All About Green Banana Flour: The Newest Gluten-Free Flour Trend

Just as many of us are starting to get more familiar with coconut and almond flour, there’s a new gluten-free option that’s predicted to be trendy in 2020: green banana flour. 

But what is green banana flour exactly? Is it healthy? And how do you use it? Let’s take a look! 

What is banana flour? 

While just slowly making its way into US grocery stores, green banana flour is actually quite common in Jamaica and parts of Africa as it’s a cheaper alternative to traditional wheat flour. 

Green banana flour is made by peeling, chopping, and grinding the flesh of very unripe, green bananas. While traditionally done by hand, commercial processing of banana flour is becoming more common. 

It’s also been considered as a way to help cut down on waste. 

When green bananas have an aesthetic flaw that makes them unsuitable for sale to a grocery store, they’re often just thrown out. Banana flour can prevent this waste by making flour out of the bananas that are otherwise safe to eat. 

Nutritional benefits 

Compared to other gluten-free flours, green banana flour tends to be lower in total calories, but is also much lower in protein. 

A ¼ cup of green banana flour contains approximately: 

• Calories: 100
• Fat: 0 grams
• Carbs: 25 grams
• Sugar: 0 grams
• Fiber: 1 gram
• Protein: 1 gram

It’s also an excellent source of potassium, magnesium, and manganese. It also contains a good amount of several B vitamins, vitamin C, copper, phosphorus, iron, and selenium. 

In fact, ¼ cup of banana flour provides 330 mg of potassium, making it an easy, low-sugar way to add more potassium to baked goods or smoothies. For reference, a medium fresh banana provides approximately 422 mg of potassium. 

Resistant starch 

Green banana flour is also an excellent source of resistant starch. 

Resistant starches are prebiotic carbohydrates that are not broken down into sugars during digestion, but instead are fermented by bacteria in the gut. This in turn results in the formation of several beneficial compounds in the body. 

As a result, eating sources of resistant starch has been linked to a variety of potential health benefits including:

• Weight loss
• Improved glycemic control in those with type 2 diabetes
• Growth of good bacteria in the gut, known as probiotics (see why probiotics are important in our previous post) 

These potential health effects of resistant starch are thought to be one of the main reasons for benefits seen with consumption of green banana flour. 

For example, a review of studies looking at the benefits of green banana products found that banana flour may help with weight control, digestive issues, and managing blood sugar and insulin levels — all of which are also linked with intake of resistant starch. 

How to use banana flour 

Okay, enough nutrition, let’s get to the fun part: using banana flour! 

Taste, texture, & color

Green banana flour is usually a light grey in color and has a delicate, slightly sweet flavor with a mild banana taste. 

Texture-wise, it’s very powdery. If you’ve ever used protein powder before, then it’s a similar consistency. And also like protein powder, banana flour tends to fly out everywhere if you don’t open the package carefully and slowly. 

Adjustments to recipes

Unlike other gluten free flours that often require major changes to recipes, banana flour can usually be subbed in for whole wheat flour without having to do much more adjusting. 

However, as a general rule of thumb, you will want to use 30% less flour than the original recipe calls for to avoid your recipe from getting dry. For example, if you have a cookie recipe that uses 1 cup of whole wheat flour, use ⅔ cup of banana flour instead. 

As banana flour is quite starchy, I’ve only tried using it in recipes that aren’t overly delicate, such as pancakes, quick breads, and cookies. For recipes that are meant to be very light and airy (such as a vanilla layer cake), you’d likely need to make a few adjustments to the liquid and leavening ingredients to keep it from getting too dense. 

Ideas for using banana flour

As mentioned above, green banana flour works well in most recipes calling for whole wheat flour. However, I’d be careful using it in more delicate baked goods like layer cakes, as it could make the final product more dense than you’d like. 

Ideas for using it in baking include: pancakes, muffins, coffee cake, quick breads, muffins, cookies, brownies, and fruit crisps or cobblers. 

As it’s a rich source of several minerals, it can also be used as a supplement by adding 1-2 tablespoons to smoothies, overnight oats, or no-bake energy bites. 

Where to buy banana flour

Many banana flour products can be purchased online, either on the brand’s website or on a site like Amazon or Thrive Market. 

You might also be able to find it at specialty health food stores like Whole Foods or Natural Grocers. I’ve also seen it online at Walmart.  

The bottom line 

Banana flour is a relatively low-calorie flour and an excellent source of potassium and resistant starch. 

However,  just because banana flour is used in a dessert, doesn’t negate the fact that the recipe may still contain high amounts of sugar, fat, and calories from other ingredients — which is where using the recipe builder in your Lose It! app can be super helpful to see the final calorie and macronutrient counts.