Banana Pancakes with Berry Sauce

Kiddos in the Kitchen – Kids’ Activities

About Bananas

Banana trees need a warm, moist climate and fertile soil. All the bananas we sell are organic and fair trade. Most of them are  grown in Mexico or Ecuador and are a variety called Cavendish. Learn more about about one of the companies we buy bananas from here. Bananas are cut from the tree and shipped to Oregon green. By the time they go out on the shelf they have just started to turn yellow. Eventually they darken with increasing black spots as they become overripe. Click the button below for a chart showing banana ripening information.

Banana Ripening Information

Eat your rainbow!

Eating fruits and vegetables gives your body the nutrients and vitamins it needs to function properly. Many fruits, including berries and bananas, are loaded with antioxidants — specific compounds that help prevent and fight illness. The best way to make sure you get a good range of these compounds in your diet is to “eat a rainbow.” By eating a variety of different-colored vegetables and fruits, you get all the nutrients you need to be healthy.

Click the link below for a coloring page full of fruits that you can brighten with all the colors of the rainbow!

Fruits Coloring Page

Now Let’s Make the Recipe!

Go bananas for these pancakes! Did you overestimate on the bananas this week? This recipe is great one for using those overripe bananas, or thawed frozen ones. It can also work with ripe yellow bananas, but the darker and spottier the banana, the sweeter the pancakes. Shh…don’t tell the kids, but these pancakes don’t contain any added sugar and the berry sauce is sweetened only with fruit and 1 Tbsp of maple syrup. For the berry sauce recipe, we recommend using Sweet Creek Applesauce (with no added sugar!) and Stahlbush Island Farms frozen berries (any combination of berries will do.)

bananas, spotted

Berry Sauce

  • 1 cup frozen Stahlbush Island Farm berries
  • 1/2 cup Sweet Creek applesauce (no sugar added)
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup

Banana Pancakes

  • 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. fresh-grated nutmeg
  • 2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 banana, peeled (overripe is best–the browner, the better)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

For the berry sauce, place frozen berries (marionberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or a combination) in a saucepan with applesauce and maple syrup. Heat slowly on med-low, stirring occasionally until berries soften into a sauce. You may find mashing the fruit up a bit to be helpful for the texture.

For the pancakes, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork and mix together with egg, and milk. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot with berry sauce and fresh fruit.