Los Arcos Plátanos Foster: Tijuana-Style Bananas Foster

Name: Los Arcos Plátanos Foster: Tijuana-Style Bananas Foster
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

RECIPE: Reprinted with permission from Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States by Claudette Zepeda. Copyright © 2026 by Claudette Zepeda.
Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

Photo: David Alvarado

August 07, 2026

For her book Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States, author and chef Claudette Zepeda shares her own take on Los Arcos’ Plátanos Foster, her favorite dessert when she was a kid. She uses piloncillo to balance the sweetness and orange liqueur “to give the sauce a more complex, whole-bodied fruit flavor,” she writes.

Ingredients

Yield:4

4 Tbsp. salted butter
4 bananas, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup ground or grated piloncillo, or dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground Mexican canela/Ceylon cinnamon
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1/2 cup dark rum
Pinch of sea salt
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Tools:large skillet

Preparation

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Once the butter is bubbly, add the banana halves to the pan, cut-sides down. Let the bananas caramelize for about 4 minutes without touching them. (Really, do not move the bananas, even if they feel stuck!)

Adjust the temperature to medium-low and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the skillet, along with the piloncillo, ground cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of water. Carefully swirl the pan in a circular motion to help the piloncillo melt and incorporate into a sauce, 3 to 5 minutes.

Raise the heat to medium and carefully pour in the orange liqueur and rum. Once the sauce is bubbling violently, it’s time to flambé! Slightly tilt the skillet toward the flame of the stove to ignite the alcohol, or
light a match and hover it over the skillet. The alcohol will catch on fire and burn off, reducing the sauce and helping the sugars caramelize (this is called the Maillard reaction). Once the flames dissipate, swirl the bananas again to make sure they’re thoroughly coated in the sauce. Season the sauce with a pinch of sea salt.

Divide the flambéed bananas and sauce among 4 plates, top each serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and serve immediately.