Banana cue (caramelized saba banana skewers) is whole saba bananas fried in oil with brown sugar until the sugar melts into a thin, glassy caramel shell, then threaded two to a bamboo stick. It tastes like toffee on the outside and soft, mildly sweet, almost starchy banana inside.
You need three ingredients and about 15 minutes. The whole trick is the sugar: add it to the oil after the bananas, turn them constantly, and pull them out the moment the coating turns dark gold.
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Recipe
Banana Cue (Caramelized Saba Banana Skewers)
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the saba bananas and leave them whole. Pat them dry so they do not spit in the oil.
- Heat 2 cups of oil in a wok or deep pan over medium heat. You want it about halfway up the bananas. Fry the bananas for about 2 minutes, turning, until they are lightly golden.
- Sprinkle about half of the brown sugar over the bananas. Leave it a moment so it can melt into the oil around them.
- Turn the bananas so the melted sugar coats them, then add the rest of the sugar and keep turning. Lower the heat if the sugar darkens fast. Stop when the coating is dark golden brown and clings to every side.
- Lift the bananas out with tongs and thread two onto each bamboo skewer while they are hot.
- Set the skewers on a wire rack or a banana leaf to cool. Turn them once or twice so they do not stick. Serve once the shell has hardened.
What is banana cue?
Banana cue is a Filipino merienda, the afternoon snack, sold on bamboo sticks from street carts all over the Philippines. You will also see it written bananacue or banana Q.
The name is banana plus barbecue. It comes from the skewer, not the cooking: banana cue is fried in oil, never grilled. The same cart usually sells camote cue, which is sweet potato cooked the same way.
Banana cue ingredients
Banana cue needs saba bananas, brown sugar and cooking oil, plus bamboo skewers. That is the whole list.
- Saba bananas. A short, thick, slightly square cooking banana. It is firm enough to hold its shape in hot oil. Look for fruit that is yellow and just ripe, still firm when you press it.
- Brown sugar. Light or dark both work. Dark brown sugar gives a deeper colour and a stronger molasses taste.
- Oil. Any neutral cooking oil. You need enough to come halfway up the bananas, not a full deep-fryer.
- Bamboo skewers. Two bananas to a stick is the standard.
The published recipes agree on 1 cup of brown sugar but not on how many bananas it covers. Foxy Folksy uses 12, Recipes by Nora 8 bananas with 3/4 cup, and Six Snippets a whole bunch of 15 to 20. This card follows Foxy Folksy: 12 bananas, 1 cup of sugar, 6 skewers. If your bananas are small, use more of them; the sugar stays the same.
Can you use regular bananas or plantains?
Plantains are the closest swap, and they work. Choose yellow ones that still feel firm, and cut very large plantains in half crosswise so they cook through.
Ordinary dessert bananas are not a good shortcut here. They are softer and sweeter than saba and tend to go mushy and split in the hot oil before the sugar has time to set. Saba is sold fresh or frozen in Filipino and Asian grocery stores.
How to put sugar on banana cue
Fry the bananas first, then sprinkle the brown sugar straight into the oil around them and keep turning. The sugar melts in the oil and sticks to the hot banana as a coating. This is the method most recipes use, including Panlasang Pinoy, Foxy Folksy and Pepper.ph.
Add it in two parts for a thicker shell. Recipes by Nora melts half the sugar first, turns the bananas through it, then adds the rest and takes the bananas out before that second batch has fully melted. The result is a crunchier, grainier crust.
The other way is sugar first. Six Snippets lets the sugar start to caramelise in the oil, then drops the bananas in for about 2 minutes. It is quicker, but the sugar can scorch while you are still adding bananas, so it suits a small batch.
How to make banana cue, step by step
Peel the saba, leave them whole.- Fry about 2 minutes, turning.
- Sprinkle in half the sugar.
- Add the rest and turn until coated.
- Skewer two per stick.
- Cool until the shell hardens.
Why the sugar burns or will not stick
Sugar burns when the heat is too high. It goes from gold to black fast, and burnt caramel tastes bitter. As soon as it darkens quicker than the bananas are coating, turn the heat down.
Sugar will not stick when the bananas are not moving. It sinks to the bottom of the pan and caramelises there instead. Keep turning the bananas through it the whole time it melts.
Hot caramel is far hotter than boiling water and it clings to skin. Use tongs, not your fingers, to skewer the bananas, and keep the oil at the back of the stove.
What oil temperature for banana cue?
Medium heat is what most recipes give. Pepper.ph is the one that names a number: 350°F (180°C). Without a thermometer, the oil is ready when a banana dropped in starts bubbling steadily around the edges straight away.
Do not crowd the pan. Fry in batches if your wok is small, and give each batch its own share of sugar.
How to serve banana cue
Serve it once the shell has cooled and hardened, while the inside is still warm. Panlasang Pinoy suggests it with a cold soda, which is how it is often sold.
Saba shows up in a lot of Filipino sweets. For the fritter version, try maruya. For saba cooked soft in syrup, make minatamis na saging. Saba is also wrapped in spring roll wrappers for turon, as in this ube turon, and simmered in coconut milk in ginataang bilo-bilo.
Make-ahead and leftovers
Banana cue is a cook-and-eat snack. The shell is at its best soon after it has cooled, so make it close to serving time. None of the recipes behind this card gives a storage time, so this page does not either.
For a crowd, cook in quantity by frying in batches rather than in a fuller pan. Lay the finished skewers in one layer on a rack so the shells do not fuse together.
Questions people ask
Why is it called banana cue?
Because it is served on a skewer, like barbecue. Banana cue is banana plus barbecue, but it is fried in oil, not grilled.
How do you put sugar on banana cue?
Fry the bananas in oil for about 2 minutes, then sprinkle brown sugar into the oil and keep turning the bananas until the melted sugar coats them. Adding the sugar in two parts gives a thicker shell.
What bananas are used for banana cue?
Saba bananas, a short, thick Filipino cooking banana. Firm yellow plantains are the closest substitute. Soft dessert bananas fall apart in the oil.
Is banana cue fried or grilled?
Fried. The bananas cook in oil with brown sugar. Only the skewer comes from barbecue.
How many calories are in banana cue?
This page does not give a calorie figure. It depends on the size of the banana and how much sugar and oil the coating holds, and none of the recipes behind this card publishes a figure we could check.
How long does banana cue take?
About 15 minutes: 5 minutes to peel and set up, and about 10 minutes of frying and coating.
