How To Ripen Bananas Fast With Your Air Fryer

Ripe bananas have a sweeter, stronger flavor and softer texture than unripe bananas. That's why they're perfect to use for baking banana bread or making banana pudding. But sometimes you have a craving for a sweet, banana-y dessert, and all you have on hand are green or unripe bananas. Green bananas aren't great for baking because they are highly starchy and often have a bitter taste. They are also very firm, which can alter the texture of your baked goods. If you want to ripen bananas quickly so you can bake with them, using your air fryer is your best option. In fact, it will only take about eight minutes.

To ripen bananas quickly in your air fryer, you should leave the peels on the bananas. Preheat your air fryer to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. If it has a basket, line the basket with a silicone liner. Put the unpeeled bananas in the basket in one layer; don't stack them on top of each other. Set your air fryer for eight minutes, checking regularly to make sure the bananas don't burn. When the banana peels are a shiny, black, uniform color, they're done. Take them out of the air fryer and let them cool on your counter for 10 to 15 minutes. You can then peel and mash them and use them in your recipe, or store the mashed bananas for up to seven days in your fridge or for two months in your freezer.

What can you do if your recipe calls for ripe bananas but you don't have bananas at all? Rather than run out to the store, there are a few substitutes you can use if you are making baked goods like bread or muffins. If you don't like the taste of bananas, you can substitute ½ cup of applesauce, plain yogurt, pure canned pumpkin, or silken tofu for each whole banana in the recipe. This will add moisture and preserve the texture of your baked goods without the need for bananas. If you're substituting silken tofu for bananas, add a spoonful of sugar, agave syrup, or honey for sweetness. 

If you want to retain the banana flavor in baked goods, you can use a combination of ½ cup of unflavored Greek yogurt or plain yogurt and 1 to 2 teaspoons of banana powder for each banana the recipe calls for. Remember that banana powder and banana flour are not the same thing. Banana flour doesn't taste like bananas and is primarily used as a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour.

You can also use 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and ½ teaspoon of banana extract. The chia seeds offer the same binding power that the bananas would have provided, but are virtually flavorless. The sugar adds necessary sweetness, and the banana extract offers that sweet banana flavor. Some of the best substitutes for bananas in smoothies are avocados, yogurt, coconut cream, and mango.