The Best Banana Chocolate Chip Bars Recipe - easy and delicious moist banana cookie bars loaded with chocolate chips!

If there is one thing I crave over and over, it's ooey, gooey, chocolatey banana bread.

I love the smell of fresh baked banana bread - and how delicious and moist it comes out of the oven.

This Chocolate Chip Banana Bar recipe brings together the flavors of banana bread with a buttery cookie base for a delicious banana chocolate chip blondie recipe the whole family will love.

These banana chocolate chip bars are more like a cookie than banana bread - they are denser, moist, and bursting with ripe banana flavor.

These chocolate chip banana bars take just one bowl and less than 30 minutes to make - no separating wet and dry ingredients, just mix, bake, and enjoy!

I have readers of all levels of comfort in the kitchen on my site - so I try to provide as much information as possible into my posts because I get so many requests for it.

If you'd rather skip over all that, and get straight to the chocolate chip banana bars recipe, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

This recipe calls for brown sugar, instead of white sugar. While you could use white sugar, the rich caramel flavor is improved by brown sugar.

This recipe calls for butter instead of oil. If you only have vegetable oil or coconut oil on hand, they can be substituted in place of butter - but I like the salty richness butter brings these bars - so they almost taste like banana blondies. Feel free to substitute at a 1:1 ratio.

Other easy substitutions are below:

-Use gluten free all purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio

-Use applesauce in place of butter or oil for a lighter version

-Use peanut butter chips and chocolate chips for a peanut butter banana bar recipe that will delight the whole family.

-Mix in 2 tbsp peanut butter for a delicious bar everyone loves.

I am a horrible rule follower - which is in part why I don’t bake a lot.

While I understand the science of mixing dry and wet items separately and adding them in a specific order for ideal results, I just never have the patience.

Thankfully, I designed this recipe to be easily mixed in one bowl - so there is less work cleaning up after.

Simply follow the steps below to make this a one bowl banana bar recipe:

• Mash peeled ripe bananas in a large bowl.
• Add in butter, eggs, and brown sugar and cream together.
• Add in vanilla, baking soda, salt, and mix well.
• Fold in flour and mix until there are no lumps - but to not overwork.
• Add chocolate chips in right at the end, mixing through thoroughly.

Add ingredients to a well prepared pan and bake in oven at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (minus melted chocolate.)

If you've ever been frustrated by trying to cut brownies or blondies too early, you know they can break apart and crumble when cut too soon - they need time to cool and set for perfect squares.

While these banana bars aren't technically blondies - they are more similar to blondies than banana bread, and cut best when cooled.

• Let banana bars cool completely before removing from pan.
• Slide a knife around the side of the bars when still hot to make removing from the pan easier. (If you're comfortable sliding it under the bars a bit too, it helps to prevent any sticking - but this can also make your banana bars break, so go easy on it.)
• When banana bars have set and cooled, slice into 12 bars.
• Enjoy!

After you've baked, cooled, and served your banana bars - and have some leftover (is that possible??), they can be stored a couple of ways for you to enjoy later.

Place banana bars in a plastic bag or wrap each one individually in plastic wrap.

Freeze for up to four months.

To defrost, let sit in the refrigerator or in a cool dry place to thaw - once thawed, I like to pop in the oven for about 5-10 minutes just to warm a bit!

Place in plastic bag, or wrap serving plate with plastic wrap.

If storing sliced stacked on top of each other, I like to cut small squares of parchment paper and stack them on top of the parchment paper, so squares don't stick to each other too much.

These baked chocolate chip banana bars are so easy - you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand!

• 5 very ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 large mixing bowl
• 1 wooden spoon or spatula
• 9x13 baking dish or rimmed baking sheet
• Nonstick cooking spray, butter, or shortening to grease pan

If you love these amazingly decadent chocolate banana bars, please check out some of my other favorite easy dessert recipes!

Some of my all time favorites like the best sugar cookies, gooey fudge brownies, and perfect baked blondies - as well as some other fun baked desserts:

The Best Chocolate Chip Banana Bars Recipe

If you love these easy, delicious chocolate chip banana bars as much as I do, please give them a five star review (simply click the stars below) and help me share on facebook and pinterest!

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