Brûléed Bananas Make For A Decadent Addition To Your Oatmeal

Fresh slices of banana make a delicious oatmeal topping, infusing your breakfast with a dose of potassium and a mildly sweet flavor. But if you want to turn these fruits into a truly decadent oatmeal addition, try them brûléed instead. The brûlée process is just a fancy way to describe broiling or torching the fruits, which caramelizes their natural sugars. To really cement that sweet flavor, however, they're typically topped with an additional sprinkle of sugar beforehand too.

Not only does torching your bananas enhance their sweetness, it also adds deliciously toasted, nutty flavors, along with a golden-brown color to their tops. Yet as sophisticated as this upgraded fruit is, it's also deceptively quick and easy to whip up. You can make brûléed bananas on an average weekday morning in a matter of minutes — and when tossed in a bowl of oatmeal, you won't necessarily need any extra sweet additions like honey or maple syrup. Plus, the caramelized part of the bananas will form a slightly hard crust (just like the top of a crème brûlée), which will contrast beautifully with your soft, mushy oats.

If you are already a crème brûlée aficionado, you're in luck, because this method for caramelizing bananas is very similar to browning the top of the dessert. But before you get there, you'll want to halve or slice your fruits and sprinkle a little sugar on top. If you have a torch, you can then deploy it evenly a few inches away from the tops, until you get the color and texture you're looking for. If you don't own this specific device, you can simply broil your bananas in the oven; just make sure to keep a close eye on them so they don't burn, which can happen quickly.

Once your fruits are nutty and caramelized to perfection, don't stop there when building your perfect bowl of oatmeal. Torching your bananas turns your bowl into a dessert-like creation, so feel free to add in other goodies like chocolate chips or chunks, sea salt, coconut flakes, or vanilla extract. You can really go for any ingredients that pair well with bananas, like peanut butter, almond butter, chopped walnuts or pecans, cinnamon, or pumpkin spice. And if you want a burst of freshness to balance out all that sweet goodness, toss in a handful of fresh blueberries, diced strawberries, or sliced apples.