Pancakes
16 Banana Recipes for Ripe Bananas
Whole wheat banana bread is a staple in our house – our kids love it and it's a reliable way to use ripe bananas. It freezes well and makes a great lunchbox treat!
Needing inspiration for those brown bananas on your counter? Look no further! Here are lots of great banana recipes to choose from!
Our family eats a LOT of bananas. Sometimes it seems like we can barely manage to save a few brown bananas to bake with, or to use in smoothies.
This list of recipes for overripe brown bananas contains a little bit of everything, but as always, all the recipes are straightforward to mix. Along with the usual breads and muffins, you’ll find recipes for desserts, smoothies, and pancakes, too.
How to Ripen Bananas Quickly
Oven Method
This method works best for bananas that are at least a little ripe, not bright green bananas.
Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Place bananas (with the peels still on) on a parchment paper baking sheet and put in preheated oven for 20 to 40 minutes or until they’re dark blackish brown. They’ll look ugly, but they’ll be soft and sweet on the inside. Don’t be alarmed if they leak a little juice/sugar – that’s what the parchment paper is for.
Cool to room temperature before handling and using in your recipes.
Brown Paper Bag Method
This method is slower than the oven method. It will take 1 to 3 days for your bananas to ripen, depending on how ripe they are to begin with. The paper bag simply accelerates the ripening process. The science behind this method is that ethylene gas builds up inside the bag and helps ripen the bananas more quickly.
Place the unripe bananas in a brown paper bag and fold over the top. To expedite the process, place an apple, avocado, or tomato in the bag with the bananas.
How to Freeze Ripe Bananas
If you have too many ripe bananas to use right now, you can freeze them for later. You can head to our tutorial to learn how to freeze bananas, but we'll give you the short version here.
- Line a pan with parchment to prevent the bananas from sticking.
- Cut the ripe bananas in slices and lay them in a single layer on the lined baking sheet.
- Freeze until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
- When they’re firm, move them into a freezer-safe container, where they’ll keep for 3 months.
Frozen bananas are great for smoothies straight from the freezer, or thaw them overnight in the refrigerator to use in baked goods.
