Banana Chips
Recipe
Recipe
While not everyone likes bananas for those of us that do banana chips are a lightweight and easy to make snack that requires little effort and very few ingredients. I always find that bananas tend to over-ripen very quickly in the summer months so this is a good use for them if you are getting sick of banana bread or smoothies. While this recipe is very simple I find that the addition of the lemon juice to stop the banana from browning also has the added advantage of giving them a slight sweet and sour taste that I find hard to resist.
This recipe is designed for a food dehydrator however if you don’t own one then you can use a fan forced oven at a very low temperature (55-60 degrees celsius)
- Four medium bananas peeled and raw is around 400grams
- Four medium bananas-dried and sliced is around 100grams chips
- Approximate calories/100grams: 360calories
Ingredients
4 Medium Bananas peeled (100 grams each)
1/2 cup Lemon juice
Preparation Instructions
- Peel four (4) medium sized ripe bananas
- Cut into 4mm slices
- Dip the banana slices into lemon juice to minimise browning. Place on the dehydration rack. Do this away from the heating mechanism to allow any excess lemon juice to drain
- Assemble the food dehydrator. I recommend having an empty rack on the bottom to allow for a more even flow of air.
- Heat to approximately 55°-60°celsius for around 4-6 hours then turn the banana slices over. Take your time to minimise tearing the slices
- Heat for a further 4-6 hours
- Once the banana slices have a leathery to crisp texture (your choice) allow to cool and store in a airtight container in the cupboard. They have lasted for me for six months
- Four bananas weighing 400grams peeled will dry down to approximately 100grams
- Pack in a ziplock bag before use
Bananas, lemon juice and a dehydrator. This recipe is about as simple as it gets. I find that bananas always ripen too quickly in summer time and this is a great way to use them
After peeling the bananas cut them into thin slices around 4mm thick
Dip in lemon juice which helps to limit the browning of the banana
Place the bananas directly on the mesh tray ensuring that there is space between each piece so that they are not touching the next one.
I use an Ezidri dehydrator which I’ve had for about seven years and while the heat adjustment mechanism has changed with the newer models the size is still the same. Four bananas will pretty much fill two trays.
Bananas after about five hours on medium heat. At this stage turn them over and continue to dry until they have leathery or crisp texture (personal preference)
All finished. Allow them to cool and store at room temperature in an airtight container until day for use. I prefer bananas on the leathery side of crispy and the image above was dried for around 11 hours with my dehydrator