Banana Pancakes Taste Better When You Wait For This Sign To Make Them

Banana pancakes: arguably one of the champions of the weekend breakfast world. Ripe, creamy bananas take on a soft, velvety texture in buttermilk and cinnamon-scented pancake batter; brought to the next level with butter and maple syrup. Are you drooling yet?

Although a lot of folks will tell you that pancake batter has to have a pinch of this and a smidge of that, we'd argue that it's the bananas that you need to be picky about if you want the perfect banana pancakes. Like banana bread, the bananas you choose for your pancakes need to look and feel a pretty specific way.

First, your bananas should be very ripe, and even overripe and nearly black bananas are still good to use. We're not looking for greenish or all-yellow bananas here. The peel should be dominantly brown at this point with only bits of yellow left (if any at all). The fruit itself should be very soft and very easy to mash. If the fruit is a bit brown, but still tastes fine, that's completely acceptable, too. Lastly, your bananas should smell fruity and sweet. An overripe banana has more flavor and tastes better when baking than its not-quite-ripe counterpart. They're also sweeter, as the starches in the banana start to break down into sugar over time.

Of course, not everything in life or baking always goes to plan. If your bananas are greenish, perfectly yellow, or just simply not ripe enough to be a part of your perfect pancakes just yet, there are ways to artificially speed up the process and cheat nature a little. This can come in handy if you're in a rush and your tummy (or your 2-year-old) demands this breakfast of champions and you've got to quickly ripen your bananas at home.

First, if you have a bit of time, you can put your bananas in a paper bag with other ripe fruit — tomatoes, avocados, and apples work well. Second, you can bake unpeeled bananas in the oven at a low temperature (think around the 250 to 300 degree Fahrenheit mark) until they start to turn brown. You can also poke the unpeeled bananas a few times with a fork and microwave on high in 30-second increments until the fruit is soft.