Julie Clark
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Caramelized Bananas
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Warm, sweet, chewy and sinfully good, caramelized bananas are the perfect topping for your breakfast pancakes, afternoon snack, or midnight craving.
Certain desserts can stand on their own with no toppings, like our molten lava cake. However, sometimes you just have to go wild and add a sweet and buttery topping to your pancakes or pound cake.
That’s where this caramelized bananas recipe comes in. Eat them on their own or sprinkle them with some homemade granola. But adding them to the top of yogurt, homemade crepes, creamy cheesecake or even a bowl of oatmeal is 100% a good idea.
What are caramelized bananas?
Caramelized bananas are bananas that are cooked in a butter and sugar mixture until the bananas are slightly crisp on the edges and the sugar mixture becomes a heavy caramel sauce. They are similar to fried apples.
Choosing the Right Bananas
Use bananas that are yellow and firm. You want them to no longer be green, but you don’t want them to have brown spots either – a perfect yellow is the goal, otherwise the bananas might become mushy.
If you only have ripe bananas, feel free to still make this banana sauce, just know that it will be more of a compote in texture.
How To Caramelize Bananas
- Slice a ripe banana into about 6-9 slices (about half an inch thick).
- In a large Ziploc bag, add in your sugar and cinnamon mixture. Drop in a handful of banana slices. Seal the Ziploc bag and gently shake the bag with the sugar and bananas in to coat the bananas.
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and add in slices of bananas in a single layer. Add the vanilla bourbon or extract.
- Lower heat to medium and cook bananas for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until the edges become a beautiful golden color.
- By the time you’re done with your batches, the butter and sugar sauce should have thickened to become a beautiful caramel sauce that has an infused banana flavor.
Pro tip
The soft chewy center with crispy edges are absolute perfection, so allow the edges to get crispy. But don’t let the bananas burn! Flip it a few times, or hold onto the banana with a fork and rotate the bananas so the sides are only touching the pan for that perfect crisp.
Caramelized Bananas in Oven
If your stove top is being occupied, you can easily make this caramelized banana recipe in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Slice bananas however you’d like and place them on a baking sheet. Top with small chunks of butter. Sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until the bananas are a beautiful golden color and the butter sauce has slightly caramelized. With this method, the sauce will not be as thick as cooking it on the stove.
- During the last 2-3 minutes, stir in the vanilla extract, if desired.
How to Serve Caramelized Bananas
Made on occasions such as birthdays or for gatherings, caramelized bananas are served on top of pancakes, pudding, waffles, a bowl of ice cream, or over pie.
Here are some of our favorite ways to serve caramelized bananas on breakfast recipes:
- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes – the cinnamon in the pancakes will be complimented well by the banana caramel sauce.
- French Toast Waffles– Caramelized bananas are excellent served with french toast or waffles (or in this case the best of both worlds are served in one).
- Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats– Adding a small topping of caramelized bananas over a warm bowl of oatmeal is brilliant and a must-make breakfast combination.
- Brown Sugar Pound Cake – That syrup will soak into a pound cake and taste fantastic.
Love bananas? Try my grandma’s banana bread, our cream cheese banana bread, salted caramel banana bread and roasted banana bread.
Caramelized Bananas
Warm, sweet, chewy and sinfully good -caramelized bananas is the perfect topping for your breakfast pancakes, afternoon snack, or midnight craving.
Servings 4
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar 210 grams
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 7 grams
- 3 bananas (sliced)
- 1/2 cup salted butter* 4 ounces
- 1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract 5 grams
Instructions
- Add brown sugar and cinnamon to a gallon sized Ziploc bag, add in banana slices and seal. Shake bag to coat bananas. 3 bananas, 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 3 bananas
- Melt butter over medium high heat in a pan. Add in banana slices in a single layer (do multiple batches if necessary). ½ cup salted butter*
- Pour in bourbon vanilla extract and cook banana slices for 2-3 minutes on the first side. Once the banana has browned, flip and repeat on the other side. 1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
- Repeat with remaining bananas.
- Serve the caramelized bananas warm however you'd like!
Notes
- If you want to make caramelized bananas without sugar, you can use Stevia or an alternative sugar substitute.
- You could also flavor the bananas with rum, bourbon, maple syrup, coconut extract or almond extract.
- Make vegan caramelized bananas by using vegan butter or coconut oil. And if all you have is unsalted butter, add a dash of salt.
- These bananas are best served immediately after making them, but if store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
Nutrition
Calories: 498kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 219mg | Potassium: 390mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 766IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 72mg | Iron: 1mg
Can you freeze the caramelized bananas?