The BEST Way To Freeze Bananas For Smoothies
Bananas are vitally important for smoothie making – at least I think so! And this is the best way to freeze bananas for smoothies.
I don’t know why, but for some reason, our local store goes a little overboard on bananas this time of year. They start getting a little overripe, and the store puts them in bags of two or three bunches and sells them cheap.
And then I go a little overboard on stocking up. Because my kids LOVE banana “nice cream”, and I know as soon as the weather starts warming up, it’ll become a near daily routine.
So right now, it’s time to fill the freezer. Ya know, make hay while the sun shines.
I’ve been given LOTS of banana freezing tips over the years – everything from freezing them whole, to mashing and freezing them in ice cube trays.
Frankly, I don’t like either of those extremes. Why? Well, freezing them whole results in having to thaw them before you can get the peel off, which results in a brown, mushy banana.
Mashing and freezing in ice cubes result in an icy texture that’s difficult to blend out.
So, we’ve opted for something in the middle. It’s super easy, and take very little time.
Peel bananas, and cut them into 1-2 inch chunks.
The kids like 1-inch chunks – they eat them like mini popsicles.
Lay them on a cookies sheet.
Be sure to arrange your bananas so that the uncut sides are touching the cookie sheet. The cut ends stick like nobody’s business!
Pop your cookie sheet into the freezer.
Freeze them for a couple of hours. Or overnight. Whichever one works for you.
Remove frozen banana from cookie sheet, into a zip-top freezer bag.
Boom, done!
Now you have a bag full of banana pieces that are small enough to pop directly into your blender. AND you can reach into your big bag and grab exactly how many you need for my favorite green smoothie, tropical green popsicles, “nice cream” or gluten-free banana bread,… or whatever you’re making.
This is our absolute favorite way to freeze bananas! I use to cut them into super small pieces because they blend up suuuper easy that way, but they were also super convenient for grabbing a handful and mixing with chocolate chips and peanut butter for a snack, and I couldn’t keep production up with consumption… meaning that I ate too many and ended up getting fat. 😉
Enjoy!
Try some of these great smoothie recipes:
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what can I do to help you with them getting brown.
Put a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet first and you won’t have to worry about the banana slices sticking. Just be sure to freeze them in a single layer and you’re good to go. My only problem is keeping myself from eating half the slices before they make it into the freezer bag.
wont the bananas turn a different color, I thought they had to be dipped in lemon juice
Wow thanks so much dear for the good information.
I do this but use a large freezer bag and space them in bag & freeze flat. Once frozen , you can just move bag to any location in freezer. This way banana scent won’t niter other frozen foods either.
Freeze on Slipat.
Place Slipat on cutting board. When frozen they pop right off. Much safer.
That’s a great idea for those who have a Silpat!
Thanks for the tip! This also works well with bacon! Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper and lay strips of bacon in between paper – freeze and now you can enjoy one or two slices of bacon instead of having to eat the whole pound! LOL
Hi, I was wondering if you had an estimate for how long the frozen bananas can stay in the freezer? I would really love to stick up for quite a while and was super curious about it.
Thanks for the information 👍 I have been freezing strawberries and blueberries for my granddaughter’s smoothies and now I will do bananas too 😋