Pan Fried Cinnamon Bananas is a quick and easy recipe to cook bananas, perfect for a special breakfast, an afternoon snack, or even a healthy dessert!
It's super easy to pan fry a banana and uses items you probably already have. Gather the 3 simple ingredients, grab a skillet, and get ready to gobble up this delicious banana recipe in 10 minutes!
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👩🏻🍳 Why You'll Love This Recipe
This recipe was inspired by the age-old problem, how to use up overripe bananas. And now this is one of my favorite ways to fix a banana treat. These pan fried bananas are super delicious, yet healthier and so much easier than deep fried bananas.
No matter how hard I try to buy the right number of bananas for my family, I can never seem to get it right. If one week I don’t have enough, I try to buy a few more the next week, but then it seems I have too many!
That's when I need to figure out what to make with my extra bananas. This recipe is so quick and simple, and it is perfect for a special breakfast, an afternoon snack, or an easy banana dessert.
And it's made in one skillet, so clean-up is a snap!
If you love using your air fryer, check out this recipe for Air Fried Bananas. You can even use the ingredients in this pan fried recipe along with the cooking directions in the air fryer recipe if you like!
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- bananas - slightly overripe. If there are big brown patches on your bananas, they are too ripe and will just become mushy.
- sugar - you can also use a sugar substitute like granulated Splenda
- ground cinnamon - tastes great and contains antioxidants, too!
- nutmeg - optional
🔪 Instructions
- Slice the bananas into rounds.
- Combine the cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.
- Spray a skillet with nonstick spray, heat over medium, then add the banana rounds.
- Sprinkle about ½ of the cinnamon mixture, then cook for 2-3 minutes until the rounds start to warm.
- Flip the rounds over.
- Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon mixture, then cook for another 2 minutes or so until the bananas are warmed through.
👪 FAQs
Yes and no. Banana fritters are battered and deep fried in hot oil. These banana pieces are not battered or deep fried, but they are warm and sweet and are a great healthier alternative to banana fritters!
Pan fried bananas are definitely a lightened up alternative to deep fried bananas. In addition, in this recipe I really tried to minimize the oil and sugar used to keep it a heathy as possible. Bananas are rich in potassium which is really good for supporting a strong heart and muscles. They also have many other essential vitamins and nutrients.
This banana recipe produces warm, cinnamon-y banana slices that rival any dessert! They are sweet and slightly sticky, just like any decadent sweet treat. This recipe is a great way to serve dessert while feeling good knowing that you aren't giving your family completely empty calories!
I don't advise using green bananas, because they aren't as sweet and in fact can be a little on the bitter side. You can use yellow but firm bananas, which are just ripe but not yet overripe. However, I prefer using slightly overripe bananas in this recipe, because they produce the sweetest result.
Place your bananas in a brown paper bag and fold it closed. That will help your bananas ripen faster.
💭 Expert Tips and Tricks
- Use bananas that are slightly overripe. It's OK if there are a bunch of small brown spots, but if the surface of the bananas are mostly brown spots or big brown patches, they are too far gone and will just turn out mushy.
- When cooking a banana, do not overcook. If they start to get too soft, they are definitely done. This might happen quickly if your heat is a little too high so pay attention to them as they cook.
- Sugar works best but you can also use granulated Splenda (or equivalent) if you prefer.
- Use good quality non-stick oil spray. Poor quality oil could affect the taste of your banana rounds. Or skip the spray and use a good non-stick pan like this one from OXO.
This durable, hard-anodized pan delivers excellent heat conduction and scratch resistance.
📌 This recipe can also be used as a quick and easy method for caramelized bananas! If that's what you are going for, add a little butter into the pan while it is heating and let it melt before you add in the banana rounds.
📖 Substitutions and Variations
- Use honey instead of sugar for natural sweetness. Simply drizzle on the honey and then sprinkle the cinnamon on top of that.
- Pile on top of pancakes, waffles, or French toast for a unique and tasty twist to breakfast.
- Serve over store-bought angel food cake and drizzle with chocolate syrup for a delicious yet simple dessert that will satisfy every sweet craving.
- For some fun variations for kids, top with a dollop of whipped cream, dust with confectioner's sugar, or sprinkle with colored jimmies.
- Add on top of ice cream for a healthy yet delicious topping.
- Drizzle some maple syrup over your rounds for an extra sweet breakfast treat!
🔊 What readers are saying...
"Just made these. Yum! Easy, fast and delicious. I served them in small dessert bowls with a dollop of fresh whip cream on top and sprinkled a little bit of the leftover sugar mixture on the whip cream (mostly for looks). It was impressive looking and took just minutes, start to finish. Thanks for the great recipe!"
- MJ
🥫 Storage and Reheating
These really are best when eaten right away, however if you have leftovers they should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They will last up to 3-4 days. To reheat, place them in a skillet over medium heat until warmed up.
It's not recommended to make these ahead of time and freeze them.
💡 What To Serve With This Dish
This banana breakfast recipe would be perfect accompanied by this Strawberry Smoothie Bowl! Or brighten the morning with this delicious and citrus-y Orange Smoothie with Pineapple, jam-packed with healthy fiber and vitamin C.
These fried bananas are also great with these Chocolate Crunch Raspberry Waffles or this amazing hootenanny recipe (which is an oven pancake - so simple and so delicious)!
For dessert ideas, serve your cinnamon bananas on top of Mom's Refrigerator Cake, next to this Maple Bacon Ice Cream Cake, or drizzle them with this amazing Homemade Chocolate Sauce!
🍌 More Things To Make With Bananas
- Eggless Banana Bread - Easy, delicious, and full of banana flavor. Just a few basic ingredients and 50 minutes are all it takes to enjoy this delicious treat!
