My 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Best Banana Bread

After trying this tip from the "Joy of Cooking," I’ve never made banana bread the same way again.

A partly sliced banana bread on a cutting board, with bananas in the background — Simply Recipes / Getty Images

In 2010, I left an illustrious career as a baker at a natural foods grocery store to work for my now husband’s family’s business, the iconic American cookbook Joy of Cooking. Among the first projects we undertook was testing every single recipe in the book’s 75th-anniversary edition.

A certain amount of youthful hubris led us to believe that we could test 2,500 recipes (though we did get through around 1,500), but the experience was a crash course in recipe development as well as the history of the nearly 100-year-old book.

We not only tested each recipe and took copious notes, but we also performed “recipe genealogies,” scouring every preceding edition to see when the recipe was first added and document the changes made over the decades.

Initially, we chose recipes to test at random, often going by what sounded best (surprising no one, we saved the aspics for last), and I distinctly remember one of the first recipes I tested being the book’s banana bread.

A Surprising Addition

This banana bread recipe has appeared in Joy of Cooking since 1946, but a curious addition was made in the 1960s: optional dried apricots.

My initial skepticism gave way once I sampled a slice of the still-warm bread. While the loaf tasted distinctly of ripe banana, as any good banana bread should, the chopped dried apricots provided bright little bursts of sweet-tart flavor and a pleasing chewiness. In fact, I found myself wishing I’d added even more apricots than the recipe called for, and the next time I made the recipe, I increased the amount.

A bowl with dried apricots on a wooden background — Simply Recipes / Getty Images

How To Upgrade Your Banana Bread

Even though I’ve tried many other banana bread recipes since then, Joy of Cooking’s recipe remains my favorite. However, the nice thing about this upgrade is that it works for any banana bread recipe. To add dried apricots to your favorite banana bread, start with one-quarter cup—you may want to increase the amount for future loaves. I’ve used up to one-half cup.

Simply stir the apricots into the batter right before scraping it into the loaf pan. I try to find soft dried apricots when I can, but if you can only buy apricots that are very chewy or dry, soak them in boiling water for at least 10 minutes before using. I’ve even soaked my apricots in brewed black tea for a little extra flavor.

The apricots taste amazing whether your banana bread is plain, contains nuts, or even uses chocolate chips. These days, I don’t consider apricots optional. They’re the key ingredient that makes Joy of Cooking’s banana bread worth baking for the next 100 years.