Make banana bread in your slow cooker with this easy recipe for Crock-Pot 5 Ingredient Banana Bread. Yellow cake mix is the secret ingredient!
Slow Cooker 5 Ingredient Banana Bread
I love a good loaf of banana bread and one filled with chocolate chips and pecans is even better in my book!
Cooking the banana bread in your slow cooker results in a moist loaf but you don’t have to even heat up your oven.
As breakfast, afternoon snack or dessert this 5-ingredient banana bread is great plain or with a smear of either butter or cream cheese.
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot 5 Ingredient Banana Bread:
Common Questions
What Is A Serving Size?
A serving size of this recipe is 1/8th of the finished cooked loaf of banana bread. We do not (as a rule) measure or weigh out precise serving sizes because with most home cooked foods the final volume may vary.
Can I Use Gluten Free Cake Mix?
While we have not tested this recipe ourselves using a gluten free cake mix we believe that it should work out just fine. If you do decide to test this recipe yourself using a gluten free cake mix we just strongly recommend that you watch your banana bread a bit more carefully to prevent burning.
Can I Omit The Chocolate Chips And Nuts?
Absolutely. If you are not a fan of chocolate chips or have a nut allergy please do not hesitate to omit these two ingredients altogether. If you would like to substitute them with other types of nuts, chips (white chocolate chips would be fantastic), dried fruits or other mix-ins you can do that too.
Can I Use Other Flavors Of Cake Mix?
Yes you can. We have had great success using other flavors of boxed cake mix. I have now tested this recipe using white cake mix, chocolate cake mix and butter pecan cake mix (per suggestion from a reader) and they all turned out fantastic.
Can I Cook This In Another Size Of Slow Cooker?
This recipe was officially tested using a 6 quart slow cooker with a loaf pan inserted in the slow cooker. And then tested again in the same sized slow cooker without a loaf pan. If you want to cook this banana bread in a loaf pan for a traditional looking loaf of banana bread you will need a 6 quart or larger oval slow cooker so that a loaf pan will actually fit.
We have not tested this recipe in smaller slow cooker although with a little testing on your part this recipe should be OK in a 4 quart, 4.5 quart, 5 quart or 5.5 quart provided that the quick bread batter does not reach more than 2/3 of the way up the sides of your slow cooker. Since we have not tested this recipe in those smaller sizes we cannot comment on how long you will need to cook the bread. If you are feeling adventurous… give it a try and watch your bread to make sure it does not burn.
Special Diets
More Fantastic Slow Cooker Breads:
- Crock-Pot Irish Soda Bread
- Slow Cooker Cornbread
- Crock-Pot Peanut Butter Bread
- Slow Cooker Nutella Banana Bread
- Crock-Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread
Crock-Pot 5 Ingredient Banana Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
- 3 Large Eggs
- ⅓ Cup Vegetable Oil
- 5 Medium Bananas (Ripe, Mashed)
- 1 ½ Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- ½ Cup Chopped Pecans (Optional)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together all of the ingredients until evenly mixed.
- Grease a 6 quart or larger slow cooker OR a loaf pan that fits inside a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Pour batter into prepared slow cooker or loaf pan. If using a loaf pan, set the pan inside the slow cooker.
- Place a layer of either paper towels or a clean kitchen towel between the lid and stoneware crock of the slow cooker to absorb condensation that may collect on the lid and drip on your bread while cooking.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
- When done cooking, remove lid from slow cooker and turn off slow cooker and all the bread to cool before eating.
Nutrition
How can I adapt this for a 1.5
qt crockpot? My sister just got stationed at her first AirForce base out of state and LOVES banana bread. I bought her a 1.5qt crockpot since it is just her. I want to make a batch and send it inside the crockpot when I mail it to her. Then include the recipe and ingredients for her to make it. Also planning on using butter pecan cake mix and omitting chocolate chips since they can melt in the mail. lol.
Hi Kayla, we have not tested this recipe in a 1.5 quart crockpot so we cannot give a definitive answer. It may take some experimenting on your part to adjust the recipe for a smaller slow cooker. I would start with halving the recipe and decreasing the cook time a little bit and see how it works. Be sure to let us know how it goes and send a thank you to your sister for her service from all of us here at CrockPotLadies!
I absolutely love your recipes!
My oven broke the other day and my husband really wanted Banana bread, so I started to research alternative ways to make it. That’s when I found this! I am already a FB fan. So I was thrilled that you had one. (I have also used many other recipes of yours) I just wanted to thank you for sharing all of them.
This one in particular made me very happy! I omitted the chocolate and nuts, to serve with Whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It was AWESOME! To quote my husband and my munchkin. 🙂♥️👈
Awesome Lisa, so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe!
Are there any adjustment s needed for a gluten free cake mix?
Hi Claudia, while we have not tested this recipe using a gluten free cake mix, I think it should work fine without any adjustments.
If you give it a try be sure to come back and let us know how it turned out for you!
I made this recipe gluten free using King Arthur gluten free classic yellow cake mix from the grocery store . I used the same recipe and it turned out perfectly, I was careful to not over cook it.
I’m confused on the calories. What size is the 743 KCAL serving please?
Hi Pam, we do not measure out or weight each serving size. So the serving size for this banana bread would be 1/8th of the loaf of bread. You can either cut the loaf of bread in 8ths or weigh the bread on a food scale and divide it up by weight.
I think she is wondering about the 743kcal because surely that is the entire loaf and not a 1/8 slice?
No the 743kcal is for one slice of banana bread. Not the entire loaf.
That is insane. So sorry. Who can afford that caloric intake for one slice? I won’t be making this. It sounds so good too.
Can this be done in an Instant Pot? I was wondering if the paper towel or dish towel is still used…maybe a thin cotton dishcloth? So the lid can still be twisted into place?
Hi Martha, this recipe has not been tested in the Instant Pot so I cannot comment on what the best practices are for converting this recipe to that appliance. I don’t however think you are supposed to put anything between the lid and the seal on a pressure cooker as that would prevent the pot from coming to pressure and possibly even be dangerous.
I bake in my instant pot and I cover the INSERT dish directly with a paper towel to keep the top dry and use the IP lid normally.
(and by “insert dish”, I mean the oven-save dish that you would grease and put your batter in to…then place it on top of the IP rack after pouring in the water.) So you do not do anything different with the actual IP lid. Close the vent etc etc.
How do you get it out of the crockpot?
Hi Janet, once cool you should be able to flip the bread out of the loaf pan or slow cooker insert.
DELICIOUS!! It cooked beautifully in my crock pot! I stopped it at 1 hour because my crock pot is super hit! What a wonderfully easy, scrumptious and quick way to make banana bread! It’s been in the high 90’s to 100° here in Utah so it was perfect to have something baked but not heat up the oven!!
Thank you Natalie for your kind review. I am so pleased this banana bread recipe came out great for you. I love not having to turn on the oven in the hot summer months too.
The calorie count listed above is that for the entire cake?
Hi Ginger, thank for your question. The calorie count listed for our recipes is per serving.