Easy tips for freezing old overripe bananas so you can use them to bake the most delicious banana cakes, muffins, and banana bread recipes.
The next time you find overripe bananas in your fruit basket place them in the freezer and use them for baking. Soft, overripe bananas are the best to bake with, and they can be frozen for several months before being thawed to make cakes, bread, and muffins.
I shared my Banana Weet-bix Muffins recipe a while back and mentioned that I baked these muffins because I needed to use up a few bananas I had in the freezer. Quite a few readers mentioned they had no idea you could freeze bananas. My kids love bananas, however there are times when I purchase too many, they go soft, and then the kids refuse to eat them. Rather than waste them, I cook with them – soft, over ripe bananas are the best to bake with! If you don’t have time to bake though, freezing them until you’re ready is the next best thing!
A Few Ways You Can Freeze Bananas:
1. Whole with the peel on.
2. Whole with the peel off. Place in a freezer/ziplock bag to prevent freezer burn. They may turn brown, but this can be prevented by brushing them with lemon juice.
3. Peeled and sliced. Place in reusable silicone freezer bag (check out these Stasher bags here – I love them!), a freeze-able container or ziplock bag and use for smoothies. Again they may go brown, so brush them with lemon juice if you want to avoid this.
How To Use Frozen Bananas With The Skin On:
- Place in freezer with peel still on.
- On the day you’d like to use them in a recipe, leave them on the bench to thaw for approx. 2 hours.
- If you don’t have time for them to thaw, defrost them in microwave for a few minutes on medium.
- Once thawed remove peel, add banana to a bowl and mash.
Note:
- The peel with go brown in the freezer as you can see in the picture above.
- When thawed and peeled bananas will be an opaque brown, but trust me, whilst they don’t look the best they are still very tasty in a recipe that requires bananas.
- I rarely use fresh bananas in my recipes because I always have a stock of them in the freezer.
A Tasty Banana-Freezer Snack!
These Banana Peanut Butter Drops are so easy to make, and make a great afternoon snack for the kids!
Simply chop up a few bananas and place them on a tray in the freezer for a few hours (I like to use this Silicone Bakeware Baking Tray because the bananas don’t stick to it when they freeze). Then pull them out, add a dollop of peanut butter to each one and a chocolate chip – so easy and so yummy!
More Yummy Banana Recipes!
Banana and Date Muffins – this recipe packs a punch in the fibre and energy department! A great one to feed to growing kiddies. View recipe here.
Banana Chocolate Energy Balls – a healthy, delicious and nut-free snack that’s perfect for the kids’ school lunchboxes. View recipe here.
Caramel Banana Cake – this is such a yummy (and very decadent!) cake recipe. View recipe here.
Banana Weet-Bix Muffins – this recipe won’t just use up those overripe bananas, but those Weet-Bix crumbs in the bottom of the box too! View recipe here.
Banana Choc Chip Cookies – these cookies are lovely and soft. They are perfect with a hot cuppa! View the recipe here.
Banana and Maple Syrup Bread – this recipe is really quick and easy – it only takes 10 minutes to prep! View recipe here.
Chocolate Banana Muffins – a quick and easy freezer-friendly muffin recipe that’s perfect for an easy after-school snack. View recipe here.
What’s your favourite banana recipe?
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27 comments
We rarely have bananas long enough in this house for me to get them to the freezer. My kids and husband devour them. Fav. Banana recipe is ABC Muffins: http://www.stuffwiththing.com/2008/06/abc-muffins/ super tasty and they freeze really well so you can make a heap at once and have them in freezer for school lunches.
the ABC muffins look great marita, yummo!!
Thank you 🙂 I try to tell myself they are healthy snacks… 😀
we have also used this method and pureed it for banana icecream… just not thawed…
will definitely give this a go, would be a nice summer treat, thanks Rebecca for the tip
In summer, eat banana’s frozen. Peel them & eat. So creamy & better than an ice cream 🙂
Why have I not heard of this before, so many people are suggesting the same thing, I’m definitely going to try this thanks Ollie
We love banana ice-cream – frozen bananas blended in food processor for 3-5 minutes, very creamy!
