55 Banana Recipes to Make Before Bananas Go Extinct or Whatever

Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people. Last week, we got our caffeine fix via baked goods that looked irresistible.
food3
Has anyone told you lately that soon there may be no bananas left? This is not a drill, y’all. I eat like five to twelve bananas a week and I have got to tell you that this is serious fucking business and even though this claim is most likely already debunked on snopes.com, I’m determined to live out the rest of my days in homage to the greatest fruit there ever has been in my life: the super-filling, embarrassingly phallic, amazingly satisfying banana.


1. Magnolia Bakery’s Famous Banana Pudding


2. Banana Pie Cookies

Banana Pie Cookies


3. Banana Nutella Trifle

Banana Nutella Trifle


4. Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake

Caramelized Banana Upside Down Cake


5. Bananas Foster Crepes

Bananas Foster Crepes


6. Banana Bundt Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

Banana Bundt Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze


7. Grandma’s Buttermilk Banana Cake

Grandma’s Buttermilk Banana Cake


8. Banana Split Lasagna

Banana Split Lasagna


9. One Bowl Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls

One Bowl Banana Bread Cinnamon Rolls


10. Breakfast Banana Split

Breakfast Banana Split


11. Banana Nutella Croissants

Banana Nutella Croissants


12. Banana Fritters with Vanilla Caramel Sauce

Banana Fritters with Vanilla Caramel Sauce


13. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones


14. Sweet Potato Banana Bites

Sweet Potato Banana Bites


15. Peanut Butter Banana Cups

Peanut Butter Banana Cups


16. Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies


17. Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake

Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake


18. Caramel Banana Slab Pie

Caramel Banana Slab Pie


19. Easy Banana Snack Cake

Easy Banana Snack Cake


20. Peanut Butter and Banana Ravioli


21. Clean Eating Banana Wrap

Clean Eating Banana Wrap


22. Banana Bread English Muffin

Banana Bread English Muffin


23. Famous Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread


24. Peanut Butter & Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches

Peanut Butter _ Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches


25. Homemade Banana Flips

Homemade Banana Flips


26. Mini Bananas Foster Cheesecakes

Mini Bananas Foster Cheesecakes


27. Baked Cinnamon Banana Chips

Baked Cinnamon Banana Chips


28. Banana Pudding Cheesecake Blondies

Banana Pudding Cheesecake Blondies


29. Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal Bake

Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal Bake


30. Overnight Bananas Foster French Toast Casserole

Overnight Bananas Foster French Toast Casserole


31. Mini Banana Coconut Cream Pies

Mini Banana Coconut Cream Pies


32. Old Fashioned Banana Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Old Fashioned Banana Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


33. Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird Cake


34. Low Sugar Banana Nut Scones

Low Sugar Banana Nut Scones


35. Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Muffins

Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Muffins


36. Double Chocolate Banana Cake

Double Chocolate Banana Cake


37. Bananadoodles

Bananadoodles


38. Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Pizza

Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Pizza


39. Fluffy Banana Pancakes

Fluffy Banana Pancakes


40. Caramel Banana Cake Roll

Caramel Banana Cake Roll


41. Banana Choco Hazelnut Cake

Banana Choco Hazelnut Cake


42. Chocolate and Marshmallow BBQ Bananas

Chocolate and Marshmallow BBQ Bananas


43. Fried Honey Bananas

Fried Honey Bananas


44. Banana Oat Baked French Toast

Banana Oat Baked French Toast


45. Strawberry Banana Oat Bars

Strawberry Banana Oat Bars


46. 10 Minute Baked Banana Bread Donut Holes

10 Minute Baked Banana Bread Donut Holes


47. Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins

Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins


48. Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana and Peanut Butter Bites

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana and Peanut Butter Bites


49. Baked Banana Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

Baked Banana Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze


50. Banana Pudding Cake

Banana Pudding Cake


51. Best Banana Cream Pie

Best Banana Cream Pie (1)


