Banana Fritters
Published Jan 16, 2024
Updated Dec 11, 2024
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These family-friendly Banana Fritters are perfectly spiced with nutty nutmeg, fried to golden-brown perfection, and ready in 30 minutes!
You’ll love this recipe for serving as an appetizer, breakfast, or afternoon snack.
I am continuing to share my love for epic breakfast recipes with my recipe for the very best quick and easy fritters made with bananas.
They are crunchy on the outside, soft, fluffy, and sweet on the inside, but not overwhelmingly sweet (no added sugar!). The flavor in these fritters really comes through.
Also, check out my African Twisted Doughnuts and my guide on How To Make Puff Puff.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
There are many reasons to love these Banana Fritters recipe and add it to your recipe rotation. You’ll love this recipe because:
- It is family-friendly! I tell you, it is hard to stop at one banana fritter. Everyone loves these bites that taste like banana bread and doughnuts had a baby.
- It is quick and easy! Ready in 30 minutes from start to finish, these can be made at the spur of the moment.
- It is customizable! Yes, you can add other spices you may like like cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Got some vanilla extract? Feel free to add it in!
- It is tasty! The flavor these fritters yield is incredible.
- It is the perfect way to use up overripe bananas! Don’t let those overripe bananas go to waste. Use them to make some easy fritters.
For more recipes with bananas, check out this Banana Bread In Bundt Pan and Banana Pancakes.
Ingredients
To make banana fritters, you only need a few ingredients that are mostly pantry staples. Here is what you need:
- Ripe bananas: Fairly ripe bananas won’t cut it here. If the bananas are so ripe that they have developed black spots and some parts of the banana are mushy on the inside, then my friend, you have the perfect bananas for some banana fritters!
- Flour: All purpose or plain flour works here. Please do not use self-rising flour.
- Baking powder: To serve as a raising agent which enables the batter puff up as it fries.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness in the bananas.
- Eggs: Eggs add richness and flavor.
- Milk: Milk help thins out the batter to the right consistency. (not pictured)
- Nutmeg: Ground nutmeg boosts the flavor profile of banana fritters. Go for freshly grated nutmeg for the best flavor. I grate whole nutmeg easily using a Microplane grater.
- Neutral oil for frying: Any flavorless oil like canola or vegetable oil would work. (not pictured)
For the full list of ingredients with measurements, check out the recipe card below.
How To Make Banana Fritters
Here is how to make banana fritters in 3 easy steps:
- Mash some bananas with a fork to form a paste.
- 2. Add in some flour, eggs, milk, salt and ground nutmeg. Mix everything to combine and form a batter.
3. Heat up oil and drop in tablespoonfuls of the batter to deep fry until golden brown.
Place the fritters on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. And there you have it! Quick and easy banana fritters!
Variations
Now let’s talk about the ways you can vary the ingredients in banana fritters to make it your own.
- Sweeter fritters: Add some brown sugar to the batter if you prefer sweeter fritters.
- More spiced: Add more some cinnamon and cloves for a more spiced batter.
- Cinnamon sugar: Toss the fritters in cinnamon sugar as soon as you are done frying them.
- Vanilla extract: Consider adding vanilla extract for more flavor.
- Plantain fritters: Replace the bananas with overripe plantains for plantain fritters.
Expert Tips For Banana Fritters
- Mix the batter until just combined. Do not overmix.
- To test if the oil is hot enough, drop in the first spoonful of batter. If it rises to the top of the oil, then the oil is hot enough.
- Don’t make the oil too hot as it will result in the fritters burning on the outside without being cooked through.
- The oil temperature should be around 365 degrees F. If the oil temperature is too low, the fritters will absorb the oil and turn soggy.
- Use a cast iron pot for frying as it holds heat well.
- Serve warm for the best flavor.
Serving
These fritters are so versatile. You could eat them with a lot of sides.
- Serve with jam or chocolate sauce for a sweet option.
- Serve drizzled with maple syrup or honey.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar on them before serving.
- For a savory option, pair with this spicy African Pepper Sauce.
Recipe FAQs
Banana fritters are made up of bananas, flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt and sweet spices like nutmeg or cinnamon.
Yes, egg adds richness to the banana fritter batter.
What Americans call fritters is deep-fried cakes or deep-fried chopped or grated food like apple fritters or corn fritters.
Yes! Banana fritters can be made vegan. Simply omit the eggs and milk then thin out the batter with some water. Without eggs or milk, you can still make great banana fritters!
