The Family Table Farmstead

We’ve all been there. The brown banana is calling you out from the fruit bowl, “why didn’t you eat me sooner?” Over the past few years, I have found such a joy in using ripened bananas in my kitchen, that I now purchase double the amount of bananas on every shopping trip to ensure we almost always have over ripened bananas in our house. I want to share with you the ways I use these bananas on a regular basis to give you ideas on how you could use them in your kitchen, as well as some tips when freezing bananas.

1. Pancakes

My favorite way to use these bananas is in banana pancakes! I make these pancakes almost every weekend. While the recipe only calls for 1 banana, I always have extra bananas on hand just for these delicious pancakes. If you want to try these sourdough discard banana pancakes, click here to see my recipe.

2. Banana Muffins

These banana muffins are so delicious! In fact, I just made this recipe yesterday. You can use up 3 to 4 bananas with this recipe. I love doubling the batch and freezing half of them for easy, on the go breakfasts. The link to my favorite banana muffins recipe is here.

3. Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favorite snacks of all time. It is so tasty, and I love that I can use my sourdough discard whenever I make it now! This bread never seems to last more than 3 days at our house. The recipe I use is by King Arthur Baking company, and you can see the recipe by clicking here.

4. Freeze the Bananas to Make Ice Cream

I have been doing this since I was in high school. Taking frozen sweet bananas, and turning them (basically) into ice cream! It’s a great and tasty treat with ingredients you likely have on hand when you are craving ice cream, but may not have any at home or you are wanting a healthier option. In fact, I may have to go make this to snack on before I finish typing out the recipe. I will share my go-to ingredients as well as give some alternatives you could add into your own banana “ice cream” concoction. My go to recipe is:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup milk
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1 T honey
• 2 T peanut butter
• A few sprinkles of cinnamon

Blend first, then add ice based on how much more thick you want your ice cream to be. Here are a few other suggestions you could use in creating your own frozen banana ice cream recipe.

• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Oats
• Chocolate syrup
• Nuts
• Nut butters
• Instant coffee
• Brewed Coffee
• Chocolate chips
• Vanilla wafers/cookies
• Caramel

5. Freeze for Smoothies

This idea does stem slightly from my ice cream idea, but freezing bananas for my smoothies is what led me to making banana “ice cream” for the first time. I love freezing my bananas for a smoothie because my smoothie is less watered down from adding ice. I prefer to use any frozen fruit in smoothies before I add any ice cubes.

If you find yourself like me, waiting for bananas start to turn at your house, check with your local grocery store to see if they sell overripe bananas at a discount. This is a great option because 1, you don’t have to wait for them to ripen and 2, you get them for a better price! If you are freezing them, this is especially nice because you can put them in the freezer right after returning home from the store. I would NOT suggest just throwing bananas in the freezer as is. Peeling frozen bananas makes your hands cold and sticky, and it takes much longer than peeling a regular banana. The best thing to do is freeze them either in a zip lock bag or a reusable container AFTER being peeled. Sometimes when I freeze my bananas, I like to break them in half first, so I’m not always stuck using a whole banana or two in my smoothies. If you want to see my favorite reusable zip bag that I use for freezing my bananas, click here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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