Banana Beer Bread

Wow, what a bread!! I know stout beer makes everything better–but who’d of thought to put it in banana bread?! It’s so good! I had 1 medium and 4 small bananas that were seriously overripe, and I used all of them in this recipe (which I’m sure was more than 1 cup of mashed banana–but it worked just fine). I also reduced the sugar to 1 cup (as per my own taste preferences), used whole wheat flour, reduced the cardamom to 1 tsp, and used half raisins half chopped dates. Came out perfectly! Not too sweet, perfectly spicy, the stout flavor is present, and the bread itself is moist with a nice texture. Absolutely loved this! Thank you for the recipe–it’s one I will use often!

I did use the dark beer, and the optional oil (coconut). I did not use dried fruits, or any fruit other than the banana. The taste was interesting – very gingerbread according to one person; but, the consistency was a bit sticky. Perhaps, if i had not used the oil, and there was additional flour with the dried fruits, it would have been more cake like and less fudge like.

I made this as written, but it was too moist on the inside like others had noted, but the taste was so good I wanted to make it again. On the second try, I only used 75% of the sugar, 50% of the dates, about 2/3 of the nuts, and no oil. It was so much better. Loved that super gingery taste. You can’t taste the banana at all, but I just view it as an oil replacer. I always have frozen banana and ginger on hand, so easy to make anytime. Made it vegan using Bob’s red Mill brand egg replacer with excellent results.

This bread is fantastic and would earn 10 stars from me! I followed many other reviewer’s suggestions and decreased the cardamom to 1 teaspoon, otherwise I made it exactly as written. I have used fresh ginger in oriental cooking but never in baking. That ends today, it was wonderful. It had such a deep, rich ginger flavor. Do yourself a favor and make this bread, you won’t be sorry!

This may be the best banana nut bread on the planet. I used gluten-free flour and it is perfect. Be sure to use the oil to make it moist.

This was absolutely delicious! The minced ginger root and dates is what makes this recipe pop! I didn’t have any cardamom and since I’m trying my best to stay away from while flour, I used 2 c. whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 c. chestnut flour. Didn’t have any walnuts. My bananas were really ripe so I cut back the sugar to 1-1/2 c. but think I could have gotten away with 1 c. Best banana bread yet!

Absolutely delicious!!! I made changes because I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand. I used about 1.5 cups of coffee instead of beer and added about 2 Tbsp of molasses; used 4 tsp of ginger powder instead of fresh; ground up the seeds from 10 cardamom pods and about 1.5 star anise because I didn’t have allspice. This recipe is a keeper!

This turned out excellent. I followed the recipe pretty much to a T, except I substituted 1 cup whole wheat flour for the white, as I almost always do. And reduced the amount of cardamom.

I really like the recipe but left out the dark beer .I also left out the cardamom because I didn’t have any.The way to make it moist is to use over ripe bananas that were frozen.I used 4 of them and sat them out about 10 minutes and then I removed the banana peel put them in a bowl and put plastic wrap on the bowl to cover. poke small holes in the plastic to vent,making sure the plastic is snug on the bowl. Put in the microwave for a few seconds to just get them soft and juice from the bananas.That is how you get moisture for the banana bread just right.You do not use oil method for moisture I use oil only for the part of the recipe.I left the beer out also because I thought that was odd and did not think it would taste right.The bread came out very nice,moist and had the dark brown color and taste of spicy ginger bread or cookie and the cinnamon, cloves and the allspice.The cardamon spice was not missed.My family really loved it and will make again! Great recipe!

This bread is amazingly fragrant and tasty. It is dense and rich – the dates, spices, and oil are key, as I see it. I did not deviate from the recipe. I used coconut oil for the optional oil and to grease the pan. I also used a can of Guinness beer. In the recipe, it was not clear how to handle the dates and ginger. I blended them into the walnuts and flour. The flour seemed to coat the moist edges of the dates and ginger, and helped to keep the dates separate from one another. –This worked well. I was a bit nervous to use a tablespoon of cardamom, but once baked, the cardamom flavor mellowed. The raw batter tastes good, too! I can see why people make this for a gift… It is a lovely bread… Perfect for the autumn and winter holidays.

Fantastic recipe. Absolutely delicious. I used golden raisins instead of the dates and left the rest of the recipe the same. The spices are the reason I tried this and it was not disappointed. The combination of the cinnamon, allspice, cardamom cloves and fresh ginger made boring banana bread an exotic bread. My fussy, change-adverse husband loved it! This is a 10 ten recipe.

This is delicious! I modified it a bit to make it a little healthier, and it still came out wonderful. I used applesauce in place of the oil, half brown sugar and half splenda, and espresso in place of beer. (I halved recipe since it’s just two of us.) I liked the full amount of cardamom, but my husband preferred a bit less. I added a bit extra ginger and no nuts (I never liked them! I know, I’m weird!). This is SOOOO good. Even my vietnamese mother in law, who is so picky and won’t eat anything I make, stole half a loaf! I think I will add some candied ginger cut up next time, too! Thanks so much for posting this!

I took quite a few liberties with this recipe: took out 1/2 cup of the sugar, replaced 1/3 of the flour with whole wheat flour, and used light beer, 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 1/2 tsp cardamom in place of all the spices, 1/2 the walnuts, and prunes in place of dates. It still turned out good. It was better the second day.

Made some substitutions based on what I had on hand – coconut sugar for brown sugar, white whole wheat for all-purpose and left out the dates because I didn’t have them. The combination of spices imparted a peppery zing. Didn’t think DH would like it, but we fought over the last piece of the first loaf and he took the second one to work.

A great recipe I will make again! I used coffee instead of dark beer, a heaping teaspoon of cardamom, and I added 2tbsp of butter instead of oil. I left out the dates and walnuts and made cupcakes and baked for 15min. instead.

This bread is delicious! I followed the recipe pretty closely, only reducing the dates by about a quarter of a cup since I didn’t have quite enough, and the walnuts by about 1/2 a cup since we normally don’t love nutty bread. I think this recipe is the exception. I included the full amount of cardamom, the 2T of oil and used Guiness Draught (1.5 bottles). It turned out perfectly! The crust is a bit chewy, the center is soft and fragrant. The spice level is well balanced. I’ll definitely be making this again!

This recipe doesn’t have your typical banana bread taste, but the blend of spices and other ingredients make it a wonderful bread. I recommend cutting the cardamom to 1 tsp as per the advice of another reviewer; also I suggest you put in the “optional” oil. (I used safflower oil.) A great bread to make for your family or if you’re having guests over!

Not your average banana bread. I halved the recipe, omitted cardamom, used dried ginger and about half the amount of walnuts called for. I also used 1/2 ww flour. It has a very deep flavor, and I’m thinking would be well received by those who enjoy a spicy cookie. Great recipe, I’ll definitely be making it again!

Really good for a richer, darker banana bread. I might’ve preferred to use dried dates since the fresh ones I used were kinda mushy once cooked in the bread.

Yum! This doesn’t really taste like banana bread or a ginger bread, but somewhere in between. I didn’t have dark beer, so I just used regular beer. I also didn’t have dates, so I used currants instead. It turns out to be a rich, moist, bread. I was a bit worried after adding the beer to the batter, bc it was a bit too runny for my comfort level, but it turned out just fine. I had to bake for an additional 15 minutes. Thanks for the recipe!

Fantastic! We’ve made this several times now for Sunday gatherings and everyone loves it. We substituted raisins the last couple times and it is even more liked (and a lot easier to prepare). We add a teaspoon of ground ginger spice for an extra kick and just use a bottle of Negro Modelo instead of the 2 cups.