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If you’ve never made banana chips at home, you’re in for a surprise. All you need are a couple of bananas and a little patience while they bake. The result is a naturally sweet snack that everyone loves.
Why You’ll Love This Banana Chips Recipe
Homemade banana chips are one of the easiest healthy snacks you can make. They’re naturally sweet, crisp around the edges, chewy in the center, and perfect for snack boxes and school lunches. The recipe can be scaled up or down. Personally, I usually make a double batch because they disappear fast.
Best Bananas to Make Banana Chips
Ripe, yellow bananas with a few brown speckles work great because they have the perfect balance of sweetness and are firm enough to slice. Avoid green bananas, which aren’t sweet enough, and overly brown bananas, which tend to be too soft and can become mushy instead of crisp.
How to Make Banana Chips
If this is your first time making banana chips, the short video in the recipe walks you through these steps:
- Prep
Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, slice the bananas and place them on the baking sheet. - Reduce browning
Bananas will naturally brown as they dehydrate in the oven, but you can preserve most of their yellow color by brushing a lemon-water mixture (4 parts water, 1 part lemon juice) over each slice or soaking them in a bowl. Don’t worry, they won’t taste like lemon juice. - Bake
They should be spread out on a sheet pan, with a little space in between. If you’re making a lot, you can bake several sheet pans at the same time; just swap positions halfway through baking. Depending on their thickness, they’ll take between 1 ½ and 2 hours for the bananas to crisp up (become chips).
- Cool & store
Cool completely on the baking sheet before storing them in an airtight container for up to one week.
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Banana Chips FAQ’s:
No. Lemon juice helps slow browning and keeps the banana slices looking lighter, but it’s optional. The banana chips will still bake and taste great without it.
Yes, but expect different results. Green bananas and plantains make a starchier, less sweet chip that’s more similar to store-bought banana chips. They may also need a slightly longer baking time.
Banana chips continue to crisp as they cool. If they’re still soft after cooling, they likely need more baking time. Slicing the bananas too thick or using overly ripe bananas can also make them chewier.
After they’ve cooled completely, store them in an airtight container for up to a week. If they’re left uncovered or you live in a humid environment, they might soften over time. Add a piece of sandwich bread inside the bag or container to absorb the moisture. Or, you can pop them back into a 250F oven for 10 minutes to crisp them up again.
Yes. Slice the bananas evenly and cook them at a low temperature until lightly golden. At 250F they’ll take about 35 minutes. At 300F they’ll take about 25 minutes, although every air fryer cooks a little differently.
No. They keep best in an airtight container at room temperature. Refrigeration can introduce moisture, making them soften faster.
More Healthy Snack Ideas
If you love healthy baked snacks, try making apple chips, no-bake energy bites, and homemade fruit roll-ups.
Homemade Baked Banana Chips
Watch How It’s Made:
Ingredients
- 4 bananas
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup water
Instructions
Prep
- Preheat the oven to 250F with the top rack positioned in the middle. Then, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a shallow bowl or pie dish, combine ½ cup water with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
- Slice the bananas between ⅛ and ¼-inch slices. Soak them in the lemon water mixture and transfer them to the lined baking sheet, making sure there's a little space between each slice. They can be tight but in a single layer. You can also brush them with the lemon juice mixture using a basting brush.
Bake
- Bake them in the preheated oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until they are mostly crispy, flipping them over halfway through and swapping the baking sheet positions about 1 hour in. Visually, they'll be medium golden brown, with some yellow left.
- Remove the sheet pans from the oven and let the banana chips cool down completely on the counter. They'll be slightly soft at first, but they crisp up as they cool.
Storage:
- Once the banana chips have fully cooled, transfer them into an airtight container or zip bag where they'll keep for a week at room temperature.
Notes
- Make them sweet: Use ripe bananas and sprinkle with cinnamon after brushing with the lemon water. Follow the baking directions above.
- Make them spicy: Add ¼ teaspoon of sriracha or hot sauce to the lemon water mixture and brush it over the banana slices.
- In the air fryer: Slice the bananas evenly and cook them at a low temperature until lightly golden. At 250F they’ll take about 35 minutes. At 300F they’ll take about 25 minutes, although every air fryer cooks a little differently.
Sandra Jean Oatley says
I dipped mine in lemon juice, placed them on an ungreased cookie sheet, and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sea salt. After 90 minutes I used a metal spatula to carefully loosen them from the pan and turn each one over. I cooked them a little extra on the second side, more like 45 minutes, because I sliced mine like 1/4″. They are nicely chewy with a slight lemon zing. I made them to eat on long runs, but they’re so tasty I may not have any left by then. Great recipe and so easy.
Emilie Hebert says
That’s a great idea with the lemon juice!
