Brain bending banana facts & recipes

Emma White - Nutritionist | 06 Mar, 2019

Apple

Botanically speaking, bananas are berries (and strawberries are not)

Apple

If you leave bananas alongside other fruits, they will cause them to ripen faster due to an enzyme they release.

Apple

Green bananas have a lower glycaemic index than more yellow/brown bananas – but less antioxidants.

Apple

If you put a banana in water – it will float just like an apple.

Apple

Potassium rich bananas can help to reduce blood pressure and therefore improve heart health.

Apple

Over 100 billion bananas are eaten every year across the world – that averages out as 13 bananas per person, per year.

Blueberry & banana pancakes

Blueberry & banana pancakes

Serves 1 - 285 kcals per serving

Kcals 285
Fat 10.1g
Sat fat 2.1g
Carbs 37.9g
Sugar 28.6g
Fibre 2.8g
Protein 13.3g
Salt 0.40g

Ingredients

  • 1 medium overripe banana
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 medium egg white
  • 10g rolled oats
  • 40g blueberries
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp honey

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, over a medium heat.
  2. Meanwhile, mash up the banana in a bowl until no big lumps are visible. Then mix in the egg and an extra egg white.
  3. Add the oats and half the blueberries and mix well.
  4. Spoon the mixture into the pan to make 3 small pancakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until golden and cooked through.
  5. Serve with the rest of the blueberries and a drizzle of honey on top.
Caribbean bananas with rum

Caribbean bananas with rum

Serves 4 - 299 kcals per serving

Kcals 299
Fat 11.5g
Sat fat 7.8g
Carbs 43.2g
Sugar 39.0g
Fibre 1.6g
Protein 2.7g
Salt 0.24g

Ingredients

  • 40g butter
  • 4 medium bananas, sliced
  • 100ml orange juice
  • 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream
  • 40g dark brown soft sugar
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 30ml dark rum

Method

  1. Melt the butter and sugar in a large frying pan over a very low heat until it starts to caramelise. Increase to a moderate heat and add bananas to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes or until they start to brown.
  2. Add the orange zest and juice to the pan with the rum and shake gently to combine. Turn the bananas over and cook for a further 2 minutes or until golden.
  3. Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream.
Lighter Banoffee Pie

Lighter Banoffee Pie

Serves 4 - 269 kcals per serving

Kcals 269
Fat 13.4g
Sat fat 7.3g
Carbs 30.8g
Sugar 22.0g
Fibre 1.7g
Protein 6.4g
Salt 0.33g

Ingredients

  • 2 large bananas (120g without skin)
  • 250g low fat toffee yogurt
  • 4 lighter digestive biscuits, crushed
  • 80ml double cream
  • 60g 0% fat Greek yogurt
  • 20g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Method

  1. Peel and slice the bananas and mix together with the toffee yogurt – leaving 8 slices for a garnish.
  2. Spoon the crushed digestives into the base of 4 small pots, and top each with the toffee yogurt and banana mix.
  3. Whisk the cream until it forms stiff peaks, then gently fold in the Greek yogurt.
  4. Place the cream mix on top of the toffee yogurt and banana mix, top with some dark chocolate and 2 slices of banana. Enjoy!
Blueberry & banana pancakes

Banana loaf

Serves 10 - 186 kcals per serving

Kcals 186
Fat 6.3g
Sat fat 1.6g
Carbs 30.7g
Sugar 17.9g
Fibre 1.3g
Protein 3.3g
Salt 0.44g

Ingredients

  • 125g Flora light spread, plus extra for greasing
  • 125g light brown sugar
  • 2 large free-range eggs
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 150g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas mark 6. Lightly grease a 23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin with a little reduced-fat butter.
  2. Put the remaining butter and the sugar in to a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or hand-held electric whisk until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  3. Coarsely mash the bananas with a fork and stir into the mixture with the vanilla extract.
  4. Sieve in the flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder and salt and gently fold into the mixture in a figure-of-eight motion with a metal spoon until well mixed.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes until you can pierce with a knife and the knife comes out clean.
  6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before cutting the loaf into slices to serve. This will keep well, wrapped in kitchen foil, for several days.

Nutritionist Emma White (ANutr), MSc Human Nutrition is passionate about how food science applies to the human body, and how the nutrients in what we eat affect us and ultimately have an impact on our health.

This site uses cookies to personalise content and ads, provide social media features and analyse our traffic. Find out more about how we use cookies.

Choose which cookies you allow us to use. You can read more about our Cookie Policy in our Privacy Policy.