The prevailing narrative about banana bread is that it’s a mere vehicle for overripe bananas—a means to an end rather than an end in itself. But what about when you want banana bread for the sake of banana bread and the only bunch of bananas at your disposal is sorely underripe: kelly green and hard as a rock? You need to know how to ripen bananas fast (or, at least, soften them, if we’re being specific). Luckily, we tried a variety of methods to help you quickly ripen bananas, depending on how fast you need to get baking.
What even is a “perfectly ripe” banana?
Chlorophyll gives unripe banana peels their green color. The fruit ripens by releasing ethylene gas, a plant hormone, that breaks down the green pigment. Carotenoids (a different plant pigment) take their place, turning the peels yellow and, eventually, brown (much like how green leaves turn orange-yellow in the fall).
An unripe banana is mostly made of sturdy starches. As the fruit ripens, those starches slowly convert to sugars, making the flesh softer, sweeter, and the texture that we know, love, and need for sweet treats and baking.
For bread and cakes in which the banana is part of the dough or batter, look for brown, or even black, bananas, says senior Test Kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk. However, if you’re making banana pudding or a dessert that calls for soft but still-distinct banana pieces, “you want the ripeness level to be at an eating stage,” he says. Yellow, but freckled.
How to ripen bananas fast
If the matter is truly urgent—say, you pledged to make a loaf of your famous chocolate chip banana bread for that dinner party in a couple of hours—consider “ripening” a green banana in the oven or microwave.
On the BA Bake Club podcast, senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic suggested: “You can roast them [on a baking sheet lined with parchment] in a low oven at 325°F for 20 to 25 minutes until they’re sort of collapsing on the inside, or you could microwave them still in their skins, [in 30 second intervals, on a microwave-safe dish] until you get the same effect.”
With these methods, you are technically cooking the banana rather than ripening it, and they won’t convert the starches in the same way natural ripening would. But they will tenderize the banana’s flesh and turn it somewhat sweeter.
Verdict: For bananas with soft flesh, the microwave and oven methods can’t be beat for speed, but their flavor might be lacking.
Another option is to mash the underripe bananas with any eggs in your recipe. Proposed by Stella Parks of Serious Eats, this method takes advantage of the amylase present in the egg yolks. A starch-breaking enzyme, amylase plays a crucial role in banana ripening. Mixing the underripe banana flesh directly with the egg triggers a chemical reaction that quickly breaks down the fruit’s starches. After 30 minutes, you’ll have a mash ready for any and all banana baked goods.
Verdict: If it’s speed and sweetness you’re after, this is your best bet. However, the flavor won’t be quite as complex as naturally ripened bananas.
Do bananas placed in a bag ripen faster?
Logic has it that sequestering an unpeeled banana in a brown paper bag traps its natural ethylene gas—the plant hormone that triggers ripening—and, in turn, expedites the ripening process.
When I performed this test in my apartment at room temperature, I found that after 3 days, my paper bag bananas boasted the same level of spottiness as those left exposed on the counter. A plastic bag elicited identical results.
Verdict: Giving your unripe banana the paper bag treatment won’t hurt, but it probably won’t help either.
Where’s the best place to ripen bananas?
Lots of folks say to set your bunch high up, say on top of your refrigerator, to help them ripen faster. My fridge doesn’t have a “top,” per se, with cabinets built above it, so I wasn’t able to test this method for myself. However, in an earlier version of this article, my colleague, creative producer Tommy Werner, found this to be the most effective method for swift natural ripening.
“They were the first to show brown speckles,” he wrote, noting they took about four days to show this telltale sign of ripening. “And they continued to outripen all the other tested fruit. While the other tested bananas were still losing their green streaks, these bananas turned mushy on the inside while the peels took on a leathery appearance.”
Verdict: Want to ripen your bananas naturally? Look for the warmest spot in your kitchen (probably above an appliance, like your refrigerator). It’ll take a few days, but the flavor payoff is worth it.