Jim says
Couple comments:
I just finished my first bag of store bought chips, and went so insane I immediately looked for a recipe.
I have read all of these (sometimes humorous) comments but haven’t made them yet, but two things that may impact these chefs:
1) Temperature – every oven is different. Mine runs 25 degrees avg above the setting. some of these gooey results may have come from an oven not hot enough
2) relative humidity – live in a humid climate and it takes longer to dry out
Just some thoughts..
MOMables says
Thanks for the tips, Jim!
Veronica says
Recipe sounds great! Will try these in our church 1yr old nursery as an alternative to animal crackers, Ritz and goldfish!
MOMables says
Sounds great!
Mrs. Moriarty says
I hate to be one of those people who leaves negative comments (it seems so unappreciative and entitled) but I did want to let you know that I followed the instructions above to the letter (sliced slightly-green plantains about 1/8″ thick and soaked the slices in a solution of 4 parts water and 1 part lemon juice for 2 hours before sprinkling lightly with kosher salt and baking at 250 for 2 hours, flipping half way through), and the consensus was that the chips are totally inedible because “they taste like soap!”
MOMables says
Hi! We didn’t use plantains, so that may be why there are differences.
Sodapop says
Also you should have done 3 parts lemon juice and 1 part water
Adrienne Johnston says
I tried the soaking method and they all stuck to the parchment paper. I will try again and either spray the parchment paper with a little Pam or use the foil-type parchment paper. A little disappointed because I was really looking forward to those “chips!” Will have to wait till I have leftover bananas again and time!
MOMables says
Spraying the parchment paper would definitely help!
Can says
Mrs. Moriarty, I tried to make tortillas with a liquid plantain recipe with lime juice and they definitely tasted “soapy-ish to me too(I baked them and they were rubbery), but eating them fresh didn’t taste that way at all.
Kristen says
Hi, I have a lot of bananas in my freezer, I need to use up. Would I be able to use those? Thanks
MOMables says
Hi! As long as you let them thaw out completely, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to! Frozen bananas are also great for creamy smoothies.
Former Chef says
No. You will not be able to use them for chips. Once frozen, then thawed, they will be mushy. FYI freezing bananas is a quick way to get them the right consistency to make banana bread. Lets say you have some black bananas that are ready to make bread, but are a few bananas short. Just freeze some bananas then thaw. They will be soft and ready. The flavor wont be as good as the black, overripe ones but will work fine.
MOMables says
Thanks for the helpful tips!
Ben says
Will these stay good for a while? There is a sale at a grocery store on Bananas and I would like them to keep.
MOMables says
Yes, you are essentially dehydrating the bananas. Please check the post for recommended storage. Enjoy!
Amanda says
I have read the post twice and don’t see how long we can store these after baking. And should they be stored refrigerated or at room temperature?
MOMables says
Amanda, this will vary by thickness of the slice. As you can see from the recipe, 1 1/2-2h.
Michelle says
How ripe were the bananas you used? Did they look like the ones in the picture?
MOMables says
I’ve made them anywhere from what you see here to right before they are only good for smoothies or banana bread.
Jenny says
Wow some of these comments are so rude!
Recipe looks great – supermarket was selling huge bags of bananas for 20p yesterday (about 32 cents) so bought a bag and looking for ideas to use them up. These would be good for daughter’s school lunch – thanks for recipe xx
MOMables says
Enjoy them Jenny!
Darryl Vergonet says
Same here, bananas were 29 cents a pound yesterday so my husband and I bought 4 big bunches. I would like to make a lot of chips so I tried one banana sliced thin on the parchment paper but it is stuck to the paper. They taste great but I have to peel the paper off the chips. What did I do wrong? Would it work to spray a little Pam on the paper first?
Thanks, Darryl
MOMables says
Spraying the paper first would definitely help!
Eric Halliday says
Question. The description of the recipe called for you to put the bananas in the over for 1 1/2 hours flipping half way through (which would be 45 minutes).
But in the printable recipe at the bottom you say to put the bananas in for 2 hours, flipping after 90 minutes.
Which one is it?
MOMables says
bake for 1 1/2-2 hours, flipping them half way through.
Derrick says
Tried for first time last night the first batch came out pretty chewy, I must have been sliced too thick. I’m going to try again tonight and see if they can come out chrispy. I did the trick with the green bananas and soaked them for 2 hours in lemon juice and water and they stayed yellow- but
just too chewy.
MOMables says
Derrick, chewy = needs more cooking/dehydrating time. enjoy!
Paula Wild says
I was dehydrating something else, and did not fill all the racks so I am trying a banana in the dehydrator right now, dipped in lemon juice. I will let you know how it works out.