Homemade Korean Banana Milk

This version of homemade Korean banana milk cooks down bananas with coconut cream, creating a flavorful jam to use as the base for your milk.  

And the jam is what really makes the difference.  This jam packs a deeply concentrated burst of banana flavor right into your milk.  

This recipe is perfect for when you have extra bananas lying around that are starting to get too ripe. Really ripe bananas will give the milk a super sweet, fruity taste.

History of Korean banana milk

Korean banana milk was first created in South Korea in 1974. 

At the time, the Korean government was trying to persuade residents to start drinking milk because of its health benefits. The problem was that average Koreans thought the flavor was bland, and so milk didn’t take off in a big way. 

So leave it to a corporation named Bingrae to solve the issue. They decided to add flavors to milk, believing that the sweeter versions of the beverage would be more popular. 

And they were. Banana-flavored milk turned out to be a hit. 

Today, over 800,000 bottles of banana milk are sold in Korea each day. 

Banana is the most popular flavor of milk in Korea. But other flavors like strawberry, chocolate, and melon are also sold throughout the country. 

How to make homemade Korean banana milk

1. Prepare the jam. Mash two bananas in a medium bowl until almost completely smooth. Add in the coconut cream, brown sugar and a few drops of lemon juice and stir until combined. 
2. Cook the jam. Cook the jam over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir it very often, almost constantly, to prevent scorching. If the jam starts to scorch while cooking, remove it from the heat for a minute to let it cool a bit and then return it to the heat to resume cooking. 
3. Blend the jam with milk. Add 3/4 cup jam along with milk to a blender and blend at high speed until completely combined. 
4. Serve. Serve the milk right away, while it’s still fresh. 

Do I really need to make the banana jam?

Many recipes for Korean banana milk just use fresh bananas blended with milk.  But there are two problems with this.

First, the fresh banana method results in a drink that has a consistency that’s closer to a milkshake rather than a milk.  The texture of Korean banana milk should be light, just like normal unflavored milk.

Second, since this method just adds fresh bananas, the end drink doesn’t have a very deeply banana-flavored profile.

Reducing the bananas into a jam solves these problems.  

The jam is super banana-flavored with slight hints of caramel and coconut.  And since you’re only adding a few tablespoons of the jam per cup of milk, rather than a full banana, the end consistency is still light and milky.

Tips for making homemade Korean banana milk 

1. Watch out for burning the jam. Cook it really slowly on low heat. And stir it very frequently, or better yet, constantly.  If the jam starts to burn or brown too much, remove it from the heat immediately to let it cool down for a minute. 
2. Use overly ripe bananas. Using overly ripe bananas will help to produce a sweeter, more banana-flavored milk. 
3. Use whole cow milk. This recipe just won’t be the same with reduced fat milk or any vegan milk alternatives. 

Ingredients

Whole milk.  Can’t have banana milk without the milk. 

Bananas. Can’t have banana milk without the bananas.

Coconut cream.  This recipe has a very subtle coconutty taste that’s not overpowering.  The main reason I add coconut cream is because of its high fat content which helps to fry and caramelize the bananas. This frying process gives the end drink a more complex, rich taste. 

Brown sugar. Brown sugar adds much needed sweetness to the drink. It also caramelizes the jam, providing depth of flavor. 

Lemon juice. Just a few drops of fresh lemon juice helps to balance out the milk and provide a tiny bit of brightness. 

Yellow food coloring. This is totally optional. But if I’m drinking banana milk, it might as well be yellow banana milk 😄

What is coconut cream 

Coconut cream is similar to coconut milk. They’re both made from coconuts and water. 

The main difference is that coconut cream has a much higher fat content than coconut milk. 

This is because there’s less water added to coconut cream than to coconut milk, so the cream has a higher coconut-to-water ratio. 

Coconut cream substitute

This recipe uses coconut cream rather than coconut milk because of the cream’s high fat content. The fatty cream is cooked with the bananas and helps to fry and caramelize the bananas, resulting in more concentrated flavor. 

If you can’t find coconut cream, you can use the cream layer from a can of normal full-fat coconut milk.  Reduced fat coconut milk will not have nearly as much (or any) cream, so make sure you have a full-fat version. 

To get at the cream, open the can without shaking it.  And then scoop out the solid part of the coconut milk.  This is the cream part of the coconut milk. 

There will be leftover liquid milk in the can. Take just a tablespoon of this liquid and mix it with the solid. 

How to serve Korean banana milk

Banana milk is great on its own or served with sweet desserts like this Japanese strawberry sando.