These banana foster pancakes make such an indulgent and delicious breakfast. They’re made with fluffy buttermilk pancakes and bananas foster topping that is pure heaven! Bananas foster are usually served with ice cream but have you tried them with pancakes? They’re so good!
What is bananas foster?
Bananas foster is a delicious dessert made with bananas, vanilla ice cream, and delicious sugar, rum, and butter sauce. It was created at the Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana around 1950. At this time New Orleans was a major hub for the import of bananas from South America. It was named for Richard Foster, the chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission and a friend of restaurant owner Owen Brennan.
No wonder why it gained popularity so quickly – it’s very simple to prepare and so delicious! The banana topping was created to be served with vanilla ice cream but it’s equally delicious with pancakes, French toast, or crepes!
Buttermilk pancakes ingredients
Here’s what you need to make delicious fluffy buttermilk pancakes:
Important note about measuring the flour:
How to measure flour: if you use a kitchen scale to measure out all the ingredients, it all goes easy breezy! But if you’re using measuring cups, remember that 1 cup of flour can weigh 120-150g, depending on how you’re filling your cup. Don’t scoop the flour directly into the measuring cup, which can compact it! 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. To correctly measure the flour, you need to:
- Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon.
- Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup.
- Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
Bananas foster ingredients and tips
Here’s what you need to make bananas foster:
- This topping comes together quickly so have all your ingredients prepared.
- It’s better to use firm bananas that won’t quickly fall apart. Try to avoid ripe banans. It’s better to use them to make this chocolate chip walnut banana bread or these chocolate chip banana pancakes.
- Traditionally it’s made with bananas that have been cut in half lengthwise and then again in half but I think banana slices are better to serve on pancakes.
- This sauce is usually made with rum and banana liqueur – I didn’t use banana liqueur because I didn’t want to buy it just for this dish.
- Don’t cook the bananas for too long, they should keep their shape and not fall apart.
- This liquor-based sauce is often prepared using a cooking technique called flambé which means that the alcohol is set on fire. Flambéing reduces the alcoholic content of the dish while keeping the flavors of the liquor.
- You can use white rum or spiced rum for this dish. I prefer it with white rum because the spiced rum overwhelms the banana flavor, but it’s eitherway delicious. If you’re going to use spiced rum, add just 1 ts of vanilla.
- Please note that the sauce is not cooked long enough for the alcohol to evaporate completely (but trace amounts of alcohol always remain no matter how long are you cooking a dish). Most of the alcohol is evaporated though and all that is left is a wonderful flavor. You can’t taste the alcohol and you won’t get tipsy by eating this sauce! If you’re worried about the alcohol in this sauce and you want to serve it to children, just use water instead.
- You can omit the walnuts but I think they add an amazing crunch and flavor to this dish.
- If you want the banans foster topping less sweet you can add just 3-4 Tbsp of sugar and 3 Tbsp of rum but you’ll have a little bit less sauce.
- A great variation of this recipe – use peaches instead of bananas and bourbon instead of rum!
How to make bananas foster pancakes step by step
Cook the pancakes
STEP 1: Add the eggs, buttermilk, melted and slightly cooled butter, vanilla, and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk until combined.
STEP 2: Hang a sieve above the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the sieve. Stir with a spoon then sift the mixture to the bowl.
STEP 3: Whisk until just combined (don’t overmix the batter).
STEP 4: Heat a small amount of clarified butter (or a mix of butter and oil) in a non-stick pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook the pancakes over medium heat until golden on both sides. Add a small amount of butter before adding the next portion of the batter to the pan (the pancakes can also be cooked oil-free but I prefer them cooked in a small amount of fat).
Make the banana foster topping
STEP 1: Add all the ingredients for the sauce to a medium/large pan: butter, rum, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt.
STEP 2: Cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is a little bit thickened, about 2-3 minutes (the time may vary depending on the size of the pan, I also like to smell the sauce – you shouldn’t smell alcohol).
STEP 3: Add sliced bananas and chopped walnuts.
