I tried it once and never looked back.

Simply Recipes / Erin Alderson

Bananas are ever-present in my house.

And when I end up with extra-ripe bananas, I makebanana bread.

Photo of banana bread cut into slices on a piece of parchment with blue and yellow polka dots on the edges of the photo

Simply Recipes / Erin Alderson

(This is my go-to recipe, and it also happens to bethe internet’s most popular recipe.)

Over time, I’ve made tweaks here and there.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Banana bread with a halved banana on top

Simply Recipes / Getty Images

Perhaps the first place I saw this trick was on Heidi Swansons blog,101 Cookbooks.

Its such a clever way to make a better-tasting, fancy-looking banana bread without a lot of effort.

The banana should be free of mushy spots and firm enough to slice and stay intact.

banana bread on a cutting board

Simply Recipes / Getty Images

Oh, and use anextrabanana.

She loves taking on this last step before the banana bread goes into the oven.

She loves arranging the bananas into fun shapes.