Freezing Sliced Bananas for Smoothies and Milkshakes
Let your bananas ripen before you freeze them. When bananas are ripe, their skins look yellow. It’s okay if you let the skins get spotted or brown before you freeze them, but don’t freeze the bananas when their skins are still green. Bananas won’t ripen any more once you freeze them, so freeze them at the ripeness you want for your smoothie or milkshake.
Remove the peels from your bananas. Don’t leave the peel on your bananas when you freeze them, because it will turn black and slimy in the freezer. You’ll be able to get the peel off with a knife, but it will be a lot harder than simply taking the peel of an unfrozen banana.
Slice your bananas into rounds about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. If you slice your bananas thicker, they’ll take a little longer to freeze, but it will save you time on the slicing, so it’s really up to you. You don’t have to be very exact with cutting your bananas. As an alternative to slicing, you can also just break the bananas apart with your hands.
Place the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Try to have a little space between the pieces so they don’t fuse together when they freeze. If you’re trying to freeze a bunch of bananas at once, you may need multiple trays. To make it slightly easier to remove the banana slices, you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper, but it will still be pretty easy to get the pieces off without it. The reason we freeze them on a baking sheet first is so they don’t fuse together into a solid lump of frozen banana.
Freeze the bananas for an hour or until frozen. Place the baking sheets covered in banana pieces into your freezer. You may have to rearrange the items in your freezer slightly to get the trays to fit. Check back on the bananas in about an hour. If they are not frozen solid, check again after another half an hour. You can check if they are done by poking a piece. If it’s squishy, it needs more time.
Move your frozen banana pieces into a bag labeled with the date. Put the coins into a freezer safe plastic bag, remove the air from the bag, and seal it. Label the bag with the date that you froze the bananas, so you don’t leave them in your freezer for years by accident. You might want to use a spatula to help you remove the bananas from the baking sheet.
Use your frozen bananas in smoothies or milkshakes within 6 months. The next time you are making a beverage in the blender, pull a few pieces of frozen banana from the bag in your freezer. Just stick them in the blender and watch as they turn into a cold, creamy treat. If your blender is still having trouble processing the banana pieces, you may have to cut them into even smaller pieces.
Freezing Bananas for Baking Projects
Let your bananas get ripe or overripe. Bananas won’t ripen more in the freezer, so don’t freeze a green banana. Use a yellow or spotted banana, instead. Over-ripe bananas are great for baking, because they are so sweet, so you can even freeze a banana if the peel is all brown. If your banana is so overripe that it’s liquid you should just toss it.
Peel all of your bananas. Don’t freeze a banana with its peel on! The peel will turn black and slimy, which will look gross, and you’ll have to use a knife to slice it off. Your future self will thank you for putting in a tiny bit of extra work now. Compost your peels if you have compost available.
Keep the peeled bananas whole or mash them first. You can leave the bananas whole and easily mash them later after you’ve defrosted them. However, if you prefer, you can go ahead and mash them now! Put your bananas in a bowl and mash them with a fork until they reach a mushy consistency. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the mashed banana if you care about preserving the color. Since this is for baking though, the color doesn’t really matter. If you have a ton of bananas to mash, you may find it easier to mash them in a food processor or blender, but bananas are soft enough to mash by hand.
Freeze your bananas in a freezer bag labeled with the date. Scoop the mashed bananas or place the whole bananas into a freezer bag. Make sure that most of the air is out of the bag before you seal it. Write the date on your bag with a permanent marker so that you can figure out how long the bananas have been in your freezer later. Then, just stick the bag in the freezer. It may take a few hours for your bananas to freeze completely.
Use your bananas in baked goods within 6 months. Take your bananas out of the freezer an hour before you plan to start baking and let them defrost on a plate on the counter. If you still haven’t used your frozen bananas within 6 months, it’s time to toss them. Try baking banana bread or banana muffins with your defrosted bananas. If you stored the bananas whole, they should be easy to mash with a fork after they've defrosted.
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