A couple of weeks ago I had a fierce craving for homemade banana bread but there were no ripe bananas to be had! Sometimes I will throw bananas that are past the point of eating in the freezer to use in banana bread later, but I didn’t even have any of those. I was out of luck. In all the years I’ve been cooking, the only time I ever make banana bread is when I have overripe bananas on hand. But I guess my craving was particularly compelling on this day because I decided to see if there was any way I could make banana bread with just a regular bunch of bananas straight from the grocery store.
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Guess what!? There is! This was truly a baking epiphany for me and my banana bread-making will never be the same!
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As soon as you find out how simple it is you’ll probably be kicking yourself (like I was!) for not figuring this out sooner. But hey, better late than never, right!?
Instead of waiting days on end for fresh bananas to get mushy enough for good banana bread, here’s a method that will turn them into perfect banana bread bananas in 30 minutes.
How To Ripen Bananas FAST!
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Take a bunch of bananas from the grocery store and separate them from each other.
Lay them out on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the skin is shiny black.
Remove and let cool for at least 30 minutes before using (or toss them in the fridge to speed things up even more.)
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The heat causes the sugar in the bananas to come out faster so you’re left with a super-soft and extra-sweet final product, perfect for use in banana bread, muffins, pancakes, etc!
To use:
Cut or tear a very small piece off the bottom end of the banana and squeeze the banana out like you’re squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. I just squeeze the bananas directly into the bowl of my stand mixer and start baking! To make things even easier, check out one of my favorite banana bread recipes with only four ingredients!
Related: This Is The Easiest Banana Bread You Will Ever Make
Or there’s always my gluten-free recipe that you would be hard-pressed to tell apart from regular banana bread.
Gluten-Free Banana Bread
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 cups gluten-free flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 mashed bananas
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour 2 bread pans. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and bananas. Mix well. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together and add to the mixture. Mix until well combined and then add vanilla. Finally, fold in the sour cream. (I just added it to the mixing bowl and gently mixed it until just combined.)
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Now when I get a particularly powerful craving for homemade banana bread, I know just how to cure it! Fast!
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Genius!!!!! Thank you for sharing, this will definitely make it easier to make recipes calling for overripe bananas. I rarely have them on hand when I want them, since who wants to wait 3-4 days to make a recipe? Game changer!
I’d like to know how to stop bananas from ripening! Mine ripen so fast, I have to throw them away. I throw away far more than I eat.
You can stick them in the fridge once they are ripe :-) The peels might turn black, but the banana will stay just perfect!
You need to seriously put a warning label on this post!! The smell of the bananas in the oven…to die for!! I just want to eat them! Hahaha
:-)
Looks really tasty, wanna try it as soon as i’ll get bananas on hand.
Thanks
[…] Or how about when you NEED to make banana bread NOW (or just need ripe bananas but all you have are green ones)? No need to worry – ripen your bananas in a snap now! […]
[…] not have an overripe bunch stashed and ready to go. So follow this suggestion from Jill Nystul of One Good Thing by Jillee and roast whole bananas in the oven for 40 minutes at 300° F to ripen them. They’ll end up […]
Thanks for the great recipe! I will try this next time we are craving banana bread!
[…] This particular recipe for banana bread was featured on a site that I absolutely adore called One Good Thing By Jillee. On the site Jillee shares a smart tip on how to prepare banana bread without having ripe […]
If you are looking to reduce your (cane) sugar intake, try a half cup of puréed dates in place of sugar. You can also use applesauce or any other fruit you like to add sweetness with greater depth of flavor than sugar provides.
There’s also Sunsweet Lighter Bake on the baking aisle or available on Amazon. I’ve used it for years. Can’t find it? Try a jar of baby food prunes. I find that using applesauce overwhelms the bananas with the taste of apples. Yum!
I am so excited to try this! I am making your 3 ingredient banana bread for an event tomorrow & only have 2 over ripe bananas (someone must have eaten the other 2 – yuck!) but I have yellow bananas that I’m going to throw in the oven right now. Jillie to the rescue! Thank you.