20+ Banana Recipes To Use Up Your Brown Bananas

20+ banana recipes to use up those browning bananas sitting on your counter.

Have some ripe bananas on your counter and not quite sure what to do with them? My friend, I have so many ideas for you.

Below you’ll find some fabulous banana recipes to use up those bananas, both from Baking Mischief and around the internet divided by exactly how many bananas you’ll need to make them.

But before we get to the recipes…

What can I do with lots of ripe bananas?

Freeze them! While I’m a big fan of cooking with bananas, you can only eat so many loaves of banana bread at once, so if you have a ton of ripe bananas, just freeze most of them.

There’s no loss in quality when you use them for baking or smoothies later down the line, and it’s great having ripe bananas in your freezer so you know you can always make a batch of banana bread when you feel like it.

I wrote a whole post on the best way to freeze bananas , so go check it out for tons of tips and tricks, but long story short, simply freeze your bananas, peeled or unpeeled, whole, sliced, or mashed in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.

You Might Also Enjoy: How to Quickly Ripen Bananas

The Banana Recipes

Okay, we’ve talked about freezing bananas, now on to the recipes.

Small Banana Cake

1 Banana Recipes

Small-batch Banana Muffins
One-banana Banana Bread
Small-batch Chocolate Banana Muffins
Small Banana Cake
The Best Banana Milkshake
Banana Pancakes for Two
Strawberry Banana Milkshake
Banana Milkshake Without Ice Cream

2 Banana Recipes

Brown Sugar Banana Pancakes
Cinnamon Banana Bread Muffins
Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Bananas Foster French Toast
No-Bake Banana Cheesecake
Banana Nut Scones with Maple Glaze

Slices of banana bread stacked on a cooking rack. - 3

My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe

3 Banana Recipes

Banana Spice Cookies with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Banana Bread Recipe
Nutella Banana Bread Muffins
Cream Cheese Banana Bread
Banana Ice Cream Recipes

4+ Banana Recipes

(4 bananas) My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe
(4 bananas) Banana Crumb Cake Recipe
(4 bananas) Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
(6 bananas) Banana Crumble
(6-7 bananas) Overnight Baked Banana French Toast Casserole

This post is a part of my Waste Not series , a series of posts dedicated to reducing food waste in the kitchen. You might also enjoy:

What to Do With Leftover Whipping Cream
What to Do With Leftover Pumpkin Puree
What to Do With Leftover Egg Whites
What to Do With Leftover Egg Yolks
What to Do With Leftover Half and Half

These easy Cheese Fries are the ultimate indulgent comfort food.

Today I have a fun and easy snack/meal/midnight kitchen project for you, cheesy fries!

Cheese sauce being poured over fries. - 4

Cheese sauce being poured over fries. - 5

Easy Cheesy Fries

If you’re looking for something indulgent and comforting, you really can’t beat a plate of homemade fries loaded with creamy, glorious cheese sauce .

The good news (and maybe bad news) is that this is extremely easy to make at home, and all you need is a couple of russet potatoes, cheddar cheese, and some fridge and pantry staples.

Oven-baked Homemade Fries

If you have a bag of frozen fries in your freezer, you can absolutely use those, but these oven-baked homemade fries are really good and really simple to make.

A couple potatoes, a couple of minutes to cut them into wedges and toss them with olive oil, and about half an hour in the oven, and they’ll come out golden and beautiful, with crispy edges and creamy insides, ready to be drizzled with cheese sauce.

Ingredient Notes

Russet Potatoes: Russet potatoes make the best classic potato wedges. I like to peel them, but that’s optional. If you prefer your fries with skin, just make sure your potatoes are well-scrubbed and cut them into wedges.
Milk: You can use any percentage milk you’d like in this recipe, but the higher fat the milk, the smoother and creamier your sauce will be.
Cheddar cheese: I recommend using freshly shredded cheese. The anti-caking additives in bagged, pre-shredded cheese can make your sauce lumpy. Sharp cheddar is my go-to for cheese sauces, but mild to extra sharp will all work.

How to Make Cheese Fries

Scroll down to the recipe card for the full printable recipe.

Make your wedges: Toss potato wedges with olive oil, season, and then bake until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, flipping once about halfway through.
Start the cheese sauce: Melt butter and whisk in flour until a thick paste forms. Cook until the paste begins to turn golden (this will cook the raw flour taste out of the sauce). Slowly add in milk and whisk until mixture is thickened and bubbly around the edges.
Add cheese: Remove the sauce from heat and stir in the cheese a heaping handful at a time. Once the cheese is completely melted, add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.
Pour cheese sauce over fries: Serve and enjoy!!

Recommended Toppings

And if you’re feeling a little more ambitious, here are some additional cheesy fry topping ideas:

Bacon (!!)
Easy chili
Sour cream
Steamed broccoli (LOL)
Carnitas , Barbacoa , or chopped up Carne Asada to make Carne Asada Fries

Can I use a different type of potato for my homemade fries?

While russets are my preferred potato here, use whatever you have on hand. Smaller potatoes like reds will of course take less time to cook, so adjust the baking time as needed.

Can you make cheesy fries ahead of time?

I don’t recommend it. Both homemade fries and cheese sauce are really at their best when served immediately.

Can I double this recipe?

Absolutely. You can scale the recipe up with no preparation changes needed except the sauce will take slightly longer to thicken when you add the milk. To change the recipe yield, hover over the serving size in the recipe card below or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.

Cheese Fries Recipe Notes

Keep a close eye on your fries in the last few minutes of cooking time. They tend to go from browned to over-browned quite quickly.

