Name: Jamaican Banana Fritters
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 3 large overripe bananas (or 5 medium bananas); 1 1/2 cups of Gluten free flour; 1/4 tsp cinnamon; 1/4 tsp of nutmeg; 1 tsp of vanilla; 1/3 cup of coconut sugar; 1/4 tsp himalayan pink salt; ** 1/4 cup of coconut oil

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If you are looking for a hassle free gluten free Caribbean appetizer then look no further because these Jamaican Banana Fritters are so delicious, addictive and take less than 30 minutes to whip up a whole batch ready to eat.

Fritters aka Flittaz are an all time favourite on mine. I like them because they are a no fuss, quick, tasty and filling appetiser. In a sense, you get all of this goodness in one serving.

They are so nice and simple you can even go on and be daring by tripling or quadrupling the batch.

What is a fritter?

In short, a fritter is fried batter that consists of a sweet or savoury filling. In the case these are made with bananas with light and fluffy texture, a cross between a donut and a pancake.

It’s loaded with those potassium enriched bananas and some spices because you know Caribbean people love to include nutmeg and cinnamon to the party.

Growing up I would watch my grandmother and mother make banana fritters. We would often treat ourselves to some fritters for breakfast.

Sometimes our breakfast consisted of copious amounts of banana fritters with some Jamaican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate tea).

Alternatively, we would have the fritters with Saltfish and Callaloo and/or scrambled eggs on the side or we would go all out with our national dish called Ackee and Saltfish.

Gluten free adaptation

Mom and grandma made fritters with self rising flour, which is all purpose flour to the wider audience. Of course being a gluten free blogger the recipe has been adapted to accommodate those changes.

It’s not a relatively HUGE adjustment if I do say so myself.

Rather the only minor change to the original recipe is using gluten flour in place of self rising flour.

There’s isn’t much room for error with this recipe, you can’t really go wrong it’s such an easy recipe to follow and definitely achievable just like I did with my Jamaican Saltfish Fritters.

Ingredients you will need

Gluten free flour: I like to use Bob Red Mills 1 to 1 baking flour. It’s a recommended light and fluffy flour that seemingly works quite well.
Overripe bananas: The more ripe the banana the better, it makes a difference to the overall sweetness of the fritters.
Spices: In true Caribbean style I like to use Cinnamon/Nutmeg and vanilla extract.
Coconut sugar (optional): If you want your fritters to be uber sweet then a small amount of coconut sugar will do the trick.
Oil: any oil with a high smoke point i.e avocado, coconut or olive oil works.

How to make Jamaican banana fritters

Peel each of the bananas, slice and add them to a bowl.

Use a potato masher or blender to breakdown the bananas until they become a pureed consistency.

Then add the spices, gluten free flour, pink salt, vanilla and coconut sugar

Mix into a smooth consistency with a whisk
Melt a 1/4 cup of coconut oil in a non stick frying pan on medium heat.
Spoon some of the batter into the frying pan and fill the pan with spoons of batter (don’t overcrowd).
Cook each side until golden and turn over and cook the other side.
Repeat with the rest of the batter, add more oil if needed

I don’t have over ripe bananas to hand, can I still make the fritters?

Yes, you can BUT…. you will probably need to increase the amount of coconut sugar to compensate for the lack of sweetness in the bananas.

That is why I do recommend using very ripe bananas, but it is still doable.

Can I make fritters that are grainfree/paleo friendly

I haven’t managed to try this myself…yet but…

I should think that coconut flour (although eggs might be needed) or almond flour (not almond meal) should work just fine.

It is necessary to add sugar to the fritters?

If the bananas are overly ripe then you may want to exclude additional sweetener. I like to add a small amount of sugar regardless of how ripe the bananas are simply to enhance the taste.

Notes and tips

Alternatively to banana. Feel free to use plantains if you don’t have any bananas to hand.
Overripe bananas. Ideally you want to use bananas that are overripe for this recipe. Bananas where the skin is more black than yellow. This is because overripe bananas are naturally sweet so this lessens the chance of having to add too much sweetener.
Mash the bananas. Use either a potato masher or blender to breakdown the bananas into a more pureed consistency. This will form the foundation for the banana fritter batter.
Oil usage. In order to use as little oil as possible use a very durable non stick skillet.
As the batter cooks it will spread slightly before it turns golden. Use a egg lifter to flip the fritter over the other side and repeat.

More Caribbean breakfast recipes to try

Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge

Oven Baked Plantains

Trinidadian Tomato Choka

Dominican Mangu

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