In every bunch of bananas, one or two inevitably start to turn brown and overripe before you get around to eating them. We’ve all been there. But the good news? A banana’s flavor sweetens and intensifies as it ripens, making it perfect for many baking recipes. So before you reach for another banana bread recipe, here are some other creative ways to put those overripe bananas to work.
1. Mash Into Oats
Breakfast is a great time to take advantage of the energy boost that comes from eating the natural sugars in bananas. Keep it simple by stirring a mashed banana into a bowl of your favourite type of oats to make a hot banana cereal.
2. Blend Into Waffle or Pancake Batter
Or, if you’d like to up the ante, try Television Food Network's Buttermilk Banana Waffles. This recipe works because mashed bananas blend well into any kind of batter, whether it’s waffle batter, muffin batter, pancake batter or yep, banana bread batter. That’s why banana bread is the standard for sweet fruit bread.
3. Make Banana Muffins
Now that you’ve mashed bananas once or twice, you know that the distinctive yellow-brown colour is no charmer. There’s no point in dwelling on it, though. Instead think of all the flavour and moisture it can provide. Case in point: it replaces some of the oil and refined sugar in Food Network Kitchen’s Healthy Banana Bread Muffins.
4. Bake Banana Cookies
Bananas have a lot of antioxidants and vitamins including potassium and Vitamin C, plus they are easier to digest when they ripen. Combine bananas with other natural partners like oats, and dates in these Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Even though they’re called cookies, they are more like power bars in a cookie disguise — ready to be eaten whenever you need a pick-me-up.
5. Add to a Smoothie
Smoothies are a smart, non baking-adjacent way to use overripe bananas. The texture of bananas thickens and adds creaminess. Try adding a frozen, ripe banana to a refreshing summer smoothie like the Papaya-Banana smoothie. Or, incorporate it into a smoothie bowl like the vibrant Mixed Berry Smoothie Bowl. Quick tip: bananas freeze very well. So if your bunch looks like it’ll go bad before you can use it, peel the bananas, toss them in a resealable plastic bag and send them straight into the freezer.
6. Turn Into Ice Cream
Lastly, don’t forget about dessert! One of our favourite recipes is the Banana Pudding Ice-Cream Sundae, a dessert made from frozen, ripe bananas, blended to make a deliciously whipped, creamy treat.
Whip Up Some Fritters!
Another unique option? Tom Kerridge's Banana Fritters. We challenge you to only eat one.
