Forget The Walnuts And Use This Nut For Your Next Banana Bread

Is there anything more divine than a delicious, warm loaf of banana bread? At Tasting Table, we have quite a few banana bread fanatics who spend their time whipping up everything from recipes for decadent brown butter banana bread to easy-peasy three-ingredient banana bread, all so banana bread lovers of all skill levels can enjoy a slice. We love experimenting with new and exciting ways to turn this beloved classic into something fresh, and we've stumbled across one substitute that fits the bill perfectly. Next time you bake your banana bread, try swapping the walnuts out for pistachios.

Swapping 'em out is easy as pie. Just use roasted or raw and unsalted ground pistachios instead of your typical crushed-up walnut pieces. You can make your own ground pistachios easily by buying the whole, shelled nut and then grinding them in a food processor or blender until the pieces are fine, but stopping before it becomes a paste. You'll want about half a cup of ground pistachios for most standard banana bread recipes. Mix it into the batter in place of the walnut, and that's it! You can sprinkle some atop the bread while baking for a nice, nut-crusted top for extra texture and pistachio flavor.

First of all, pistachios are great to have on hand so you can make a mean traditional cannoli whenever you want. This is only a partial joke. This writer may or may not have pistachio stashes at home specifically for cannoli. That said, the taste is the big reason you want to try this swap out. Pistachios have a roasted, earthy taste like most other nuts, but stand out with their unique edge of sweetness. They're also described as fresh and buttery, with slight hints of citrus notes for a truly complex taste. These types of flavors pair well with the mellow, gentle notes of fruity sweetness from bananas, infusing banana bread with a delicate but refined richness and earthiness that walnuts are a little too bold to bring.

Texture is another big one. Walnuts are pretty tender and soft, especially when you stick them in batter and bake them in a hot oven. By comparison, a pistachio holds onto its hard texture a bit longer. By mixing finely ground pistachio into your banana bread dough, you'll have an evenly dispersed mix that allows you to enjoy a bit of crunch in every bite. The nuts soften a little as they bake so you don't have to worry about it being too crunchy. All in all, it's a tasty new way to eat your banana bread, and it takes no effort or time to try, so what have you got to lose?