Individuals are all the time making an attempt to make bananas be ice cream, and who can blame them. Ice cream actually is that bitch. She’s candy and wealthy, chilly but comforting, and one of many first issues to go when the weight loss plan begins. These approximations aren’t unhealthy—the frozen banana “soft serve” that just about crashed Pinterest is admittedly scrumptious, and this air fried banana break up from TikTok person Jen Jones went viral for a cause. Bananas style good, however they aren’t ice cream.
All that being stated, there’s magnificence in an air fried banana. Jones slices and stuffs hers with pure peanut butter, walnuts, chocolate, and sprinkles it with cinnamon, earlier than cooking it in a 400-degree air fryer for “5 to 6 minutes.” She finishes it with yogurt and calls it a “wholesome model of a banana break up.”
Whereas there is no such thing as a ice cream concerned, the ultimate product is inviting, like an air-fried model of the campfire banana boats that had been so well-liked on Pinterest a couple of years in the past. (What’s it with Pinterest and bananas?) I (clearly) needed to make my very own air fried break up banana, however earlier than I attempted Jones’ recipe, I wished to dial it again and let the banana converse for itself.
All you want is a spoonful of sugar
As Heather Martin of USA In the present day notes in her writeup of Jones’ recipe, sizzling bananas can take a second to get used to. “Cooked bananas might sound odd at first blush, however possibly you’ve had bananas Foster before, and bananacue (a portmanteau of banana and barbecue) has been a staple of Filipino road meals cooking for many years.” The caramelization you get with a dessert like bananas Foster is what appealed to me about an air fried banana, so I sliced one in half, sprinkled it with sugar till it glittered, then popped it in a 400-degree air fryer for 10 minutes.
I completed it with cinnamon and served it with a bit of whipped cream. It was nice. I ate the entire thing. The air fried banana was softer and sweeter than its uncooked counterpart, and the sugar on prime did certainly caramelize. And whereas it wasn’t as crackly as a torched brûlée, there was sufficient textural distinction to maintain it from studying as “mushy, heat banana.” I’d eat it once more, particularly as the bottom for an actual banana break up (with ice cream).
There’s no have to gild the banana lily
I adopted Jones’ recipe pretty intently when making my first air fried banana break up. I smooshed in a spoonful of peanut butter, then sprinkled in some chocolate chips and pecans, and completed with a bit of cinnamon. I then cooked it in a 400-degree air fryer for seven minutes.
Once I pulled it out, I seen that parts of the pecans had been burnt black, and a number of the chocolate chips gave the impression to be burnt as effectively (one chew confirmed this). The banana beneath was additionally not as delicate nor as candy because the sugar-only banana, which made sense since that banana had been break up fully in two, exposing extra flesh to the heating component.
Unhappy with burnt nuts and chocolate, I made one other one, this time stuffing the filling down additional into the banana slit, and overlaying it with a layer of brown sugar to guard the nuts.
There was much less burning however, as you’ll be able to see from the picture proper above this sentence, nonetheless some burning. (That is the place the foil-wrapped campfire bananas have a slight benefit—the foil protects the fillings to allow them to soften and meld with out burning whereas the banana totally softens.) The banana was additionally nonetheless a bit of agency and “uncooked” tasting on the backside, which is okay I suppose, particularly should you’re not that into the thought of a heat banana within the first place. I didn’t have any yogurt, so I ate my break up with whipped cream (and sprinkles).
It was wonderful, gratifying even, however I longed for that first, sugar-only banana. I do assume chilly yogurt would have helped give it that ice cream vibe, however including the chocolate, peanut butter, and nuts obscured the gorgeous banana beneath and stored it from reaching its full air-fried potential. The fillings blocked the heating component from many of the flesh, leaving solely the perimeters uncovered, so solely the perimeters caramelized.
If you wish to attempt an air fried banana, I like to recommend beginning merely. Halve the banana, sprinkle some sugar on prime, and let that sugar get browned, bubbly, and caramelized in a 400-degree air fryer. If might not be as flashy as a “break up,” however you’ll be able to all the time construct an actual break up on prime of it. I do, nonetheless, encourage you to attempt it sans ice cream, at the very least as soon as. I feel you’ll be stunned by how fantastic a banana might be, particularly if you let or not it’s itself.
