Ooey, gooey, toasty, banana boat!

During Happy Vegan Campers, I mentioned our family camping tradition of Banana Boats. We’ve done these as long as I can remember, and I thought they were a common camping thing until I started camping with others and learned no one knew about these! We make these at the Lakehouse with the grandkids when we’re sitting around the firepit and it transports me right back to family camping trips, my favorite! I love sharing this delectable, fun dessert so others can have it be part of their camping tradition too.

Banana Boats are basically a hot banana split cooked over campfire coals. It’s like a s’more and a banana split had a baby. And oh, there’s nothing like it! I don’t even particularly like bananas, but I adore Banana Boats. All you need is are campfire coals, some bananas, some fillings, and aluminum foil.

How to Make Banana Boats

Some ideas for Banana Boats: raspberry jam, bananas, chopped nuts, vegan chocolate chips, vegan marshmallows.

Banana Boats have traditionally been s’mores inside of a banana instead of graham crackers. But we’ve played around with this over the years and our Banana Boat repetoire has expanded! At a minimum you need:

• Bananas
• Aluminum foil
• Vegan marshmallows
• Vegan chocolate chips

But the skies the limit on fillings. Over the years we have included:

• Chopped nuts
• Fresh Berries
• Jam
• Coconut
• Cinnamon red hot candies
• Vegan caramels
• Nut butters
• Vegan peanut butter cups
• Dark chocolate M&Ms

Basically anything sweet that gets gooey and melty or toasty with heat works in these. Pick your favorite combination.

Preparing the banana.

Start by cutting a banana lengthwise through the top peel only. You don’t want to cut all the way through, you want a pocket inside the banana inside the peel.

Expanding the banana pocket.

Then carefully smoosh the ends of the banana together to open up a pocket inside of the banana in the banana peel.

Then add your desired toppings.

Raspberry jam and vegan chocolate chips in this banana boat.

Then top with a nice layer of vegan marshmallows. Shove them in there so you get lots of them! They’re going to get all toasty like a roasted marshmallow on a stick.

Layer of vegan marshmallows.

Make sure the marshmallows are really in there. If they are outside of the banana too much they will just get stuck to the aluminum foil and you won’t have any inside your banana boat when it’s done.

Now wrap in foil. Make a  little handle so you can grab it later with tongs.

Wrapping the banana boat.

And set right on top of campfire coals.

Cooking the banana boats right on top of campfire coals.

If you have a raging campfire that’s just too hot to cook right on the coals, you can put the banana boat packets on the grate instead.

Cooking banana boats on the campfire grate.

Cook them for 5-10 minutes, depending upon the heat of your coals. Then carefully pull them out of the coals with tongs and open the foil pouch.

Perfectly toasted, ooey, gooey banana boat!

The marshmallow should be all melted and toasted, the chocolate melted, and banana soft and cooked.

Now grab a spoon and dig in! Careful though, it’s hot!

Chocolate raspberry banana boat. Get in my mouth!

If you don’t have a campfire or want one when you’re not camping, you can also make these on a BBQ or in the oven. Follow the same directions, just heat your grill or oven to 350˚F.

Make sure you pack makings for Banana Boats for your next camping trip or time around a fire pit. Experiment with the fillings, I’m sure you’ll find a combination that’s out of this world! Its a great activity for kids, too, as you can set out all the toppings, prep a banana, and let them build their own dessert. I’m so happy to share this Thompson family tradition with you and hope you give it a try!

Print Pin

5 from 2 votes

Banana Boats

These ooey, gooey campfire banana desserts will soon become a family tradition! It's like a banana split and a s'more had a baby!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Camping, Gluten-Free, Kids, Nut-Free, Soy-Free

Keyword Bananas

Author Cindy Thompson, MS, NBC-HWC | Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• bananas one for each person
• vegan marshmallows
• vegan chocolate chips or chopped vegan chocolate

Optional Toppings

• chopped nuts
• fresh berries raspberries, sliced strawberries
• jam
• shredded coconut
• cinnamon red hots
• vegan caramels
• nut butter
• vegan peanut butter cups
• dark chocolate M&Ms
• chopped dates

Instructions

• Start by cutting a banana lengthwise through the top peel only. You don't want to cut all the way through, you want a pocket inside the banana inside the peel.
  
• Carefully smoosh the ends of the banana together to open up a pocket inside of the banana in the banana peel.
  
• Add your desired toppings, finishing with a nice layer of vegan marshmallows. Shove them in there so you get lots of them! Make sure the marshmallows are really in there. If they are outside of the banana too much they will just get stuck to the aluminum foil and you won't have any inside your banana boat when it's done.
  
• Wrap in foil, making a little handle so you can grab it later with tongs, and set right on top of campfire coals. If you have a raging campfire that's just too hot to cook right on the coals, you can put the banana boat packets on the grate instead.
  
• Cook them for 5-10 minutes, depending upon the heat of your coals. Then carefully pull them out of the coals with tongs and open the foil pouch. The marshmallow should be all melted and toasted, the chocolate melted, and banana soft and cooked. Grab a spoon and dig in! Careful though, it's hot!
  

Notes

If you don't have a campfire, you can make these on a BBQ or in an oven. Just heat to 350˚F and cook the same way.