Ooey Gooey Banana Bars are sweet and moist dessert bars that are loaded with bananas and frosted with homemade salted caramel buttercream. Although these bars would be delicious on their own, the frosting puts this dessert over the top! If you love desserts with bananas, or just need a great recipe to use up ripe bananas, be sure to also try my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Butter: Use unsalted butter for both the bars and the salted caramel buttercream.
Brown Sugar: These bars are rich dessert bars that are made with brown sugar to give them that extra sweetness.
Bananas: Mash a couple of bananas to use in the bars. You need about 2/3 cup of mashed bananas.
Caramel Sauce: Skip the store-bought caramel sauce and make your own to use in the salted caramel buttercream!
Can These Bars be Gluten-Free?
I stress this often, that I am not a gluten-free specific baker. However, a few readers have mentioned that this recipe works very with a high-quality gluten-free replacement.
Storing & Freezing Ooey Gooey Banana Bars
This cake is best served fresh! However, you can store it in an airtight container (or covered with plastic wrap) in the refrigerator. You can also freeze this cake, however, I do recommend waiting to frost the cake until after thawing.
Can I Make the Bars Without the Frosting?
Yes, of course. However, the salted caramel buttercream truly is magical on these bars and I do hope you’ll give it a chance!
More Delicious Bars
Ooey Gooey Banana Bars
Ingredients
Banana Bars
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups (400 g) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed, some chunks are okay (about â…” cup)
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup (82 g) caramel topping
- 1 ½ teaspoons whole milk, as needed
Instructions
Banana Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar.
- On low speed, add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add the eggs, mixing on low until incorporated.
- Add the flour and the salt, mixing well.
- Fold in the mashed bananas.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is set.
- Let the bars cool as you prepare the buttercream frosting.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- Combine the butter, sugar, salt, and caramel topping in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Start mixing on low speed until the sugar is incorporated with the butter.
- Increase the mixing speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Adjust the consistency with milk as needed.
- Frost the banana bars with the buttercream after they have cooled completely.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
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I would advise to check on these banana bars at thirty minutes.I left them in the oven for forty-five minutes like the directions stated and they came out too done.
All oven temps are not the same. The specified baking of goods are a suggestion and you should use your better judgement. Always start baking timeframes at 30 minutes and continue to check the product when adding additional minutes.
Made these without the icing. Instead added dark chocolate chunk chips. Made 1.5 batches.
Can these bars be frozen???
So I saw a recipe for apple bars with crumbles on top, would love to try this with banana slices but not sure if they will hold up bc bananas are much softer and turn quicker than apples, any suggestions?
EXCELLENT! And even better the next day.
I WORSHIP sugar, but might cut it back about 5% next time…..maybe?…… I dunno.
My oven was just tuned up and calibrated, so it’s temp accurate….for now. I say this because the bars were done in 30 minutes. Will be making this again for sure! Thank you! <3
I made these for a family gathering and I, along with everyone else, was so disappointed. The entire batch was dry as a bone. My oven is calibrated perfectly, so the 45 minutes that the recipes states is probably entirely way too long. The recipe possibly needs something else like buttermilk, oil (besides butter), etc. The icing is flavorful but the bars were inedible. Not even the birds were interested!
These bars are heavily tested. 🙂 You could have used the wrong pan, added the wrong amount of ingredients, or over baked. But I can assure you, if the recipe is made as written, it is GOOEY, not dry. Might want to check your oven.
Good, but frosting a little too sweet.
Ok. Made them in a 13×9 and checked at about 33 minutes. Toothpick came out clean so I took them out. Very good but I too had them cook pretty fast. Great new way to use up bananas!
Moist and delicious!
these are wonderful! It was very much like banana bread in density and taste. The salted buttercream frosting was the perfect topping for these. I didn’t sift the powdered sugar so the frosting was a tiny bit granular, but I didn’t mind. I loved the hit of salt in the frosting. At first I thought there wasn’t enough frosting, but it goes a long way and was the perfect amount. I baked until the toothpick came out clean which was about 42 minutes. Will totally make again!