Need to ripen bananas quickly? Learn how to ripen even the greenest bananas in 20 minutes with this simple method.
Whether you want to learn how to toast pecans or make the creamiest chocolate frosting recipe, I’m here to show you step by step the best methods and recipes!
Why this Method is Best for Ripening Bananas
We’ve all been there. You’ve got all the ingredients laid out for making a perfect loaf of banana bread. Then you realize your bananas are still green, no where near the “very ripe” quality the recipe calls for.
Instead of using unripe bananas or (even worse) denying yourself the joy of freshly baked banana cookies, you can ripen the bananas quickly using your oven!
- Other banana ripening techniques take hours or even days. This method ripens bananas in 20 minutes.
- Ripening bananas in the oven brings out just as much natural sweetness as letting them ripen over time.
- You can ripen multiple bananas for baking at once. Perfect for batch baking!
- All you need is an oven and a baking sheet.
Tips and Tricks
- To ripen bananas in the oven, place them evenly on a baking sheet with the peels intact. The greener the bananas are at the start, the longer they’ll take to ripen.
- We recommend letting them bake until the peels turn black.
- After cooling, remove the peels and mash up your bananas as directed for the recipe you’re making.
- If you’re making banana bread or another recipe that also calls for softened butter, let the butter soften on the counter while you ripen your bananas.
- By the time the bananas are ready, the butter will be perfectly soft and spreadable!
How to Use Ripened Bananas
Ripened Bananas are essential to the sweet banana flavor and moisture in countless recipes from quick breads and banana muffins, to banana cakes and cookies.
This Sour Cream Banana Bread is an all time favorite quick bread that’s delicious on its own or with all kinds of mix ins. If you’re looking for a bread you can serve as both breakfast and dessert, try our Nutella Swirled Banana Bread or this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.
You can even use ripened bananas in baked goods that showcase other flavors like this Chocolate Banana Cake. You’ll love the sweetness and moisture they give our Hummingbird Cake Recipe too.
Recipe FAQs
The oven ripening technique should only be used for bananas you plan to mash. Do not use this method for ripening bananas you plan to slice or eat whole.
Yes, bananas can be mashed then stored in the freezer for future use. The best way to store mashed bananas in the freezer is in an airtight freezer bag with excess air squeezed out. Ripened mashed bananas stay good in the freezer for about 2 months.
You can ripen as many bananas at once as you can fit on your baking sheet (without the bananas touching). For testing this method, we ripened three large bananas which took about 20 minutes.
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How to Ripen Bananas
Ingredients
- 4 bananas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Place bananas on a rimmed baking sheet, spaced equally apart.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the peel has turned black.
- Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Cut the peel open and remove the banana. Mash and use as directed by recipe.
Notes
- While you're softening your butter for baking, you can prep your under-ripe bananas to be ready to bake!
- In order for bananas to be used in baking, such as recipes like breads and cookies, they need to be ripened so that the natural sugars provide sweetness to the recipe. When bananas haven’t reached the ripe stage, this sweetness is lacking. This is a quick and easy way to speed up that process, unlike some other techniques that require 24 hour or even a couple of days.
- This isn’t a process that can be done if you are looking to eat the banana or use it sliced in a dessert. After baking, the texture is very soft and is only suitable for recipes that are using it mashed and mixed into a batter or dough.
- I had my doubts about how sweet these bananas would become, as they are pretty firm and green still. But, after baking, they were perfect in the banana bread.
- 4 ripe bananas will yield about 2-3 cups of mashed, depending on the size of your bananas.
Nutrition
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Once you know how to ripen bananas quickly, you can make the best banana baked goods at the drop of a hat!
I might have missed it but ripen Bananas in oven in 20 minutes but @ what temperature should the iven be set?
A lot of your recipes call for wheat flour., just wondering if can use gluten free flour.
Thank you so much for this, I was able to make my banana bread! This worked perfectly!
I had no idea there was a speed method for ripening bananas that doesn’t take days, this is so helpful!
Thanks a bunch for this amazing and super easy to make recipe! Will surely have this again!