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One of Kenya’s favorite snack foods is Trader Joe’s “Nothing But Bananas, Flattened”. As the name clearly states, there’s nothing in them except for bananas. As much as I truly adore Trader Joe’s, I wanted to see if I could save a little money and make a similar version to this treat on my own. When I tell you my attempt took no effort or time, I mean it. All I did was slice the bananas, lay them on a cookie sheet and bake for just over an hour. It was so easy and I think they’re even better than the Trader Joe’s version.

But, don’t take my word for it. Let your family do a taste test and see for yourself. When Kenya saw these come out of the oven, he proceeded to eat the entire tray’s worth. Good thing I had more bananas on hand to make another batch!

P.S. This is a great teething snack for babies.

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Banana Leather

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Servings: 12 strips
Author: Catherine McCord
Cook Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingredients  

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 250°F.
  • Slice the bananas lengthwise into 1/8 inch strips.
  • Place the banana strips on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  • Cool and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 20kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g
Did you make this recipe?Mention @Weelicious or tag #weelicious!

About the Author

Catherine is a mama of three. A Kentucky girl living in California. Here’s what I know: all kids can be great eaters and mealtime must be easy. I create simple, healthy recipes the whole family will love.

Comments

  1. […] potato and kiwi, then put the sliced bits in a dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator, this banana leather version is easy to make in an oven – and doubles as a yummy snack for older […]

  2. Is it possible for a 16 year old to make money out of blogging?. . I have no idea what a blog is or how they work.. . I know that it can make money though. . Thanks!.

  3. I live outside the us so I don’t know have trader Joes. Is this suppose to come out crispy? I’ve been actually trying to de-hydrate plantains in the oven but have been struggling with the right temp, how ripe a plantain to use – all in an attempt to re-create this amazing super sweet and super crispy dehydrated plantain chips my relatives send me.

  4. I love oranges, kiwis, and more, but my hbausnd won’t move beyond the apple and banana regimen, so I hardly ever buy anything but that, because it’ll go bad before I have a time to eat it. I need to get better about buying smaller quantities.

  5. Hi KB,

    I haven’t made these yet but do you think it could be the banana was too ripe, or not ripe enough? Maybe experiment with that. Also, you could try putting a very light coating of coconut oil on the paper first? I’m going to try making these this week!

  6. Is there some trick to keep them from sticking to the parchment paper? I’ve made them twice and getting them unstuck was a dreadful process. I ended up with a sticky mess of shredded parchment paper, but the ones that I did unstick were delicious and my teething baby loved them.

  7. This banana leather looks so yummy! I know my little guy will love it (Mommy probably will too)! I want to try this today, but I’m out of parchment paper. Will they turn out on the baking sheet without parchment? I love, love, love your website! Thanks for all the great recipes!

  8. If he loves to chew on things this would be great! Definitely watch him closely when you’re first introducing any new food, flavor or texture!

  9. my son is six months, has no teeth yet, but has been teething for about 2 months. is he too young for these?

  10. This should still be okay. Watch her closely when you give her the first one to see how she handles it!

  11. My daughter is eight months old and has 5 teeth, but three of them aren’t all the way out, do you think these are a good idea for her?

  12. […] them, I thought these might be the perfect solution. I did some searching around the web and found Weelicious.com‘s version of how to prepare them. I modified it slightly (it’s just bananas, there is […]

  13. It really depends on your baby and what stage she’s at! I gave these to my kids while they were teething. Good job making sure to supervise when offering a new food!

  14. What age do you recommend these for? I made them today, gave them to my baby while supervising and pieces broke off. I had to finger sweep her mouth. Very scary!

  15. I just made these last night, and the house smelled great while they were baking, like banana bread, and they tasted great!. But, some of the pieces came out a bit crisp, and others were still a little mushy. Maybe some were too thin and others too thick? They also kept falling apart while cutting. What do you recommend as the perfect ripeness of the bananas? Mine were starting to get brown spots and little too soft (in my opinion) to eat.

  16. Probably not, but I would switch the trays halfway through. Rotate them and switch their positions!

  17. I made these this weekend (along w/ strawberries) and brushed them lightly with a dilute honey glaze. I baked on a silpat at 195 deg (also had a pan of strawberry rollups in there) and it took a VERY long time – about 3.5 hours for the bananas and strawberries to become crispy. I thought they were fantastic – which is a good thing, b/c nobody else in my family would touch them. Yum, more for me!

