Shopping for bananas or need them for a recipe? It’s helpful to know how many bananas in a pound!
Recipes often call for bananas individually, for example a banana bread recipe might call for a single banana or 3 medium sized bananas.
Recipes might also call for some number of cups of sliced or mashed bananas. This begs the question, how many bananas do I need for a recipe?
If you love bananas, then you just buy a big bunch and after you make the recipe use the remainder in your smoothies or however you like them. If, however, you don’t want bananas sitting around turning brown, it is good to know how many to purchase for your recipe. As the vast majority of bananas sold in the USA are Cavendish, we will assume that is the banana variety your recipe calls for.
Banana Trivia!
What was the most common type of banana sold in the USA before Cavendish became the leading seller in the 1940s? (Scroll to the end of this post for the answer!)
a. Plantains
b. Big Mike
c. Lady Fingers
d. It was always Cavendish
How Many Bananas are in a pound?
There are about 3 bananas in a pound. This answer of course depends upon the size of your bananas. The USDA states that a medium peeled banana is 7-8 inches long and weighs 118 grams or roughly 4 ounces.
- Small Bananas 6-7” weigh 101 grams (3.5 ounces) peeled or 153g (5.5 ounces) unpeeled
- Medium Bananas 7-8” weigh 118g (4 ounces) peeled or 180g (6.25 ounces) unpeeled
- Large Bananas 8-9” weigh 136g (4.75 ounces) peeled or 206g (7.25 ounces) unpeeled
- Extra Large Bananas 9” weigh 152g (5.5 ounces) peeled or 230g (8 ounces) unpeeled
How Many Bananas in a Cup (Mashed and Peeled)?
1 cup of mashed bananas weighs 225g. To get a cup of mashed bananas you need 340g or 12 ounces of unpeeled bananas, so you can generally just round to two medium bananas.
1 cup of sliced bananas weighs 150g. To get a cup of sliced bananas you need 227g or 8 ounces of unpeeled bananas. Use 1 ¼ medium or one extra large banana and you are close enough. No need to use a measuring cup, just peel them and add to your mixing bowl.
For many banana recipes like Banana Pancakes or Banana Smoothies exact banana quantity isn’t that important. For the ultimate summer treat you definitely don’t need to measure bananas exactly. Check out How to Make Banana Nice Cream!
Quick Conversion Chart
| Cups | Oz (peeled) | Oz (unpeeled) | Bananas |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2 cup mashed | 4.0 | 6.1 | 1 |
| 1/2 cup peeled | 2.6 | 4.0 | 2/3 |
| 1 cup mashed | 7.9 | 12.0 | 2 |
| 1 cup peeled | 5.3 | 8.0 | 1 1/4 |
| 2 cups mashed | 15.8 | 23.9 | 4 |
| 2 cups peeled | 10.5 | 15.9 | 2 1/2 |
| 3 cups mashed | 23.7 | 35.9 | 6 |
| 3 cups peeled | 15.8 | 23.9 | 4 |
| 4 cups peeled | 31.6 | 47.8 | 8 |
| 4 cups peeled | 21.1 | 31.9 | 5 1/4 |
how much of a banana is just peel?
The average banana is 36% peel by weight. We weighed several bananas and found a range of 30-37% depending on size and ripeness. We will just use 33% or ⅓ of the weight as peel as this makes calculations easy and pretty accurate. Most people just throw the peel away, but you certainly don’t have to. The peel is perfectly edible, and it is loaded with fiber. The browner, and thus more ripe, they get the sweeter they are.
Trivia Answer
The answer is C Big Mike. Unfortunately a blight struck Big Mike banana plantations across Central and South America starting around 1920, so by the 1940s the major banana growers had to make a change.
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