Recipes to Use Up Overripe Bananas

I love to use fruit and vegetables in breads, cakes and muffins. It’s a great way to sneak the good stuff into your family’s diets as well as using up leftovers. I use squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and more in baking. In particular, I am always excited to find are great recipes to use up overripe bananas.

We are quite fussy about bananas in our house. We don’t like them under-ripe, but we really, really don’t like them over-ripe. This leaves a window of about two and a half hours for optimal banana enjoyment. And as we are a small family, this leaves us with quite a few past their best bananas. As regular readers will know, I can’t bear to waste food so it’s a good thing I have lots of great recipes to use up overripe bananas on hand.

Bananas are hugely nutritious and benefit the body in amazing ways. Heart healthy bananas are high in potassium and may reduce the symptoms of PMS. They also contain tryptophan (converted to serotonin in the body) which stimulates the happy mood transmitters in your brain. A banana before bedtime can help you to sleep. They even help regulate blood sugar and blood pressure! So popping a couple of overripe bananas in your baked goods is a great way to bump up nutrition as well as flavour.

If you suddenly find yourself with more overripe bananas than you can possibly bake with, you can pop them in the freezer for later. Simply peel and place in an airtight container in the freezer. Thaw completely before use. I’ve heard a lot of people say that bananas that have been frozen are even nicer in baked goods than those that have not!

Over the years I have accumulated quite a collection of great recipes to use up overripe bananas. These are just a few of my favourites.