Turon

Easy·15 min

A Filipino sweet snack of ripe saba banana, often with a strip of jackfruit, rolled in a spring roll wrapper and deep-fried, then coated in caramelized brown sugar. Sold by street vendors, it is crisp, sticky, and sweet, eaten hot off the pan.

Turon is the Filipino street-sweet also called lumpiang saging — 'banana lumpia' — saba bananas rolled in a wrapper, fried, and caramelised crisp with sugar. It is the dessert member of the great lumpia family.

A crackling caramel shell shatters into a hot, soft banana center that is sweet and faintly tart from the jackfruit. The contrast of crisp wrapper and molten fruit is irresistible straight from the fryer.

Brown sugar caramelizes in the hot oil and fuses to the wrapper, forming a glassy, crackly coating as it cools. The starchy saba banana holds its shape and softens rather than disintegrating when fried.

Variations

with jackfruit (langka), sweet potato or mango filling, cheese turon, dusted with sesame

On the Palate

Where Turon sits in the Filipino flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

6, ripeBanana

6 stripsJackfruit

6 sheetsSpring Roll Wrapper

3/4 cupBrown Sugar

for fryingOil

How it's made

8 steps · 15 min

1
3 min
Peel ripe saba bananas and slice each lengthwise.
2
2 min
Roll the banana slices in brown sugar to coat.
3
3 min
Place a banana piece and a strip of jackfruit on a spring roll wrapper.
4
3 min
Fold in the sides and roll up tightly, sealing the edge with water.
Watch out
Seal the wrapper edge with a dab of water and roll it tight — a loose or open seam lets the melting sugar leak out and burn in the oil.
5
2 min
Heat oil in a pan and sprinkle in some brown sugar so it begins to melt.
6
5 min
Fry the rolls in the sugary oil, turning until the wrapper is crisp and caramel-coated.
Watch out
Fry until the brown sugar in the oil turns amber and glazes the wrapper deep golden — that caramel coating is the whole point of turon.
7
2 min
Lift out and drain on a rack so the caramel sets into a crackly shell.
Watch out
Drain them upright on a rack, not on paper — resting on paper glues the hot caramel down soggy instead of hardening it into a crackly shell.
8
1 min
Serve hot, on their own or with a scoop of ice cream.