Bananas Foster

Bananas foster — caramelized brown sugar bananas served with vanilla ice cream­ — is a classic New Orleans dessert bursting in banana flavor and literal flambé flames. Invented by the famous Brennan’s restaurant group, this dessert is a showstopper and has earned its spot on the list of best New Orleans desserts. As a NOLA girl myself, bananas foster is my quick and simple go-to dessert to make when I’m missing home. 

This recipe stays very close to the original at Brennan’s with a few minor tweaks. To amplify the flavor and texture, this recipe incorporates a little kosher salt to balance out the sweetness and optional pecans for a nutty crunch.

• Bananas 
• Brown sugar
• Butter
• Rum
• Banana liqueur
• Cinnamon
• Served with vanilla ice cream

For the perfect texture, the bananas in bananas foster should be underripe (meaning they should have some green on the peel) so they can hold their shape after a simmer and flambé. If you’re concerned about setting your kitchen on fire, don’t fear. The flames are the tame blue kind that go out and extinguish themselves. It’s so quick and simple, in fact, that when you order this dish at a Brennan’s restaurant, they roll out a cart and flambé it in front of you.

Banana liqueur can be found at most specialty liqueur stores — it adds extra banana flavor, which is needed because the recipe requires underripe bananas that are less fragrant than ripe ones. Leftover banana liqueur can be used in banana bread and various tropical cocktails or split into small bottles as gifts. If you’d prefer to save a trip or skip it altogether, banana liqueur can be replaced with vanilla extract and rum.

Bananas foster was invented in the 1950s at the classic New Orleans restaurant Brennan’s. At the time, the New Orleans port was the major point of entry for bananas shipped from Central and South America. So Brennan’s chef Paul Blangé created bananas Foster to celebrate the imported fruit. Today, bananas Foster is world-famous and is the most requested dish at Brennan’s.

Bananas foster is a dessert dish, while flambé is a method of cooking where alcohol is added to food and ignited. Since bananas Foster incorporates the flambé method, it is often referred to as “bananas Foster flambé.”

Some of the rum and banana liqueur will burn off, but not all. A majority of the alcohol content will remain in the dish because it only simmers for a short period.