I’m definitely going to try this idea, sounds delicious and would be a healthy option, thanks Kylie!
A famous TV chef in my country once said that overripe bananas are best for desserts and baking. Also if you blend frozen banana until its creamy and add some nutella, it’ll taste and look like ice cream. 🙂
–Anne’s Scribbles and Doodles
I have never blended frozen banana, I might have to try this, might be a good way to use up my abundance of frozen bananas. Thanks for the tip Anne
Oh yes you must try it! I blend them with ice and milk, and sometimes add some vanilla essence or cocoa (or drinking chocolate – whatever I have), for icy banana smoothies – banana slushies really. The kids love them!
You’re welcome Katrina! Trust me it tastes so good! If you blend them well enough the consistency really resembles ice cream. You can even put them on cones! 🙂
I always have banana ice cream made of frozen bananas in my freezer as noone likes ripped bananas in our house. If you add some Nutella, it tastes like real ice cream. It’s healthy for the kids and they love it. You should try it. You can check my recipe here: http://ioannasnotebook.blogspot.gr/2015/06/1-1-ingredient-banana-ice-cream.html
I freeze ’em both ways. Frozen peeled bananas are best for making banana slushies in summer – because you use them still frozen, and it’s hard to get the peel off. So I usually have some peeled in the freezer during summer. But I always have some unpeeled ones, they’re heaps easier to mash for baking with once they’re frozen 🙂
OMG – banana ice cream – we just shove a heap of the frozen bananas in the blender and it makes the BEST banana ice cream!
I peel my bananas and break or cut them in half then pop into a freezer bag. They dont go brown at all. I have mushed up bananas and frozen in my isis breast milk containers and they go brownish.
We use bananas in smoothies and in baking. I have previously stored them frozen in the skin but struggled to get skin off 🙁
I’ve been freezing bananas unpeeled. I put them in oats/porridge before microwaving. I also use them to make banana pancakes – both great for breakfast 🙂
Yum, that sounds really good Leanne!
We always have frozen bananas. I peel, break them up and store in a zip lock bag …. There is never less than three bags in my freezer. My kids love smoothies so most mornings for breakfast or after school snack I make them a smoothie with frozen bananas, natural yogurt, 1 x weetbix, tbls chia seeds, 1 tsp hiney and almond milk ….. They are delicious and the kids get a good hit of goodness while they think they are having a treat!
Fantastic idea, Jenn! And i love the sound of your healthy smoothies, yummy,:)
Banana ice cream is delicious and healthy! There’s a recipe for it at http://www.mythermomixkitchen.com. Can use a food processor instead if a thermomix.
Ooh Lisa that sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing, i will be looking into making this.:)
I usually buy those bags of discounted bananas at the grocery store or fruit shop that are really cheap because their overripe purposely for freezing for baking. I have often bought a bag of 7 or 8 bananas like this for $1 or less total
I peel and slice my bananas and put them in a ziplock bag (flatten out contents). This way they stack well in the freezer, blend easier, thaw quicker and break up easily if you don’t need all of it. Three bananas in each bag is ideal – enough for a banana loaf, muffins or a couple of smoothies.
Loved this article! Super useful information for any shoppers out there who have bought too many bananas on sale. Would it be okay for us to share it on our campaign page? We’re aiming to share similar recipes on how to make the most of the excess fruit and veges we buy, instead of just throwing them out when they get bruised or brown! In Australia we throw out the equivalent of up to one in five bags of groceries that we buy- it’s time to shop for groceries smarter or (at the very least) learn how to cook better with what we have.
http://www.facebook.com/stillgoodstopwastingfood
I freeze my old bananas with the skin on then microwave for 1 minute. This leaves the banana firm and the skin soft for removal, otherwise, they tend to be too mushy to handle easily. I use them for muffins, thickshakes, and sweet curries.