Cooking banana

Also called green banana and plantains

Cooking banana is a type of banana that is firm when raw and soft when cooked. Cooks eat it raw, bake, boil, simmer, fry, grill, roast, or steam it, and use it to thicken dishes.

Plant-based

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Fruit
Variety of: Banana
Part used: Fruit
Texture: Firm, soft
Cooked most in: Africa, Asia
Top country: Nigeria
Dishes: 14 in the catalogue
Energy: 136 kcal per 100 g

Photo: Vis M · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use cooking banana

Typical ways to cook or use it

Bake
Boil simmer
Deep fry
Grill
Raw
Roast
Shallow fry
Steam
Thicken

Preparing it

Green plantains may need a knife to remove their stiff peel. Ripe yellow plantains can be peeled by hand like dessert bananas.

Cooking with it

Frying yellow plantains can caramelize them and turn them golden brown.

Flavour

Taste and texture

Texture, raw

Firm

Texture, cooked

Soft

Nutrition

What 100 g of cooking banana holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 4%Fat 3%Carbohydrate 94%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of cooking banana, raw
Energy	136 kcal · 635 kJ
Protein	1.2 g
Fat	0.89 g
of which saturated	0.12 g
Carbohydrate	31 g
of which sugars	14 g
Fibre	2.1 g
Sodium	0 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of cooking banana, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	396 mg
Calcium	3.8 mg
Iron	0.32 mg
Magnesium	34 mg
Zinc	0.15 mg
Vitamin C	20 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	56 µg
Folate	28 µg

Other forms

Protein 4%Fat 0%Carbohydrate 96%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of cooking banana, other form
Energy	155 kcal · 650 kJ
Protein	1.5 g
Fat	0.16 g
of which saturated	0 g
Carbohydrate	41 g
of which sugars	21 g
Fibre	2.2 g
Sodium	2 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg

Nutrition per 100 g of cooking banana, other form: minerals and vitamins
Potassium	477 mg
Calcium	3 mg
Iron	0.28 mg
Magnesium	41 mg
Zinc	0.21 mg
Vitamin C	16 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)	45 µg
Folate	53 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (foods 168215, 169130, 2710817, 169131), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where cooking banana is cooked

14 dishes in the catalogue use cooking banana. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Africa8
Asia2

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list cooking banana among their ingredients.

On the table

Dishes made with cooking banana

13 of the 14 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

Es Pisang Ijo
Indonesia
Beans and corn porridge
Nigeria
Ladob
Seychelles
Poulet DG
Cameroon
Nagasari
Indonesia
Kekefia
Nigeria
Gizdodo
Nigeria
Ukodo
Nigeria
Plantain Fufu
Nigeria
Ukpo Ogede
Nigeria
Fried plantain
Onunu
Boli

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include cooking banana.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: cooking banana in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Allergens: None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: eggs, fish, milk, molluscs, sulphites, crustaceans.
Animal origin: No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Alcohol: None
Pork: None

Family

Related forms

A kind of: banana
A variety of: banana