I finally got around to trying the Banana Loca, which is one of those kitchen gadgets that looks equal parts clever and gimmicky. I’d seen people ask about it for years, and after putting it off for way too long, I decided it was finally time to see whether it was actually useful or just another novelty tool destined for the junk drawer. After testing it with a couple different fillings, I definitely came away with mixed feelings.
Where to Purchase
I purchased the Banana Loca on Amazon, which is listed at $28.99.
Banana Loca Review
The Banana Loca is basically a tool designed to core a banana while it’s still inside the peel, so you can fill the center with things like peanut butter, jelly, yogurt, honey, or anything else that sounds good. It’s a fun idea, and I can absolutely see why it caught people’s attention. In theory, it turns an ordinary banana into a filled snack with almost no prep. In practice, though, it’s a little more involved than the promotional videos make it seem.
Right out of the box, the gadget has a very retro, almost infomercial-style design to it. The instructions are printed directly on the packaging, which is helpful, although one of the early steps immediately made me laugh. It says to “straighten the banana.” That sounds simple enough, until you’re actually standing there holding a naturally curved banana, and wondering how exactly you’re supposed to straighten it without snapping it in half. That part alone gives you a pretty good clue that this product may be a little trickier in real life than it appears in ads.
For my first test, I went with the classic combo choice: peanut butter. After cutting the tip off the banana and carefully inserting the coring tool, I was genuinely surprised by how well that part worked. I managed to core the banana cleanly without it poking through the other end, which was one of the complaints I had seen from other people. Once the center was hollowed out, I filled the hopper with peanut butter and started pushing it through.
To my surprise, the peanut butter banana turned out pretty good. The filling moved through the banana more smoothly than I expected, and when I peeled it back, the banana had only split a little. More importantly, the end result tasted good. Peanut butter and banana are already a perfect match, so there was never much doubt there, but it was nice to see that the gadget could actually produce something decent. That said, I also realized pretty quickly that I had used more peanut butter than I really needed, which led to some waste and added to the mess.
That mess is really where the Banana Loca starts losing points. After the first round, cleanup was a chore. Peanut butter is already annoying to wash off anything, and this gadget has enough little corners and parts to make the process more tedious than it should be. Using the tool itself only took about a minute, but cleaning it thoroughly took several minutes longer. That might not sound like a huge deal at first, but it definitely feels like a hassle for something that’s supposed to be a fun, “shortcut” snack tool.
For the second round, I decided to try jelly instead, just to see how a different texture would turn out. The coring process worked fine again, and by that point I had a better handle on the basic steps. However, once I started filling the banana with jelly, things got messier more quickly. Jelly is much thinner than peanut butter texture-wise, and it really wanted to escape at every possible opportunity. It started squeezing out while I was filling the banana, and once I peeled the banana open, it kept oozing out even more.
The jelly-filled banana still tasted good, but it was without a doubt sloppier and less practical. That test made it obvious why most demonstrations seem to use thicker fillings like peanut butter. The tool can technically work with softer fillings, but the experience is a lot messier and harder to control. It also reinforced the same issue I had after the first attempt, where even when the final snack is tasty, the process of getting there is more involved than I’d really want for everyday use.
That’s kind of where I landed with the Banana Loca overall. I do think it’s a fun concept, and I’ll give it credit for more or less doing what it claims to do. It can core a banana and fill it, and if everything goes right, the end result is genuinely enjoyable. But there’s a big difference between a gadget working once or twice, and a gadget being something I’d want to keep using regularly. For me, this falls firmly into the category of “cool idea, but probably not worth the effort.”
At the end of the day, I’d almost rather just slice open a banana with a knife, spread peanut butter or jelly on it, and call it good. It takes less time, creates less mess, and doesn’t leave me with another bulky kitchen gadget to store and scrub. So, while I can see the Banana Loca being fun as a novelty item or a gift, I also completely understand why some people say it ends up in a drawer after one use. It’s not useless, but it is certainly more gimmicky than essential.
Video Review
Below you can watch my full review.