10 Uses for Overripe Bananas
Overripe Banana Recipes
Forgotten to eat up those bananas before they went black and spotted again? Don't despair - here are 10 excellent ways to use overripe bananas, so you'll never have to throw any away again!
If you often find your banana tree full of black and speckled bananas, too far gone to enjoy on their own, then you're not alone. But there's no need to discard them - there are lots of ways to use the sweet ripe taste in recipes and enjoy them!
In fact, some of the uses I explain below actually work better if the bananas are overripe!
Read on to find out how to start going bananas straight away...
Photo Credit: Overripe Bananas by Sheila Shund via Flickr Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
Overripe Bananas - Yes or No?
Can you eat overripe bananas? Do you like them?
Why Do Overripe Bananas Make Great Ingredients?
Ripe bananas make great additions to desserts because the riper they get, the sweeter they get. They also freeze well (for up to 3 months).
So even after they seem to have gone past their prime, they will reward you with amazing puddings and sweet treats!
Go Bananas
10 Cool Things
To Do With overripe Bananas
1. Mashed Bananas on Toast
Photo Credit: Banana on Toast by James Nisbet via Flickr Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
Okay, let's start with the super easy way to use up those bananas! It's one of my favourite things to have on toast, actually, and it's the first thing I'll use overripe bananas for.
All I do is take 2 bananas, mash them up, and spread them over two slices of wholegrain toast. The essential part is to then drizzle with some runny honey. Taste bud bliss!
2. Banana Ice-Cream
The second most likely thing I will do with my bananas is to peel 'em and freeze 'em - and then churn them through my Yonanas machine!
I first saw the Yonanas gadget demonstrated on the Ideal World shopping channel, and ordered one right away! I loved the idea of making an ice-cream dessert without all the naughty things that you have to put in ice-cream - perfect as well if you're vegan - and also liked the idea of getting my daughter to eat bananas!
All you have to do is peel and freeze overripe bananas (the more black and spotted they are the better the result!) and then use them in your Yonanas. Let them thaw slightly for around 5-10 minutes and then feed them through the machine, which then does something akin to magic and turns them into a substance that looks, tastes and feels like banana ice-cream! You can also add a plethora of other ingredients during the churning, such as chocolate or other fruits, to make other flavours of yonanas "ice-cream".
I love mine to bits! The most commonly made is chocolate and cinnamon, which I make by sprinkling the frozen bananas with cinnamon, adding one banana to the machine, then broken up pieces of dark chocolate, then a second banana.
To find out exactly how this wonder machine works, watch the video below!
Photo Credit: Make yummy desserts with the Yonanas Maker - buy on Amazon.co.uk
Go Bananas for Yonanas
See How Easy it is to Yonana your Bananas!
3. Banana Bread
I've been addicted to banana bread ever since my friend and neighbour borrowed my loaf tin and made us some!
There are of course, lots of recipes out there, but this is how I have been making mine, and I love it:
* 125g white self raising flour
* 100g light brown self raising flour
* 150g demerara sugar
* 2 large peeled ripe bananas
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp nutmeg
* 175ml orange juice
* 2 beaten eggs
* 4 tbsp oil
* Pinch of sea salt
* Unsalted butter for greasing
(makes 1 loaf)
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 180 degrees C, and line a lightly greased 1lb loaf tin. Sift all the flours, sugar, salt and spices into a bowl.
In a second bowl, mash up the bananas and mix with the orange juice, before stirring in the beaten eggs and the oil. Pour this mixture into the first bowl and mix it all together.
Spoon it into the loaf tin and bake for an hour. Test the centre with a skewer and if not yet done, cook for another 10 minutes or so.
Serve with slices bananas, chopped walnuts or a drizzle of honey!
Photo Credit: Banana bread via Wikimedia Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
4. Banana Muffins
The first time I ever came across a recipe which actually recommended a way to use up overripe bananas, was in one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks. It was a recipe for banana muffins.
It was then that I found out you could freeze ripened bananas too, and store them for future use if you weren't ready and able to bake when the dreaded black spot set in.
Take my advice - if you want to make super delicious ones, try her recipe for chocolate banana muffins, or even better, her banana and butterscotch muffins!
Photo Credit: Banana Muffins by jspatchwork via Flickr Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
Did You Know?
