A Rift on New Orleans Bananas Foster — a Small Batch for Air Fryer or Larger Batch for Oven

Bananas Foster is truly the quintessential New Orleans dessert. It is decedent, rich and mighty tasty. The dessert originated in 1951 at the venerable Brennan’s Restaurant which is located in the French Quarter of the city. Some 75 years later, the dish remains a mainstay on the breakfast menu of this restaurant. And there is good reason for the popularity of Bananas Foster. In this dish, bananas are sautéed in a caramelized butter, sugar and cinnamon sauce. Then the bananas are doused with rum and banana liqueur and flambéed at the table. The warm bananas are topped with ice cream which begins to melt making a creamy sauce. It makes for an impressive presentation. Very yummy, especially if you like sweets. When I saw a variation of the recipe — the bananas and sauce are baked and not flambéed — I took notice. Our family loves traditional banana pudding — I bet they would like this banana dessert, too. Since I have only one banana in my kitchen to use in the recipe — I decided to try a “small batch” variation in the air fryer. However, the dish can easily be increased to serve six folks and baked in a traditional oven. (Recipe is included.)

New Orleans Bananas Foster Recipe Story

The story behind Bananas Foster is an interesting one. In the late1800s and 1900s, the port of New Orleans was a major hub for the produce import business from Central and South America. Bananas were a plentiful commodity in the city. In fact, the Brennan family — owners of the restaurant — had family members in this import business. This dessert was created in 1951 at the restaurant. The story goes that Owen Brennan — owner of the Brennan’s Vieux Carré restaurant at the time — needed a new and spectacular dessert for a banquet that night featuring Richard Foster, a friend and chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission. Chef Paul Blangé and Ella Brennan had little time to create the dessert. Ella looked up and saw a bowl of bananas. Remembering a breakfast dish which her mother used to make of sautéed bananas in a butter and sugar sauce, the chef and Ella got busy and refined the dish to make the flambéed version. The idea was to make a flambéed dessert similar to rival Antoine’s restaurant Basked Alaska. The dessert — named for the Crime Commissioner Richard Foster — was quite a hit at the evening banquet. Although the dish was added to the evening dessert menu at Brennon’s Restaurant, it really did not become popular until it was placed on the dessert menu several years later. Today, Brennan’s uses 35,000 pounds of bananas a year! Plus, other New Orleans restaurants have added Bananas Foster to their menus, too. A New Orleans success story.

Recipe Inspiration

The inspiration for this recipe is from one of those foodie magazines, Better Homes & Garden Cooking for Two, 2026. It contains lots of ideas with tempting photos — enough creative recipes to keep me going for awhile. The title, however, is a bit misleading since many of the recipes serve either four or six folks. Well, I can adapt those recipes. The magazine’s recipe, Bananas Foster Crisp, caught my attention. I’m always interested in another banana and ice cream dessert — since our family likes this type of recipe so much. In addition to traditional Bananas Foster, the magazine’s recipe included a crispy topping made of gingersnap cookies. Plus, the recipe included a variation for using apple cider or apple juice rather than rum. This is a great modification if you are not interesting in a dessert containing alcohol. Since the dessert is baked rather than flambéed, this does not change the direction of the dessert. Since I didn’t have gingersnap cookies, I made my own Bisquick/oatmeal crisp topping.

Here are the ingredients for my variation:

This “small batch” recipe serves 2 people. You need from 1/2 banana to 1 banana per person — so my last banana will just serve my husband and myself. However, the amount of bananas (and caramel sauce) can easily be adapted for additional people. Although the recipe traditional uses dark rum, my kitchen cabinet said “lets use light rum.” And, I skipped the cinnamon and banana liqueur often included in the recipe. Make sure to have vanilla ice cream on hand — this is an essential part of the dessert.

Making the recipe:

My recipe includes a crispy topping akin to my reference source recipe, Better Homes & Garden Cooking for Two. I made this crumbly topping mix first and set it aside. Here are the ingredients for my topping.

To mix it up, cut the butter into the Bisquick, brown sugar and a pinch of salt using the back of a fork. Stir in the old fashioned oatmeal. Set aside until ready to bake.

Next, get the banana(s) ready. Bananas which are ripe but still firm are the best for this recipe. Peel and slice each banana in half, then cut lengthwise. For the version which serves two people, butter two 4″-diameter round baking pans. (This size just fits into my air fryer.) Oil the baking pan with a small amount of butter (included in the caramel sauce ingredients). Arrange four banana slices in each baking pan — cut side up.

For six folks, butter six individual ramekins (4″diameter) — using ramekins which can tolerate the oven heat for baking. I had very shallow ramekins on hand for this recipe. However, it is preferable to use ones with deeper sides as my sauce bubbled over the top during baking. Place 4 banana slices in each buttered ramekin.

Next, make the butter, sugar and rum sauce. Melt the butter and brown sugar in a very small saucepan. Stir constantly. When these ingredients melt and start to bubble — remove from heat and add the rum. (This takes just a minute or two.) Be careful, as the rum will bubble and splatter. Return to the stove over medium heat. Stir for a minute until the alcohol evaporates. Lastly add vanilla extract.

Divide the sauce evenly between the pans and pour over the sliced bananas. Sprinkle on the crumbly topping.

For the “small batch” recipe, bake each baking pan filled with bananas, sauce and topping in the air fryer at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Since only one pan fits in the air fryer, bake in two batches.

If making the larger version, place the individual ramekins on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake in a traditional oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and browned.

Carefully remove from air fryer. (Use tongs to grasp a side of the baking pan.) Transfer to dessert plates, spooning sauce over the bananas. Top with vanilla ice cream and a few extra fresh bananas slices.

If you’ve baked the Bananas Foster in individual ramekins, just add ice cream, fresh banana slices and serve in the ramekins.

Yum. This dessert is delicious. We especially liked the crispy topping on the dessert. It complemented the rich caramel sauce, bananas and ice cream perfectly. Although not a part of traditional Bananas Foster, it is a welcome addition to the dessert.

And, this is a relatively simple recipe to mix up. It just requires a couple of small bowls/saucepans as well as two 4″-diameter baking pans (or six small ramekins). And it took me only about five minutes to assemble all the parts of the recipe — topping, sauce and bananas. Although the flambéed effect is impressive — it requires high octave alcohol liqueur to properly flame. And, banana liqueur is not something I keep on hand. So, we’ll skip the flambé step for this dessert.

I think of New Orleans and Brennan’s restaurant every time I fix a banana dessert. Brennan’s Restaurant is one of our favorite restaurant stops when we visit the city. With the courtyard atmosphere, it is the quintessential New Orleans restaurant. Thanks, Brennan’s Restaurant, for this recipe!

Enjoy this recipe!

Reference:

https://www.foodrepublic.com/1682557/bananas-foster-brennans-nola-history