
If you love banana bread but want a twist on the classic, these banana bread cookies are about to become your new favorite! Seriously, I can’t get enough of them. Imagine the soft, banana-rich flavor of banana bread, but in cookie form, with a hit of semi-sweet chocolate chips and crunchy pecans. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, rich, and nutty—plus, the texture is on point: soft and chewy with just the right amount of crispiness around the edges. If you love banana bread and cookies, these are the best of both worlds.
The best part? You can whip up the dough in under 30 minutes, and the dough doesn’t need to be chilled for hours like other cookie recipes. They're a bakery-style treat that’ll impress anyone who gets a bite. So, let’s get started!
Ingredients in Banana Bread Cookies
These banana bread cookies are packed with ingredients that make them full of flavor and perfectly textured. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cold Unsalted Butter: Using cold butter helps maintain the structure of the dough without having to add too much flour. Cubing it into ¼ inch cubes helps the standing mixer incorporate it in with the sugar.
- Brown Sugar & Cane Sugar: A combination of both bring a rich sweetness that complements the bananas.
- All Purpose Flour: This is the base of the dough, giving the cookies the right structure.
- Fine Sea Salt: A little salt goes a long way to balance the sweetness and bring out the other flavors.
- Cornstarch: This helps make the cookies soft and chewy.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: A combination of these gives the ideal amount of spread and rise in the cookies.
- Ground Cinnamon: Cinnamon adds warmth and a hint of spice that complements the banana flavor.
- Mashed Overripe Bananas: Overripe bananas are key here! The more speckled and brown, the better.
- Egg: Eggs help give cookie dough the structure it needs, as well as a chewy and soft texture.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a rich, deeper flavor.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: I love using Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips—the slightly bitter flavor balances the sweet banana flavor perfectly.
- Chopped Pecans: These give the banana cookies a nice crunch as well as a nutty flavor that pairs great with banana.

How to Make Banana Bread Cookies
These banana bread cookies are so easy to make, and the best part is, there’s very little waiting around. Here’s how to get your soft banana cookies in just a few steps:
- Mix the Butter & Sugar: Start by cutting your cold butter into ¼-inch cubes and placing the cubes in a standing mixer. Add the brown sugar and cane sugar, and mix on high for about 3-4 minutes until everything is smooth. You want the butter fully incorporated, with no chunks left.
- Whisk the Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, sea salt, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set it aside.
- Add the Wet Ingredients: Add the mashed bananas, egg, and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix on medium speed until everything is creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through for even mixing.
- Combine the Dry and Wet Ingredients: Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed. You don’t want to overwork the dough, so just mix until all of the pockets of flour are gone. Add in the chocolate chips and chopped pecans while the dry ingredients are mixing in.
- Chill the Dough: Cover the dough and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. This helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much while baking. If you have extra time, feel free to chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour instead. (I've found that chilling the dough in the refrigerator isn't necessary, but it can give a more even chill throughout the dough.)
- Shape the Cookies: After chilling, roll the dough into 15 balls. Spread out five balls on each baking sheet, and gently press a few extra chocolate chips and pecans into the top of each one for that bakery-style look. I like to sprinkle some of the pecan crumbs on top that are left over from chopping as well.
- Bake: Bake each baking sheet separately at 400°F for 11-13 minutes, or until the top and base of each cookie are golden.
- Shape, Cool & Enjoy: After pulling the cookies out of the oven, you can round out any imperfections in the cookies' edges with a round cookie cutter or the back edge of a spoon. This is completely optional--but it helps give them that bakery-style cookie look! Then let the cookies cool on the pan for about 15 minutes. This helps them set properly and cook a little bit longer on the hot pan before you eat them.
Ingredient Substitutions
I don't normally recommend many substitutions when baking, but there are a few things you can easily change without affecting the structure of the cookie:
- Change the Nuts: Not a fan of pecans? Walnuts would work just as well here! You can also leave them out completely if you want a smoother texture.
- Use Different Chocolate: If you prefer milk chocolate, go ahead and use that instead of semi-sweet. I've tried both, and thought that semi-sweet chocolate pairs much better with this recipe. However, if you don't like semi-sweet chocolate, either trying out milk chocolate or leaving out the chocolate entirely is fine too. If you leave out the chocolate, feel free to add extra chopped pecans.

Similar Cookie Recipes You'll Love
If these chocolate chip banana bread cookies have you craving more delicious, easy-to-make cookies, check out some of these other baking recipes that I think you’ll love:
Reese's Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies
If you try out these chocolate banana cookies or any of my other recipes, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a star rating and comment below the recipe, or if you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.
Now get baking, and enjoy!

Ingredients
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter (cut in ¼ inch cubes)
- 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup overripe mashed banana* (about 2-3 bananas)
- 1 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips** (plus a handful of extra for topping)
- 1 ½ cup chopped pecans (plus extra for topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice the cold unsalted butter into ¼ inch cubes and place in the standing mixer, along with the brown sugar and cane sugar. Gradually increase speed and mix on high for 3-4 minutes until there aren't any chunks of butter left.¾ cup cold unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup cane sugar
- While the butter and sugars are mixing, whisk together the all purpose flour, sea salt, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and ground cinnamon in a separate bowl. Set aside.3 cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, 2 teaspoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Add the mashed banana, egg, and vanilla extract to the standing mixer and mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through to get an even mix.¾ cup overripe mashed banana*, 1 large eggs, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the mixed dry ingredients to the standing mixer and mix on the lowest setting until just barely combined. Add the semi-sweet chocolate chips and chopped pecans while flour is still mixing in--this minimizes the risk of overworking the cookie dough.2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips**, 1 ½ cup chopped pecans
- Cover the bowl of dough and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.***
- Take the dough out of the freezer and roll it out into 15 individual balls.
- Place 5 balls of dough on each baking sheet. Press a few additional chocolate chips and chopped pecans into the top of each. You can also sprinkle some of the leftover pecan crumbs onto the top of each ball of dough.
- Bake each baking sheet separately for about 11-13 minutes on the middle oven rack, or until the cookies are starting to brown on the top.
- After taking the cookies out of the oven, you can use a round cookie cutter or the back edge of a spoon to round out the edges. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 15 minutes before digging in. Enjoy!
Anonymous says
I LOVED this recipe! Absolute perfection in a cookie.
Maddie Saxey says
Thank you! So glad you liked them!