Dehydrated Banana Chips
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These dehydrated banana chips taste like candy! Dried banana chips are an addictive gluten-free, vegan snack. They’re so easy to make in the oven or the dehydrator.
Homemade banana chips are a great substitute for sugary desserts. They’re very easy to make, and you’ll wonder how they could possibly be good for you when you bite into one. Dehydrated bananas are chewy and sweet, so they’re basically like candy.
This recipe shows how you can use an oven or a dehydrator to make dried banana chips. These are great for snacking, and you can also use these dehydrated banana chips to make homemade banana Larabars.
How to Dehydrate Bananas in the Oven
Thinly slice the bananas (¼ inch thickness or less is ideal), and arrange them in a single layer on the lightly oiled baking sheets. Use olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or cooking spray to grease the baking sheets. Coconut oil will give them a slightly tropical flavor.
Cook the bananas in the oven for about 3 hours, until they are dehydrated but not rock solid. They should be flat and thin.
You may be able to remove the dehydrated banana chips from the baking sheets with a metal spatula, but I find it easier to just peel them off by hand. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing.
How to Make Banana Chips in a Dehydrator
To make dried banana chips in a dehydrator, you won’t need to use any oil. Simply layer the banana slices on the trays in your dehydrator and cook them at 135 degrees for about 8 hours for chewy dehydrated banana chips.
Keep an eye on them for the last couple hours so you can remove them from the dehydrator tray when they reach the texture you want.
Grab a handful of these dehydrated banana chips when your sweet tooth hits, or stir them into a bowl of homemade granola.
Dehydrated Banana Chip Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
The key to getting a good batch of dehydrated banana chips is to cut the fresh bananas into uniformly thin slices. I aim for ¼ inch thickness at most, but if you cut them a little thicker, that’ll work, too. It will just take a bit longer for them to dehydrate.
In the oven, it takes about 3 hours to dehydrate bananas at 175 degrees. It takes about 8 hours in the dehydrator for chewy banana chips.
Banana chips can be either chewy or crispy depending on how long you dehydrate them. A longer cook time will yield crispier chips, and a shorter time will leave them a bit chewy if some of the moisture is left in the chips. Keep an eye on the bananas as they’re dehydrating, and remove them from the oven or dehydrator once they’ve reached the crispness you prefer.
For storage, I recommend placing them in an airtight container and storing them in a cool, dry place at room temperature for up to two weeks. You can also freeze them and they’ll last for several months.
Expert Recipe Tips
How to Pick the Best Bananas for Dried Banana Chips
I like to use organic bananas that are ripe but not too ripe. They should still be firm for clean slicing, and they should be yellow with a few brown dots. Taste a slice to make sure it’s sweet.
How to Best Prepare Bananas for Dehydrating
Slice the bananas into even pieces about 1/4 inch thick. If they don’t hold their shape, the banana is overly ripe and too mushy, and it should be saved for banana bread.
Do You Have to Use Lemon Juice When Dehydrating Bananas?
Some recipes for dried banana chips call for treating them with lemon juice before dehydrating them in order to preserve their light color. I personally don’t think it’s necessary to pre-treat the banana pieces since they still look tasty without that step.
While it’s not necessary to treat them with lemon juice, that’s an option if you want to keep them very light in color. The lemon juice may impact the flavor of the banana chips a bit.
How to Keep Banana Chips from Sticking
When dehydrating bananas in the oven, I place a bit of oil on the baking sheet to keep them from sticking. In the dehydrator, the bananas don’t typically stick to the plastic mesh tray so there’s no need for oil.
How to Tell When Banana Chips Are Done Dehydrating
The slices will be flat and thin when they’re done dehydrating, and they’ll have a leathery texture. If you want to get crispy banana chips, you’ll need to dry them a bit longer.
The individual chips tend to finish dehydrating at different times, so check regularly and remove them as they reach the texture you want.
Why are my banana chips mushy?
It’s possible that the bananas haven’t been dehydrated long enough if they’re still soggy after the initial cook time. Also, if you used overly ripe bananas that you weren’t able to cleanly slice, they may be too ripe. These bananas are better off being used in banana bread.
Other Dried Fruit Recipes
For more delicious fruity snacks, try my homemade apple chips and dehydrated strawberries. Also check out my oat flour banana bread and dairy-free banana bread to enjoy that great banana flavor!
Dehydrated Banana Chips
Recommended Equipment
- dehydrator (optional)
- baking sheet (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. olive oil (or coconut oil, avocado oil)
- 4 ripe bananas
Instructions
Oven Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees, and lightly coat 2 cookie sheets with the oil.
- Thinly slice the bananas (¼ inch thickness or less is ideal), and arrange them in a single layer on the baking sheets.
- Cook the bananas in the oven for about 3 hours, until they are dehydrated but not rock solid. They should be flat and thin. Depending on your oven and the thickness of your banana slices, you may need an extra 30 to 60 minutes.
- Carefully remove the banana chips from the baking sheets by gently peeling them off. Transfer them to a cooling rack, and let them cool completely before storing. These banana chips can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about two weeks.
