How to Freeze Bananas
on Mar 26, 2014, Updated Aug 21, 2024
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This is the Best Way to Freeze Bananas! Stock up while bananas are on sale and keep your stash in the freezer for smoothies.
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How to Freeze Bananas
Frozen bananas will change your smoothie life and I’m here to show you how I do it.
When you freeze bananas and blend them, they almost have the consistency of homemade ice cream. Some kind of magic happens and they just get amazingly smooth and creamy. Frozen bananas are a great base for smoothies and for tossing into Homemade Strawberry Milkshakes! They are very sweet, they are a pretty inexpensive fruit, and that texture just can’t be beat.
To start your frozen banana collection, I would buy 3-4 extra banana bunches for the week and let them rest on the counter until they get nice and ripe. Then freeze them all at the same time and you’ll have a nice stash for when you need them. I like to keep two bags in the freezer. One I am using, and one I am adding to. Once I have a stash built up, then I’ll just buy an extra bunch of bananas a week and put them in the freezer as they ripen. When I empty the “using” bag, I start using the bag I was adding to, and then that first bag becomes the bag that I add to. It’s a simple way to rotate through your supply.
My kids are also awful about getting a whole banana by themselves and then eating 3 bites and leaving the rest somewhere for me to find. So now instead of trying to save the banana and get them to eat it later (and in Southern Utah they end up dehydrating on the counter before they eat them), I just break off the top where they bit it and then throw the rest of the banana in my frozen banana bag in the freezer.
Sometimes I can get overripe bananas for free or on major discount and I always take advantage of that. I like to peel them all and break off any parts that are really black. I took this picture to show you what I do and don’t keep. If you can see, some of the bananas are a bit soft and bruised looking but the parts that I’m throwing out are definitely black and getting slimy. I’m sure you could use them I just don’t like to. I think that they start to have a rotten flavor to them that I can even taste in banana bread, so I give those pieces to the chickens.
Then I break all of the bananas into pieces. If you have a high power blender you could break them into 2 to 3 inch pieces. If you have a more traditional blender then I would recommend breaking them into smaller 1 inch pieces. This is a great job for your kitchen helpers.
We just stack them on a baking sheet, add a lid, and stick them in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
After they have started to freeze, we break the banana pieces apart and stick them in freezer bags.
I’ve skipped the baking sheet step before and just chucked a whole lot of ripe bananas in a freezer bag. They were quite hard to get apart because they were all frozen together. I had to chisel then apart to use them! That being said, it is ok to add a banana or two worth of pieces to the bag of already frozen bananas without pre-freezing them (this is how I keep my supply up, remember).
We have smoothies 5-6 days a weeks and so we use a whole lot of bananas!
My husband asked me if I could freeze bananas for Banana Bread and I have no idea. Do any of you freeze bananas for banana bread? Do you let them thaw first?! I’d love some more information on it if you do.
Now run out and stock up on some bananas, because I have a huge smoothie post and a Blendtec blender giveaway planned for Friday (UPDATE… I’m a month off, check back at the end of April… oops)! You’ll want to be prepared.
For your eating pleasure, here’s a few smoothie recipes you’ll love:
- Workout Recovery Smoothie
- Orange Pineapple Banana Smoothie
- Healthy Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie
- How to make freezer smoothie bags (the easiest smoothies ever!)
- Healthy Tropical Smoothie
- Good, Better, and Best Smoothies
- Healthy Key Lime Pie Smoothie
- Workout Recovery Smoothie
- Healthy Pumpkin Protein Smoothie
- Cold Killer Smoothie
- Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie (no weird powder needed)
I hope you enjoyed learning about the Best Way to Freeze Bananas!
I use frozen bananas in banana bread all the time. Sometimes I’ll pull them out and let them sit in my mixer with my butter while they both soften. I’ve microwaved them for a second too. One thing that helps me is to break my bananas in thirds so that it’s easy for me to remember how many frozen pieces equal one banana 🙂
SMART! SO SO smart. I was just wondering how I would decide what “one banana” was. I’m going to start doing that! Thank you!
I freeze bananas whole in the peel for banana bread. I remove them from the freezer to thaw, peel and smash for my recipe. No water problem so not sure what that is about.
I love freezing bananas for smoothies. I have made banana “ice cream” several times which is such a nice treat. My baker grandmother always taught me that the moisture that you don’t drain the produce you freeze before mixing it in to your baked goods. Just thaw and use as directed. I have never had any problems.
That was a hacked up comment. Scatterbrained I am today. My grandmother taught me the moisture was part of the recipe (the liquid is always there, it just looks different when it is fresh vs. frozen).
I use frozen bananas in my banana bread, I just set it out the morning I know I want to make the bread and toss it in the mixer. Sometimes it’s still pretty cold, but it doesn’t seem to affect my recipe. I’ve never had to drain my frozen bananas.
Thank you for this post! I needed it!
You asked and I delivered 🙂 I really did it just because you asked, so thank YOU!
I use frozen bananas in my bread. I pull them out and put them in the oven while it heats up to cook the bread, that defrosts them and they are all set to go!
I definitely freeze bananas in all the ways you have mentioned and use for smoothies or banana bread. It is a lot easier later on if you have peeled the banana before freezing. However, you can use the chunks or pureed banana in either smoothies or bread. I agree with Kim. Drain the liquid.
I had a bunch of bananas in the peels in the freezer and the other day I took one out to use in a smoothie. I thought since it was whole and I was using a bullet that I better thaw it a bit first. What a shock that within haf an hour I came back to a watery, squishy, unusable banana! I tossed the rest of the bunch from the freezer after that. Not sure what I did wrong. The nanas were yellow and not overly ripe when I froze them. I’ll have to try flash freezing chunks next. I make myself a strawberry smoothie using almond milk, diet cranberry juice, 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder and about 6 strawberries every night. I like to add some banana once in a while too. I buy the baby bananas mostly because the grands seldom eat a whole one but when they go on sale at .39 or less a pound I get the big ones.
Bananas will turn black when you freeze them regardless of whether they are over ripe or not when you freeze them. They are still usable when they thaw but for smoothies I suggest the method she goes through above. For banana bread, you just open up the peel and let the banana slide into a blender to blend up for banana bread.
I use the frozen banana in my bread too but I also freeze the veggie meats from the juicer for breads too the kids love the breads and I’m getting all that fresh fiber into them
You left them in the peel
Bananas are a lot like zucchini when you freeze them. They release a lot of eater when you thaw them. I use frozen bananas for banana bread all the time, but I thaw them, and then drain the extra liquid before using them. For some reason fresh bananas work fine, but if I don’t drain the water from the frozen ones, the bread will be too moist and kind of a rubbery texture. I have found the same thing with zucchini. It works just fine fresh, but if I use frozen zucchini, I have to drain off tons of water.
That makes total sense! And I don’t know how you’d get a frozen banana into the batter anyhow 🙂 I think I’m going to try it! Thanks!
I use frozen bananas in banana bread. I don’t even peel them before freezing – just stick the whole banana in the freezer. When I make banana bread with frozen bananas, I pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds to thaw before peeling and throwing in the bowl.
This method does work well. I do it all the time too. They look gross, but they are still fine.
I do the same thing except for putting them microwave. I usually let them out to room tempurature. But putting in microwave is a nice short cut to know as another option. Thank you!
Thank you for the tip!!