Banana Chips a la Ailyn

While we are on the topic of sweet munchies, after this pili nut brittle post, why not some homemade banana chips? Our parents once had a banana chip factory in the early seventies that was decades ahead of its time. Not sure if they had an interest in the large banana plantation where the factory sat on, but all I recall is the endless testing that was going on in our basement garage, sending fried banana aromas into our bedroom. The business failed eventually, and we were left with mountains of banana chips to munch on for months to come. That’s why I never ate them for the next decade or so after that! But today I find I love the crunch and sweetness of a well made banana chip. I am particularly partial to several “pugon” or brick-oven baked banana chips. I like to add them to homemade trail mixes with a pinoy theme including dried mangoes, cashews, peanuts, etc. I have, however, NEVER made any banana chips at home…

I guessed that these semi-ripe lagkitan bananas might be a good one to try and fry… not as starchy and dense as a saba, and not as sweet and delicate as a lakatan. We used a mandoline to slice the bananas thinly…

…the cook heated up some oil and fried the bananas until just lightly golden and removed them to drain on some paper towels. The next problem was how to make them sweet. I tried making a simple syrup of sugar and water and dipped the fried bananas in this mixture… Unfortunately, this resulted in too thick of a sugary coating and the chip had a tendency to get soft over time.

I made a lighter suga/water mixture and lightly brushed it onto the chips and this resulted in a nice lightly sweetened banana chip. I suspect its best to bake these chips for a while to set the sugar and make sure they remain crisp… Or maybe the chips are sprayed with the sugary water before they are fried… who knows?

Considering the extremely reasonable prices for baked banana chips and the convenience of just opening up a pack to munch on whenever you feel like it, this is one of those snacks I will probably just continue to buy rather than making it ourselves… :)

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14 Responses

  1. i like Michelle’s banana chips, more popular for their puto, which I love also. :) they’re just the right thickness and crispness :D

  2. Hi MM,

    What I do when I cook banana chips, I sun dried the unripe banana and then while deep frying it, I sprinkled just a little amount of brown sugar to make it sweet. Sun drying the unripe banana will lessen also the absorption of oil, so it will not be too oily and that will make your banana chips crunchy.

  3. The best ever banana chips I’ve tasted are those being sold at Crisostomo restaurant at Resorts World. Super thinly sliced and very lightly sugared that they’re almost translucent.

  4. Maybe the slices are coated with sugar first and left to macerate for a while, then drained and left to sundry. Maybe doing this process 2 or 3 times and each time the drained syrup is boiled to killl any undesirables, cooled down and added to the bananas. Drain and sundry again. After the final sundrying, then it is oven baked or deep fried. I guess this experiment will have to wait till we get really how weather for at least 1 week in a row!!!

  5. Maybe the packaged ones have some sort of chemical anti-humidity agent to keep them crisp. One thing about the home-made ones is at least you know they’re chemical-free. Just eat them quickly!

  6. I prefer my to fry my banana chips using almost ripe saba bananas so that i don’t have to bother with putting sugar. It’s more healthier but still deliciously crispy… yum!

  7. Michelle’s banana chips are available at asian stores in our area and it is pretty good. Thin and crunchy, the level of sweetness is fine for me. Very addicting after the first bag we bought last week, we ended up going back to get 3 more bags. Definitely the best one I have ever tasted.

  8. Here’s a simple recipe for homemade banana chips: Just sprinkle the thinly sliced green bananas with sugar and a little salt and deep fry until golden brown. Drain and let cool. Store in sealed containers ( i keep mine in bottles).
    You have to make them in batches though, as the sugar turns watery if you let it sit before cooking.
    Enjoy!

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