  18. I tried these and they didn’t come out right. I cut them thin and they broke apart, and the ones that were slightly thicker were gooey and mushy. I don’t know what I did wrong but I followed the directions. Is it possible that they need more time in the oven? The crispy thin ones were delicious but I dont think I would give them to my baby. Any tips?

  19. I attempted to make these for the first time today and found that I didn’t cut them very well and had trouble with getting them off the parchment paper as well. =P I’ve never really liked bananas even as a kid and all through my entire life but there are so yummy! Absolutely addicting!

  20. OMG, I can’t wait to try making these! I live in Canada, where there are no TJs, and my mum just came up from the States for her summer visit and brought me only 2 packs of Flattened Bananas! I was hoping to find a recipe that didn’t require a dehydrator, so I’m very excited and will let you know how I make out. Cheers!

  21. This is great! I’ll do anything to make my own stuff rather than buy Trader Joe’s – there’s so much plastic packaging per serving of snack food! I’m excited to try this.

  22. I love you! Tried this tuesday and LOVE them. My 2 & 4 year old call them candy and mommy and daddy love them too. I’ve never liked banana chips but these are nice and soft. Hubby used to by dried bananas whole from the natural food store as a treat but I think mommy can make them now, thanks to you! Which is great because the last batch needs returned to the store as something is wrong with it…

  23. Two techniques might make slicing the bananas lengthwise a bit easier. One would be to briefly freeze the bananas. The second would be to slice the bananas with the peeling left intact. I would use a serated bread knife for slicing in either method.

  24. what age would you say baby can have these?

    I made my daughter your teething cookies the other night and she loved them!

  25. Try setting the oven at a lower temperature and see if it works that way. Convection ovens cook things faster than a regular oven. So I would either set the temperature lower or cut the cooking and check on it to make sure it does not burn.

  26. I tried this today too- and it was an epic FAIL. I have a convection oven, so the fan is too much I think. They were dried, shriveled and not tasty. Not sure what I did wrong :S

  27. I tried this today, used a ripe bright yellow banana and my mandolin set to 1/8″ The strips were so thin they broke apart before I could get them on the silicone mat, and then 20 minutes before the timer went off I checked on them and they were little crispy bits, they shattered when I tried to get them off the silicone mat which they were very much stuck to. I am guessing they need to be thicker?

  28. Do I use a ripe banana with spots on the peel or a fresh banana still with pretty yellow peel?

  29. Beautiful photos! It will be a while until we have local fritus and veggies available, but I am fortunate that our local store carries a lot of organic produce. Lately, I’ve started seeing strawberries from Florida. Fortunately, there are a lot of great citrus fritus, too Available all year round.

  30. How do you slice them so thin? Do you place them in the freezer first? I just made these but they didn’t coome out well 🙁 I think its because they are too thick. Any tips are appreciated!

  31. I would suggest using a Silpat, if you don’t have that, then spray some cooking spray on the wax paper and see if that helps.

  32. I made them but they stuck to the wax paper…any suggestions…can I used cooking spray on a baking sheet?

  33. So excited to try these. I love Trader Joe’s nothing but bananas, but we don’t live anywhere near one these days.
    How many bananas did you use?

  34. I would put them in the fridge first- they might be easier to manipulate if they are on the colder side 🙂

  35. I love this… In theory. But in practice not as much. How do you get 1/8in slices? I’m not bad in the kitchen but my bananas just kept trying to fall apart while I was cutting. They were nicely ripe not even to the spotty stage yet. Where’d I go wrong?

  36. How long do you think these will last? My son enjoys the dehydrated bananas from Trader Joe’s, but they have palm oil, which we try to avoid. I look forward to trying these!

  37. This is the easiest recipe ever! Just slice them up about an 1/8 inch thick on a bias and put them on the baking sheet and bake away!

  38. BRILLIANT! Both my boys LOVE the TJs Flattened Banana (my husband joked when I brought them home, “So, I’m confused. What’s in these?”). But we were at TJs just today and they were out of stock! I’m absolutely going to try your recipe. Thanks for the tip! How thinly did you slice the bananas, and was it difficult?

  39. You can store them a couple of days on the counter, but they last longer in the fridge. I store them in a container and they are usually gone after 2 days!

  40. Those are awesome! I wonder how they keep if I made alot at a time. I might try it with other fruits too. Maybe peaches, pears, or even avocadoes. Hmmm..

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