Miscellaneous Recipes Sides

Homemade Banana Chips

homemade banana chips recipe

This is a guest post from Jennifer Vagios, founder of the food & nutrition blog A Girl and Her Carrot.  Jen’s a registered dietitian with a Master’s degree in Applied Physiology and Nutrition — but don’t let her credentials fool you — she LOVES food of all kinds, both “healthy” and not!  I’m excited to have her guest blog here, because her food philosophy is a perfect fit for Eating Made Easy.  Visit her blog for more fantastic recipes (and food photos that will make you drool).

First of all, I was nothing less then delighted to be invited as a guest blogger for Amelia!

Second, let’s talk BANANAS!

I know, they can be monotonous. Peel it, eat it, done. However, on a positive note they’re simple, portable, not to bold on flavor and versatile. Oh, and they hold up really well in your purse (man purse, butt pack, etc.).

Now, creativity beyond the “peel and eat” can be a challenge. My immediate thoughts sent straight to making a smoothie, or into a pan all sauteed up caramelized and served over oats.

Hungry yet?

Today I decided I wanted some crunch without the oil laden frying process. Why not make a chip? I attempted it recently only to have some smashed, burned bananas stuck to my cookie sheet.Whoops! If at first you don’t make a stunner of a chip, try try again. I did, and it was worth it. I can tell you that my homemade banana chips were a bit soft and chewy (which I enjoyed) because I pulled them out after 4 hours, but if left to cook for the duration, they will be crisp.

Here’s the nearly effortless snack for both adults and kiddies…

Homemade Banana Chips
 
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 bananas, ripe (the riper, the sweeter)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Olive Oil (just a small amount for greasing the parchment paper)
Instructions
  1. Preheat Oven to 210 degrees F. Slice bananas into ¼ thick pieces.
  2. Dunk banana slices in lemon juice to coat nicely. Yes, you will make a bit of a mess, but playing with your food is half the fun.
  3. Brush a light coat of olive oil on the parchment paper and line the banana slices up.
  4. Bake for approximately 6-8 hours, this is referred to as “dehydrating your bananas.”
  5. Remove from oven and serve as is or check out my clever ideas below!
Notes
Dip baked chips halfway in dark chocolate (75 percent cacao) for a decadent treat.
Toss them in some yogurt, cereal, or oatmeal.
Create your own trail mix and add nuts, dried mango (my new fav is trader Joes cayenne pepper mango slices), and dark chocolate pieces. Yum!
Coat with Chia seeds for a crunchy nutty flavor, or pistachios!

20 Comments

  • Brenna
    April 7, 2011 at 10:59 am

    This recipe just made my day! I’ve wanted to make Banana Chips for so long but thought it wouldn’t turn out right if I didn’t have a food dehydrator. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂

  • Kristin
    January 26, 2012 at 10:21 pm

    This is a great idea!! I love bananas but it’s always fun to eat them in different ways. I’ll have to try these next time I buy them. Thank you for the recipe!

  • Daniel
    March 15, 2012 at 6:04 am

    I like your suggestion of tossing them in oatmeal.

    Tell me if you think this would work as a quick type of banana “pancake”: dicing up a couple bananas into an egg wash, then mashing them all together with about a half cup of oatmeal and some cinnamon, using just your hands, almost as if you were forming a hamburger patty. then, baking it at a higher heat (say 375?) for 15-20 minutes.

    Again, the goal would be for a flattened, crispy banana layer, slightly thicker than a tortilla, but thinner than a pancake. Any tweaks would be greatly appreciated!

  • Amelia
    March 15, 2012 at 10:54 am

    Love the idea! Sounds like something you’ll have to experiment with a little – trial and error are my best friends when it comes to new recipes 🙂

  • Karen
    April 6, 2012 at 8:05 am

    Would it work to use nonstick aluminum foil instead of oiling the parchment paper? And you can probably re-use the foil.

  • Amelia
    April 6, 2012 at 9:28 am

    I still recommend using oil or at least nonstick spray, even if you use nonstick foil. The chips rely on a little grease to become crispy and flavorful – and bananas will stick easily since the sugars come out when they cook. Enjoy!

  • Emma
    June 27, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    Does anyone know how long these last? Since the baking time is so long I’d love to cook some up some for a couple weeks at a time. I’m just wondering if they’d last that long.

    Anyone know?
    🙂

  • Alyssa
    November 10, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Keep them in an air-tight container (a ziplock baggie will work), and they should last a good week and a half or two. Keeping them in the freezer or fridge may increase their life-span a bit as well. This is just my rule of thumb, however, others may know a little more about this than I do! Hope this helps!

  • Amelia
    November 11, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Great tip, thanks Alyssa!

  • Nikki
    January 10, 2013 at 7:20 pm

    Couple questions… 1. How thick do you cut the bananas? 2. Are the bananas sweet enough so no added sugar will be needed?

  • Amelia
    January 12, 2013 at 10:02 am

    The bananas should be thinly sliced (not TOO thin, but not thick) and if you use a fairly ripe banana it should be sweet enough.

  • LindaPineda
    April 7, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    l’ve harvested 1 buwig of saba bananas (sweet type) n check a recipe Banana Chips .We love eating this!

  • Susie
    July 12, 2013 at 4:42 pm

    Mine turned black…what did I do wrong?

  • Amelia
    July 13, 2013 at 11:19 pm

    Oh no! I’ll check with the recipe creator (this was a guest post) and let you know. My guess is the oven was too hot. Sorry to hear that – I’ll be back with answers 🙂

  • Jenny
    September 15, 2013 at 10:39 am

    6-8 hours seems excessive. Could you set the oven higher to reduce energy usage, for a shorter baking time? Or would they burn.

  • Amelia
    September 19, 2013 at 9:56 am

    To get the crispy texture the long, slow cook is best. Turning the oven up would burn the bananas before they had a chance to get crisp.

  • Dallas
    March 17, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Sounds like a good, yummy, and easy recipe for banana chips. I think I will try this out and let you know what I come up with. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  • Diana
    January 26, 2018 at 9:22 pm

    I recently made some oven baked dehydrated banana chips and while I think there was an error in the amount of baking time (only called for 1 hr @ around 200F), what I loved was that it called for tossing the slices with freshly squeezed orange juice (I used Mandarin style oranges). They were SOOOO yummy, my dog barely left me any☺️ next time I will try cooking them at temp & length of time as suggested here AND will try to make an extra batch with lemon juice as well!

  • Amelia Winslow
    February 5, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    Hope you enjoy them, Diana – they are SO good!

  • RJ
    April 19, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    I love the idea of orange juice instead of lemon! Off to try it right now…

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