Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster is an iconic New Orleans dessert—decadent, dramatic, and unapologetically sweet. Created in 1951 by Owen Brennan and popularized at the family’s legendary restaurant, Brennan’s, in the French Quarter, it pairs warm bananas and vanilla ice cream with a deeply caramelized rum sauce.

Rich enough to make your teeth ache—in the best way—it’s traditionally flambéed tableside, delivering both dessert and theater in true New Orleans fashion. Its popularity is no small thing: Brennan’s famously goes through more than 35,000 pounds of bananas each year to keep up with demand for its most beloved menu item.

The good news? It’s easily recreated at home, and there’s nothing better than tableside service. Add the flambé, and it becomes instant entertainment. This was the grand finale of my French Creole dinner party, and like the patrons at Brennan’s, my guests reveled in both the show and the flavor.

Making Bananas Foster

Melt the butter in a large stainless saute pan, then add the banana liqueur, sugar and cinnamon. Cook on lowest heat until the sugar dissolves stirring constantly. Add the bananas to the pan, cut side down and raise the heat to medium high.

When the bananas begin to soften and brown on the bottom, about 1-2 minutes, remove the pan from the flames and carefully add the rum. Return the pan to high heat, tilt the pan to ignite the rum, turn off the heat and wait for the flames to subside.

Portion the ice cream, cut the bananas in half, gently remove the bananas from the pan and place around the ice cream. Spoon a generous portion of the warm sauce over each portion and serve immediately.

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