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Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread

Fans of chocolate and peanut butter will love this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread! It’s extra moist, just a touch sweet, and loaded with dark chocolate in every bite. 

Chocolate chip peanut butter bread on platter with 3 slices cut

Easy Peanut Butter Loaf Cake With Chocolate Chips

Over the years, I’ve shared dozens of quick bread recipes, from staples like Blueberry Banana Bread and Chocolate Zucchini Bread to more unique varieties like Caramelized Banana Bread with Brown Butter Glaze. Somehow, though, I’ve never shared a peanut butter bread recipe until now.

With my abiding love of all things peanut butter, that’s a bit hard to believe. And if peanut butter is involved, there’s a pretty good chance that chocolate is going to make an appearance, too. That brings us to this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread.

This lightly sweet bread is combined with plenty of dark chocolate chips, making it perfect for an afternoon snack. It’s soft and flavorful, but not cloying or ridiculously decadent. You can even serve it up as a simple dessert—although maybe you’ll want to dress it up with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Unlike a lot of quick breads, this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread doesn’t follow the muffin method (adding the combined wet ingredients to a well in the combined dry ingredients), but instead it’s mixed more like a cake. In fact, I debated whether or not to call this a cake, as it does have some characteristics of one. It’s a bit of both, actually, so either name can work.

Whatever you call it, it’s bound to be a hit.

Overhead view of ingredients for chocolate chip peanut butter bread

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.

Are Bittersweet Chocolate and Semisweet Chocolate the Same?

No, they are not the same. Bittersweet chocolate contains 70% cacao, while semisweet chocolate has 60%. This means that bittersweet chocolate is more intense and less sweet. That said, you can use bittersweet chocolate in this recipe if you’d like.

Four slices of chocolate chip peanut butter bread on white square plates

How to Make Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread

This is the kind of easy recipe you can whip up on a whim. It takes just a few minutes to prep, then an hour in the oven. Here’s what you’ll need to do.

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F, then grease a standard 9×5-inch loaf pan. 

Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Mix the wet ingredients. Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter in a large bowl until they’re thoroughly combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Finish the batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, alternating with 2 portions of buttermilk. Mix just until combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool and serve. Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pan and place it directly on the rack to finish cooling. (Learn more: Why Every Baker Needs Wire Cooling Racks)

Overhead view of sliced chocolate chip peanut butter bread

Tips for Success

If you’re new to baking, read over my baking tips for beginners first. Then, take note of these additional hints and tips for this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread.

  • Make removal easy. If you want to easily remove the loaf from the pan and make sure it looks perfect, line the pan with parchment paper and then grease the paper. 
  • Don’t over-mix. Stop mixing as soon as the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients. Over-mixing will make the gluten strands in the flour tough, which will affect the texture of your bread.
  • Be patient. Although it’s tempting to slice right into a loaf of quick bread as soon as you pull it out of the oven, it’s important to wait! As the loaf cools, the inside is actually still baking from the residual heat. Slicing the loaf too soon disrupts this process.
  • Keep the chocolate chips from sinking. It’s no fun when all the chocolate is at the bottom of the loaf!
Stack of 3 slices of chocolate chip peanut butter bread on white square plate

Variations

If you have a peanut allergy, you can use almond butter or sunflower seed butter in place of the peanut butter.

Try swapping milk chocolate chips for semisweet, or make this bread a bit more decadent with mini peanut butter cups. You can also use half the amount of chocolate chips and substitute peanut butter chips for the other half.

Serving Suggestions

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread is certainly good at room temperature, but I love it even more served warm. A quick 10 seconds or so in the microwave is enough to warm a slice just a bit and make the chocolate chips melty. To make it a dessert, add a scoop of ice cream while the bread is still warm and sprinkle on some chocolate chips or shavings.

Slice of chocolate chip peanut butter bread on plate

How to Store

Wrap the Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread tightly in plastic wrap and store it at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. 

Can This Recipe Be Frozen?

Yes, you can freeze Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread for up to 3 months. Wrap it well and then place it in an airtight container or freezer bag. When you’re ready to serve it, let it thaw overnight at room temperature.

Overhead view of chocolate chip peanut butter bread slices on plates

More Chocolate Chip Quick Bread Recipes

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread

Yield 10 to 12 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Lightly sweet and full of dark chocolate chips, this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread is a great anytime snack!

Stack of 3 chocolate chip peanut butter bread slices on plate

Ingredients

  • 1 & 3/4 (210g) cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup (57g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (127g) creamy peanut butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (237ml) buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup (128g) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a standard 9"x 5" loaf pan. If you like, line the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
  4. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 portions, alternating with 2 portions of buttermilk. Mix just until combined.
  5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pan to cool completely.

Notes

Recipe updated March 2023.

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    16 Comments on “Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread”

  1. This bread looks absolutely delicious and just perfect for the weekend. I love peanut butter and chocolate together and will definitely give this recipe a try. Thank you!

  2. Oh my goodness those looks absolutely incredible! I want to try it! This looks healthy AND delicious. I really want to try this recipe in the coming weekend.Thanks for sharing!

  3. Hi, Jennifer! Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve baked anything, but I did bake this, last night, and what a way to come back to the baking fold! This is spectacular: peanut buttery and chocolatey, my two favorite things. I actually used a Skippy-like version for this dessert; I usually have the natural variety on-hand, and so normally use that. I have always gotten great results with natural peanut butter, especially with that bundt cake of yours, the one with milk chocolate chips. I think the flavor is so much more peanutty.

  4. Do you think I could sub one of the other “butters” (Biscoff type) for the peanut butter?

  5. Jennifer I love your passion and all your recipes! I have to avoid your recipes with peanut butter due to my daughter having a sever allergy. However we love almond butter and am  wondering if there is a rule of thumb as to proportions of substituting almond vs peanut butter or if any additional ingredients need to be factored in ( diff in fat/oil content ).  Thank you so much!
    Lori aka @ Leftyliciousesq

    • Thank you, Lori! I’ve not baked much with almond butter, but it has more fat and a different ratio of fats than peanut butter. I’ve read differing opinions on how that affects baked goods. Some say a straight substitution works fine, but some say that the differing fat content is an issue. If I were to try it, I’d take the simplest route first and just substitute 1:1. If that doesn’t work, my guess would be that you’d need either a bit more flour or a bit less almond butter to try to simulate the recipe. How much to do that, I’m afraid I don’t know. If you try it, please let me know how it works!

  6. Hi Jennifer, this sounds like a great recipe to try but in the case of buttermilk, can i substitute this with sour cream instead? Thank you 🙂

    • Hi, Amy. You can, but it may make the batter a bit thick. I would try putting 2 or 3 tablespoons of water in your measuring cup and then filing to 3/4 cup with sour cream. Give that a stir and then use as directed for the buttermilk in the recipe.

  7. This bread is SO good. Instead of buttermilk I did 2% milk and then I added 4 bananas for extra moisture. Would highly recommend!!

  8. Can I use self-rising flour rather than plain? even exchange?

    • Hi, Marc. Self-rising flour also contains baking powder and salt. Every cup of self-rising flour has about 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. You can easily omit the salt to accommodate, but the baking powder ratio will be a little trickier.

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