52. Fudgy Banana Bars with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze

Fudgy Banana Bars with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze


53. Banana Breakfast Bars

Banana Breakfast Bars


54. Banana Coconut Cookies

Banana Coconut Cookies


55. Banana Cream Cheesecake

Banana Cream Cheesecake

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Carmen

Carmen spent six years at Autostraddle, ultimately serving as Straddleverse Director, Feminism Editor and Social Media Co-Director. She is now the Consulting Digital Editor at Ms. and writes regularly for DAME, the Women’s Media Center, the National Women’s History Museum and other prominent feminist platforms; her work has also been published in print and online by outlets like BuzzFeed, Bitch, Bust, CityLab, ElixHER, Feministing, Feminist Formations, GirlBoss, GrokNation, MEL, Mic and SIGNS, and she is a co-founder of Argot Magazine. You can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr or in the drive-thru line at the nearest In-N-Out.

Carmen has written 919 articles for us.

22 Comments

  1. My brother’s birthday is coming up next week, and this is honestly the most perfect list of potential things I could make for him!?
    Thank you! I now have, like, 20 tabs open, ready to check out which ones seem do-able in my tiny studio flat kitchen!

  2. Is there anything bananas can’t do? Once I had a banana curry in Cambodia and it was the best thing in the world.

  3. Banana was my first word. They are my favourite food. This article is both a dream and a reminder of my impeding nightmare.

  4. I only like fresh bananas in the tiny window between still kinda green and deep yellow all over, so I end up with leftover ripe bananas all the time, and there is only so much banana bread a person can eat, so this list is great. Digging those strawberry banana oatmeal squares.

    • I only buy one banana at a time, two max. Overripe bananas are too much a metaphor for missed potential, I just can’t cope.

    • This is how my room-mate ends up eating half the bananas I buy. It truly is a small window to squeeze through.

  5. Due to my food issues/dietary restrictions, there are always some recipes in these posts that I wouldn’t eat. I’m excited to announce that this time around, I would happily eat EVERYTHING posted here. I love bananas and how well they go with chocolate, peanut butter, etc. My biggest complaint about the banana is the ripe situation. Like avocados, the window of perfect ripeness for a banana is super short. I don’t like them when they have any brown spots on them, but when they’re too starchy, yuck. Perfect banana ripeness = happy Rachel.

  6. Story time, once I spent two years on a tiny island in the South Pacific where the main crop was bananas and we had umpteen different kinds of bananas. When the cargo ship came we had lots (a relative term) of different dry goods, but when the cargo ship forgot about us (we really were a tiny island) we ate bananas. For three meals a day. It could be a different kind of banana for every meal, but it was nothing but bananas nonetheless. Also, because the ship hadn’t come, we were out of flour and dry milk and other things that would have enabled us to actually DO something with the bananas besides boil or fry them. Tiny boiled “Vietnam bananas” for breakfast, boiled starchy plantain-like bananas for lunch, fried plantains for dinner. Repeat.

    I have been home for three years and have not taken a single bite of a plain banana, the smell still makes me nauseous. I have made banana bread a couple of times, but haven’t ventured into unknown recipes. Some of these pictures made me ALMOST want to. This article is like a step in the recovery process. Like step eight in a twelve step plan. With the twelfth step eating a banana.

  7. oops. that’s not surprising, I get mad about biodiversity and crops and stuff like once a week, but heritage bananas aren’t something people are excited about yet like tomatoes or apples.

    my vegan gf best best friends were really broke for awhile and lived in Phoenix and ate mostly bananas, it was sort of rough/ their dog LOVED bananas and would try to steal my two-banana breakfast which was super annoying but I have tried to feed bananas to dogs ever since and most of them are def not into it.

    that being said, banana flavored popsicles and laffy taffy are GNAR.

  8. Hummingbird cake is the cutest sounding name and looks delicious.

    Bananas are a staple in my diet, I eat them every day, and it will be a very sad day if they disappear. I have heard the same thing about chocolate and coffee, which also makes me sad.

  9. Why must all my favorite foods be on the verge of extinction? First the situation bees, now this??! How am I supposed to live without honey OR bananas?!?!?!?!

    In the mean time I’m going to go eat my feelings by making every recipe on this list. Yum.

  10. This all looks amazing, thank you! On a side note, I am near the whole sale farmers market and get boxes of bananas for a fair price. Who is in?

Comments are closed.