do u store on bench or in fridge?
Either one. Whatever you prefer. I like them cold but usually they just end up sitting out on the counter cause my kids eat them so fast 🙂
These sound delicious! Would almond or coconut flour work in this recipe?
I am not sure. I've never worked with either of those so I am not sure if it's an equal substitution or not. So sorry I can't help more.
I made these for the first time last night. I had some very ripe bananas and usually make muffins but I wanted to try something different. They were so simple to make and made for a nice breakfast this morning. I will definitely be saving the recipe to make again!
In between a cake or cookie
Great for a family
Great taste