25 Easy Ripe Banana Recipes

How many times have you gone to the grocery store and had no choice but to pick up more bananas than you needed (or wanted)? Instead of letting them go to waste on your kitchen counter, why not make some tasty ripe banana dessert recipes with them instead? Or put them in a deliciously nutritious smoothie? Or bake them into a bread that the kids won’t realize is healthy!

Whether your bunch of bananas is ripe or overripe, there are unlimited tasty treats and dishes you can make that you and your family will love.

This even includes a banana that’s turned a little bit mushy! Below are our top 25 recipes for ripe bananas (that won’t cost you a bunch of time or money!) Let’s make it like a banana and split.

1. 3-Ingredient Moist Banana Bread

Banana bread is not only tasty, but it’s one of the best banana recipes out there. You can get creative with banana bread and include everything from your favorite type of nuts, chocolate chips, and even cinnamon.

All you need are some bananas, eggs and a box of yellow cake mix. If you don’t have a yellow cake mix, you can substitute it with a pre-made pancake mix.

You can even top it off with some sweet cream cheese icing. Feel free to experiment with this recipe. Just don’t forget the eggs; it’s the secret ingredient that binds everything together.

2. Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Are you struggling to get your kids to eat more fruit? Why not try these as an alternative.

The combination of chocolate and peanut butter makes this a sneaky, healthy snack that the kids will enjoy.

This simple 3-ingredient snack is ready to consume after chilling in the freezer for as little as 15 minutes. Don’t forget to put some coconut oil in the chocolate mix.

This is the secret ingredient that will make it easier to dip. Also, if you don’t like peanut butter, you can substitute it with almond butter. This healthy banana recipe is only about 100 calories!

3. Cinnamon Banana Bread Muffins

Imagine the taste of banana bread with the texture of a muffin, and you’ve got this unique and tasty banana recipe.

All you need are some mashed bananas, cinnamon, and eggs, and you’re good to go. Make sure you’re using an extremely ripe banana.

This is the secret ingredient because it makes them easier to mash. While this is a banana recipe, if you happen to run out but are still in the mood for this snack, you can substitute them for some applesauce.

4. Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

Have you ever wondered what to make with ripe bananas that could be eaten at any point throughout the day? You’ve come to the right place because these chocolate chip banana bars are a healthy snack that’ll hold you over until dinner.

These have a similar consistency to a cookie but are a lot healthier. You can swap out the granulated sugar for brown sugar.

Whatever kind of sugar you prefer, don’t forget it; it’s the secret ingredient that brings out the sweetness of the chocolate chips. Just be sure to use ripe bananas because this makes them easier to mash up and mix. Serve warm or frozen.

5. Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Smoothies are a healthy way to start the day. Bananas are commonly used in smoothies because they help bind all the ingredients together.

This recipe is no different, except with the delicious addition of peanut butter—one scoop or five. Be as creative as you want! Like other recipes that call for peanut butter, you can substitute this with almond butter if you prefer.

Blend the peanut butter, bananas, and some greek yogurt, and you’re ready to tackle the day ahead. Just don’t forget the greek yogurt – it’s the secret ingredient that makes your smoothie creamy.

6. Healthy Banana Pancakes

Pancakes have a lot of versatility – and this recipe is no different.

This recipe is quick and simple to make. It only requires three ingredients: bananas, eggs, and cinnamon. While other banana pancake recipes call for a few bananas on top or mixed in, this pancake is made from bananas, making it a super healthy alternative.

Remember that you can swap out the cinnamon for some vanilla extract of chocolate or add some walnuts.

The secret ingredient in this dish is the ripe banana because it’s easier to mash, so you want to mix the ingredients easily.

7. Frozen Banana Yogurt Bites

As a parent, you probably spend a lot of time asking Amazon Alexa to reorder groceries or play music. But, next time you’re in the kitchen, say, “ripe banana recipes healthy” to Alexa, and this is probably one of the first ones that’ll come up.

This simple recipe is made up of bananas, banana chips, and yogurt. Let them sit in the freezer for a little bit and enjoy.

Don’t be afraid to get creative here and swap out plain yogurt for a strawberry to elevate the flavor. Also, don’t forget the banana chips – they’re the secret ingredient that gives this dish a little crunch.

