Fruit

Banana nutrition, by the piece and by the cup.

1 medium banana lands at 105 calories and brings 1.3 g of protein with it. The source is the USDA entry “Bananas, raw”. Beyond the headline number, it is notable for vitamin B6. Set the serving below and the panel works it out, with the full nutrient table following your choice.

By Alen Yaco · Updated 20 September 2026

Drawn from USDA FoodData Central, FDC 173944, 173945. No account, no upload, percentages against FDA Daily Values.

How many calories does banana have?

1 medium banana is 105 calories. Per 100 g it is 89. USDA publishes the serving weights below, so these are measured portions rather than rounded guesses.

Protein in banana, measured

Expect 1.3 g of protein from 1 medium banana, roughly 3 percent of a 50 g day. Banana carries almost no protein. It earns its place in a day through carbohydrate, not through protein.

Of every 100 calories, 4 come from protein, 3 from fat and 93 from carbohydrate.

What cooking does to banana

Every row below is the same 118 g of banana, so the only thing that differs is the method.

Choosing and using banana

Bananas are tropical herbaceous fruits sold mostly as the yellow Cavendish variety, though red and baby bananas occasionally appear. Look for firm, unbruised skins with green tips if you want them to last. Avoid fruit with split skins or greyish tones, which suggests they have suffered from cold storage.

Heat breaks down the starches into sugars, making the fruit soft and syrupy. Baking or pan-frying intensifies the natural sweetness. The commonest mistake is using underripe fruit in cakes; bananas must be heavily speckled with black for baking, or the batter will lack flavour and moisture.

This fruit is eaten raw or sliced into breakfast dishes. It pairs well with dark rum, brown sugar, and warm spices in Western desserts. In Southeast Asian cuisines, it is often fried in batter, grilled, or cooked in coconut milk with a pinch of salt to balance the sweet flesh.

Everything USDA measures in banana

What 1 medium banana supplies most of: vitamin B6 at 25 percent of a day. All rows below respond to the serving you chose.

Fibre runs to 2.6 g per 100 g, or 9 percent of the Daily Value.

It carries 12 g of sugar per 100 g.

Where banana fits in a day

On a 2,000 calorie day, 1 medium banana is 5 percent of the budget and 3 percent of the protein Daily Value. Whether that is a lot depends on your own numbers rather than on 2,000: the TDEE calculator gives you what you burn, and the macro calculator turns a target into grams.

Recipes that start with banana

Each of these comes from the Calorie Counter Team, and each carries nutrition worked out from its ingredients’ USDA entries rather than estimated from the finished dish.

Snack · British

Banana Bread

A dense loaf cake made with mashed ripe bananas and baked in a tin.

65 min · serves 8

266kcal

4.8gprotein

9.2gfat

42gcarbs

Ingredients

• Ripe bananas 300 g
• Unsalted butter 75 g
• Self-raising flour 225 g
• Caster sugar 100 g
• Eggs 100 g

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C and grease a 900g loaf tin.
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl using a fork.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir it into the mashed bananas.
4. Beat in the caster sugar, eggs, and self-raising flour until combined.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes until firm.

5 USDA records went into this total. It describes the ingredients as weighed, not the dish after cooking losses.

Breakfast · American

Oat and Banana Pancakes

Thick pancakes made from blended oats, eggs, and banana, cooked in a frying pan.

15 min · serves 2

269kcal

10gprotein

11gfat

34gcarbs

Ingredients

• Bananas 150 g
• Eggs 100 g
• Oat flour 50 g
• Unsalted butter 10 g
• Salt 1 g

Method

1. Blend the bananas, eggs, oat flour, and salt in a food processor until smooth.
2. Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
3. Pour small circles of batter into the hot pan.
4. Cook for two minutes until bubbles form on the surface, then flip.
5. Cook the other side for one minute until golden brown.

Summed from 5 USDA records and divided by servings. Heat alters weight and a few nutrients, so read it as a close figure.

Dinner · Sri Lankan

Banana Curry

A mild curry of banana chunks simmered in spiced coconut milk.

25 min · serves 2

433kcal

4.9gprotein

30gfat

45gcarbs

Ingredients

• Underripe bananas 300 g
• Onion 100 g
• Coconut milk 200 g
• Curry powder 10 g
• Vegetable oil 15 g
• Salt 3 g

Method

1. Peel the bananas and cut them into chunks three centimetres long.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan and fry the chopped onion for five minutes.
3. Stir in the curry powder and cook for one minute.
4. Add the coconut milk, banana chunks, and salt to the saucepan.
5. Simmer gently over low heat for ten minutes until the banana is soft.

Nutrition per serving, calculated across 6 USDA ingredient records. Expect small differences once cooked.

Calorie Counter Team, food critic

Putting banana on a plate

A sample plate, not a prescription: banana plus two sides, each line sourced and the sum shown.

Banana beside its neighbours

Here is how banana sits among its neighbours per 100 g; the form column keeps raw and cooked apart.

Common questions on banana

How many calories does 1 medium banana have?

Count 105 calories. The source is the USDA record “Bananas, raw” (FDC 173944), which lists 89 calories per 100 g.

How much protein is in banana?

Per 100 g, banana contains 1.1 g of protein. 1 medium banana therefore gives 1.3 g, which is 3 percent of a 50 g day.

Does banana fit a calorie deficit?

That depends on the rest of the day, not on banana. For planning: 1 medium banana is 105 calories and 1.3 g of protein, 5 percent protein by energy, useful alongside a protein source rather than as one.

How many carbs are in banana?

Expect 27 g of carbs from 1 medium banana, including 3.1 g of fibre and 14 g of sugar.

How do you stop peeled bananas from turning brown?

Brush the exposed flesh with acidic juice. Lemon, lime, or orange juice works well. The acid slows down the enzymatic browning that happens when the fruit reacts with oxygen in the air.

Can you freeze bananas for later use?

Yes, but peel them beforehand. Frozen whole bananas in their skins become soggy and difficult to manage. Slice the flesh and freeze on flat trays before transferring to sealed containers for baking.

Sources

• Bananas, raw — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 173944
• Bananas, dehydrated, or banana powder — USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 173945
• Daily Values for nutrition labelling, 21 CFR 101.9