Chrissy Teigen’s banana bread is a sweet, moist-style bake made with vanilla instant pudding mix, shredded coconut and chopped dark chocolate. The official Cravings recipe makes 12 servings and takes 15 minutes to prepare, with 1 hour 15 minutes listed as the total time. It uses one Bundt pan, with two 8 × 4-inch loaf pans as an alternative.
What makes Chrissy Teigen’s banana bread distinctive?
The recipe, titled “Chrissy’s Ultimate Banana Bread” on Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, combines very ripe bananas with vanilla instant pudding mix, unsweetened shredded coconut and dark chocolate. Teigen says the pudding mix is intended to help make the bread fluffy and moist, while coconut adds a subtle flavor. She specifically advises against banana-flavored pudding mix, which she disliked.
The recipe was reprinted from Teigen’s 2018 cookbook Cravings: Hungry for More. It is also referred to as “Twitter’s (and Uncle Mike’s) Banana Bread” and, in RTÉ’s 2018 coverage, “Chrissy Teigen’s infamous banana bread.” Those names refer to this same recipe, not different versions. Teigen wrote, “Perfecting this single recipe took me nearly a year.”
Ingredients
These are the quantities from the official Cravings recipe. They make one Bundt cake, or two smaller loaves.
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- 2 cups mashed very ripe bananas; Teigen says to start with six brown bananas to reach this amount
- 4 eggs
- ⅔ cup canola oil or melted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
- 2 cups sugar, or 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar
- 1 box (3.5 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix—not banana-flavored
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 bar (3.5 ounces) dark chocolate, chopped into chunks; Teigen says other chocolate or nuts can be used
- Salted butter, for serving
The recipe’s suggested alternative to vanilla pudding mix is equal parts powdered milk and powdered sugar, with a teaspoon of vanilla extract. The source does not give a specific quantity for that substitute, so treat it as an idea rather than a fully specified one-for-one replacement.
How to make the banana bread
- Heat the oven. Preheat it to 325°F.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs and oil or melted butter.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, vanilla pudding mix, baking soda and kosher salt.
- Combine gently. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix gently. Fold in the shredded coconut and chopped chocolate. Teigen cautions against mixing aggressively; she says an electric mixer changed the result.
- Prepare the pan and add the batter. Grease and flour one Bundt pan, or use two 8 × 4-inch loaf pans. The recipe recommends the Bundt pan for a moister result, but does not provide a controlled comparison between the formats.
- Bake and check. Bake for 55–60 minutes, starting to check around 50 minutes. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Cool and turn out. Let the cake cool slightly in the pan. Loosen it around the outside and center with a butter knife, then invert it onto a plate. Allow it to cool before slicing.
- Serve. Serve with salted butter. Teigen also suggests reheating slices.
Bundt pan or loaf pans?
| Format | What the recipe specifies | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Bundt | One Bundt pan | The recipe’s preferred format; Teigen says it gives a moister result. |
| Loaves | Two 8 × 4-inch loaf pans | An alternative listed by the recipe. It does not give separate baking times for this format. |
Whichever format you use, rely on the recipe’s doneness cues as well as the clock: begin checking around 50 minutes, and look for a springy top and a clean toothpick from the center.
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Recipe source
The ingredient list and method come from the official Cravings recipe, which credits Cravings: Hungry for More (2018), by Chrissy Teigen, published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. RTÉ also published a version of the recipe in 2018: How to make Chrissy Teigen’s infamous banana bread.
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