8. The Best Vegan Banana Bread With Walnuts

If you’re a vegan, you don’t have to give up the delicious taste of banana bread. This is an easy ripe banana recipe requiring a few ingredients like bananas, nuts, and coconut oil to make.

With this recipe, it’s best to use overripe bananas. Overripe bananas usually pack the most flavor, which is why it’s the secret ingredient you don’t want to forget.

If you don’t have coconut oil, try walnut oil. It’s a vegan alternative and perfect for sweet snacks.

9. Chunky Monkey Banana Baked Oatmeal

If Chunky Monkey is your favorite flavor of ice cream, why not enjoy the same flavors for breakfast? Oatmeal is a healthy way to start the day, and the addition of bananas and chocolate adds a little kick to this otherwise ordinary dish. Add a little dollop of maple syrup for sweetness.

This is the secret ingredient! You don’t have to add any additional sugar to this dish, as the bananas and syrup provide all the sweetness you’ll need.

You can make it with or without chocolate chips or enjoy it in a bowl with some milk or frozen. Go ahead, make this dish your own!

10. Fried Bananas

There’s just something about fried fruits that taste so good, and fried bananas are no exception. Dunk the overripe banana slices in some oil and deep fry for a tasty treat.

You want the bananas to be overripe because they will have the best consistency once they’re done.

This is the secret ingredient you don’t want to forget. You can either use a deep fryer or frying pan to make this.

Pair them with maple syrup or chocolate sauce to serve for dessert. If you don’t want to fry them, toss some water and sugar into a frying pan, along with the slices and caramelize them instead.

11. Banana Bread Cookies

Wondering what to do with ripe bananas? Here’s the perfect recipe you should try out this weekend. You can either make this recipe traditionally with white flour and sugar or almond flour and maple syrup as a healthier alternative.

Either way, the secret for this recipe is to not over-mash the bananas, as you want them to be a little chunky when they go into the oven. Be sure you’re using overripe bananas to bring out the natural flavor; it’s the secret ingredient.

12. Banana Pudding

Banana pudding is tasty and so easy to make! Top some crispy vanilla wafers with your banana slices and whipped cream, and you’re ready to serve.

The secret ingredient in this recipe is the bananas; you don’t want to use them when they’re too ripe or overripe.

A good rule of thumb is to make this dish as soon as the banana peel develops a brown spot.

If you don’t have vanilla wafers, try using shortbread cookies instead, as they have the same consistency.

13. Damn Good Peanut Butter Banana Cake

A recipe so good, it needs an adjective in the name. If you’re looking to make a cake for an upcoming party, you have to try this unique recipe.

While you can make this with traditional ingredients, you can opt for a healthier version if you use grain-free peanut butter.

Swap out white flour for almond flour, as well as a regular sweetener for maple syrup. Add as much peanut butter frosting as you want. It’s the secret ingredient you can feel good about eating!

This recipe calls for ripe bananas, so make sure you’re using them before they develop any brown spots.

14. Copy Cat Trader Joe’s Gone Bananas

Do you love Trader Joe’s but don’t have time to make it to the store? No problem, as we have the perfect copycat recipe for you.

Trader Joe’s Gone Bananas is a simple recipe you can make at home just by dunking banana slices into some melty chocolate and freezing.

You can eat them with your hands or try something fun and add a popsicle stick through them. Use any chocolate you prefer. If you don’t have chocolate, you can always use caramel instead.

The secret ingredient here is whatever you decide to dip your banana in, so feel free to experiment with different flavors.

15. Banana Crumble

When it comes to banana recipe ideas, this always stands out as a fan favorite.

The secret ingredient here is a super ripe banana. The riper the banana is, the better this will hold up.

You can customize the crumble, so feel free to swap out pecans for your favorite type of nut and use either light or brown sugar. You can also add whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to the crumble when you’re ready to serve.

16. Cake Mix Banana Bread

For this recipe, you can get as creative as you’d like. You mix the bananas in with your favorite type of cake mix.

While most recommend the spice flavor, don’t be afraid to experiment with other flavors like carrot cake or vanilla.

This recipe calls for super brown (but not black) bananas, so don’t overlook this secret ingredient.

If you don’t have a boxed cake mix, you can make your own by combining flour, eggs, sugar, milk, and butter and then combine the bananas.

17. Double Chocolate Banana Cake

Is there a better combo than chocolate and bananas? This tasty dessert will be a home run with your family.

