Banana bread is a scrumptious treat that many people like to make frequently. If you love the taste of bananas, then you’re going to find banana bread to be one of your favorite desserts.
Sometimes people make banana bread as a way to use bananas before they go bad. This is a great idea, but it won’t be so good if you can’t eat all of it before it starts to go bad.
This has led some people to wonder whether or not it’s possible to freeze it. Can you freeze banana bread to give yourself more time to eat it?
Read on to learn a bit about freezing banana bread so that you can have a good experience. You’ll also learn about other ideas of how to use it up before it goes bad.
Banana Bread Can Indeed Be Frozen
If you’re looking to freeze your banana bread, you should know that it’s perfectly fine to do that. You can wrap your bread up tightly in plastic or aluminum foil and place it in the freezer to make it last longer.
This is a pretty common practice and it’s something people do when they wind up making more than the household can handle eating. You can simply thaw it out when you feel like having a snack again and it should still be quite good.
The downside to using the freezer to store your banana bread is that it will make the bread taste different over time. It’s not suddenly going to taste horrible, but the longer the bread stays frozen the more of its taste and texture will change.
To prevent the texture and taste from changing too much, you’re going to need to wrap the banana bread properly. This means using plastic wrapping that you buy from the store or aluminum foil.
Both of these can be used to wrap the bread tightly so that it doesn’t get all dried out over time. It’ll also protect the bread from freezer burn, and you definitely want to do this because freezer-burned bread tastes terrible.
Before moving forward, you should always check the corners of the bread to ensure that they have been properly covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Some people even go further than this by using both aluminum foil and plastic wrapping.
The idea is to wrap the bread with the plastic wrapping first and then wrap it up with aluminum foil. The bread stays even more protected, and it’s far less likely that you will have missed a spot.
You could also place the bread inside of a sealable bag so that you can write the date on it. This lets you know how old the bread is so that you can make a wise decision about when to eat it.
The bread should stay good while frozen for a long period of time, but the taste will diminish after some time. It’s recommended to try to eat the bread before four months have passed so that the flavor doesn’t get altered too much.
The Best Way to Store Banana Bread When You Want to Finish it Soon
Most of the time, you’re going to want to try to finish a loaf of banana bread in a few days. If you know that you’re going to try to finish it within two or three days, then it should stay good so long as you’re storing it properly.
Some people might get the idea of storing it in the refrigerator, but that would actually be a bad thing. Banana bread is going to go bad way quicker if it’s refrigerated, and this means that you should keep it on the counter.
However, you’re not just going to be keeping it on the counter without it being covered up. To get the best results, you’re going to need to cover the bread with plastic wrapping to ensure that it doesn’t dry out.
You could also use something such as aluminum foil and get similar results. Doing this should allow you to keep all of the flavor and texture in the bread so that you can enjoy it to the fullest.
Essentially, storing banana bread on the counter is the best thing to do so long as you’re going to eat the bread in a short amount of time. You only want to freeze it when you know it’s unlikely that you’ll have time to finish it.
Try Giving Some Banana Bread Away
You could try giving some banana bread away so that it doesn’t go to waste. Many people will turn to this before they think about freezing it.
It’s likely that you have quite a few friends and family members who also like banana bread. If you think that they might appreciate having some of it, then it makes sense to offer it to them.
Call up your friends or family members to see if they would like to come to take some of the banana bread. This might help you to eat all of the bread up a lot faster than you thought you would be able to.
Have a Lunch or Dinner Party
Another idea is to simply host a lunch or dinner party so that people will come over. You could even simply invite two or three friends over to have coffee.
Banana bread goes quite well with coffee, and this means that you could easily offer it to your guests. They’ll likely have a slice or two, and this will get you closer to eating the entire loaf.
If you’re worried about whether you’ll be able to eat a whole loaf of banana bread yourself, then you might want to consider holding little parties or gatherings like this when the mood strikes you. People can enjoy a nice snack with you, and you won’t have to be so concerned about wasting food.
Use the Banana Bread as an Ice Cream Topping
If you have a bit of banana bread leftover and you’re tired of eating it the normal way, you could easily use it to add some flavor to another dessert. Many people love using banana bread as an ice cream topping, and there’s no reason you couldn’t try this for yourself.
The basic idea is to crumble up some banana bread and sprinkle it over the top of some vanilla ice cream. Some people like to add a bit of caramel or whipped cream to the top as well.
This is a decadent type of dessert that you’re going to wind up loving a lot. Anyone who needs a way to use up that last little bit of banana bread is going to like this idea.
Banana Bread French Toast
How about turning your normal banana bread into French toast that you can enjoy in the morning? All you need to do is slice banana bread into sticks and then let them dry overnight.
In the morning, you can put the banana bread sticks on a baking sheet. Follow a good banana bread French toast stick recipe to get really good results that the whole family will enjoy.
When everything is baked and done, you’ll be able to dip the sticks in syrup and enjoy. It’s a really nice little alteration that you can make to make it fun to finish the last of your banana bread.
Make Bread Pudding
If you’re someone who enjoys bread pudding, then you’ll be happy to know that you can make this dish from banana bread. This could be another fine way to use up the last bits of it that you need to eat.
It only takes a little over an hour to make banana bread pudding, and it tastes really good. Anyone who is looking for something just a bit unusual will think that this dessert is perfect.
You should also note that most people make bread pudding with bread that has started to dry out just a bit. If your banana bread is close to getting dry, then bread pudding could be the perfect thing to try to make out of it.
Final Thoughts
Now you know a lot more about banana bread and how to freeze it properly. You might not wish to freeze it if you’re going to eat it up in a timely fashion, but it’s good to know that you have the option.
Also, you can always try to do other things with the banana bread to use it up fast. Give some to friends or invite people over to eat it and drink coffee.
It’s likely that you’ll be able to use the banana bread up within three days so long as you didn’t make way too much. If you did make more than you can handle, then freezing it makes a lot of sense.
You can expect the banana bread to stay tasty for around four months in the freezer, but if you wait longer than that to eat it the bread will likely have lost a lot of its flavor. So long as you’re mindful of this, it won’t be a big deal to freeze the bread.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.