It’s hard to tell where banana fritters came from because they are eaten in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Each region has its variation to these fritters and the Caribbean banana fritters are fried flat like pancakes. Banana fritters have such a universal appeal.
Banana Fritters Video
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Love these fritters made with bananas? Also check out these similar recipes:
Love bananas? Also check out my Banana Chia Pudding and Strawberry Banana Pudding.
If you make this recipe please leave a star rating below. Your rating helps others find the recipe plus I love hearing from you! Thank you!
Banana Fritters
Ingredients
- 4 medium overripe bananas
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Flavorless Oil for frying Vegetable or canola oil works well.
Instructions
- Peel the bananas and place in a large bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher to form a paste (it will have lumps in it and that's okay).
- Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl except the oil for frying. Mix until just combine to form a batter. The batter will be light and drippy.
- Place oil in a pan up to 3 inches then heat up on high heat to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Reduce the heat to medium (this is important because very hot oil will result in the fritters burning on the outside without cooking through.
- Place tablespoonfuls of the batter into the pan (if you have a small cookie scoop, use it to drop the batter into the oil). Do not overcrowd the pan. Let the fritters cook until golden. Flip to the other side and let them cook until golden too. Remove and place on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat process with the rest of the batter, allowing the oil to heat up a little more each time.
- Enjoy for breakfast with some tea, or as a snack, or serve sprinkled with powdered sugar as a dessert.
Yummmm canโt wait for my daughter to make them. Iโve done like yours for years but never wrote done the recipe. I add some raisins for a surprise taste.
Have no time to do them now so this will be great for her to do it by herself.
Thank you!
Raisins sound like a great idea! Glad you love the recipe!
Yum.. Iโve makes the a lot!! A fave in the house… Can I substitute dairy milk for oat milk ๐
Hi Cass, I haven’t tried it with oat milk so not sure how that will turn out. Maybe you could try it and see how it goes.
Hi, what kind of oil do you use to cook the fritters?
Hi Syd, I use any neutral tasting oil like vegetable oil or corn oil.
If I want to use cassava , can I peel , grate and keep overnight?
Your recipes are lifesaver!
Yes you can keep the grated cassava overnight. But if you keep it longer it will start to ferment. If possible keep in the fridge. Here is the recipe using cassava: https://www.preciouscore.com/accra-banana-african-banana-fritters/
I would like to add chopped walnuts to this recipe. Would this be a good idea? How will it turn out? Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Terria, I have never tried adding nuts before but I think that would work.
I am taking these to a potluck after I put them in the refrigerator the same day. I’m making them. Can I take them out and just let them get room temperature? Or do you have to warm up before eating them ?
Hi Joyce, I’d bring them to room temperature, then warm them in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes, or until they are warm. Hope this helps.
These are delicious and turned out perfectly! Dusted them with powdered sugar but canโt wait to try the African hot sauce next time.
So happy to hear that, Leslie! Thank you for the feedback!
Making these now, do they freeze well?
I am sorry I haven’t frozen them before so not sure if they would freeze well.
Kindly help me with the grams of flour and baking powder to mix when making flitters I have banana milk and eggs. It’s my first time to bake
Hi Cephas, so sorry for the late reply. You need 250 grams of flour and 8 grams of baking powder.
Can the flour be substituted for almond or coconut flour?
Hi, sorry I haven’t tried that before so not sure if it will work.
Learned a lot about banana fritters. Overripe bananas with dark tips are absolutely the bomb! Plus we don’t need extra sugar. I particularly think the overripe bananas are as good as it gets
Yes overripe bananas are really good for baking or making snacks like this.
Can i make these in an air fryer?
I am sorry I haven’t tried that before so I can’t tell if it will work.
OK. I will try it out and see whatโs happens.
So the air-fryer thing didnโt really work. I used about half of the batter to โexperimentโ and tried to air-fry. I added another half cup of flour to thicken it up a bit and used a baking mat so they didnโt drip. So it was basically like making banana cookies.i used oil to make the rest as you state in the recipe and THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!! Thank you. The โair-friedโ oneโs were still yummy but they were definitely NOT the same.
Thanks for the feedback, Krista! It’s good you only tried half of the recipe in the air-fryer so you still had some batter left to fry. Hope you are staying safe in this season.
Of all times I had to read this when I was hunting for something to fill my stomach.
That’s a lot of torture! ๐