The Trick That Turns Banana Bread Into The Perfect Breakfast

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Banana bread needs no introduction. Like a soft, sweet, tender kiss from the ghost of those overripe bananas you completely forgot about on the counter (rest in peace, fruit we sometimes pretended was a phone), good banana bread is awesome — but great banana bread is life. Still, you might be wondering, "Isn't banana bread already the perfect breakfast by itself?" Dear friends, even the icon of home-baked goods can always be waffled.

But wait, it wasn't your pot-smoking friend or one of a million TikTok trend chasers who figured this out; it was most likely Bobby Flay — an actual chef (phew!) — who popularized the throw-a-slice-of-banana-bread-into-your-waffle-maker idea. (But I'm still taking credit for inventing grilled Krispy Kreme doughnuts at a backyard barbecue that one time.) Flay finished the waffled banana bread with a drizzle of flambéed bananas foster sauce. Maybe the term "genius" is tossed around too often, but if you're spooning caramelized banana slices into the fresh-pressed, toasty little pockets of your banana bread ... you know it when you taste it.

Waffled banana bread easily comes together in two ways: You can either bake your favorite banana bread batter directly in the waffle iron (need a box? I love GoNanas Original Banana Bread Mix), or you can iron out the last remaining slices of your already-made loaf, like Bobby Flay. But just because you're in your waffle era doesn't mean you have to stop at regular ol' normie banana bread.

Busted bananas hit the mainstream during the Great Depression, when even bruised, brown'anas found their way onto breakfast plates. With the dawn of leavening agents like baking powder in the 1930s, quick-baking breads with mashed bananas instantly became a thing, and we've been upcycling 'nanas like we mean it ever since. Lucky for us, during that time banana bread society came up with some freakin' delicious twists.

Once you decode the perfect bananas for banana bread — go for the really ripe ones — you can brighten up banana bread with a splash of orange juice or try mixing in Martha Stewart's magic ingredient for better banana bread (shh ... it's sour cream, and it makes it moist and tangy). Of course, a few strategic add-ins can take banana bread to the next level (I'm looking at you, cocoa powder and chocolate chunks). But any spin on banana bread that's straight outta the waffle maker with a drizzle of maple syrup on top tastes like a million bucks.