I grew up in a household where hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks were the only things that were grilled. If we went beyond that to chicken or anything else more exotic, it was a rare day.
Don’t you think the grilling revolution, where everything from salad to desserts are now grilled, has really made more of an appearance in the past 5-10 years or so? I have yet to learn how to actually grill, so now that it has come about that all these goodies can be cooked on the grill, I get to pass on the recipes to my husband and get a night off from cooking. Works for me!
And yes, I do understand that it is kind of pathetic that I haven’t learned how to grill yet. The truth is, our grill knobs melted off the very first time we used it and my husband now goes through some kind of MacGyver moves to get the grill on and it frankly, scares me. Grill shopping is on my to-do list for this summer because I totally want to learn how to grill. If you have grill recommendations, please pass them on. Preferably a grill with knobs or buttons that don’t melt off… that would be nice to have.
We recently tried Grilled Bananas and were blown away at the flavor! Topped with ice cream and some ice cream toppings, we had the best banana splits, ever. Grilled pineapple and grilled peaches are also favories of ours.
If you know how to turn your grill on, ahem, then making grilled fruit is easy as pie (which is something else I seem to be challenged at, so maybe that’s not the best terminology). Either way, try it… you’ll like it! I promise!
Recipe: Grilled Bananas (Adapted from Food Network)
- 2 bananas
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- Caramel sauce for drizzling
- Vanilla ice cream (optional)
- Preheat your gas grill
- Slice the bananas, in their skins, half crosswise and then lengthwise so each banana is 4 pieces
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the cut side of the bananas. Allow to sit 5 minutes for flavors to blend.
- Place the bananas, cut side down, on the center of grill. Grill for 2 minutes or until grill marks appear. Using a pair of tongs, turn them over and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the skin pulls away from the bananas.
- Remove the bananas from the grill and serve them immediately, on top of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.
I’ve never tried grilling bananas, but I think this may be the perfect weekend for it!
My husband and I grill all the time. It allows us to be outside, which we both love. I hope you get a grill you can use b/c you will truly enjoy it.
We’ve had a Jennaire for about 7 years and have loved it. (it’s a propane grill. soooo easy to use!)
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
–shelley
Kristen, when you get a grill that works, I promise to help teach you how to grill. Believe it or not, I taught James. He did the typical English grilling, which meant “cook it till it’s black and dry, and rained on” (because it always rains during a barbecue in England, it’s a requirement).
He thought he liked his meat well done. I like mine rare. Guess what? Turns out he prefers medium. He’d just never known how to do it.
We have a Charbroil grill, and I promise, the knobs have never melted off. It’s been great. It was actually the first purchase we made after we bought our house, so it’s going on 3 years old and still kicking along.
I have never in my life grilled a banana before, but now I want to. These sound so good, although I’ll probably skip the ice cream and drizzle them with some Nutella.
Ooh, melty knobs are no good. We always end up breaking the ignitor button somehow. It’ll usually work for a few months and then it goes out and I cry.
Grilled bananas…never would have thought to try that!
I love love love grilled pineapple!
The knobs melted because we have a stainless steel grill that had plastic knobs. The brass burner was to hot while cooking two beer can chickens.
It has been a life goal to be compared to MacGuyver. My favorite hero from college daytime TV. There isn’t any duck tape yet but I might add some for character.
Well there’s one I haven’t tried grilling before! I’m the griller in our house… because my husband either kills the meat or is trying to kill us by undercooking it.
Okay so my husband set our electric bbq( okay we live in an apt and that is all we are allowed) on fire and melted the controller. So now no bbq. But I love to cook everything on the grill. My favorite is hobo packs which can have anything in it so I can make things with lots of veggies for me and no veggies for the fireman and my son anything that is just mainstream.
I’ve been thinking about giving grilled bananas a try – glad to hear they’re good!
Grilled food is great and you should try grilled corn on the cob, you will absolutely love them.
got some kids heading over for the weekend, and i’ve never cooked for a kid older than 18 months, so this might save the day for a cool dessert idea for them. thanks!
I’ve never grilled bananas but I’ve been tempted to, these look great!
Can’t wait to try this! I recently learned about roasting bananas in the oven before making my banana bread, but grilling them sounds even more delicious!
i love seeing grill recipes popping up all over the web lately… it means summer is finally here, or on her way if u live in the north like me 🙂
Wow… this is so dang creative!!!
I love our Weber Kettle Grill-it is awesome. I’ve seen grilled bananas before and it seemed like alot of recipes called for the bananas to be skewered and then grilled. I was always afraid of them falling off of the stick. I love that your bananas are kept in the peel. Why didn’t I think of that?!? Bananas on a half shell-who knew? Gotta try it!
These look divine! And so healthy too.
Grilled bananas are totally on my radar. Best of luck on getting that new grill girl. You must have the freedom to DIY – though the excuse nit to cook is nice 🙂
I’ve never straight-up grilled a banana, but I have a camping-food trick involving slitting bananas open, still in their skins, and stuffing them with chocolate chips (and/or peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, anything else you might like with a banana…) and wrapping them up in tinfoil and stuffing them in the coals, or balancing them over the fire if there’s some kind of rudimentary grill-grid at the campsite. SO GOOD. Caramelized and melty and awesome. I bet this is, too.
I love grilled fruit, especially summer, stone fruit. Now bananas – that’s a new one. Looks like the perfect summer time snack!
These look superb! I am a big fan of grilled peaches and pineapples, but never thought of grilling bananas!
I love grilled bananas!
I’m not sure the vanilla ice cream should be deemed optional, Kristen. Now I’m craving a banana split!
Great dessert for summer time!
I’ve had plantains and pineapple on the grill before before but never bananas. These look divine ! Kinda makes me wish I hadn’t eaten all the bananas now!
Next time!
Fruit is so perfect for the grill isn’t it. Your photo is beautiful Kristen!
Gotta love grilling fruit -hope you had a lovely weekend.
I’m sorry but you made me laugh a bit about the grill knobs and the MacGyver moves…we had problems like that with our last grill, was so happy to get a new gas grill … which just broke 🙁 Boo! Once you get your new grill and learn to use it you will absolutely love it. It’s like and outdoor kitchen to me. It’s so nice to turn it on during the week sometimes if you really just don’t feel like dealing with the oven.
I tried grilled bananas for the first time last summer (or the summer before?) and loved them! we need to do them again soon!
How cute! And that banana looks delicious!
I don’t grill fruit nearly enough… These bananas look fabulous!
I came across your site through Simple Bites weekend links and am SO glad I did. I roast loads of fruit all winter long, but now that summer is here, grilling will be a super technique to replace roasting. Great idea. Thanks loads.
We just got a Big Green Egg grill and we’re on that thing constantly. This is definitely on the menu for dessert after one of our grilled pizzas this weekend!
To make em even better, skewer then place your bananas whole (minus the peeling of course) over a campfire. The smoky flavor imparted adds a whole new dimension that is truly awesome. Having said that, I did make this recipe as directed and it was very good.
You’ve got to be kidding me-it’s so tnrasparetlny clear now!
This recipe is pretty darned great, but I would make 1 adjustment: instead of 1 tablespoon each of brown sugar and cinnamon, I would use 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar for each whole banana.
I’ve made this recipe twice now (in the past 3 days) and there was waaaay too much cinnamon sugar left over.
This recipe is also incredible served – with ice cream and caramel sauce – over angel food cake!!!
Happy grilling, everyone!!!
These look delicious and my boys will eat them up. It looks like these are gluten free? My little one has a slight allergy. Yummy!