
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray or melted butter.
In a large mixing bowl, peel the bananas and mash them until there are no big chunks left.
Place the butter and vanilla in the bowl and mix until all the ingredients are fully combined. Add the sugar and eggs to the large bowl with the mashed bananas and mix well.
Add the flour to the wet ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix well but do not overmix at this point. You want to incorporate all the flour, but you don't have to get all the lumps out.
Pour the banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes, check the bread for doneness by sticking a toothpick into the middle of the bread and taking it out. If there is no batter on the toothpick, the bread is done!
Notes
If the top of the bread starts to brown too quickly, tent aluminum foil over the top of the bread. This will slow the browning of the bread.
Make sure to butter the loaf pan well. Another option is to line the loaf pan with parchment paper to avoid any sticking.