Bake Banana Bread In a Jar – Easy Homemade Gift Idea!
Easy one bowl banana bread baked in jars as a homemade gift or single-serve portion!
Banana bread in a jar makes for a really cute and thoughtful gift idea for friends, family, or neighbors. If you simply can’t bear to part with the jars after baking (because believe me, they smell heavenly), these can also just be a fun way to enjoy little individual servings of warm banana bread for a snack or breakfast idea. Honestly, everything is cuter in a jar! 😄
The result is yummy individual jars of soft homemade banana bread.
I love to use my favorite recipe for this, banana bread with sour cream, but if you have a special recipe you love, I’m sure you could use it for this idea instead!
Baking banana bread is my favorite way to use up overripe bananas and this simple one-bowl recipe is excellent! I first saw this jar idea on KitchenFunWithMy3Sons, and am so glad I decided to try it with my recipe using some of her tips.
Tips for baking amazing banana bread in a jar:
- Make sure to use quality 8 oz. canning jars for this idea since they will go in the oven. I used these Ball glass jelly jars and they turned out great. It’s recommended to sanitize lids by boiling them first for a few minutes before using them. Since I made these for gifts, I took the extra effort to do that.
- The part of this project that fascinated me most is that if you secure the lids on the jars tightly while they are still hot, they will seal as the jars cool and you’ll hear a little popping sound! Then when you go to open them you’ll hear that sealed jar sound.
- Use overripe bananas that are past their prime so that the bread will have that stronger, sweet banana flavor and lots of speckles. I actually was able to pick up a whole bundle of overripe bananas at my grocery store for just 80 cents!
- Jazz up the bread however you like by adding in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or chocolate chips before baking! I added mini chocolate chips to my batch, but you could always use nuts instead, or omit add-ins altogether.
- Once baked, banana bread jars can be stored in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month.
- My teammate Chelsey has this additional tip: “I actually tested out a 16 oz jar, filled halfway just like the 8 oz., and cooked for the same amount of time and they came out perfect! I also had some jars that I filled too much and I just pushed the bread down with a fork and then put the lids on and it still sealed great.”
Banana Bread In a Jar
yield: 8 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 45 MINUTES
total time: 1 HOUR 5 MINUTES
Our classic banana bread recipe baked in a jar as a thoughtful way to gift some delicious treats, or to enjoy as a single-serve portion.
Ingredients
Directions
1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the inside of the jars with butter or non-stick spray, and place them on a sheet pan.
2
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and softened butter. Mix in the eggs, mashed bananas, and add the vanilla extract and sour cream.
3
Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to the bowl, and mix until everything is combined. Fold in any add-ins, such as chocolate chips or nuts.
4
Use an ice cream scoop or measuring cup to transfer batter to each jar, filling each one halfway. If there are spills, simply wipe the tops of jars clean.
5
Place the sheet pan with jars in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6
While the jars are in the oven, boil the rings and lids in water on the stove for about five minutes and then let them cool and dry.
7
Remove the jars from the oven after baking and secure the sterilized rings and lids tightly on the jars while they're still hot. While the jars cool, you'll hear popping sounds as they "seal". Cool to room temperature, gift them, and/or enjoy at home!
This method worked beautifully and now I love making banana bread in a jar! 😍
I want to make these the next time I host a special brunch or maybe for Christmas morning. Banana bread jars are such a smart make-ahead brunch or breakfast idea because all you have to do is warm up a jar in the microwave and take it to go! It’s such a simple idea that is way yummy too.
Here’s what my teammate Chelsey thought about making banana bread in a jar:
“This banana bread in a jar recipe is the easiest thing to make and they taste delicious! My daughter rarely eats banana bread but thought they were so fun because they were in a jar — she’s been eating them every morning!
They freeze great if you don’t end up eating them all right away – and as a huge fan of homemade gifts, they’ll be perfect for family and friends. I printed out cute little paper labels that will make them great for gifting this holiday season!”
Our Nutella banana bread recipe may be fun to make in a jar, too!
