Grilled Bananas

This is the easiest grill dessert you’ll ever make. Bananas go straight on the grates, peel and all, and cook until the skin turns completely black and the fruit inside goes soft, sweet, and caramelized.

The peel acts as a natural wrapper, steaming and roasting the banana at the same time. Starting with green (underripe) bananas is key. They hold their shape on the grill instead of turning to mush, and the heat converts their starch into sugar, giving you a sweeter result than you’d get from ripe bananas.

Split them open right on the plate, dust with powdered sugar, and top with a dollop of sour cream and a handful of toasted coconut. The cool, tangy sour cream against the hot, smoky banana is what makes this work.

Chef Tips

• Use green, firm bananas. Ripe yellow bananas are already too soft and will collapse on the grill.
• Turn them only once, halfway through. Moving them too much tears the peel and you lose the steam pocket inside.
• Toast the coconut in a dry skillet until golden before sprinkling. Raw coconut doesn’t have nearly the same nutty crunch.

Variations

• Drizzle with honey or chocolate sauce instead of powdered sugar.
• Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a grilled banana split.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon and a squeeze of lime juice for a Latin-inspired finish.