Air Fryer Bananas
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Ripe bananas sliced, optionally dusted with cinnamon, and cooked in an air fryer until the outsides colour and the insides go soft. It is a modern appliance recipe with no country attached and none implied, and it sits in Worldwide Recipes with its URL unchanged. It is a good use for bananas that have gone too soft to eat, which is the honest appeal of it. Air frying uses very little oil and the sugars in an overripe banana caramelise readily, so the result colours quickly without any added fat at all. Africa's fried banana and plantain traditions are quite different, and worth naming since the confusion is easy. Plantain is not banana: it is starchier, larger and cooked rather than eaten raw, and fried ripe plantain appears across the continent as dodo in Nigeria, alloco in Côte d'Ivoire and kelewele in Ghana, where it is spiced first. Rwandan banana beignets and Cameroonian banana fritters use actual bananas but in a batter. None of them is this, which is a plain appliance treatment of sliced fruit.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Preheat the air fryer to around 180°C.
- 2
While it warms up, peel the bananas and slice them into bite sized pieces, either rounds or strips.
- 3
Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon over the slices if you want it.
- 4
Place the slices in the air fryer basket in a single layer, so they cook evenly.
- 5
Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, watching them, until golden brown.
- 6
Drizzle with honey or maple syrup while still warm if you want extra sweetness.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Deborah Olayiwola- Single layer, no overlapping. Stacked slices steam into each other and go to mush rather than colouring.
- Use bananas that are ripe but not collapsing. Overripe fruit is too soft to hold its shape once heated.
- Cut them reasonably thick. Thin slices dry out completely in the time it takes to colour.
- Add the honey or syrup after cooking, not before. Sugar burns at air fryer temperatures.
- Watch them from five minutes. Banana goes from golden to burnt very quickly.
- Cocoa powder, nutmeg or a scoop of vanilla ice cream are all suggested by the source as finishing touches.
Questions cooks ask
Is this an African recipe?
No, and the source makes no such claim. It is a modern appliance recipe with no country attached. It sits in Worldwide Recipes under Global. Africa's fried banana and plantain dishes are different things: dodo, alloco, kelewele, banana beignets and banana fritters all have their own names and methods.
What is the difference between banana and plantain?
Plantain is starchier, larger and firmer, and it is cooked rather than eaten raw. Banana is sweeter, softer and usually eaten as it is. Most African fried banana dishes are actually plantain dishes, which is a common confusion. This recipe uses actual bananas.
Why are mine mushy?
The bananas were too ripe, the slices were too thin, or the basket was overloaded. Use fruit that is ripe but still firm, cut it into reasonably thick pieces, and arrange it in a single layer so hot air reaches every surface. Stacked slices steam rather than colour.
What can I serve with them?
Vanilla ice cream is the obvious pairing against the warm fruit. A dusting of cocoa powder or nutmeg, a drizzle of honey, or a spoonful of yoghurt all work. They are best eaten immediately, since they soften considerably as they cool.
Reviews
Be the first to rate this recipe
Cooked it? Your rating helps the next person decide whether to try it.
No reviews on this one yet. If you have cooked it, yours would be the first.
You Might Also Like
Pork Trotters
Pap En Vleis
Amasi Recipe
