If you’re trying to save money on groceries, the last thing you want to do is throw food away! Wasting food, simply put, is wasting money.
In the past I’ve shared 7 ways to use milk that is almost expired to help people not waste one of the most common staples in our kitchens.
Today we’ll look at bananas! Bananas are the perfect healthy snack to have on hand. Nature even has them conveniently individually wrapped for us! It can be tricky to be always stocked with bananas, though, as they can ripen fast, especially in the summer.
The good news is that there’s no such thing as a bad banana. Even a very overripe banana can be saved and given another (very delicious) life. I’ll share with you my top five uses for overripe bananas so you’ll never need to toss them out again!
What constitutes an overripe banana?
First, let’s talk about exactly what constituted an overripe banana.
As bananas ripen they get sweeter and softer. Whether a banana is underripe, overripe, or just perfect is partly personal preference. For some people, even one brown spot is overripe, while others prefer a well-speckled banana.
Test and texture aside, bananas become less appealing (no pun intended!) as they get brown. In the summer, an overripe banana will summon fruit flies from who knows where, a clear sign it’s time to use ‘em or lose ‘em.
While brown bananas may be too soft, squishy, and ripe for you to enjoy fresh, overripe bananas have many great uses for baking and other treats.
Great Ways to Use Overripe Bananas
There is no need to throw away brown bananas ever again! With these 5 smart ways to use overripe bananas, you’ll never waste another banana!
1- Banana bread
If you do any sort of baking, you probably already know that overripe bananas are the perfect ingredient for banana bread. What you might not know is that overripe bananas can be frozen to make banana bread in the future. Here’s our favorite moist and delicious banana bread recipe.
At the end of the post, I’ll share two tried and true methods for freezing bananas, so you can bake your banana bread whenever it’s convenient for you.
2-Banana Pancakes
In our house banana pancakes are a welcome sight any day of the week. We don’t even have to sleep in and pretend like it’s the weekend. 😉 The best part is there’s no recipe required. Just add mashed banana to your pancake batter, no matter if it is a lot or a little. It always turns out great!
If you’re looking for whole wheat pancakes, here’s our go-to homemade whole wheat pancake mix that we keep in the pantry.
3- Smoothies
Our family loves smoothies with whatever fruits we have on hand. Adding bananas to smoothies makes them nice and creamy. You can use overripe bananas that are fresh or frozen. You don’t even need a recipe. Just throw some bananas along with some frozen berries and milk or juice.
To save time, you can freeze smoothie kits by adding all of the solid ingredients to a freezer bag. Here are some of my best money-saving smoothie tips.
4- One-ingredient “ice cream” (dairy-free)
While it’s not technically ice cream as there is no cream or dairy in this treat, the smooth and creamy consistency is shockingly similar. Peel, slice and freeze your overripe bananas, then toss them in the blender or food processor until they are smooth. You don’t need other ingredients, but if you want to add vanilla or chocolate or peanut butter, that will be delicious too!
5- Banana cake
My college roommate had a well-loved recipe for banana cake with brown sugar topping that she would make any time we had spotty brown bananas. Sadly, I have lost the recipe and haven’t found another to replace it.
Until I find that beloved recipe, we’ve been enjoying this moist and flavorful banana cake with cream cheese frosting. Whichever route you go, banana cake is a great way to use up those overripe bananas.
How to freeze overripe bananas
In case you’re like me and can’t drop everything to make banana treats as soon as those brown spots appear, here are two great methods for freezing bananas so they are ready whenever you are!
Method 1 for Freezing Bananas:
My preferred method for freezing overripe bananas is to peel the bananas and cut (or break) them in half (or smaller pieces if you want). If you are freezing lots of bunches of bananas, you will want to first lay them out on a cookie sheet and freeze for several hours before putting the frozen bananas into a freezer bag. This way the bananas won’t freeze to each other in a big banana mass.
If you’re only freezing a couple of bananas, you can get away with skipping the flash freezing step. Be sure to lay the bag flat in the freezer so that there is minimal touching of the bananas. I usually freeze bananas this way so I can use the bananas individually for smoothies if I want.
If you’re planning to use the bananas all at once for baking, then it doesn’t really matter if they are touching because you will thaw them all at the same time before using them anyway.
Method 2 for Freezing Bananas:
Let’s say you notice overripe bananas on the counter as you’re running out the door to catch a plane for a two-week vacation. You can freeze bananas in their peels if you are in a total hurry and don’t have time for the other way. This isn’t my preferred method, but it works.
Frozen bananas in peels are not very fun to deal with. The frozen banana peel turns completely black and the bananas have to thaw a while before you can get the peel off. I usually score the peel with a knife or fork to help take it off more easily. I’m not going to lie, though. It’s a little gross.
The plus side is that you don’t even need a plastic bag when you freeze bananas in their peels since the peels protect the bananas from freezer burn.
How do YOU use overripe bananas?
Here’s a random fun fact: In graduate school, my dad, a geneticist, did research on fruit flies. In order to attract his specimens, he travelled to various parts of the country with carloads of brown bananas. He got his fill of banana aroma and to this day he will not eat bananas or anything made with them. He’s totally missing out!
What constitutes an overripe banana for you?
What are YOUR favorite ways to use overripe bananas?
If you have a favorite recipe please share!
We frequently get a box of bananas from a friend due to the grocery store being unable to sell them anymore. Sometimes they can still be eaten fresh and sometimes just need to get frozen or baked with. But that’s about how I use them. Monkey smoothies with peanut butter, milk , and frozen bananas. Banana pancakes, sometimes banana cake. Share with friends.
This is our favorite recipe: https://www.kimscravings.com/gluten-free-banana-oat-waffles/
Easy to make and the oatmeal makes them very filling. I always double the recipe and put in an extra banana or two. The whole family loves them and easy to adapt for dairy/gluten allergies.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing! We’ll be trying this for sure!