APEX Legacy · a way of life

Banana Chips

Thin slices of firm banana fried until crisp, sometimes sweetened. Sold bagged in groceries and by vendors — the sweeter cousin of the plantain chip.

Compiled by APEX Legacy from published research and documented food history, under the editorial direction of Jonathan Jackson, Founder. How we write and review these pages →

Why it is ours

Banana chips fill the snack aisle of African and Caribbean groceries and ride along in lunchboxes as a 'healthy-seeming' option that often is not. They are a useful teaching food for reading a label, since the gap between baked-unsweetened and fried-sweetened is enormous.

What it does

Banana carries potassium and B6, but banana chips are the most processed end of the fruit-chip family — usually deep-fried and often coated in sugar or honey, which stacks fried oil on top of fruit sugar. The whole banana is the better food by a wide margin. If banana chips are the available snack, read the bag: unsweetened, baked versions keep the potassium without the sugar coat. As sold in most stores, treat them as a sweet, not a serving of fruit.

How it is cooked

Slice firm, slightly underripe bananas thin. Commercial chips are deep-fried in coconut or palm oil and often tossed in sugar syrup. Home version: bake thin slices at 250°F low and slow until crisp, no added sugar.

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