- Kiwi Banana Matcha Smoothie - The perfect way to start your day with nutrients and just the right amount of caffeine! The green tea and kiwi give this smoothie a refreshing green color and the bananas make it nice and creamy.
- Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars - A super creamy dessert with a cheesecake filling made with banana cream pudding mix and real banana on top of a decadent crust made with vanilla wafers and butter.
- Coconut Banana Matcha Muffins - Healthy green tea muffins take less than 30 minutes to make and are a great grab-and-go breakfast option. They freeze well, so make a big bunch and keep them on-hand for any time you want a healthy snack!
- Easy Banana Cookies- A great alternative to banana bread, you definitely want to add this to the list of recipe options when trying to use up overripe bananas. You only need 5 ingredients and 20 minutes to make these delicious treats!
- Banana Spinach Smoothie With Kiwi - Start your day with something sweet and healthy. The kiwi adds great refreshing flavor to this green smoothie, which is perfect to enjoy for breakfast or as a snack to keep you full and energized throughout the day!
- Banana Cinnamon French Toast - Sweetened with bananas and perfectly grilled until golden brown with crispy fried edges, this is a meal everyone loves and I know you're going to want to make it soon!
Feeling adventurous? Try this recipe for Mofongo - a savory dish with garlicky fried plantains and pork. Delicious!
Pan Fried Banana and Cinnamon Recipe
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📋 Recipe Card
Pan Fried Cinnamon Bananas
Ingredients
- 2 bananas (slightly overripe)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (or substitute)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the bananas into rounds, approximately ⅓ inch thick.2 bananas
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg (if desired). Set aside.2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Lightly spray a large skillet with nonstick oil spray and warm over medium-low heat and add the banana slices.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture on top. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.
- Flip the rounds, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon mixture. Cook for 2-3 more minutes until the bananas are soft and warmed through.
Notes
- Slightly overripe bananas work best. If your bananas are too overripe, they will still taste good but they may be mushy.
- If they start to get too soft, they are done. Be careful to not overcook them!
- The quality of the oil can affect how the banana rounds taste, so make sure your oil is fresh and a good quality brand. Coconut oil is a good choice.
- If you don't have oil or prefer not to use it, you can substitute butter for the oil.
- You can substitute granulated Splenda (or equivalent), however white sugar works best.
- You can also substitute brown sugar or honey.
- Note that this is not a actually a substitute recipe for the fried bananas that are cooked by immersing them in oil in a fryer. These are just a tasty way to do something a little different with your bananas by cooking them in a pan or skillet.
- Serve plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, spoon them over vanilla ice cream, or drizzle them with chocolate syrup!
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
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Happy cooking!
Mateo
This way SOO good but it didn't look like was in the picture but it still SLAPPED. Good job gurl
Kristin
Haha, thanks! 🙂
Noor Elshami
THESE WERE AMAZING. I made them for my sister and they all loved it. They wanted more! But we ran out of bananas!
Kristin
That's wonderful to hear! Glad you guys enjoyed this!
Carolyn J Smith
We use stevia or honey. I make peanut butter on toast with sliced bananas drizzled with honey. You can use the bananas kept for a long time in the refrigerator after they are ripe. They get black on the outside but stay good inside for a few weeks.
Kristin
Great tips! Thanks! 🙂
Brilyn Perryman
I haven’t tried it yet but about to, but I’m very curious of what you put on top of the bananas in the video at the end? Please and thank you! I’m very excited to try it out!
Kristin
It was just a little powdered sugar. It's not really needed but I thought it looked nice, lol! Of course it adds some sweetness but it's totally optional!
Karen Swift
My husband made these for me and they were delicious..
Kristin
Awesome, so glad you liked them, Karen! And thank you for stopping by to let me know! 🙂
Dante
this has to be fake, I made it just like the recipe said, multiple times trying to figure out what I did wrong. Bananas give off juices when heated like that, so "frying" them doesn't work unless you stick them in a fryer. I was very disappointed. Maybe I did something wrong but from following your directions, and doing it multiple times was a no-no. I can say though that even though it went not so good, it actually had a good taste and some of my family members agreed as well. So thank you for that part, but I was looking forward to actual Fried Cinnamon Bananas.
Kristin
Hello! I'm really sorry to hear you didn't get the results you were expecting! Possibly I should change the name of the recipe because they are definitely not a comparable result to actually frying. I actually wasn't trying to duplicate the taste and texture of frying in oil, but just wanting to do something a little different with my leftover bananas. I guess I should rename them to be skillet cinnamon bananas or something like that! Anyway, I'm glad they tasted good even though they weren't what you were expecting. Thanks for stopping by!
Debi
I made these last night & they were delicious & super easy to make!
Kristin
That's wonderful to hear, I'm so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Colin Griffin
Lovely. Used honey instead of sugar and had with a spoonful of thick custard. Yum
Kristin
Oh, that sounds delicious! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
A Magical Life
My 16 year old son wanted to try making fried bananas so I found this recipe for him last night. These were good although a little strange. We agreed that they'd be good on pancakes (with whipped cream), ice cream or oatmeal, but we also agreed that regular sliced bananas are nearly as tasty on all those things for a lot less work, calories and sugar. It was a fun experiment but next time we'll just use our bananas for our favorite banana goodies thus far -- smoothies, frozen "ice cream" recipes,, banana bread and fresh eating. It was a fun experiment though!
Kristin
It's so nice that you and your son got to spend some time together in the kitchen. To me, that's sometimes the best part of cooking and eating... even more than the food itself. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Randee
This sounds so good! Especially over some vanilla ice cream 😉
Kristin
That's an awesome idea! 🙂