Should You Refrigerate Bananas?

Let me tell you a tale as old as time. Looking to stock the house with healthy snacks, you buy a bushel of pale green bananas, thinking they’ll ripen by the weekend. But then the weekend rolls around: Between loads of laundry and dishwashing, you’re shuttling the kids around to soccer games and ballet practice, and all you remember to grab as you’re headed out the door is a pint-sized bag of Cheetos.

Now it’s the following week and you’ve got a bushel of slightly overripe bananas growing spotty on your countertop. No problem, you think. You’ll just let them get really ripe, then you’ll bake a loaf of banana bread. Because the next weekend, it all starts over again, and your loaf of banana bread never gets baked and the bananas on your countertop have turned brown and downright rotten, seeping strange juices and attracting fruit flies.

Now I know you’re thinking: There must be a better way. How can you preserve bananas in their ripe state for just a little bit longer and keep the fruit flies at bay? Can you refrigerate bananas? We were always taught to keep our bananas out on the countertop, but what if you stored them in the fridge? What about the freezer?

It can be painful—and sometimes even smelly—to watch our bananas sit out on the countertop, descending into brown, mushy decay. We’re here with all the information you need on properly storing bananas—and potentially lengthening that fleeting window of ripeness by putting them in the refrigerator.

The Ideal Storage Spot For Bananas

Once you bring home your bananas, they’ll last for about six days or so. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the desired storage temperature for bananas is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, although some sources say 56 to 58 degrees is ideal.

What this means is that bananas are best stored at room temperature. So your countertop really is the right place for them. After all, have you ever seen bananas stored in the fridge at the supermarket? I didn’t think so.

You can refrigerate bananas once they’ve achieved your ideal level of ripeness; however, refrigerating bananas too soon or for too long can have detrimental effects on your bunch.

When Should You Refrigerate Bananas?

Stashing your bananas in the refrigerator can slightly prolong the fruit’s life—but there’s a caveat. When it comes to refrigerating bananas, timing is everything. Refrigerating bananas will slow or stop the ripening process, preserving the fruit at its current state.

This means that you should only refrigerate bananas once they’ve reached the precise level of ripeness you’re looking for. If you’re simply looking to enjoy bananas as a snack, you can place the bananas in the fridge when they’re perfectly yellow with maybe a few brown freckles to preserve their shelf life for one to two more days before you eat them or use them in recipes like banana bread.

Problems With Refrigerating Bananas

There are a few cautionary points to keep in mind when refrigerating your bananas. For starters, bananas, being tropical fruits, are very temperature-sensitive. The cold temperature of the fridge will cause the skin of the bananas to darken after a few days. The bananas will still be edible at this point, but you should look for signs of mold or if the flesh has begun to ferment or smell off—this means they’re probably rotten and at this point, they should be discarded.

Additionally, storing bananas at lower than desired temperatures—below 55.4 degrees—could bring upon “chilling injury.” This causes a bitter flavor and discoloration in the fruit. The bananas will also soften abnormally and decay faster.

Should You Freeze Bananas?

It turns out that the best—and safest—way to preserve the life of your bananas is not to pop them into the fridge, but in the freezer. Freezing your bananas completely stops the ripening process. So, while you still don’t want to stash your bananas in the freezer too early, there is little risk of negatively altering the bananas’ structure. Freezing bananas, however, changes their texture, so keep in mind that frozen bananas are best used in recipes that call for mashed bananas—not enjoyed on their own.

You can freeze bananas whole or sliced into pieces. If freezing whole, you can do so unpeeled or peeled and stored in a freezer bag. If freezing slices, flash-freeze them first and then put them in a freezer-safe container.

Other Ways To Extend Your Bananas’ Life

If you want to extend the life of your bananas before you place them in the fridge or in the freezer, there are some tricks you can try: 

• Wrap their stems: Bananas produce something called ethylene gas, which causes them to ripen. If you cover the stems in plastic or foil, that can slow the release of the gas. On the other hand, if you wrap up the whole banana, that traps the gas and can quicken ripening. 
• Keep them away from other fruits: While they emit ethylene, bananas are also quite sensitive to it. So, you should store your bananas away from other ethylene producers, like avocados, apples, peaches, tomatoes, mangos, and potatoes. 
• Hang the bananas: Consider getting a banana hanger to hang your bunch of bananas. This can slow ripening from ethylene gas and keep the bananas from bruising one another. 
• Keep them out of sunlight: Direct light can cause bananas to ripen faster, so it’s best to store them in a dark place.

What To Do With Overripe Bananas

If you’re looking to bake a loaf of banana bread or banana cake, you’ll want to use overripe bananas, in which case it’s best to leave your bananas out on the counter until they turn brown. But if you don’t quite get around to baking that loaf of banana bread this weekend—and those unsightly brown bananas are an eye-sore on your pretty marble kitchen island, simply stash the overripe bananas in the freezer to use in smoothies or a future baking project. See below for a few of our favorite recipes.