Sometimes the simplest of ingredients make the most delicious of desserts. These pan fried bananas are one of those recipes.
Caramelized bananas coated in cinnamon sugar goodness and cooked in a frying pan until golden brown? An easy banana dessert doesn’t get much better than this!
Frying and deep frying bananas and plantains has long been a famous dish in many cultures, but this version is very much American. And basic, let’s just call it what it is.
Fried Bananas Recipe
Table of Contents
But some things are best basic. Sticky honey caramelizes and creates a delicious sauce that coats each slice of banana. Spiked with cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg and salt for balance and that is all you need.
This recipe is different from the rest because:
- It is easy to make and only takes about 5 minutes from start to finish.
- This easy recipe is slightly more sophisticated than most since if uses nutmeg and is also balanced with salt, meaning that it is not only kid-friendly, but also more complex for adults.
- It uses bananas before they are ripe. We are relying on the caramelization and process and unlike most baked goods that use ripe or overly ripe bananas, this one actually needs the nice, hard bananas that are still a bit green with minimal brown spots.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter- Just a little goes a long way for these fried bananas and help to preventing sticking and to thin out the sauce a tad. Omit the dash of salt if you are using salted butter.
- Bananas- This is one of the few recipes where greener, just yellow firm bananas are actually better than overripe bananas. The heat will bring out natural sugars and help them caramelize and infuse the honey sauce. Soft bananas will just kind of fall apart when cooking.
- Honey- Infused honey or raw honey are also options, as is agave nectar or maple syrup. Lavender honey is fantastic!
- Ground cinnamon & nutmeg- Sweet bananas are delicious, but they are even better with warm spices like cinnamon or nutmeg.
- Coarse kosher salt- Helps to bring out natural flavors of the fried bananas and balance the sweetness. It can be omitted.
Now all you need to do it heat up the skillet and toss it all together! It only takes about 5 minutes for the sauce to thin and marry in order to fully coat the banana slices. From there, just figure out how you want to eat them.
What to Put Fried Bananas On
Besides just eating them on their own, fried cinnamon bananas can be enjoyed as part of many other delectable desserts or anything that has a bananas foster type of vibe.
Put them on top of breakfast favorites for a special breakfast treat, or eat them on their own with some chocolate sauce and whipped cream for a delicious treat. These are some of my favorite ways to use them:
- Spoon over vanilla ice cream
- Vanilla pound cake topper
- On a banana split
- On biscuits
- Angel food cake
- Trifles
- French toast
- On banana bread
- On top of pancakes
More banana desserts:
Cinnamon Honey Bananas
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
- 2 bananas , sliced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- dash ground nutmeg
- dash coarse kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat a large non stick skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter.
- When butter is melted, add the bananas, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss to coat and warm thoroughly. When the honey starts to caramelize and the mixture is warm, remove from the heat and serve.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings!
kushigalu
Drooling over this delicious banana recipe. SOmething that I have never tried before. Pinned.
Cynthia | What A Girl Eats
Love how simple this is! It was a hit in our house over ice cream.
Serena
I love making these. We usually put them on a crepe and enjoy 🙂
Dana
This is GENIUS. My kiddo was stoked to see these bananas piled over his waffles over the weekend. I couldn’t stop picking at them 😉
Sara Welch
Served this for breakfast this morning and it was a hit all around the table! Such a fun and tasty recipe; easily, a new favorite!