Dehydrated Banana Chips {Oven or Dehydrator} (2024)

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These dehydrated banana chips taste like candy! Dried banana chips are an addictive gluten-free, vegan snack. They’re so easy to make in the oven or the dehydrator.

Homemade banana chips are a great substitute for sugary desserts. They’re very easy to make, and you’ll wonder how they could possibly be good for you when you bite into one. Dehydrated bananas are chewy and sweet, so they’re basically like candy.

This recipe shows how you can use an oven or a dehydrator to make dried banana chips. These are great for snacking, and you can also use these dehydrated banana chips to make homemade banana Larabars.

How to Dehydrate Bananas in the Oven

Thinly slice the bananas (¼ inch thickness or less is ideal), and arrange them in a single layer on the lightly oiled baking sheets. Use olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or cooking spray to grease the baking sheets. Coconut oil will give them a slightly tropical flavor.

Cook the bananas in the oven for about 3 hours, until they are dehydrated but not rock solid. They should be flat and thin.

You may be able to remove the dehydrated banana chips from the baking sheets with a metal spatula, but I find it easier to just peel them off by hand. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing.

How to Make Banana Chips in a Dehydrator

To make dried banana chips in a dehydrator, you won’t need to use any oil. Simply layer the banana slices on the trays in your dehydrator and cook them at 135 degrees for about 8 hours for chewy dehydrated banana chips.

Keep an eye on them for the last couple hours so you can remove them from the dehydrator tray when they reach the texture you want.

Grab a handful of these dehydrated banana chips when your sweet tooth hits, or stir them into a bowl of homemade granola.

Dehydrated Banana Chip Tips and Frequently Asked Questions

Expert Recipe Tips

How to Pick the Best Bananas for Dried Banana Chips

I like to use organic bananas that are ripe but not too ripe. They should still be firm for clean slicing, and they should be yellow with a few brown dots. Taste a slice to make sure it’s sweet.

How to Best Prepare Bananas for Dehydrating

Slice the bananas into even pieces about 1/4 inch thick. If they don’t hold their shape, the banana is overly ripe and too mushy, and it should be saved for banana bread.

Do You Have to Use Lemon Juice When Dehydrating Bananas?

Some recipes for dried banana chips call for treating them with lemon juice before dehydrating them in order to preserve their light color. I personally don’t think it’s necessary to pre-treat the banana pieces since they still look tasty without that step.

While it’s not necessary to treat them with lemon juice, that’s an option if you want to keep them very light in color. The lemon juice may impact the flavor of the banana chips a bit.

How to Keep Banana Chips from Sticking

When dehydrating bananas in the oven, I place a bit of oil on the baking sheet to keep them from sticking. In the dehydrator, the bananas don’t typically stick to the plastic mesh tray so there’s no need for oil.

How to Tell When Banana Chips Are Done Dehydrating

The slices will be flat and thin when they’re done dehydrating, and they’ll have a leathery texture. If you want to get crispy banana chips, you’ll need to dry them a bit longer.

The individual chips tend to finish dehydrating at different times, so check regularly and remove them as they reach the texture you want.

Why are my banana chips mushy?

It’s possible that the bananas haven’t been dehydrated long enough if they’re still soggy after the initial cook time. Also, if you used overly ripe bananas that you weren’t able to cleanly slice, they may be too ripe. These bananas are better off being used in banana bread.

Other Dried Fruit Recipes

For more delicious fruity snacks, try my homemade apple chips and dehydrated strawberries. Also check out my oat flour banana bread and dairy-free banana bread to enjoy that great banana flavor!

Price Breakdown

This recipe yields 2 cups of dehydrated banana chips, and it costs $1.23 to make. This comes out to $.21 per 1/3 cup serving. Try this recipe the next time your sweet tooth hits.

Note: This recipe was originally posted in 2013, and it was updated in 2024.