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Can’t make it to the French Quarter? Bring a taste of the French Quarter to you! A classic New Orleans treat, bananas foster is seriously incredible – and seriously easy to make. With rich flavors of banana, brown sugar, and a touch of rum served over creamy vanilla bean ice cream, every bite of this dish is pure decadence.
Before You Get Started
- This process is a lot of fun and amazingly impressive – but it can also be very dangerous. You’re quite literally playing with fire when you make bananas foster, so use caution, and maybe have a lid or fire extinguisher handy.
- Not a big drinker? You only need 2 ounces of banana liqueur and 2 ounces of dark rum for this recipe, so opt for a mini bottle (a.k.a. airplane bottle) of each! That way, you don’t end up with a ton of leftover liquor you won’t use.
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Start with the base.
Melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a large flambé pan or heavy skillet. Make sure you don’t let the butter or the sugar burn! Keep stirring or whisking the ingredients together until they’re just incorporated, then add in the banana liqueur.
Cheryl’s Tip: If you don’t have a flambé pan, you don’t have to rush out and buy one just for this recipe. I mean, you can if you want to, I won’t stop you! Almost any large, heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan will work, though. Just don’t use a non-stick skillet! The non-stick coating isn’t designed to handle the high temp of alcohol on fire.
Add the bananas.
Toss the quartered bananas into the pan and sauté them until they’re just soft – not mushy! Keep the mixture moving while they sauté so the bananas don’t stick to the pan and the sugar doesn’t burn.
En Flambé!
You can use a long fireplace lighter to ignite the dish, or you can use the flame of your gas stove. I’ve included the process for both methods down below! Whichever way you choose to set your rum ablaze, be so very careful, especially if this is your first time trying it. The flame will have some height, so plan accordingly.
a la mode.
Let the flame (and the oohs and ahhs) die down, then stir or toss the banana mixture to help all the alcohol burn off, making sure all the banana quarters are well-coated in the sauce. When you’re ready, spoon the bananas into serving bowls with scoops of vanilla ice cream, cover everything with that amazing bananas foster sauce, then dig in!
What I Love About This Recipe
- Bananas foster has long been one of my favorite desserts. Soft bananas; a rich, warm, lavish sauce; and sweet, creamy vanilla ice cream – what’s not to love?!
- The alcohol in the sauce burns off, leaving you with deep, decadent flavors of banana and caramel and little-to-no booze.
- You can easily scale bananas foster up or down depending on the number of people you’re trying to
impressfeed. Just make sure you’ve got a skillet large enough, or work in batches to keep things manageable (and safe).
The downside to making bananas foster at home rather than ordering it at Brennan’s is you miss out on the AMAZING table-side preparation. It’s such an incredible experience, having bananas and rum flambéed right next to you in this gorgeous restaurant while hearing all about the history of the dish. If you ever have the chance to experience it, you simply have to. In the meantime? Bananas foster at home it is!
Recipe Variations
- Virgin Foster: In the middle of a dry January? Cooking for kiddos? Just not big on alcohol? You actually can make bananas foster non-alcoholic! Replace the banana liqueur and the dark rum with 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. You can add those to the pan along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Skip the flambé entirely since there’s no alcohol to burn off! Instead, just simmer everything until the bananas are soft, then go straight to plating.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Bananas Foster from Brennan’s New Orleans
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- ice cream scoop
- 4 Serving bowls
- large flambé pan or 12-inch stainless steel or cast-iron skillet
- Large wooden spoon
- long fireplace lighter or gas stovetop flame
Ingredients
- 4 medium bananas
- 4 scoops vanilla bean ice cream
- ¼ cup unsalted butter 4 tablespoons or 1 half stick
- 1 packed cup light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup banana liqueur
- ¼ cup dark rum
Instructions
- Peel 4 medium bananas and place bananas on cutting board. Slice each banana in half lengthwise, then slice each long half in half horizontally, creating 4 pieces from each banana. Set aside.
- Divide 4 scoops vanilla bean ice cream between serving bowls. Set aside.
- Place large flambé pan on stovetop over medium heat. Add ¼ cup unsalted butter, 1 packed cup light brown sugar, and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon to pan and stir ingredients together as butter melts and brown sugar dissolves.
- When butter is almost completely melted, add ¼ cup banana liqueur to pan and stir until ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Add quartered bananas to pan. Sauté mixture, stirring and flipping bananas occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes or until bananas begin to soften.
- IF USING FIREPLACE LIGHTER: Add ¼ cup dark rum to pan. Stir to incorporate rum, then sauté mixture until sauce begins to bubble. When sauce begins to bubble, ignite lighter then very carefully touch lighter to air around sauce, igniting alcohol vapors.
- IF USING STOVETOP FLAME: Lift side of pan closest to you, tilting back of pan down toward stovetop. When back edge of pan is hot, add ¼ cup dark rum to pan, then very carefully tilt pan closer to flame until rum ignites.
- After igniting sauce, carefully stir or toss mixture and spoon sauce over banana slices until flames die down and most or all of alcohol has cooked off.
- Transfer 4 banana pieces into each bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. Spoon sauce over bananas and ice cream, then serve immediately.
- Skillet: If you don’t have a flambé pan handy, don’t worry. Almost any large, heavy skillet will work. Just don’t use a non-stick skillet as they’re not designed for temps this high.
- Bananas: Your bananas should be ripe and firm, but not overripe.
- Flambé: If you aren’t comfortable igniting the sauce, you can simmer it until most of the alcohol has burned off. It’ll just take a little longer!
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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