Creme de Banane substitute

Best substitute

Banana extract plus simple syrup and white rum

Per 1 oz of liqueur: ½ oz simple syrup, ½ oz white rum, 2 to 3 drops banana extract

Best for Banana Daiquiri

Close match

The most accurate reconstruction from ordinary supermarket ingredients. It covers the flavour, the sugar and the alcohol, and it keeps the drink clear rather than cloudy the way real fruit would.

Other creme de banane substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Banana-flavoured rum
Close match
Per 1 oz of liqueur: 1 oz banana rum plus ⅓ oz simple syrup
Arguably the best single-bottle answer.
What changes
Banana rum has the fruit note and a rum backbone, but it is dry and stronger than a liqueur, so it needs sugar added and the drink's other spirit pulled back slightly to keep the balance.
Best for
tiki drinks, daiquiris, punches, any rum-based recipe
Reduce the drink's base rum by about a third of an ounce, since you have added a full ounce of spirit-strength alcohol where the recipe expected a much weaker liqueur. Otherwise the drink comes out noticeably hotter.
3Very ripe banana muddled with syrup and rum
Different texture
Per 1 oz of liqueur: about ¼ of a very ripe banana, muddled or blended, plus ½ oz simple syrup and ½ oz white rum
The best-tasting route, because it is actual fruit rather than an approximation of it.
What changes
The trade-off is textural: the drink turns cloudy, thicker and slightly frothy, and it has to be drunk immediately because banana browns and separates fast.
Best for
blended drinks, Banana Daiquiri, frozen drinks, smoothie-style cocktails
Use a banana with black spots on the skin. Isoamyl acetate builds up as the fruit ripens, so a spotty banana smells strongly of banana while a firm yellow one tastes starchy and faintly grassy. Fine-strain if you want a clear-ish drink, or blend if you do not mind the body.
4White creme de cacao
Different taste
Use the same amount
An honest role substitution rather than a flavour one.
What changes
It matches the sweetness, alcohol strength and clarity almost exactly, so the drink stays structurally correct, but it tastes of chocolate and vanilla instead of banana. Chocolate and banana are natural partners, so the result usually works.
Best for
tiki drinks, dessert cocktails, drinks with rum, coffee or cream
Add two drops of banana extract if you have any and this becomes a very close swap indeed. Without it, accept that you are making a chocolate version of the drink, which is a fine thing to be making.
5Velvet Falernum
Different taste
Use the same amount
Similar strength and sweetness, so it keeps a tiki drink in balance with no adjustment.
What changes
The flavour goes to lime, clove and almond rather than tropical fruit, which is a real change but a coherent one in any rum drink.
Best for
tiki drinks, rum punches, swizzles
Worth using when the liqueur was a small accent of a quarter or half an ounce in a busy drink, where nobody will register the missing banana. Not worth it when the drink is named after the fruit.
6Mashed ripe banana plus rum or extract, for baking
Different texture
Per 2 tablespoons of liqueur: 2 tablespoons mashed ripe banana plus 1 tablespoon rum, or ¼ teaspoon banana extract
For cakes, custards and Bananas Foster, real fruit is the better ingredient anyway.
What changes
The banana brings flavour and moisture where the liqueur brought flavour, sugar and liquid, so the batter needs a small adjustment.
Best for
cakes and quick breads, custards and pastry cream, Bananas Foster, ice cream
Mashed banana adds moisture and no alcohol, so cut another liquid in the recipe by about a tablespoon per two tablespoons of banana. Without the alcohol a frozen dessert will also set harder, so a tablespoon of rum genuinely helps the texture of banana ice cream.

What is Creme de Banane?

Creme de Banane is a sweet banana liqueur, usually 17 to 25 percent alcohol, made by steeping bananas and banana aromatics in neutral spirit with sugar, so in a drink or a dessert it is doing three jobs at once: banana aroma, sugar and alcohol.

Cooking tips

The bright yellow bar-well bottles are much sweeter and more artificial-tasting than craft versions such as Giffard Banane du Bresil or Tempus Fugit. If a recipe was written for a craft bottle and you have a cheap one, cut the drink's other syrup by half. If it was written for a cheap bottle and you have a craft one, you may need to add a quarter ounce of syrup.
Banana extract is roughly an order of magnitude more concentrated than the liqueur. Work in drops, never teaspoons, and taste between each one. This is the single most common way a homemade substitute goes wrong.
Ripeness dominates flavour. A banana with black-spotted skin has developed far more of the aromatic ester that makes banana smell like banana, whereas a firm green-tinged one tastes starchy and vegetal and will not read as banana at all in a drink.
Banana, rum and lime is the classic axis, and a very small pinch of salt keeps a banana drink from tasting flatly, cloyingly sweet. If your substituted drink tastes one-note, try salt and a little more lime before adding anything else.
Keep the bottle in the fridge once opened. Banana liqueurs are low in alcohol and high in sugar, and they will dull and slowly darken at room temperature over a year or two.

Frequently asked questions

Is creme de banane the same as banana liqueur?

Yes, they are two names for the same category, and you will also see it written as creme de bananes or banana schnapps. Giffard Banane du Bresil is the same kind of product made to a higher standard, drier and with more real fruit character. Any of them will work in a recipe calling for creme de banane, though the cheaper, sweeter ones may need you to reduce the drink's other sugar.

Can I use banana extract instead?

Yes, but not on its own, because extract supplies flavour and nothing else. The liqueur was also contributing sugar and alcohol. Per ounce of liqueur, use half an ounce of simple syrup, half an ounce of white rum and two to three drops of extract, and go carefully with the drops because extract is far more concentrated than the liqueur.

Can I leave it out?

If it is a quarter-ounce accent in a complicated tiki drink, yes, you will lose a layer and the drink will still be good. If it is a full ounce, or if the drink is named after banana, no. You have removed sweetness and alcohol together, so at minimum replace it with equal parts simple syrup and rum to keep the balance, and accept that the banana is gone.

Is there a non-alcoholic substitute?

Muddled or blended ripe banana with simple syrup is the best one, and it works well in a mocktail because the fruit gives body that a non-alcoholic drink usually lacks. Per ounce of liqueur, use a quarter of a ripe banana plus half an ounce of syrup and half an ounce of water. Alternatively, half an ounce of syrup, half an ounce of water and two drops of banana extract keeps the drink clear.

Does creme de banane need refrigerating after opening?

It is not strictly necessary for safety, since the alcohol and sugar both preserve it, but it does keep the flavour brighter for longer. At 17 to 25 percent alcohol it sits below the level where a spirit is fully self-stable, so the fridge is the better home for an open bottle you use occasionally.

Related substitutes

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Creme de Banane substitute

Other creme de banane substitutes

2Banana-flavoured rum

3Very ripe banana muddled with syrup and rum

4White creme de cacao

5Velvet Falernum

6Mashed ripe banana plus rum or extract, for baking