These moist and sweet bananas foster pancakes turn dessert into a satisfyingly sweet breakfast, with a rich caramel topping and fresh bananas.
My family loves it when I make this treat for breakfast. The caramelized bananas and sticky sweet butter and brown sugar syrup is irresistibly good and you won’t believe how aromatic it is. If you’re not a fan of rum, you can try this whisky sauce instead. Similar taste profile with whisky instead.
This recipe thrives on good pancakes, and for this I have to use my grandmother’s buttermilk pancake recipe. I’ve eaten these pancakes for breakfast hundreds of times, and they are the absolute best pancakes, in my opinion. And it’s super simple!
» You might also want to read about how long bananas last.
Why You’ll Love It
- So delicious: Make these for brunch and everyone will be impressed.
- Not effortless, but worth it: Making a true bananas foster sauce is worth the extra effort.
- Use the sauce again: It can be used as a pancake topping, but you can also pour it over cakes and ice cream.
Ingredients You Need
- Bananas – Use ripe, but not overripe bananas.
- Butter – I use salted butter, but either will work fine.
- Egg – One large egg
- Flour – All-purpose flour for the pancake batter
- Baking powder & soda – This is the leavening agent for the pancakes. Make sure it’s fresh.
- Salt
- Buttermilk – I swear by this. Buttermilk makes the best pancakes.
- Brown sugar – Use light or dark.
- Ground cinnamon & nutmeg – You could also use an all-spice blend.
- Maple syrup – Use a high quality syrup for the best flavor
- Rum extract – Rather than use actual rum in the morning, we use rum extract to mimic the flavor.
Tips and Notes
- Don’t cook the bananas too long or they will become mushy and fall apart.
- Use bananas that aren’t fully ripe so that they have some texture.
- You can replace the rum extract with 1 tablespoon of rum. It will take slightly longer to cook off the alcohol in the rum. You don’t have to light the sauce on fire to cook it off, it will just take longer (around 5 minutes).
- Leftover topping is delicious over vanilla ice cream.
How to Make Buttermilk Pancakes
Step 1: Make the pancakes
To make the pancakes, first melt the butter and mix in the egg. Make sure to only heat the butter until just melted, so that when you whisk in the egg it doesn’t scramble.
Once that’s mixed, stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Stir until just combined, this batter should be a bit lumpy still. Set the batter aside for 10 minutes while you heat up the griddle.
If the batter is too thick and won’t spread properly, you may have to add more buttermilk to make it the right consistency.
Heat an electric griddle to 400° F (205° C), or heat a pan on the stove over medium heat. When the pan is heated, pour about 1/4 cup of batter to make each pancake.
Cook until the top is dry and the bottom is golden brown before flipping and continuing to cook until the other side is golden as well.
Step 2: Make the Caramel Sauce
For the sauce, we use rum extract instead of actual rum. It’s faster as you don’t have to burn off the alcohol, and it doesn’t require flames. We also add maple syrup to our sauce – it’s pancakes, after all!
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Then add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and rum extract. While this heats up and starts to bubble, slice the bananas.
After the sauce starts to bubble and thicken, add the bananas. Stir to mix in the bananas, then let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
You don’t want to really “cook” the bananas, so turn off the heat and serve the sauce immediately over your pancakes.
Step 3: Serve pancakes with rum sauce
Now you can serve your pancakes with the delicious sweet caramel sauce over the top.
What to Do With Leftover Sauce
It’s unlikely you’ll have any sauce leftover, but if you do it can be saved in the refrigerator for a day or two. You can reheat it in the microwave. To use it up, you could make another batch of pancakes a second day. It’s also delicious on French toast.
I also suggest pouring over ice cream. Or making this bananas foster daiquiri. YUM!
This sauce is also great with cake. I like to make a vanilla sponge cake and pour the sauce over the cake.
How to Store & Reheat
To store leftover Bananas Foster pancakes, allow them to cool to room temperature, then place them in an airtight container or wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days.
When reheating the pancakes, you can use a microwave, toaster, or oven. If using a microwave, place the pancakes on a microwave-safe plate and heat them in 20-30 second intervals until they reach the desired temperature. To reheat in a toaster, use a low setting and monitor them closely to prevent burning. In the oven, preheat to 350°F (175°C), place the pancakes on a baking sheet, and warm them for a few minutes until heated through.
If the Bananas Foster topping is separate, you can reheat it in a saucepan over low heat until warmed, then drizzle it over the reheated pancakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bananas Foster?
The original bananas foster is a dessert from New Orleans. The caramel sauce is flambeed to burn off the alcohol from the rum and then served over ice cream.
Why is my sauce so thick?
You may have cooked the sauce on too high of a temperature or too long. Add a tablespoon of butter and stir it in while heating over low heat.
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Bananas Foster Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter melted
- 1 egg
- 1 cup (125 g) flour
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt
- 1 cup (237 ml) buttermilk
For Bananas Foster Topping
- 1/2 cup (114 g) butter
- 1/4 cup (55 g) brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.5 g) ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (118 ml) maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 g) rum extract
- 4 ripe bananas sliced
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large bowl, then whisk in the egg.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. Mix just until combined. The batter should be a bit lumpy. Add more buttermilk if it's too dry.
- Heat a pan on the stove top over medium heat. Add about a 1/4 of a cup of batter to the pan for each pancake. Cook until the top is dry and the bottom is golden brown then flip and wait for the bottom to brown before taking the pancake off.
For Bananas Foster Sauce
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and rum extract and whisk to combine.
- Bring to a soft boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Add in the sliced bananas and stir to coat in sauce. Maintain a low boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Top the pancakes with the sauce and bananas.
Notes
- You can replace the rum extract with 1 tbsp of rum. It will take slightly longer to cook off the alcohol in the rum. You don’t have to light the sauce on fire to cook it off, it will just take longer (around 5 minutes).
- Leftover topping is delicious over vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
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Jillian Morris is the resident baker for A Food Lover’s Kitchen. She started baking when she was very little and found she had a great passion for it. She is a high-schooler in a small town in Oregon, where she enjoys music, writing, and baking in her spare time.
These will be on the table for breakfast, soon!! Love the flavors of bananas foster – what a great idea for pancakes!
ohh bananas foster pancakes are one of my favorite types of pancakes! I need to make these tomorrow!
I love banana foster pancakes because they are so sweet and flavorful! These are so delicious and make for the perfect breakfast!
These were such a treat, the whole family loved em. Thank you!
Now this is a breakfast I can get on board with – these pancakes sound amazing and look good too!