Yes, There Is A Right Way To Freeze Bananas For Smoothies

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In case you haven’t heard by now, the only way to make a truly kickass smoothie is to freeze the fruit ingredients beforehand. And frozen bananas specifically take your chilled beverages to the next level. There’s just something about cold bananas that makes their soft, silky texture even more decadent when pureed.

But when it comes to prepping your frozen bananas, technique is key. Freezing them in the skin prevents them from aging too quickly, but they’re a major pain in the ass to peel once they’re frozen (plus the coldness can really hurt your fingers). Peeling and chopping them into bite-sized pieces instead solves the cold fingers problem, but then you lose your ability to control portions clearly as well as keep the bananas as fresh as possible.

So what do you do?

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Find the happy medium between these two methods, of course. Peel the bananas, but don’t chop them. Then wrap them individually in wax paper (or your wrap preference that won’t rip or stick to the bananas when it comes to thawing time). And then slide each of the peeled, but wrapped bananas into a Ziploc bag and pop them in the fridge. Voilá!

This way, you can guarantee that you’re blending exactly one banana at a time, the wrapping mimics the original banana skin in keeping them fresh, and no pre-cut pieces annoyingly stick together in one bulky container. If you start every smoothie this way, the rest of the process will be a piece of cake — guaranteed.