Strawberry-Banana Compote

Name: Strawberry-Banana Compote
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; 2 ripe organic bananas, sliced into coins; 1 cup ripe strawberries, cleaned and hulled; 2 tablespoons light brown sugar; ¼ cup bourbon.

By Sam Sifton

Total Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 5(150)
Notes: Read community notes

Fruit and butter with a little bit of brown sugar. Heat until it smells magical. That’s it. You can add bourbon as well, for a hit of smokiness (the alcohol will cook off) that pairs well with French-toast brunches. Or let the mixture cool, then store in the refrigerator, and combine it later with thick Greek yogurt. One note: If you don’t like the color of the compote, for the heating will pull some from the fruit, add a spoonful of strawberry preserves as a kind of blusher.

Featured in: Morning’s Glory

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Ingredients

3tablespoons unsalted butter
2ripe organic bananas, sliced into coins
1cup ripe strawberries, cleaned and hulled
2tablespoons light brown sugar
¼ cup bourbon.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Melt butter in a pot over medium heat; when it foams, add bananas, strawberries and brown sugar. Stir, and cook until sugar has melted into butter, about 5 minutes.
Step 2
Add bourbon, and continue to cook until fruit is deeply soft and all the alcohol has cooked off, an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Serve over French toast or pancakes, or cool it and serve in yogurt.

Ratings

5 out of 5

150 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Charles Michener6 years ago

Cooked as recommended for 15-20 minutes on medium-high heat, this sugary compote will scorch long before it's ready. A quarter cup of bourbon is great, but won't be enough liquid. Keep the heat low, add water if necessary, stir often, and don't walk away from the stove.

Robert W Easton6 years ago

There's no bourbon where I live, so I'm using golden rum. (I am in the western hemisphere, but a rum-centric culture)

Mary5 years ago

I used frozen strawberries as it's the middle of winter; this allowed for enough liquid. So easy, so tasty!

Anayansi6 years ago

I used blackberries instead of strawberries and it came out delicious!!

Mrs. Hellcat5 years ago

Substitute rum for bourbon. Made a perfect compote for crepes!

M.M.6 years ago

This was tasty but got dry and mushy fairly quickly. Maybe the strawberries were not juicy enough, but I'm wondering if others found the same and if anyone has a fix. Thanks!

Rad Rad4 years ago

Made this using sour mash whiskey, because that was what I had on hand, and a splash of vanilla. I also added a spoonful of strawberry rhubarb jam for colour. It was delicious, but it took a long time to cook off the moisture after the addition of the alcohol.

Bart Cheever5 months ago

Don't sleep on this one. The effort to reward ratio is fantastic!

Peanut1 year ago

There are clearly almonds in the picture! So we added some sliced almonds, toasted, and they were tasty! Used frozen strawberries which worked well just not as colorful, cut in half. Next time I would make enough French toast mix for 6 slices of bread and use this recipe over those, enough for 3 people.

JohnA1 year ago

perhaps too much butter. The Bourbon was a good add

Jennie2 years ago

Honestly I found this a little bit disgusting--the bananas became brown, mushy, and unpleasant, and I didn't like the soft, hot strawberries, which seemed to go against nature somewhat. I subbed Grand Mariner for the bourbon which should have made it more delicious but in fact only made it more expensive.

Deedub2 years ago

Could you make this successfully with brown butter? Would that mean browning the butter before adding the fruit & sugar or could some of the browning be after? Alternatively, how about adding the sugar right away an carmelizing it?

Julie M3 years ago

This is easy, elegant and delicious — the aroma of it as it was cooking alone! ... I added it to my steel cut oatmeal for a slightly extravagant morning treat. Saving the rest to dress up vanilla ice cream

Beth3 years ago

Used salty caramel whisky as I had no bourbon. Looks nothing like the photo, but it’s delicious in yogurt.

Rad Rad4 years ago

Mrs. Hellcat5 years ago

Substitute rum for bourbon. Made a perfect compote for crepes!

dpk5 years ago

Why organic bananas and any [unspecified] strawberries?

Naomi4 years ago

I do not generally buy organic food, but my husband and I agree that organic bananas taste better. We can't taste a difference between organic vs. conventional strawberries. But I can't say for sure that that's why the recipe is written this way.