Air Fryer Banana Bread (John Kirkwood), 35 Minutes

Source video by John Kirkwood on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

John Kirkwood's air fryer banana bread is a creamed-butter cake loaded with two ripe bananas, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. The mixture is folded with self-raising flour and walnuts, then baked in a loaf tin in a preheated air fryer at 160°C for 35 minutes. A sprinkle of demerara sugar on top gives a lovely crunchy crust, while the inside stays soft, light and beautifully moist. Best eaten slightly warm so the banana aroma comes through.

Ingredients

• 2 wholeripe bananas, large, mashed with a fork
• butter, at room temperature
• sugar
• eggs, at room temperature
• vanilla extract

• self-raising flour, sifted
• 2 tspbaking powder
• ground cinnamon
• salt
• nutmeg, freshly grated

• walnuts, roughly chopped

• demerara sugar, coarse, for sprinkling (add late)

• lard, for greasing

Method

1. Mash 2 large ripe bananas on a plate with a fork until smooth. Set aside.

   ~2 min

2. Line the base of a loaf tin that fits your air fryer drawer with parchment paper and grease the tin with lard.

   ~2 min

3. Put the butter and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Cream together with a spatula. If the butter is too hard, microwave for 5 seconds on full power.

   ~1 min

4. Swap to a whisk and beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.

   ~4 min

5. Add the mashed banana, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk for 2 minutes. The mix may look grainy from the banana, this is normal.

   ~2 min

6. In a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon, salt (omit if using salted butter) and freshly grated nutmeg roughly into the self-raising flour. If using plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder.

   ~1 min

7. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold together to keep the air in the batter.

   ~2 min

8. Add the roughly chopped walnuts and gently fold them through.

   ~1 min

9. Remove the crisp tray from your air fryer. Set to bake mode at 160°C (320°F) and preheat for 3 minutes.

   ~3 min

10. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Tap the tin on the bench to release any large air bubbles. Sprinkle coarse demerara sugar over the top.

    ~2 min

11. Lower the tin into the air fryer drawer. Bake at 160°C (320°F) for 35 minutes.

    ~35 min

12. Test in a couple of places with a cocktail or kebab stick. It should come out dry. Lift the tin out carefully and rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

    ~10 min

13. Turn the loaf out of the tin, peel off the parchment, and transfer to a board. Best enjoyed slightly warm.

    ~2 min

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