12 Things To Do With Bananas

I’m sure we have all had our bananas go bad on us more than once. Unfortunately, with most fruits that over ripen, the only real place for them is the compost. Bananas are a little different, as we all know brown bananas can make the tastiest banana bread. (Wow I feel like I’ve said banana a lot already— bear with me). But, it doesn’t stop with banana bread, and it’s good to keep in mind all of the delicious things you can make so your bananas don’t go to waste. They can be a great addition to a lot of desert recipes, and don’t be afraid to experiment with some twists!

Here are 12 of the most delicious things you can do with bananas:

1. Banana Bread Pancakes

• Three bananas

Using some basic banana bread ingredients, like mashed bananas and nuts, you can create a really tasty breakfast spin on the usual recipe! We can all use a nice boost in the morning and banana bread pancakes help combine healthy ingredients with a sweet outcome. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and who doesn’t love pancakes?

Check out the recipe here.

2. Banana Oatmeal Cookies

• Two bananas

Banana oatmeal cookies are actually really simple to make, and you probably have the ingredients laying around the house already. So, if your bananas get too brown, this should be a no-brainer go-to to put them to use! The flavor should actually be quite banana-y, and not so subtle and the best part is these cookies are actually pretty healthy! If that’s not the route you are looking to go, and you want a sweeter treat, try to make a cookie-wich with icing or ice cream in the middle.

Check out a simple recipe here.

3. Smoothies

• One-three bananas

There are endless possibilities for smoothies that you can use bananas with. The most obvious is probably strawberry-banana, but I don’t care for strawberries (I know, I know, that’s crazy) so I gravitate towards a sweeter, and less healthy, peanut butter banana smoothie. It’s super simple: I just blend together my banana (preferably frozen), 1/2 cup of milk, 2 spoon fulls of peanut butter, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and enough ice for my desired texture— usually about a cup or a cup and a half. Don’t be afraid to experiment with various ingredients! You never know what surprise combinations you might like.

4. Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

• Two bananas

This egg-free and dairy free cake is a sweet desert option to use up browning bananas, and it’s a great desert for vegans! You probably have these ingredients laying around, too, making everything easier. Feel free to sub out chocolate chips for any kind of topping that you prefer, or add some extra toppings to it. I’m typically in a big “treat yourself” kind of mood when I start to crave chocolate, so ideally I would serve this cake nice and warm with a side of ice cream. Yummy!

You can find the recipe here.

5. Simple Soft Serve

• At least two bananas

By simply freezing bananas and then blending them into a nice cream, you have a healthy soft serve alternative. Obviously there is a ton of freedom with this, kind of like vanilla ice cream. You can add as many toppings and mix-ins as your heart desires!

Here are some really good ideas for upgrading your banana ice cream flavors.

6. Banana Pudding Ice Cream

• Two bananas

Expanding on the idea of banana soft serve, why not combine two great banana flavored desserts? Banana pudding ice cream is creamy, thick, and filled with banana flavor. Not to mention, it’s stored in the freezer so it’ll stay good for a while.

This recipe calls for vanilla wafers as topping, but feel free to swap those out or drop them all together.

7. Banana Cheesecake

• Two bananas

I’m not sure about you, but to me this just flat out sounds delicious— probably because I am such a fan of banana cream pie. The list of ingredients is a bit lengthy compared to the easy cookies and soft serve, but what really sold me was the fact that this cheesecake is no-bake!

Check out the full recipe here.

8. Muffins

• Two bananas

I’m a huge fan of banana nut muffins, and the best part of them is they can be good for breakfast or a tasty snack throughout the day. Keep in mind that it is always easy to put a twist on a typical recipe— if you’re feeling creative.

Check out this recipe for banana muffins with a Nutella swirls for inspiration.

9. Banana Bars

• Two bananas

The really unique thing about this recipe is the product is not cake-like at all, it’s more like a lemon bar. The author of the recipe, Averie, swears up and down that this is pretty much life-changing, and chalks that up to the browned butter and vanilla beans.

You can find the full recipe here.

10. Banana Cupcakes

• Two bananas

Banana cupcakes are a nice and sweet alternative to banana muffins— but I probably shouldn’t recommend you eat these for breakfast! Browning bananas can be a great addition to cupcakes, and then you can garnish the finished product with flavors to compliment the banana taste. I suggest lots of peanut butter and chocolate!

Here is a simple recipe for banana cupcakes.

11. Banana whipped cream

• One banana

How delicious does banana whipped cream sound?! And, the possibilities for what to serve this on are endless. It’s also super simple, so there is no excuse not to give this a try at least once. First, you just whip together about a 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract. The banana gets added last, after it’s mashed until there are no chunks, and is simply folded into the whipped cream. You can just refrigerate the final product, and spoon it out whenever you’re ready to use it. I recommend serving this on waffles or fruit salad.

12. Banana Bread

• Three or four bananas

You guys are probably just thinking duh on this one. But throughout this, with all of the recipes, I have emphasized that there are so many possibilities to change it up! That’s definitely an option with banana bread, too. There are birthday cake, Nutella stuffed, cheesecake, and chocolate banana bread recipes already out there— but experiment yourself! Try to incorporate your favorite flavors with an original recipe, you could be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Is there anything you usually do with your over-ripe bananas? Or do you have any fun variations to the recipes we talked about? Share with me in the comments below!