Chocolate Chip Banana Bars (2024)

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Banana Bars made with Greek yogurt and milk chocolate chips. We love these banana bars for an after school snack and they’re the perfect way to use up browned bananas.

BANANA BARS MADE WITH YOGURT

It’s no secret that we love using up our old bananas around here. These banana bars made with yogurt and milk chocolate chips are one of the most delicious ways to use up those bananas. My kids love these as an after school snack because they look and taste like cake!

We also love to make this banana bread cake and these cinnamon banana bread muffins. It’s so hard to pick my favorite so I would have to say that these are our top 3 most requested banana recipes.

HOW TO MAKE BANANA BARS

Butter

Granulated Sugar & Brown Sugar – I always use light brown sugar but feel free to use dark brown sugar if you like that stronger molasses taste in baked goods. Otherwise, stick with light brown sugar for all your baking as it’s the most common.

Vanilla Greek Yogurt – You can also use plain Greek yogurt but I feel like the little touch of vanilla really makes the bars delicious.

Large Egg

Mashed Banana – You need 1 cup of mashed banana for this recipe which is equal to about 3 bananas. Make sure they are ripe and browned bananas. The browner and grosser looking they are the better!

All-Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Salt

Vanilla Extract

MY TIPS & HELPFUL HINTS

These banana bars are more cake-like than bar like. Some people are surprised at how they bake up but it’s normal.
Use any kind of chocolate chips that you want. We prefer milk chocolate chips but there are so many great options like peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips, etc.
These bars are not the prettiest things ever because they bake up really puffy and that is ok. Just don’t expect a cookie bars with these because that’s not what they are. They are a snack bar which is more cake-like.
To make spreading the batter easier into the pan drop spoonfuls of it all over the pan and then spread it out. I like to spray the back of a silverware spoon with cooking spray to help push that batter into the pan.

TRY THESE OTHER BANANA RECIPES

Banana Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Almond Banana Bread
Lemon Blueberry Banana Bread
Banana Cream Pie
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Greek Yogurt Banana Muffins
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

Author Jessica

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

▢ 6 tablespoons butter softened
▢ 1/3 cup granulated sugar
▢ 1/3 cup brown sugar
▢ 1/3 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
▢ ½ teaspoon salt
▢ 1 large egg
▢ 1 cup mashed banana about 3 bananas
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
▢ 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray OR line with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, or bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, sugar, brown sugar, Greek yogurt, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined well.
* At first it will look chunky like it's not mixing together but keep beating it for 1-2 minutes until it's creamy looking and combined.
Add the egg, mashed banana, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
Add in the flour and milk chocolate chips and beat on low speed just until combined and no flour spots remain.
Evenly spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle some extra chocolate chips on top (if wanted).
Cook for 22-30 minutes.
A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean. The bars will be puffy and the edges will have pulled away slightly from the pan.
Don't take the bars out if the middle is still wet. They won't continue cooking once you take them out. Make sure a toothpick inserted into the middle does not come out with wet batter on it.
Let the bars cool in the pan for 1 hour before cutting. You can also eat them warm but letting them cool helps the bars cut nicer.
I store leftovers at room temperature in a covered container or a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.

Video

Notes

GREEK YOGURT : I like the touch of vanilla with the vanilla Greek yogurt but feel free to also use plain Greek yogurt if you'd rather.

TIP :To make spreading the batter easier into the pan drop spoonfuls of it all over the pan and then spread it out. I like to spray the back of a silverware spoon with cooking spray to help push that batter into the pan.

This recipe has been updated with better pictures and more helpful text in March 2021. The only change to the recipe was the flour. The original recipe called for 2 cups of white whole wheat flour. I don't think they make it anymore as I can't find it anywhere. The recipe works great with white whole wheat flour but I rewrote the recipe to include all-purpose flour as that is common and what everyone can find. I would advise against using whole wheat flour as that makes the bars really dense and dry. The ratios in the recipe are not meant to be used with whole wheat flour.

Nutrition

Did You Make This Recipe?

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