When buying fruit, you’re going to have to weigh it before bagging it. It’s a good idea to have a good idea of what a pound of bananas looks like so you know what you’re getting before putting the bananas on a scale.
A single banana usually weighs between 7 and 9 ounces. So, you can usually get 2 or 3 bananas per pound.
In this guide, I’ll explain how many bananas it would take to add a pound for the different varieties, what you can do with a pound of bananas, and why bananas have such short shelf lives in our kitchens.
Types of Bananas
The world is home to over 1,000 varieties of bananas. The most common variety in the US is the cavendish, which is long, cylindrical, has a slight curve, and usually measures between 7 and 9 inches from pulp to tip. The weight of a single cavendish banana ranges from 200 to 260 grams (roughly 7 to 9 ounces).
However, there are so many more varieties of bananas you can get your hands on. Another variety is known as the Pisang Raja, which, translated from Indonesian, means the Banana King. It’s slightly orange in color and tastes more like a honey-flavored custard than a cavendish banana. They measure between 10 and 15 centimeters (roughly 4 to 6 inches) long and weigh roughly 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) per hand of 15 fingers.
If you live somewhere in Southeast Asia or you have access to a Southeast Asian store, then you might have come across the red banana. As its name suggests, the red banana is reddish in hue. They’re soft and sweet and measure no longer than 12 centimeters (under 5 inches) when fully mature.
I could go on and on about the various types of bananas, but let’s go straight to the crux of the matter, which is…
How Many Bananas Are in a Pound?
When putting a hand of bananas on a scale, you might jump back in shock to see juts how heavy a few fingers can be. So, the next time you go banana shopping, you can keep your surprise in check by memorizing the weights of bananas.
Of course, since there are over 1,000 varieties of bananas, the weight per finger will vary. Not only that, but not all bananas are made equal. Some fingers may be considerably shorter or less girthy than their other fingers on the same hand. So, we’ll have to deal with averages here.
Let’s take a look at the banana count per pound based on the variety.
| Banana Variety | Average Weight per Finger | Average Finger Count per Pound |
| Cavendish Banana | 200 and 260 g | 2 to 3 |
| Pisang Raja | 300 g | 1 to 2 |
| Red Banana | 126 g | 3 to 4 |
| Lady Finger Banana | 30 g | 15 to 16 |
| Plantain | 200 to 250 g | 1 to 2 |
| Manzano Banana | 0.96 kg | 0.5 to 1 |
| Burro Banana | 85 g | 4 to 5 |
| Gros Michel | 300 to 400 g | 1 to 2 |
| Nanjangud Banana | 118 g | 4 to 5 |
Are Plantains Bananas?
Yes, they are. However, if you’ve ever gotten your hands on a bunch of plantains before, you’ll know that they’re not as delicious as bananas straight from the peel.
Plantains are a lot starchier than bananas. As such, they will require a bit more processing than regular cavendish bananas to make edible. You can deep-fry plantains as a savory snack (they taste great when dipped in a chili sauce!), or you can mash plantains to make plantain bread.
Bananas and plantains are quite similar in terms of nutrition. The chart below compares the nutritional info of a 100-gram service of cavendish bananas and plantains.
| Nutrients | Cavendish | Plantain |
| Calories | 89 | 122 |
| Carbohydrates | 23 g | 32 g |
| Fiber | 3 g | 2 g |
| Potassium | 358 mg | 487 mg |
| Magnesium | 27 mg | 36 mg |
| Vitamin C | 9 mg | 18 mg |
What Can You Do with a Pound of Bananas?
A pound of bananas isn’t a lot when you think about it. If you eat one banana per day, you’ll only have 2 to 3 days’ worth of bananas as a snack or breakfast item. However, if you’re not a huge banana fan but have a pound lying around, here’s what you can do:
Banana bread
This is a no-brainer. You’ll need 2 cups, which is about three bananas, of chopped bananas. If you mash the bananas, it will end up measuring about 1.5 cups.
Soft serve
Bananas make for the perfect soft-serve base. Just throw ripe bananas in a freezer overnight, peel them, then mash them along with any other toppings you want to eat with your soft serve. A pound of bananas should yield enough soft serve for 2 to 3 people.
Milkshake
Bananas add a ton of flavor and body to milkshakes. When they’re ripe, add 2 chopped bananas to about 250 ml (8.5 fl. oz.) of milk and blend until smooth.
Pancakes
You can replace the flour in pancakes with bananas. A single banana should be enough for 2 medium-sized pancakes, so a pound of bananas should be enough to feed 3 to 4 hungry people.
Banana pudding
If you have a package (5 oz) of instance vanilla pudding on hand, you can enhance the flavor by adding super-ripe bananas to the mix. Just mash the bananas until they’re smooth before adding them to your pudding base.
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