Air-Fryer Banana Bread
A proper banana loaf — not the cookies — baked in a small loaf tin in the air fryer. Three black bananas, brown sugar, a handful of pecans on top. Forty minutes start to finish, no oven, perfect for the days the kitchen is too hot to use the real one.
Banana bread is the recipe everyone has memorised, made on autopilot from three or four black bananas that nobody ate. Most banana bread recipes are functionally identical: bananas, flour, sugar, egg, oil or butter, baking soda, salt. The variables are how long you bake it, what you put on top, and how patient you are about letting it cool before slicing.
The air fryer changes the baking part. You still need a small loaf tin — a 7×4-inch loaf tin (or two mini ones) fits in most baskets. The advantage is speed: 35 minutes at 320°F vs. 55 in the oven, and the dry circulating heat develops a crust on top while the inside stays moist. The pecans on top toast as the loaf bakes; you don't need a separate step.
The photo shows the cut loaf: a thick slice plus the loaf alongside, showing a dark mahogany crust on top studded with pecan halves, the crumb visible through the slice as moist, dark-flecked, properly banana-bread-textured. There's a sprinkle of brown sugar on top under the pecans — that's what makes the crust shatter slightly when you cut into it.
Method
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01
Prep the tin
Grease a 7×4-inch (18×10cm) loaf tin with butter and line with
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02
Mash and mix wet
In a large bowl, mash the bananas thoroughly with a fork. Add the
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03
Add dry
Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt over the wet
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04
Pour and top
Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Smooth the top with a spatula.
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05
Air fry
Heat the air fryer to 320°F (160°C). Place the tin in the basket.
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06
Cool and slice
Let the loaf cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift out using the