20 LEFTOVER BANANA DESSERT RECIPES
Leftover bananas are an excellent ingredient to have in your kitchen, especially when it comes to making delicious desserts. Whether you're looking to create creamy and velvety treats or trying to incorporate fresh fruit into your recipes, bananas can add a unique sweetness to your dish.
Read more to discover 20 leftover banana recipes, how to store bananas and ways you can use bananas in a variety of other dishes.
BANANA DESSERT RECIPES
There are countless ways to use leftover bananas in recipes, especially desserts. Bananas are an ideal ingredient when making batters for recipes like cakes, cupcakes and even doughnuts.
They have also become a popular ingredient for recipes that call for a binder or natural sweetener and can be a delicious substitute in certain vegan dishes. Discover the ample possibilities for your leftover bananas with these recipes.
1. BANANA BREAD
Transform a bunch of brown bananas on your kitchen countertop into scrumptious banana bread. This dessert is a comforting classic but can easily become your own. Use your KitchenAid® stand mixer and flat beater accessory to mash the bananas and mix the batter before adding complementary ingredients like chocolate chips, peanut butter, warm spices or blueberries.
2. FRUIT SMOOTHIES
Incorporate frozen bananas when crafting your fruit smoothies to make them thick, creamy and more filling. Adding bananas into your KitchenAid® blender with other wet and dry ingredients can help bind everything together and prevent your smoothie from becoming too watery.
Try putting your own spin on a smoothie with inspiration from recipes like this apple pie smoothie.
3. NICE CREAM
Sweet, ripe, frozen bananas are an essential ingredient in nice cream, a healthy ice cream alternative. Quarter your bananas before adding them into either your KitchenAid® food processor or KitchenAid® blender along with fruits, milk substitutes and natural sweeteners.
Using more bananas in the recipe can help increase the creaminess of your dessert. It can also be fun to use different ingredients to create multiple versions of banana ice cream.
4. BANANA PUDDING
Layer slices of leftover bananas between custard and vanilla wafers to create a luscious bowl of banana pudding. This southern comfort is full of charm and can be elevated with homemade meringue or whipped cream as a topping.
5. DEHYDRATED BANANAS
Learning how to dehydrate bananas can help you turn leftover bananas into a long-lasting snack. Dehydrate your bananas in easy-to-eat strips or slices and keep them in a sealed container to maintain their freshness. These are perfect to have as an on-the-go snack when you’re traveling or to use as a garnish on top of smoothies or ice cream.
Using an air fryer countertop oven is a great way to dehydrate fruits, like bananas, without needing a dehydrator. KitchenAid® countertop ovens come with 9 preset cooking functions, including dehydrate, opening up more possibilities in the kitchen.
6. BANANA SPLIT SUNDAES
Create a delectable banana split sundae with your sweet, ripe bananas. If you don’t have ice cream in your freezer, you can always make your own using the KitchenAid® ice cream maker attachment.
Use ingredients that complement your bananas, such as those used in pineapple coconut ice cream or strawberry poppy seed. Put two scoops of your selected frozen treat into the bowl before adding your bananas, syrups and a fresh cherry on top.
7. BANANA CREAM PIE
Banana cream pie is a smooth, velvety dessert that highlights the subtle sweetness of leftover bananas. Use your KitchenAid® food processor to create a cohesive graham cracker crust before blending additional ingredients, like bananas, sugar, eggs and cream together to create a thick pudding.
To finalize your banana cream pie, make homemade whipped cream to top it off and sprinkle crushed peanuts to add more diverse textures.
8. BANANAS FOSTER
Finesse your leftover bananas into a classic plate of bananas foster. Gather bananas, cinnamon, rum and banana liqueur together before melting butter and sugar into a pan. Begin to caramelize the bananas before adding rum and banana liqueur to flambé them. Serve on a plate with a delicate side of vanilla ice cream.
9. BANANA DOUGHNUTS
For a more fun and creative take on banana-based desserts, try your hand at making doughnuts. These roasted banana chocolate sprinkle baked doughnuts combine the best flavors of a banana split into a single confection.
Combine caramelized bananas into your KitchenAid® stand mixer, along with other ingredients like flour, salt, sugar, egg and more before baking or frying your scrumptious pastries.
10. FRUIT TART
Weave your extra bananas amongst an ensemble of fruits to make a fresh fruit tart. Use fruits that have contrasting textures and flavors, such as bananas, kiwis, blackberries and mangoes to create a dish that delights your palate.
Use your KitchenAid® food processor to incorporate your ingredients for the crust and pastry cream before layering your sliced fruits in a pleasing pattern on top.
11. BANANA ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Banana dulce de leche ice cream sandwiches have all the familiar textures of your favorite chilled treat but with Latin American flair and flavors. Use your KitchenAid® stand mixer, blender and ice cream maker attachment to create your creamy banana ice cream filling.
Then, add your filling in between two cinnamon-encrusted sandwich halves and leave in the freezer to chill until you’re ready to serve.
12. CHOCOLATE DIPPED BANANA POPSICLES
Use leftover bananas to create a refreshing frozen dessert, like chocolate dipped banana popsicles. Beat bananas, honey, vanilla and sea salt together in your KitchenAid® stand mixer with the flat beater accessory before adding milk and setting in a mold to freeze overnight.
Dip each popsicle in a small amount of chocolate before sprinkling on your favorite topping. Coconut shavings, nuts, sprinkles and flaky salt can give your popsicles more depth of flavor.
