How To Substitute Bananas For White Sugar In Any Recipe

Surprise, surprise: bananas are botanically classified as berries. And if that little fact caught you off guard, what's even more unexpected is how versatile they are in the kitchen. They're great as a quick snack, can easily be mixed into a bright summer fruit salad, or transformed into a deliciously moist and tasty banana bread. They also shine as baking alternatives, whether you decide to swap them in for butter to cut the saturated fat content in your recipe, or substitute mashed bananas for eggs in your next cake. And believe it or not, they can even step in as a substitute for white sugar.

Erin Fletter, CEO and food-geek-in-chief of Sticky Fingers Cooking, a Colorado-based inclusive cooking school for kids, said in an exclusive talk with Chowhound that bananas are naturally sweet and rich in nutrients. As they ripen, the starch inside them gets broken down into natural sugars, including fructose, glucose, and a tad of sucrose, which means they make a great replacement for white sugar. On top of that, they're a great source of fiber, and can make your baked goods a bit more wholesome. 

When swapping the fruit for white sugar, Fletter says that "Bananas should be soft and towards overly ripe so they can be easily mashed." Overripe bananas also have more sugar and will bring extra sweetness to your recipes. "In general, recipes that you can swap a banana for white sugar include baked goods like quick breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, pancakes and similar," Fletter said. "This can be ½ to 1 cup of mashed banana for 1 cup of sugar."

While you can absolutely eat bananas after they turn black, provided there's no mold or some sort of decay, they might not look as appealing. Which is why, picking bananas rather than white sugar is one of the most practical, tastiest ways to use overripe bananas. Compared to white sugar, which is highly refined to create 99.9% pure sucrose, giving it an intense and cloying taste, bananas offer a more balanced sweetness. 

Although, according to Erin Fletter, a couple of factors will contribute to how sweet your banana bake will eventually turn out. "It will depend on how the ripe the banana is and how much you choose to use in terms of how much sweeter it makes the recipe and if the banana flavor comes through," she explained. Overripe bananas will moreover improve both the texture and the moisture of your baked goods. Yet, it's best not to go overboard with the dosage, as overripe bananas still retain significant amount of moisture (up to 80%) despite ripening.

"Keep in mind that bananas are adding their own moisture so if your recipes also includes milk, for example, or another liquid, reduce that by 2 to 4 tablespoons, depending on the recipe," Fletter said. She then recommended adding a little bit baking soda along with the mashed bananas to lighten the texture, since they can add density. Finally, while you want overripe bananas, "Select bananas that have large brown spots or are completely brown but not sour," she concluded.