Banana chips are deep-fried and/or dried slices of banana. They can be covered with sugar or honey and have a sweet taste, or they can be fried in oil and spices and have a salty and/or spicy taste. Variants of banana chips may be covered with chocolate instead.

Usually, the chips are produced from underripe bananas, of which slices are deep-fried in sunflower oil or coconut oil, which are then dried, and to which preservatives are added. These varieties of chips can be very oily, due to the deep-frying process.

Another form of fried banana chips, usually made in Kerala (India) and known locally as 'upperi', is fried in coconut oil. Both ripe and unripe bananas are used for this variant. Sometimes they are coated with masala or jaggery to form both spicy and sweet variants. It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called sadya served during weddings and traditional festivals such as Onam.

To avoid confusion, it may help to understand the difference between banana and plantain. In Kerala, contrary to commonly accepted definitions, plantains are the small sweet fruits and bananas are the large fruits. So in Kerala, unripe bananas (the large fruits) are used to make salted and sweet chips. Partially-ripe plantains (the smaller sweeter fruits) are also fried into chips.

These deep-fried plantain chips are also quite popular in the southeastern part of Mexico. Specially in the state of Tabasco where the company Charricos produces and commercializes an assortment of sweet, salty and spicy plantain snacks.

The chips are often part of muesli and nut mixes.

Other chips, such as patacones, are salty.

Similar chips can also be made from plantains, which are starchier varieties of bananas.

Some healthier varieties of banana chips can be produced using only food dehydration. Banana slices that are only dehydrated are not light brown and leathery, but rather are dark yellow and crunchy. They are very sweet and have an intense banana flavor. These are ideally made from bananas that are fully ripe.

Another kind is made by baking in an oven, although this process may not result in the same intense banana flavor.