How to freeze bananas whether your banana is overripe, firm, or whole. It’s so easy to freeze bananas for dessert, smoothies, or a cheesecake topping! Learn all the tips and tricks to freeze bananas without turning brown! We love to freeze bananas for later use in moist banana bread! Try our banana muffins or chocolate chip banana bread that you can easily sneak frozen and thawed bananas into!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our full disclosure.

Freezing Bananas:

Bananas are some of the cheapest fruit. They come in large elongated shapes and freeze great for desserts, smoothies, and shakes. The next time you want to save your bananas from going bad, it’s best to preserve them for later use and to freeze bananas! Generally, you’d want to freeze ripe bananas for mashing, pureeing, or anything baked. Whereas green (or underripe) bananas are great for frozen banana slices.

Flash freezing peeled bananas is ideal for easy grab-and-go portions and to freeze bananas without sticking together. If you prefer not to go the two-step freezing way, you can simply portion and label how many bananas are in a freezer bag and just freeze them together.

Freezing banana slices is a bit different, typically you’d want to toss the slices in lemon juice or the juice of citrus fruits to prevent them from oxidizing and turning brown. You can even freeze bananas in their peels, just make sure your peeling them partially frozen to manage the mess.

How To Freeze Bananas:

There are 3 different ways to freeze bananas. You can freeze a banana whole, cut it into slices, or peeled. Let’s jump into the different ways to freeze bananas;

Freezing whole bananas in the skins: is the easiest, however, it’s best to freeze bananas this way if you want to freeze them for banana bread or baked desserts as they turn brown.
Freezing peeled bananas: is practical if you’d like to portion out and avoid dealing with the mushy brown skins later. However, it’s best to flash freeze the bananas to easily remove as many as you need for a recipe. You could also freeze every 3 peeled bananas into portions and just label the bags.
Frozen banana slices are ideal for fruit salads, cheesecake toppings, ice cream, yogurt, pancakes, waffles, milkshakes, smoothies, or a bowl of hot cereal like oatmeal. Use in dessert recipes like pies and since they are precut it’s so easy to put them straight into a recipe!

Pro-Tip: When freezing bananas with the peel, don’t wait for the bananas to thaw. You’ll want to slice and remove the banana partially frozen otherwise it will be hard to remove the peels once it’s thawed.

How To Freeze Bananas without Turning Brown:

Overripe bananas will likely oxidize and turn brown after freezing. However, there are a few tips to prevent them from turning brown. To retain the banana color start with underripe bananas. You’ll want to begin with green and pale yellow-skinned bananas however, just ripe bananas can work too. Overripe bananas are best for freezing later for banana bread or baked desserts.

Start with underripe or just ripe bananas, these will look freshest and shouldn’t have any brown spots.
Wrap each peeled banana in plastic wrap before transferring it to an air-tight container or freezer bag.
Remove any air in your freezer bag or container, a food-grade vacuum sealer is great for this.
Toss your bananas in lemon juice, citrus fruit juices, or citric acid dissolved in water for color retention.

How To Properly Store and Freeze Bananas:

The best way to freeze a banana is to properly seal it. It is also handy to use freezer paper for arranging the bananas when flash freezing. Ripe or overripe bananas will affect the quality. It does not take long to freeze bananas, usually, within an hour, banana slices are solid and ready for longer storage. However, when freezing bananas for a long time (over 6 months) it’s best to deep freeze or vacuum seal the bananas so air and frost don’t ruin the quality.

Bananas can keep in the freezer for up to 3 months unless you are deep freezing. Frozen bananas stored in freezer bags and air-tight containers are good for short-term freezing. How long you keep them in the freezer is up to you. Always thaw frozen bananas, if used in baking, otherwise keep bananas frozen until ready to use.

FAQ

How To Ripen Bananas?

To ripen green bananas in the oven: bake the bananas in their peels at 300°F for 20-30 minutes until the skins turn black and the bananas are soft to the touch. This quick oven method is ideal for baking if you need sweet bananas fast.
Counter-top Method: if you can wait one or two days place as many unripe bananas as you need to, into a brown paper bag. Bananas will ripen as they sit at room temperature in a dark cool area under the kitchen cabinet.

Freezing Tips:

Flash freezing is when you freeze the bananas rapidly on top of parchment paper first. This solidifies the bananas from sticking together.
Banana slices freeze fast! To best freeze, cut the bananas, and toss in lemon juice to retain the fresh color.
Store Banana slices in a recloseable bag for convenience.
Keep banana slices frozen until ready to use.
Banana slices are great for snacking or cold desserts like cheesecakes, fruit salads, and fruit pizza.
Freezing whole bananas are best for baking or blending into drinks.
Preserving bananas in the freezer is the best way to keep them from going bad so don’t throw them away!
Cut and freeze bananas into 2-inch chunks for a cool summer treat on hot summer days.

How To Use Frozen Bananas

Whether you want to freeze a banana for bread or top it over cheesecake chimichangas, freezing bananas is a great way to preserve fresh bananas in baked goods or dessert!