Banana Boats

Today’s recipe - campfire banana boats - was shot at out waterfront campsite at Presqu'ile Provincial Park - which served as a gorgeous background for a few recipes that I have yet to post!

Anyway, this classic camping dessert is a fun foil packet recipe. I mean, it involves melty chocolate and gooey marshmallows, what more could you ask for when it comes to campfire cooking?

Well, how about customizability?

A big part of why this delicious dessert is such a crowd pleaser, is that everyone can make their own, with their own choice of toppings!

We keep a bag of various ingredients for versatile desserts like this (and others, yet to come!), so it’s fun deciding what to include in our own dessert masterpiece!

However you design your “banana s’mores”, cooking them up over a campfire - especially when overlooking a lake, like we were at the time - on a nice summer night is a great experience!

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need to have on hand for this recipe, so you can enjoy banana boats on your next camping trip!

Ingredients

This campfire classic uses simple ingredients, it shouldn’t be too hard to find what you need in pretty much any grocery store.

As always, I have some ingredient notes for you:

Ripe Bananas

Aim for nicely ripe, but not OVERLY ripe bananas when making your banana boats.

A little bit of brown spotting works great, but don’t necessarily wait for the nearly-black peels that you would when making something like Campfire Banana Bread.

The cooking process will soften them, so you don’t want to start out with already-mushy bananas.

Spread - Optional

You don’t NEED a spread - and we’ll make them without a spread, sometimes - but they’re a fun way to add a pop of flavour to your banana boats.

We use peanut butter most often, but Nutella, jam, almond butter, fruit preserves, caramel sauce, etc are all great options.

Just keep in mind: whatever you use will melt. If you use too much of a spread, it can definitely make the whole thing soupy!

Mini Marshmallows

I use miniature marshmallows when making our banana boats, as it’s definitely the most convenient option.

That said, feel free to quarter or slice larger marshmallows, if that’s what you have on hand. You just want them small enough to shove down into the skin.

Toppings

We keep a bag of random s’mores / dessert stuff on hand, for making things like these banana boats, campfire cones, etc. It’s a bit of an investment, but it’s also intended to spread across many uses over the season!

First, you’ll want some sort of chocolate.

Milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips ... all great options.

We like the mini Reese peanut butter cups - Ideally the really small ones that aren’t wrapped, but the small, foil wrapped ones - or even regular peanut butter cups - work well.

Beyond that, consider Rolo, Smarties (or M&Ms, for the Americans), Reese’s Pieces, etc.

From there, consider using smashed up graham crackers,, nuts, seeds, fresh berries, raisins .. Really, whatever.

I like using strawberries, Nutella, and chocolate chips for sort of a banana split type dessert.

Chocolate chips and some form of graham - like Teddy Grahams or Golden Grahams cereal - gives you s’mores boats.

Depending on what you have on hand, you can come up with plenty of other fun combos - your toppings are really only limited by your imagination, budget, and storage space!

How to Make Banana Boats

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. Here is a visual walk through, with photos for each of the simple steps:

Get a fire going, or preheat your grill. Either way, you’re looking for medium heat.

Use a sharp knife to cut a slit along the inside curve of each banana (the concave side). You want to get all the way through the banana peel, but not necessarily into the banana itself.

Carefully open slit, and use your fingers to gently separate the peel from the banana.

If you’re using a spread, use a spoon or knife to apply some to the inside of the banana peel.

Push a row of mini marshmallows as far down each side as you can, to hold the banana peel open. Fill with more marshmallows, and your favorite toppings. (See post for photos!)

Bring the tin foil up and around the banana, lengthwise, and fold the edges together over the banana, basically forming a tube around the banana. Leave a little bit of air space above the banana- this will help it cook, and prevent it from sticking to the foil.

Then, fold each of the open ends closed. I like to fold the ends downwards, forming a bit of a base to hold each of the wrapped banana boats upright on the grill.

Once you’re ready, place the wrapped banana boat packets on the grill grates, keeping the cut side facing up.

Cover grill, allow to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the banana is heated through, the marshmallows are puffed, and any chocolate is melted. The actual cooking time will depend on the size of your banana, the heat of your fire, and how far away the banana boats are placed from the heat source.

More Camping Dessert Recipes

Looking for some sweet treats to cook over a campfire or grill? Here's a few of my favourite easy dessert recipes!

Apple Fritter Bread Pudding
Apple Fritter French Toast
Campfire Haystack Cookies
How to Make Maple Taffy
No Bake Cornflake Cookies
No-Bake S'Mores Bars
Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
Skillet Berry Crumble
S'mores Board

... But wait, there's more! Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!