In case you haven’t noticed, I like a sweet breakfast (though so-called “frambled” eggs make an acceptable alternative from time to time). If I could, I’d eat dessert every morning.
Which is why I was very, very excited to see banana fritters-eque fried flapjack bites all over my TikTok and Instagram pages.
So, I thought I’d give the ridiculously easy recipe, dubbed “banana nuggets” by food creator Tom Fauconnet, a go.
The super-simple ‘banana nuggets’ recipe takes minutes to make
The posts I saw described banana nuggets as a very simple, minimum-three-ingredient recipe: chop up a banana and add it to a pan with oats and some Golden Syrup, maple syrup or honey.
Some recipes call for butter, and others don’t. But come on: I’m not skipping my beloved Kerrygold here.
I ended up using the following amounts of each:
- 1 banana
- 25g oats
- 10g butter
- 1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
As the heat warms the butter and sugar into a caramel, the oats bind to the banana slices, a little like a flapjack (shaking the pan helps to coat the sections without breaking them apart). And the longer they’re left in the pan, the more crispy and golden that buttery outer layer gets.
Like porridge, the exact measurements aren’t strict. You can mostly eyeball it: add more golden syrup and butter if the oats aren’t sticking, and more oats if your banana is looking conspicuously bald.
I’ll be honest, I wish I’d put more butter in mine. But I was almost out, and the recipe is forgiving – the oats still clung.
Spices like cinnamon are great here, too: I just sprinkled some over the oats in the pan.
I was really impressed by how quickly the mixture came together. For the first minute, it feels like you’ve horribly mismeasured – after that, though, the mix clumps together beautifully. Predictably, given this is basically caramel with toasted oats (which you should use in porridge, too), the smell is divine.
But to get the beginnings of a tan on the outer layer of my bites, I had to leave them in the pan for about seven minutes all-in. (I probably should have been more patient: 10 minutes would have been golden perfection).
The fun really starts once your “banana nuggets” have finished cooking. Many place them on a bed of Greek yoghurt before adding fruit, chocolate chips, nuts and sweet sauces.
Sadly (can you tell I tried this recipe before The Big Shop?), I didn’t have many of those options to play with. Instead, I had to try it with a single square of M&S’ (very good) dark cooking chocolate, which I suppose had the unintended upside of giving me a less tainted banana nugget experience.
So… what’s the verdict?
Even without the extra toppings, and despite the fact that I undercooked them, these banana nuggets were delicious.
Their crispy, buttery (ignore butter-free recipes!) outer layer was crispy and nutty, giving way to soft, sweet banana.
It’s not quite as intense a contrast as deep-fried banana fritters, but it’s got its own flapjack-like appeal.
I really wish I’d had tart fruits, like raspberries, to eat this with, and Greek yoghurt should be considered an almost mandatory part of this dish. It needs something soft, creamy, and slightly tangy.
But even with those caveats, “banana nuggets”, which take minutes, taste amazing, and make your whole kitchen smell divine, have already transformed my breakfasts.
Just make sure to be more patient with the cook time than I was – and don’t skimp on the toppings.
