With all the banana bread I’ve been making, I’ve had tons of overripe bananas lying around. I wanted to mix things up and make something different, so I ended up settling on these banana chocolate chip bars.

I like to think of them as a hybrid between chocolate chip banana bread and blondies. These bars are moist, chewy, and almost fudgy in texture!

They’re absolutely delicious, yet almost healthy thanks to all of the mashed bananas.

Why Do Recipes Always Call for Overripe Bananas?

Most recipes that use bananas insist on using only the ripest bananas, including this one. But why are overripe bananas better to bake with??

There are actually several reasons. The first is that as a banana ripens, more of its starch is converted into sugar. This creates sweeter, more tender baked goods.

Another benefit of baking with super ripe bananas is that they’re super easy to mash up. This ensures your banana chocolate bars have a uniform, even texture without any unexpected chunks of banana.

Overripe bananas are also more aromatic, and give baked goods a more intense banana flavor than yellow bananas.

The final and best reason (in my opinion) is that it uses up overripe fruit that would otherwise go to waste!

With all that being said, this recipe will still turn out if you use yellow bananas. It just won’t have as intense of a banana flavor!

Baking Hack: How to Quickly Ripen Bananas for Banana Bars

If you only have yellow bananas and want that intense banana flavor, don’t worry!

You can easily turn yellow bananas brown in a matter of minutes. Preheat your oven to 300 degree F, and place your unpeeled bananas on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake them for about 15 minutes, until the banana skin is uniformly dark in color.

Let them cool on that pan for 10 minutes, then carefully peel and mash them.

Substitutions and Swaps

While I love this recipe for chocolate chip banana bars just the way it is, I know some of you might not have all of these ingredients on hand!

Below are some swaps and substitutions that can be made in this recipe:

• Unsalted Butter – If you only have salted butter on hand you can use it in place of the unsalted butter in this recipe. Just be sure to omit the salt that this recipe calls for. You can also use vegan butter in its place. Or if you feel really fancy you can use browned butter!
• Brown Sugar – This recipe uses brown sugar, which gives it great flavor and helps the bars bake up soft and chewy. You can use light or dark brown sugar, but I prefer light in this recipe.
• 1 Large Egg – Use a flaxseed egg in its place to make eggless or vegan variations of this chocolate chip banana bar recipe. You also can replace it with 1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil.
• Vanilla Extract – If you don’t have any on hand, you can omit this ingredient. It helps enhance the flavors of the bar, but the bars will still bake up great without it.
• Overripe Bananas – If you don’t have overripe bananas on hand, bake yellow bananas at 350 F for about 15 minutes until the skin of the bananas are black.
• All Purpose Flour – This recipe turns out best with AP flour, but you can use cake flour or a gluten free flour blend in its place if needed.
• Chocolate chips – You can use milk, dark or semi-sweet chocolate. Just be sure to either use mini chocolate chips, or give them a rough chop to help them evenly distribute through the bars. You want each bit to have a perfect amount of chocolate! You can also use chopped nuts in place of the chocolate in this recipe.

How to Make Healthy Banana Bars

If you want to lighten up these chocolate chip banana bars, below are some easy substitutions you can make to bake healthier banana bars.

• Unsalted Butter – You can replace half the butter in this recipe with applesauce, and use 1/4 cup apple sauce and 1/4 cup unsalted butter. You can also use coconut oil in place of the butter.
• Brown Sugar – Use 1/2 cup additional bananas in place of the brown sugar in this recipe, or less refined sugar like coconut or raw cane sugar.
• 1 Large Egg – You can use a flaxseed egg in its place to make eggless or vegan variations of this chocolate chip cookie recipe, or 1/4 cup of applesauce.
• Chocolate chips -Use chopped nuts in place of the chocolate in this recipe.
• Ground flax seeds – Add in a couple Tbsps of ground flax seeds to incorporate more fiber in this recipe. You can’t taste the difference, I promise!

Making These Chocolate Chip Banana Bars in Advance

These chocolate chip banana bars can be made in advance! They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to a month.

Just be sure to separate them a bit and place parchment between each layer of bars! This will help prevent them from sticking to each other if they’re stacked.

Tips for Making the Best Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

• Be sure to properly measure your flour (spoon into the cup measure and then level) or use a kitchen scale to measure your dry ingredients
• DO NOT OVER-MIX YOUR BATTER! It will make your chocolate chip banana bars dense and chewy. Once you start to mix in the flour, be sure to mix the batter JUST until it’s combined. It’s ok if you can still see a little bit of flour, it will get mixed in after you add the bananas.
• To make gluten free chocolate chip banana bars, swap in your favorite GF flour blend for the AP flour in this recipe. Be sure to over-mix your batter and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before baking for best results.
• Ingredients at room temp mix together better! Set the cold ingredients ahead of time.
• Bang your pan on the counter before putting it in the oven. This brings any air bubbles that are trapped in the batter to the surface
• Top your bars with a few additional bits of chocolate once the batter is in the pan to make it even more irresistible.
• Let your bars cool fully before cutting them to clean cut squares.
• This recipe can also be doubled and made in a half-sized sheet pan (13″x 18″).

Let Me Know What You Think!

If you try this recipe for chocolate chip banana bars, I’d love to hear what you think! Please leave a rating and comment below.

Tag me @chelsweets and #chelsweets so that I can see your amazing creations on social media!

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