STEP 4: Cook for a minute, making sure the bananas are coated in the sauce. The bananas should soften slightly but they shouldn’t be too soft and mushy.
Serve the banana topping with your pancakes.
Enjoy!
Top tips on how to cook pancakes
- The most important thing is to cook the pancakes over medium-low heat. It’s setting 2/6-3/6 on my stovetop. If you cook the pancakes over too high heat they will just burn on the outside but they will be too fragile to turn over and they can fall apart. This is important for American-style thick pancakes. I cook thin pancakes (crepes) over high heat.
- The pan must be well-heated or the pancakes will soak up the fat and be flat and dense instead of light and fluffy.
- Cook the pancakes longer on the first side and just briefly on the other side.
- If the pancakes are hard to flip over, they fall apart or tear it means they not ready yet to be flipped over. Try to reduce the heat and cook them a little longer. Covering the pan with a lid may help you – the pancake batter will set quicker.
- When the pancakes are ready to turn over their surface looks dry and it’s covered with small air bubbles.
- Use a flexible rubber spatula to turn the pancakes over.
- You need to get to know your pan and your stovetop. Choosing the perfect setting is a key to success.
- Remember that cooking pancakes may seem hard at the beginning but if you practise and get the hang of it then it’s super easy!
Storage
You can store the pancakes in the fridge for up to 3 days. They are best freshly prepared. You can reheat them the next day on a non-stick pan but they will be less fluffy and more dense.
I would not recommend storing the topping – the bananas will turn into mush and won’t look appetizing.
How to keep pancakes warm: keep them on a heat-proof plate in the oven at 175°F (80°C).
More delicious pancake recipes
All my pancake and crepe recipes can be found here: pancakes and crepes.
- Banana chocolate chip pancakes
- Fluffy pumpkin pancakes
- Lemon raspberry ricotta pancakes
- Lemon Blueberry Sheet Pan Pancakes
- Polish apple pancakes (with yeast)
- Pumpkin pie apple ring pancakes
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Bananas Foster Pancakes
Ingredients
for the pancakes:
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¾ cups buttermilk (420g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- 3 tablespoons melted butter (45g)
- 2 cups flour (250g) spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
for the bananas foster topping:
- ¼ cup butter (60g)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar (70g)
- ¼ cup rum
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 bananas firm, not ripe
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
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Instructions
Cook the pancakes:
- Add the eggs, buttermilk, melted and slightly cooled butter, vanilla, and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Hang a sieve over the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the sieve. Stir with a spoon then sift the mixture to the bowl.
- Whisk until just combined (don’t overmix the batter).
- Heat a small amount of clarified butter (or a mix of butter and oil) in a non-stick pan. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook the pancakes over medium heat until golden on both sides. Add a small amount of butter before adding the next portion of the batter to the pan (the pancakes can also be cooked oil-free but I prefer them cooked in a small amount of fat).
Make the bananas foster topping:
- Cut the bananas into slices, chop the walnuts.
- Add all the ingredients for the sauce to a medium/large pan: butter, rum, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt. Cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is a little bit thickened, about 2-3 minutes (the time may vary depending on the size of the pan, I also like to smell the sauce – you shouldn’t smell alcohol).
- Add the bananas and walnuts. Cook for a minute, making sure the bananas are coated in the sauce. The bananas should soften slightly but they shouldn’t be too soft and mushy.
- Serve the banana topping with your pancakes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You can use spiced rum instead of white rum, but add just 1 ts of vanilla.
- If you want the bananas foster topping less sweet you can add just 3-4 Tbsp of sugar and 3 Tbsp of rum but you’ll have a little bit less sauce.
- You can omit the walnuts but I think they add an amazing crunch and flavor in this dish.
- Please note that the sauce is not cooked long enough for the alcohol to evaporate completely. If you don’t want to use alcohol, omit it and use water instead. You can also set the rum on fire which will help to reduce the alcohol content.
- To correctly measure the flour you need to: Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife. Don’t scoop the flour directly into the measuring cup.
- Calories = 1 serving (1/3 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
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