The Ingredient Chrissy Teigen Swears By For Her Famous Banana Bread

Nothing warms the soul like a slice of homemade banana bread. The natural sweetness from the ripe tropical fruit shines in every bite. This delicious simplicity is the reason why the classic treat is a such a huge hit at bake sales, and a welcome addition to any breakfast table. Most recipes for soft and moist banana bread call for bananas, flour, sugar, eggs, a rising agent (either baking soda or baking powder), some type of fat (oil or butter), and salt. Some recipes also incorporate a splash or two of milk, too.

There are many variations on the classic banana bread recipe, and model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen has her own special twist when making this baked good. She skips the banana pudding mix, preferring to add a box of vanilla pudding mix to her banana bread instead. She came by this tasty swap after experimenting with the recipe for nearly a year. Writing on her website about a popular dish from her cookbook "Cravings: Hungry for More," she noted, "Vanilla pudding gave it a fluffy, moist texture I could never have imagined."

Vanilla pudding mix is typically made up mostly of sugar, starch, salt, and flavorings. The simple, unassuming combination of ingredients might not seem like much, but it manages to improve both the taste and the texture of banana bread. For starters, the vanilla in the pudding mix complements the flavor of the bananas without overpowering them. That makes it a better choice for the fruit-filled bread than banana pudding mix. The artificial banana taste of a mix will clash with subtle sweetness of the mashed bananas. Trust Chrissy Teigen on this — she tried it and found the resulting bread to be unpleasant to say the least. "Using banana mix made it taste fake," she writes on her website.

The starch in the pudding mix, which is usually a special type of cornstarch, may help to thicken the bread batter, leading to a richer loaf after baking. Cornstarch also supports the rise of baked goods, which gives them an airier texture overall. And the additional sugar that the mix adds also aids in keeping the bread moist.

What other ingredients does Chrissy Teigen use to make her banana bread especially delicious? She's a fan of adding dark chocolate into the mix, which gives it a bit of bittersweet lusciousness. Instead of chocolate chips, she likes to break up a bar of dark chocolate into small pieces for her recipe. You can similarly kick your banana bread up a notch by choosing to use your favorite chocolate bar instead. You could also add in some cinnamon chips for a bit of warming spice or even white chocolate chips for a creamy element in your banana bread.

Teigen also likes to incorporate some shredded coconut flakes into the batter as well. The sweet nuttiness of the coconut plays well with the banana and gives the bread a more pronounced tropical taste. Definitely go for the unsweetened variety to keep the bread from becoming overly saccharine, and give those coconut flakes a little toasting before adding to the batter to enhance the nuttiness.