Ingredients

Fries

▢ 2 medium to large russet potatoes peeled and cut into 8 wedges each
▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
▢ Seasoning salt or salt and pepper

Cheese Sauce

▢ 1 tablespoon ( 14g ) salted butter
▢ 1 tablespoon ( 8g ) all-purpose flour
▢ ¾ cup milk any percentage
▢ ¾ cup ( 3oz ) shredded Cheddar cheese preferably sharp and freshly shredded
▢ Pinch of cayenne
▢ Salt and pepper

Instructions

Oven-baked Fries

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
Toss potato wedges with oil and arrange wedges on the baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasoning salt or salt and pepper.
Bake for 15 minutes. Use a fork to flip the potatoes, sprinkle this side with seasoning salt/salt and pepper, and bake for an additional 10 to 20 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender and reach your desired level of crispiness. Watch closely in the last few minutes of baking time, as the edges will go from browned to burned quite quickly.
Remove from oven, and immediately start your cheese sauce.

Cheese Sauce

In a small pot, over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking continuously, until flour is lightly golden, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Slowly pour in milk, whisking out any lumps as they form. Continue to whisk the mixture until it is thickened and bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add cheese by the heaping handful and whisk until smooth after each. Once all the cheese is incorporated, and add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste.

Assemble

Transfer potato wedges to plates or bowls and drizzle cheese sauce over the top. Serve immediately, and enjoy.

This recipe will make some of the best blueberry waffles you’ll ever eat with crispy golden outsides and soft and fluffy insides studded with fresh blueberries. Drizzle with melted butter and real maple syrup, and you’re in for a good time.

Hey friend, searching for a breakfast worth getting out of bed for? These blueberry waffles are just the thing you need. Sit down in front of a stack of these, and from your first crispy, perfect bite, you’ll be so glad you got up to greet the world (or at least this plate of waffles.)

Syrup being poured over blueberry waffles. - 11

Syrup being poured over blueberry waffles. - 12

Why These Waffles Work

They start with a good waffle recipe: The base recipe for these is my favorite waffle recipe in the entire world. You can add pretty much anything you want to it, and you’re going to end up with some real good waffles.
Perfectly crispy by design: This recipe uses quite a bit of oil in the batter along with cornstarch. This produces waffles that are incredibly crispy on the outside while still being soft and fluffy on the inside.
Just the right amount of fresh blueberries: You’ll need 2/3 cup of fruit, which is enough blueberries to ensure plenty of blueberry flavor, without overdoing it and making the waffles soggy.

Ingredient Notes

Cornstarch: As mentioned above, this recipe uses cornstarch. I HIGHLY recommend using it here because it’s a huge part of what makes the waffles crispy, but if you don’t have any, you can replace it with the same amount of all-purpose flour. Buttermilk: I like to use real buttermilk when I have it, but you can make a buttermilk substitute with milk and lemon juice or vinegar and it works just fine. (There are more detailed instructions for making it in the recipe card below.) If you do have real buttermilk, this recipe won’t use up an entire carton. Check out my post What to Do With Leftover Buttermilk for storage tips and ideas for using up the leftovers (I recommend a batch of buttermilk cornbread muffins ).

How to Make Blueberry Waffles From Scratch

This is a quick overview of the recipe process with extra tips and tricks. For the full printable recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below.

In a medium-to-large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

Collage photo of blueberry waffle batter being made. - 13

Collage photo of blueberry waffle batter being made. - 14

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Mix until the batter is just combined. You shouldn’t see any dry flour in your bowl, but a few lumps are normal and expected.

A Note on Ratios: This recipe has a high ratio of liquid to dry ingredients. This tends to freak people out (it does for me too when I haven’t made these in a while), but I promise, the recipe is correct. The batter will thicken slightly as it rests and your waffles will cook up just fine.

Rest your batter. Resting the batter allows the gluten to relax and for it to absorb some of the liquid and thicken slightly. Don’t skip this step. If you’re serving your waffles with fruit or eggs and bacon, this is a perfect time to start prepping the rest of your breakfast.

Fold in the blueberries and cook the waffles in a preheated waffle iron according to iron instructions. All waffle irons are a little different, so follow the instructions for your particular machine. For mine, it takes 1 cup of batter and cooks in about 2 ½ to 3 minutes per side.

Waffle Cooking Tip: For any waffle iron, make sure it’s properly preheated before adding your batter, and ladle the batter on slowly, filling holes where more batter is needed. For the prettiest waffles, give the batter just a bit to set (about 10 seconds) before closing the lid. This will help prevent batter from squeezing out the sides when you close the lid.

Transfer cooked waffles to an oven-safe cooling rack (if you have one) placed over a baking sheet in your warm oven while you cook all the batter. The cooling rack will allow air to circulate under the waffles keeping the bottoms crispy while they sit. The steam from just-cooked waffles sitting for too long directly on a surface can make the bottoms soggy.
Top with toppings and enjoy!!

Blueberry waffles stacked on a plate with butter and syrup. - 17

Blueberry waffles stacked on a plate with butter and syrup. - 18

Blueberry Waffle Toppings

Top your waffles with melted butter (I know we food bloggers always show waffles with a pat of butter so you can actually see it in photos, but trust me, melted butter is the superior waffle topping) and syrup.

Or try more fresh blueberries, a blueberry syrup and whipped cream .

Waffle Variations

Strawberry waffles: Replace the blueberries with the same amount of chopped fresh strawberries.
Lemon blueberry waffles: Add the zest from half a lemon to the batter when you add the blueberries.
Chocolate chip waffles : Add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter instead of blueberries. (These are SO decadent and good!!)