Dehydrator Instructions
- To make dried banana chips in a dehydrator, you won’t need to use any oil. Thinly slice the bananas (¼ inch thickness or less is ideal).
- Layer the banana slices on the trays in your dehydrator and cook them at 135 degrees for about 8 hours for chewy dehydrated banana chips. Keep an eye on them for the last couple hours so you can remove them from the dehydrator tray when they reach the texture you want.
- Let the banana chips cool completely before storing in an airtight container for two weeks.
Approximate Nutrition Info
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Price Breakdown
This recipe yields 2 cups of dehydrated banana chips, and it costs $1.23 to make. This comes out to $.21 per 1/3 cup serving. Try this recipe the next time your sweet tooth hits.
Note: This recipe was originally posted in 2013, and it was updated in 2024.
Will you receive the same outcome if the bananas are overripe or underripe?
The results will vary according to the ripeness of the bananas. Riper bananas will yield sweeter chips.
Bananna chips (Melt in your mourh)
Banana chips made in the oven or dehydrator are great but take a lot longer!
I prefer to slice them up and put each cut banana in a small Ziploc bag!
Then I throw them in the freezer and take them out one by one later for snacks while I am watching TV or on the computer! I like them so much, I find myself frequently getting up for a second bag! ?
The great thing I like about this is I don’t have to worry about my bananas going bad and I don’t have to take the time to “bake” or “dehydrate” them!! I really like dry banana chips but for “ease of use”give me some frozen ones! ?
Could you please provide the nutritional info for the dehydrated banana chips. Thank you
This is just an estimate. Nutrition info will vary according to the exact size of your bananas, their ripeness, etc. Estimated nutrition information per serving (1/6 of recipe) – 88 calories, 18 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 1 mg sodium, 282 mg potassium, 2 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 50 IU vitamin A, 7 mg vitamin C, 4 mg calcium, 1 mg iron
will the banana chips be crispy? I have de\hydrated mine for over 12 hours in a dehydrator and they are still soft. Pliable. Not sure what is going on. I was told they will not be crispy. Help
I like to take them out when they are pliable, and then they’re a bit chewy. You can leave them in longer if you want them to be crispy. What temperature are you using?
Should I soak them in lemon juice first before dehydrating. Or honey and lemon. And after they are dehydrated can I store them in glass jars at room temperature.
I don’t soak the bananas with anything before hydrating, but you could try that. Let me know how they turn out. And yes, you can store them at room temperature for at last a few weeks as long as they’re well-dehydrated.
Help! I dehydrated bananas in my dehydrator, then when cool, put them in the refrigerator. I just discovered that they must not have been fully dehydrated because they are soft. What can I do?
You can put them back in the dehydrator until they’re dried out, then store at room temperature.
Thank you so much for replying Annemarie!
Hi I just saw this I have a emril lagasse oven thing you can toast bake reheat air fry dehydrate I saw this and trying it on the dehydration setting will let you know how it turns out as I have a migraine headache now
These stuck to my pan and was so horrible to remove that I gave up and discarded them. My pans are soaking now. The few I did manage to peel off were tasty. Maybe my bananas were too soft? Too thin? IDK but I won’t be trying this again.
I’ve never had that experience, so I’m not sure what happened. Did you grease the pan? Parchment paper also works well.
Try them again using parchment paper. It works like a charm.
I love that you can make this recipe in an oven, not have to have a dehydrator!
I love banana chips, but they are always so expensive. Thanks for posting this! Now, I can make banana chips at home.
Thanks, Millie! I hope you like them as much as we do.
I love this recipe! Especially since I don’t have a food dehydrator. Perhaps using cooking spray would yield similar results as the oil. If I try it, I’ll report back to you how it works!
Thanks for sharing…
Thanks, Madge. That should work. I hope you like the banana chips.
Oh Yummy. Yours look so nicely coloured. Last time I tried making these they turned a bit blackish. I used the dehydrator. I’m not sure what went wrong…I will have to try your method.
Thanks, Amy. I was surprised how pretty they were when they came out of the oven. Almost too pretty to eat, but not quite!
Very nice looking!
Thanks, Sarah!
Great idea–I have some bananas that I got marked down (ripe and ready) and I was about to toss them in the freezer, but I think I’ll crank up the oven instead.
If I coat a piece of parchment paper with oil, THEN put it on my cookie sheet, do you think it will affect the results? I’ll get back to you on that.
Thanks!
Kirsten, parchment paper will work great. You probably don’t even need the oil. Good luck!
I cannot wait to try this! Do you think this would work with overly ripe bananas?
Thanks, Melanie. As long as you can slice them and put them in pieces on the cookie sheet, it will work. The riper, the sweeter!
Thanks so much for this Anne Marie! I actually just saw a recipe to use with a dehydrator which I don’t have, so this is perfect 🙂
-Dana
I hope you like it, Dana. This is the perfect time of year to use your oven as a dehydrator. Not so fun in the summer!