While it’s traditionally made with semi-sweet chocolate chips, feel free to get creative and swap them out for dark or white chocolate.

The secret ingredient here is brown sugar, which gets mixed with the mashed bananas. It’s a flavor combo that is so perfect that you don’t even need to add frosting.

To make this recipe taste the best, use ripe bananas before developing any brown or soft spots.

18. Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal cookies taste great as is, but they’re even better when you add in some bananas.

This recipe calls for ripe bananas, so the yellower, the better. Because these cookies are made with banana as the base, they’re a lot fluffier than your average cookie.

The secret ingredient here is the rolled oats, which help bring out a lot of texture.

If you don’t have chocolate chips, you can use walnuts or almond pieces instead.

Yum! With this recipe, you can have a lot of flexibility, so mix up different flavors and textures to create something delicious.

19. Grandma’s Famous Pumpkin Banana Bread

Celebrate the autumn season with Grandma’s famous pumpkin banana bread!

This is one of the tastiest overripe banana recipes that are versatile enough to eat as a snack, dessert, or breakfast.

The secret ingredient here is the pumpkin puree. While it’s delicious enough to eat as is, why not sprinkle in a few different add-ins like cranberries or walnuts?

You can even add in chocolate chips! If you don’t have pumpkin puree, you can get the same outcome by swapping in some mashed butternut squash and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

20. Banana Upside Down Cake

If you’re a fan of pineapple upside-down cake, you should try it with ripe bananas.

This is a healthy banana recipe because it uses wheat flour. The secret ingredient that makes this dish so tasty is the caramel, so don’t limit yourself. If you don’t have caramel, you can swap it out for some ooey-gooey, melty chocolate instead.

Upside down cake is where the toppings are at the bottom, so make sure you’re adding something that will taste good at any time of day and not too sweet if you plan on eating it for breakfast.

21. Banana Ice Cream

This recipe is so simple. All you have to do is toss your ripe bananas and a little bit of almond milk into a blender until creamy.

You can either enjoy this as soft serve or freeze it to eat later. When it comes to ice cream, there’s no right or wrong way to eat it. Because this recipe is so simple, you can combine different fruits to get different flavors, like strawberries or blueberries.

The secret ingredient is a frozen banana, so it’s cold if you serve it immediately. Other than that, feel free to top it off with some whipped cream, caramel syrup, and any other favorite ice cream toppings.

You can also use this recipe to make other fruity ice creams; swap the banana for your preferred fruit.

22. Secretly Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread

A banana recipe that doesn’t just taste good, but IS good. What’s great about this recipe is that you can make it even healthier by substituting flax eggs (flaxseed and water) and sugar for honey.

This recipe has a similar consistency to a chocolate brownie but is only around 100 calories per serving when all is said and done.

Brown, overripe bananas are the secret ingredient because they’re a lot more flavorful when baking. So, if your bananas are currently yellow, wait a few days to make this recipe.

23. Super Healthy Carrot Cake Banana Bread

This recipe is super easy to make. More importantly, bananas and carrot cake are a tasty pairing.

You’ll want to use overripe bananas for flavor. However, you can experiment with this and add in your preferred type of milk, whether regular, soy, or almond milk.

You can also swap out the carrots for coconut. It’ll change the flavor slightly, but the consistency will still be the same.

While you can use honey or maple syrup in this recipe for sweetness, you can also use agave syrup if you don’t like things to be too sweet. That’s why these are the secret ingredients to customizing this unique treat!

24. Banana Crumb Cake

What makes banana crumb cake, so good is the crunchy, cinnamony topping.

This recipe calls for ripe bananas and can be topped off with a melty powdered sugar glaze, as well. The secret ingredient in this dish is vanilla, which adds a layer of sweetness to it.

If you want to make this snack a little healthier, you can swap out regular sugar for coconut sugar, but don’t worry – coconut sugar doesn’t taste like coconut, so you don’t have to worry about any conflicting flavors.

25. Easy Choco-Banana Bars

Are you looking for a tasty treat you can eat on the go? Look no further than this fun recipe! Mashed ripe bananas are mixed with sour cream, eggs, butter, and sugar and then baked.

Sour cream is the secret ingredient because it makes the batter moister. But, this can be swapped out for buttermilk or regular milk, if you prefer.

For a healthier alternative, you can use brown sugar and wheat flour. This is super easy to make a treat that both you and your family will love.