13. CHOCOLATE BANANA PEANUT BUTTER PIE
Incorporate sliced bananas into a comforting chocolate banana peanut butter pie. Make the graham cracker pie crust, decadent peanut butter filling and airy chocolate whipped cream before laying your sliced bananas on top, along with rich milk chocolate chips.
14. CARAMELIZED BANANAS
For desserts where bananas aren’t the star of the show, you can use bananas as a side item or garnish if you have some left over. Caramelize your bananas to extract more sweetness and add another sugary dimension to your desserts, such as this grilled pound cake with caramelized bananas.
Fry your bananas in a hot pan with sugar, cinnamon and a splash of water until they become brown and sticky. These can be enjoyed on their own or also complement a subtly sweet vanilla bean ice cream.
15. BANOFFEE PIE
Incorporate leftover bananas into a buttery, rich banoffee pie. This English dessert puts a fun twist on a classic pie using components like toffee and molasses, whipped cream and a crispy cookie crust. Combine your cookie of choice with butter and mix together using your KitchenAid® food processor.
Caramelize condensed milk on the stovetop before pouring into your baked crust. Then, carefully top with your leftover bananas in a fun pattern before adding whipped cream.
16. BANANA CUPCAKES
If you have a lot of leftover ripe bananas, use them as the base for a muffin batter. Banana kiss-in-the-middle cupcakes hide a delightful surprise in the middle: a sweet piece of chocolate. Create the batter, which is similar to banana bread batter, using your KitchenAid® stand mixer before filling your muffin tin with the batter and placing in the oven.
Be sure to cover your chocolate completely so that it melts within the muffins and doesn’t seep outside of your batter.
17. FRUIT PARFAIT
A variety of sliced fruits, including leftover bananas, can help you assemble a colorful fruit parfait. Use your KitchenAid® 13-Cup Food Processor to slice fruits like strawberries and bananas before mixing together heavy whipping cream, vanilla and confectioner’s sugar to make a whipped cream topping.
Slice fruits like strawberries, bananas and kiwis, while leaving ingredients like blueberries whole to create a visually pleasing dessert.
18. HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
Hummingbird cake is a moist Southern confection that has characteristics similar to carrot cake, but instead calls for crushed pineapple, leftover bananas and pecans. Add ingredients like flour, sugar, cinnamon, eggs and vanilla to your KitchenAid® stand mixer and flat beater to make your cake batter. Then add your fruits and chopped toasted pecans.
Hummingbird cakes typically have three layers with frosting spread evenly between each of them. Use cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla to make the scrumptious cream cheese frosting, spreading it both between the layers and on top. If you have extra bananas, you can place them on top of your cake, too.
19. BANANA MUFFINS
Use bananas and additional fruits and nuts to make delicious banana muffins. Ingredients like nuts, carrots and strawberries can pair well with bananas. Recipes like these zucchini carrot muffins can help give you an idea of how to subtly incorporate bananas into your desserts.
Whenever you’re exploring a new recipe and want to include bananas, keep in mind that bananas work well in batters and can easily blend with other ingredients like flour, sugar, and sweeteners to create cakes, cupcakes and more.
20. BANANA BEIGNET
Create a more sophisticated bite-sized doughnut by using leftover bananas to make beignets. Mix bananas into a beignet batter before prepping cinnamon sugar to coat your confection. Then, use your KitchenAid® Over-the-Range Convection Microwave to air fry your beignets or fry them in a deep fryer.
Once golden, roll your beignets in the sugar and consume while they’re still warm and fresh.
HOW LONG DO BANANAS LAST IN THE FRIDGE?
You can typically refrigerate ripened bananas for up to two days. After bananas have been refrigerated, they won’t continue to ripen, so be sure to store them only when they have reached your desired level of ripeness. Bananas should only be refrigerated once they’ve ripened because if you refrigerate them too soon, they could develop a bitter taste.
CAN BANANAS BE FROZEN FOR LATER USE?
If you want to use bananas for future recipes or begin storing your fruits for meal prepping, it’s recommended that you freeze them in an airtight container. Frozen bananas can last around two months without the peel and around six months if you keep the peel on.
Frozen bananas blend to a cold, creamy texture and are ideal for recipes like smoothies and “nice” cream.
WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO FREEZE BANANAS?
The best way to freeze bananas depends on how you plan to use them in your recipes. You can slice them to use in smoothies or mash them ahead of time for recipes like ginger banana bread.
HOW CAN I TELL IF A BANANA IS BAD?
Although you may not want to eat a tart underripe banana, you certainly don’t want to bite into one that’s overripe. Some signs that your banana has gone bad are mold, decay, strange smells and fruit flies. If you discover your banana has gone bad, toss it in the compost.
CAN I USE BANANAS IN DISHES OTHER THAN DESSERTS?
Although bananas have a mild sweetness that works well in many desserts, they are best known for their presence in breakfast dishes. Recipes like banana pancakes, cinnamon banana french toast, banana bread granola and blueberry crunch acai bowls can help you make use of your leftover bananas and fruits.
Other recipes for leftover bananas include protein shakes, like this banana peanut butter protein smoothie and snacks like fruit leather. You can also slice your plain bananas before drizzling with chocolate, peanut butter or crumbling nuts and granola on top. Using bananas often in your recipes, whether dessert or otherwise, will help you understand their flavor and how to pair them with other ingredients.
EXPLORE KITCHENAID® STAND MIXERS
Countless dessert recipes call for delicious ingredients as well as essential kitchen appliances, such as the KitchenAid® stand mixer. With many compatible attachments1 and accessories, the KitchenAid® stand mixer is designed to complement every way you make.
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