Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars are a delicious ripe banana recipe and the perfect way to use up brown bananas. Soft sweet banana snack bars dotted with milk chocolate chips, and made with greek yogurt for lots of moisture.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword banana bars with yogurt, banana snack bars, chocolate chip banana bars

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Cooling Time 1

Total Time 1 35

Servings

Calories 203kcal

Author Jessica

Equipment

9x9 Baking Pan

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (Greek yogurt or regular)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x9-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, or line with parchment paper for easy removal and cutting. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, or use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and light brown sugar until it's thoroughly combined and creamy. About 1-2 minutes.
6 tablespoons butter, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
Add in the mashed bananas, yogurt, egg, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined well.
1 cup mashed ripe banana, 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add in the flour, baking powder, salt, milk chocolate chips, and beat on low speed just until combined and no flour streaks remain in the batter.
2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon sea salt, 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Evenly spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle some extra milk chocolate chips on top if wanted.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean, the bars will be puffy and the edges slightly pulled away from the pan.
Let the bars cool completely, inside the pan on a wire cooling rack, for 1 hour. The bars are yummy eaten slightly warm but they cut much nicer when they are fully cooled before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

When spreading the batter into the baking dish, it's much easier if you drop spoonfuls of it all over rather than just one pile in the center. I like to use a plastic spoon to spread the batter but you could also use a spatula that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
My family prefers the vanilla flavored yogurt but you could also use plain yogurt instead. Use Greek yogurt or regular yogurt, depending on your preference. I like the Yoplait French vanilla yogurt in this recipe.
Milk chocolate + banana is the best combo; but you could use dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or miniature chocolate chips instead. Or try a mix.
I like to line the pan with parchment paper and leave a bit of an overhang. This makes lifting out the bars so easy and they're much easier to cut out of the pan. A tip I use, is to spray the pan first with cooking spray and then put the parchment paper inside the pan. The spray helps the parchment paper stay in place and stick.
This recipe also works with white whole wheat flour (not whole wheat flour).
These bars will not continue cooking once you take them out of the oven, so it's really important that you make sure they're cooked properly. I like to use a wooden toothpick; insert into the center of the bars and it should come out clean or with melted chocolate on it. If it comes out with wet batter then you need to cook the bars for longer. The edges will be pulled away from the sides of the pan, and then top of the bars should look dry and done, and puffy.

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