The International Banana Festival is celebrated on September 21st.
I think this was the first "proper" recipe I ever used with bananas - and boy is it delicious! It's also a great excuse to crack open a bottle of rum...
Cook Time
Total Time: 5-10 mins
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
- 3 sliced bananas
- 4 tbsp brown muscavado sugar
- 4 tbsp rum
- Water
- Butter to melt
Instructions
- 1. Add a knob of butter to a pan and melt over a medium heat.
- 2. When butter starts browning and bubbling, add the banana slices and cook for 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and stir gently.
- 3. Flip the bananas and cook for 1 minute. Add the rum and cook for another minute.
- 4. Remove from the pan and serve with ice-cream!
6. Banana Cake
Another great recipe to make with bananas is banana cake! I'm always up for making fruit-filled cake as it's got to make eating that yummy cake healthier, right?
Don't get stuck in the rut of always making the same kind, though - mix it up! Try these delicious recipes out for size and you'll be longing for your bananas to go ripe!
* Banana Mud Cake with White Chocolate
* Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Photo Credit: Banana and Almond Cake via Wikimedia Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
7. Banana Pancakes
Photo Credit: Banana Pancakes via Wikimedia Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
Okay, so I've seen lots of photos and recipes out there for pancakes with bananas on top, but how about actual banana pancakes made out of bananas?
Here's how. You'll need:
* 140g self-raising flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 2 tbsp light soft brown sugar
* Pinch of salt
* 1 ripe bananas, mashed
* 1 ripe banana, very thinly sliced
* 2 eggs
* 25g melted butter
* 125ml milk
* Extra butter for melting
In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the middle and add the mashed banana along with the eggs, milk and butter. Use a whisk to turn the mixture into a light batter.
Melt the butter over a medium heat and add dollops of batter to the pan in batches (this will make about 10 pancakes). Add around three slices of banana to each pancake, and when the pancakes start to bubble between the slices (after about 2 minutes), flip them over to cook the other side for another minute.
When golden and puffed up, serve immediately with maple syrup, ice-cream or your accompaniment of choice!
8. Banana Smoothie
Want to be super healthy? Turn those spotted bananas into a superfood smoothie! A very quick, easy AND delicious way to use them up.
The easiest way to do this is to whizz a peeled and sliced banana in a blender along with half a pint of milk, a couple of teaspoons of honey, and a handful of ice. Yum!
If you're a little more ambitious, you could try one of these combo recipes:
* Jamie Oliver's Kiwi, Ginger and Banana Smoothie
* BBC Food Forest Fruit and Banana Smoothie
* Weightwatchers Mango, Vanilla and Banana Smoothie
Photo Credit: Banana Smoothie by Jamieanne via Flickr Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivs 2.0 Generic License
Don't want to eat your overripe bananas?
Here are two alternative ways to use them!
9. Bananas for Butterflies!
Photo Credit: Butterfly on banana - image copyright of the author
If you don't want to always eat those blackened bananas, you can always help the local wildlife instead!
Butterflies love nectar but some butterflies love to feed from rotting fruit, too! Overripe bananas are just one of the fruits you can put out for them to feast on. I snapped this gorgeous butterfly above perched on a banana in the butterfly house at Chester Zoo.
You can put out bananas on a butterfly feeder (see here for how to make them, including a plate feeder for putting out fruit. Or you could make a banana mixture for them to eat - try mashing up 2-3 overripe bananas and mixing with some stale beer, sugar, fruit juice, maple syrup and rum. Stick it on trees and around the garden for the butterflies to enjoy!
Grow Some Butterflies to Feed!
10. A Bananatastic Garden
It's not just wildlife that can benefit from bananas - your garden can, too! And even better, you can use the peel as well. In fact, why not save the peel from all the other ideas above and use them in the garden, too!
First off, peel the banana and puree the fruit with half a cup of water. You can use this around your plants and bushes - fork up the surrounding soil and pour the mixture in for some natural nourishment.
Now for the remaining peel. Place it in a large jar and cover it with water, leaving for a while to make a banana "juice". Mix this with five parts water and use to regularly water your plants. Keep topping up the banana juice jar with water to maintain your supply!
Photo Credit: Add banana juice to your garden plants - image copyright of the author
