How to make Banana Chips in the Oven

These Healthy Baked Banana Chips made in the Oven are a great way to preserve your fresh bananas for much longer. The Unsweetened Banana Chips dehydrated in the oven make a delicious, super easy and healthy sweet snack both kids and adults will love!

Do you LOVE fruit chips, but simply never buy them from the shops because they are SO expensive? Me too… but the good news is: you can simply make them at home, and with no dehydrator!

Making Banana Chips without a dehydrator has never been so easy. All you need is two ingredients, an oven and a little bit of time.

These oven dried banana chips are made with no added sugar, no frying oil and no nasties. They are also Vegan, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free,… I mean, they are only made with fruits! My kind of guilt-free sweet snack.

There are many ways to preserve fruits for longer: making Applesauce, Raspberry Coulis, Mixed Berry Compote, Peach Chutney, or Dehydrated Apples are all delicious options.

But there is something special about making fruit chips. I don’t know if it is the crispiness or the taste, but they are simply delicious!

Ingredients

The list is not going to be long here… you literally only need 2 ingredients to make this Baked Banana Chips recipe:

• Bananas
• Lemon Juice

You can also add your favourite spice or flavouring if you want to try something a little bit different.

For example:

• sprinkle a little bit of Ground Cinnamon over the fruit slices
• add some Vanilla Extract to the Lemon Juice
• go tropical with some Ginger Powder or even Turmeric Powder

Picking the right bananas

To make sure the bananas crisp perfectly in the oven, it is important to choose the right fruits:

• Bananas that are not too firm but slightly ripe to bring the natural sweetness of the fruit. Very firm / young bananas won’t taste sweet at all.
• Bananas that are not so ripe that they are hard to slice and don’t hold their shape. They will turn into mush in the oven.

As you can see above, the Bananas I used have small brown spots, showing that they are starting to ripen up but are not too ripe yet.

How to make Crispy Banana Chips

The process to make baked fruit chips is just as easy as the list of ingredients. You only need to slice the bananas, place them on a baking tray and brush them with lemon juice. That’s it!

• Preheat your oven on 100’C/215’F and line one (or two) flat baking tray with baking paper or a baking mat.

• Cut the Bananas into thin slices and place them on the baking paper, leaving some room between each slice. You can slice them straight or on a slight angle like I did for more elongated chips.

• Brush the Lemon Juice over each slice, then flip them over and brush the other side.

• Optional: sprinkle some Ground Cinnamon over the slices if you want

• Bake in the oven for 1 to 1,5 hours, or until the Bananas Slices are firm and can be flipped over. Flip the slices and bake for an additional 30 minutes. (see below for tips on how long to bake them for).

How thick should I cut the Bananas?

Because the slices will shrink a lot in the oven, I do not recommend slicing them too thin. The thicker you slice them though, the longest they will need to be in the oven for.

To get perfectly crisp bananas, my slices were about 5mm / 0.2 inches.

For very regular chips, you can also use a Mandoline instead of cutting them by hands.

How long should I bake the fruits for?

Because the baking time will be completely dependent on your oven, it is hard to say an exact time – so make sure to keep an eye on them! In my oven, they took 1,5 hours to dehydrate on one side, then 30 minutes once flipped.

It also depends on how crispy or chewy you want them to be. I personally like them crispy, but with still a little bit of a chew. If you want them chewy or fully crispy, simply bake them for a little bit less or slightly longer.

Note that if they are not baked enough though, you will struggle to flip them around after the first bake. If they seem to fall apart when you try to flip them, it means that they are under-baked.

Tips to make Dehydrated Banana Chips

• Find the right thickness of banana slices. If too thin, they will easily break once baked. If too thick, you will need to bake them for much longer. As an indication, I cut mine about 5cm / 0.2 inches thick.

• Brush both sides of the bananas with Lemon Juice. The lemon juice prevents the fruits from browning too much and also bring a bit acidity to balance the very sweet flavour of baked bananas.

• For more flavour, sprinkle a little bit of Cinnamon Powder, Ground Ginger or even Turmeric Powder over the bananas before baking them.

• Make sure the oven is set on a low temperature. If the oven temperature is too high, they will burn before they get a chance to dehydrate.

• Because all ovens are different, check on them regularly. After about an hour, try to flip one of the slice; if it seems to fall apart, they are not baked enough. If they seem hard to the touch and hold their shape when you flip it, it is time to bake the other side.

• If the bananas stick to the baking paper, use a small sharp knife to lift a side off. The cooler they get, the easiest it will be to turn them around too.

• The chips will harden once out of the oven, so do not worry if they still seem a bit soft after 1,5 to 2 hours – they are probably ready.

• 3 Small/Medium Bananas will make about 1 cup of chips. They do reduce a lot in the oven, so feel free to double quantities if needed.

How to store them

Once completely cool, transfer them into an air-tight container and store in a cool, shaded area.

I do not recommend freezing them.

How long will they last

As long as they are store properly, the oven baked banana chips can last for up to a couple of weeks.

How to use the Chips

There are many ways you can use fruit chips, but here are my favourite:

• on their own, as a snack
• with warm Oatmeal for a crunch
• added to a homemade granola
• served in a Yogurt Bowl
• as an original Cake Topping

More Banana Recipes:

• 3 Ingredients Banana Pancakes
• Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
• Vegan Banana Bread (GF)
• Gluten Free Banana Buckwheat Pancakes
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Flourless Banana Oatmeal Muffins