This monkey butter is soooooo good. Seriously. I was shocked. You watch the ingredients go in the pan, and then you watch them cook. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably be thinking, “meh, it’s just pineapple and banana, so what?” But just as the banana melts down and the sugar starts to bubble, you’ll find it hard not to sneak a taste. As soon as my mixure was done simmering, I couldn’t resist any longer, and I tried a steaming little spoonful. And then I smiled.
It was so good that it actually made me smile. That’s pretty rare! It was sweet and tangy, with this awesome buttery texture. How have I never tried this before?!
It reminds me of a banana split. And let me just say it would taste AMAZING on ice cream. AMAZING. You know those delicious little pineapple bits that you get in a banana split? It’s always my favourite part of eating a banana split to taste the combination of banana, ice cream and pineapple, all together in one delicious mouthful. Â Yum! (Guess what I’ll be having for dessert tonight, maybe with a little chocolate syrup drizzled over top?! Mmmm…)
Try to use bananas that are perfectly ripe. I was kind of stressing about finding “perfectly ripe” bananas. When I went to the grocery store I panicked a bit that all the bananas on the shelf this week were either extremely green, or completely covered in brown spots. Go figure!
I’m apparently the crazy person who visits two grocery stores to try to find perfect bananas and ends up buying about two dozen bananas. (Which may sound excessive, but our little family of five goes through a shocking number of bananas in a week…). And then with two dozen bananas sitting on the counter, every time my husband would reach for one, I’d yell, “ONLY EAT THE UGLY ONES!!” Yup. I might be losing it.
The BEST Monkey Butter Recipe | Banana Jam
As far as recipes go, this one is really easy. Only 5 ingredients. The full printable recipe is at the end of this post, but here’s what you’ll need:
- Bananas
- Crushed Pineapple
- Ground Coconut
- White Sugar
- Bottled Lemon Juice
So these are the best bananas I could find! (I may or may not have edited out a few brown spots… 😉 ) If you can’t find perfect bananas either, don’t worry about it. These ever-so-slightly under ripe bananas worked perfectly and I’m sure that bananas with a couple of spots would work as well.
I just don’t recommend using over ripe bananas, or it will end up tasting crazy sweet.
I used “macaroon” coconut from the bulk store. It’s just ground coconut flakes (unsweetened). If you have any troubles finding it, throw a couple of tablespoons of regular coconut flakes into a small food processor and pulse until it turns into small bits.
Put all the ingredients into a large nonstick pan.
Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat, stirring frequently.
Then reduce the heat to low and simmer it until the banana has completely dissolved and the mixture thickens up. It took about 15 to 20 minutes.
It ends up having a texture similar to apple sauce. Maybe just a little bit thicker than apple sauce.
As I said, it would go PERFECTLY with ice cream. Or you could spread it on toast, or serve it on pancakes or waffles. I bet it would taste amazing if you added a bit right to the pancake batter too.
The lemon juice keeps the bananas from going brown, so it will last in the refrigerator for about 4 to 6 weeks.
The BEST Monkey Butter Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 perfectly ripe bananas no spots
- 14 oz can of crushed pineapple with the juice
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3 Tablespoons unsweetened ground coconut I used "macaroon" coconut
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice from a bottle
Instructions
- Chop the banana into thin slices.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large nonstick pan.
- Bring to a rolling boil, stirring often.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the banana has dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly (about 15 to 20 minutes), stirring frequently.
- Serve warm over ice cream or on toast, pancakes or waffles.
- Can be stored in the fridge for 4 to 6 weeks.
This five ingredient monkey butter is so easy to make and tastes sooooooooo good. I was eating it by the spoonful. It tastes amazing on ice cream, or you can serve it with pancakes, waffles or even spread it on toast or english muffins. Yum!
If you’re looking for more delicious banana recipes, check out our pan fried cinnamon bananas. These end up with an ever so slightly caramelized coating. So good!
Chris says
Sub brown sugar for the white sugar?
Maria says
This seems like so much sugar. Can the sugar be cut back and still taste as amazing as everyone says?
nick says
It’s a jam. Jam has to have sugar
Liz says
When people say “It’s not safe to can” I don’t can it! I don’t take chances with my family’s health!!
It can be frozen, so DON’T CAN IT! Listen to the experts (unless you want your family to have food poisoning or worse………..).
Hersheyqueen says
Oh my word we love this! Who knew my hubby of 46 yrs. would eat anything with bananas in it! LOL Can this be canned? I’d love the convenience of just grabbing a jar as needed. Thanks for sharing!
Brenda says
Yes, you can, I have made this many times. I can it in a hot water bath for 15 minutes I use the small half-pint jars. I never have mine on the shelf longer than 6 months and I have never had a problem or issue with the quality of the jam. Hope this helps
Lisa Chastain says
How many 1/2 pint jars do you get out of this recipe?
Laurie says
Thank you for the info
Stephanie Brooks says
This was delicious….WAS. it’s gone. I used organic crushed pineapples by Native Forest and Morena cane sugar. I can’t wait to find some perfect bananas again!!!!
Juli Hutson says
Can this recipe be canned? It sounds delicious !
Julie Carney says
On the BEST monkey butter recipe I understand it can be refrigerated 4-6 weeks but can it be CANNED? I’d like to store some up for up months down the road if that’s possible.
One Little Project says
Hi Julie, I haven’t tried canning this, but it sounds like Brenda in the comments has done so successfully. Based on the ingredients, I think it should be able to be safely canned. Let me know how it goes!
Cecil says
Everything looks so good and easy to make. Great job
Hattie Hawkins says
Hi! Will be making this Saturday. Wondering if you think it would be possible to water barh can it for longer term. Thinking gifts this Christmas.
One Little Project says
Hi Hattie! I’ve never canned it before, but it definitely can be. Brenda (in another comment) has done so with great success.
Beth Davis says
I water bath canned mine for 15 minutes. I saw it on another post and it worked beautifully.
One Little Project says
Glad for more confirmation on this, thanks.
Beth Davis says
You absolutely CAN use bananas with spots. It’s like someone posted the first recipe for this and everyone who made it afterwards just copied that without questioning it. I used spotty bananas and mine turned out beautifully. I wouldn’t use brown bananas, but a few spots are absolutely fine.
One Little Project says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Beth. 🙂