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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.
Chocolate Banana Bundt Cake
Banana Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Ginger Glaze
Old Fashioned Banana Cake
Chocolate Banana Snack Cake
Vintage Banana Nut Bread
Banana Date Cake with Walnut and Honey Glaze
Banana Rum Raisin Cake
So no more throwing away overripe bananas! There are lots of great recipes to use them in. Your family will love you for it!
If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy Easy and Delicious Loaf Cakes.
Reader Interactions
That banana gingerbread loaf peaked my interest. Great recipe April!!
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April Harris saysThank you so much, Cindy 🙂
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- Clare says
So many wonderful recipes April I don’t know which to try first – but I have a whole bunch of bananas so I might do two 🙂
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- April Harris says
Thank you, Clare. I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Thank you so much for attending week 2 of #PureBlogLove and linking your fantastic blog post, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for our party this week Thursday 8 PM EST- Sundays at midnight .
Have a great dayReply
- April Harris says
Thank you, Heidy. Hope you have a great day too 🙂
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- Rattlebridge Farm--Foodie Friday says
Nice to see you again, April. Love your new website!
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- April Harris says
Thank you so much, Michael 🙂
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- Miz Helen says
Hi April,
What a wonderful collection of Banana Goodness! This is a fantastic recipe and thanks so much for sharing it with us. Hope to see you again real soon at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz HelenReply
- April Harris says
Thank you so much, Miz Helen 🙂
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- Diane Balch says
These are really terrific things to do with bananas. I pinned this to a round up board. Thanks for bringing this to Weekend Bites.
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- April Harris says
Thank you, Diane, and thank you for pinning too 🙂
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- Michelle says
Two and a half hours lol! It does feel like that, doesn’t it?
I’m one of those people who thinks that frozen bananas work better in baked items. It may all just be in my head though. The chocolate banana bundt cake is calling to me, April.
Thank you for sharing your ideas for those less-than-perfect bananas.Reply
- April Harris says
The Chocolate Banana Bundt cake really is delicious, Michelle. It’s one of my favourites 🙂
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