Much easier in small loaf pans. Guess I am to old fashioned. I bought the air fryer and the instapot and still haven’t used them. I think I am going to give them to my granddaughter. Just to old school I guess. Going to try the recipe in the loaf pans though. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes. Going to do the tator tot casserole as it is one my family will eat.
What size mini loaf pan do you use. Also what are the heating instructions. I’d rather do it your way🤓
Do you have to do the hot water bath for jars and lids? Does it make it stay fresh longer? Thanks for this great recipe!!!
Oh sure! I would imagine it’s optional, but yes since it’s vacuum sealed should last longer, about 5-7 days.
According to the National Center of Home Food Preservation, breads and cakes cannot be safely canned. They are at risk of causing food poisoning from the botulism toxin. It suggested to prepare an item that can be baked and frozen in a food safe container, like a small loaf pan or baking foil pan.Cakes and Breads in Jars – Are They Safe?
Recipes for canned breads and cakes as gift items seem to appear each year around Christmas time. While they look attractive and are unique for gift giving, these products are not shelf-stable and cannot be safely stored at room temperature. Canned breads and cakes are typically made by pouring batter into glass canning jars and baking them in the oven. Once the cake or bread is done, the steaming jars are taken out of the oven and then sealed and cooled to create a vacuum. Many recipes claim that they can be stored without refrigeration for about a year. Some say they will keep indefinitely.
The microorganism to be concerned about in these products is Clostridium botulinum. If spores of this bacteria are allowed to germinate and grow, deadly botulism toxin is produced. Tiny amounts of this toxin can cause an often fatal disease called botulism. Clostridium botulinum spores are abundant in nature but will only grow and produce toxin in unrefrigerated high moisture foods that are low in acid and exposed to little or no oxygen. These conditions occur in low acid canned foods; low acid canned foods must be processed under pressure at temperatures of 240°F or higher to make sure that the heat resistant spores are killed. Research at Penn State has shown that low acid canned bread or cake products may support the growth of Clostridium spores.
In addition to the risk of botulism, there is also a significant risk for consumers to become injured from broken glass when baking cakes and breads in glass canning jars. Canning jars are intended for use in hot water baths or pressure canners. They are not designed to withstand the thermal stresses that occur with dry oven heat.
Therefore, Clemson Extension strongly discourages consumers from canning cakes and breads in jars. Botulism is a serious and often fatal disease and no consumer should take unnecessary risks with this microorganism. If someone gives you a home canned cake or bread product, assume that it is unsafe to eat and discard the contents.
Commercially produced breads and cakes in jars or cans are available. This product cannot be safely duplicated at home. In making breads and cakes in jars for commercial sale, reputable companies use additives, preservatives and processing controls not available for home recipes. Safety tests are conducted for each specific recipe for commercial products. Avoid purchasing canned breads or cakes in glass jars unless they contain additives to prevent microbial growth and meet all labeling requirements for commercial foods.
What are some alternatives to canning breads and cakes in jars? Bake the product in a regular baking pan and give it to the recipient who can use it immediately or freeze it. Most breads and cakes freeze well. A frozen product can be attractively wrapped for gift giving, and recipients can then choose when they wish to use it. Another alternative is to prepare the ingredients of the cake or bread as a “mix in a jar.” Layer the dry ingredients for a quick bread or cake into a jar and attach the directions for baking it to the outside. Include a “use by” date on the label because ingredients such as baking powder will lose their effectiveness over time; brown sugar will harden when combined with other ingredients, and moisture from nuts and raisins can cause dry ingredients to cake. Ingredients for a topping, as on a coffee cake, can be inserted into a small plastic bag and placed on top of the other dry ingredients. One month from the time you prepare a “mix in a jar” is an appropriate “use by” date.
This tip is taken directly from “Canning Breads and Cakes?” and is available at the Penn State Food Preservation web site at https://extension.psu.edu/food-safety/food-preservation/faq/canned-breads-and-cakes
She didn’t say they would keep forever. A week i the fridge and month in the freezer. I wouldn’t consider that a shelf staple….just your normal homemade banana bread timeline…