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Banana Muffins

4.99 from 188 votes

Bake these soft, sweet, and delicious homemade banana muffins for a healthy snack or breakfast recipe the entire family will love!

Super Healthy Banana Muffins

Super healthy banana muffins

Pack them in a lunch box

Serve as a healthy breakfast

Take on the go

It’s the perfect after school snack!

These light, moist banana muffins are a great option for both kids and adults.

They are quick and easy to whip up with pantry staple ingredients. And the simple recipe is packed with whole grains, fiber, potassium, and nutrition.

The muffins are also a good choice any time you find yourself with unexpected guests. Throw a batch into the oven, and it tastes like they came straight from the bakery!

You may also like these Applesauce Muffins

Above, watch the step-by-step banana muffin recipe video

Banana Bread Muffin Recipe

An easy wholesome breakfast or snack

People go crazy for these fluffy banana muffins every time I serve them.

With an irresistible flavor and bakery style texture, they are everything you could ever want in a banana muffin recipe.

The muffins can also be easily adapted to suit various special diets, including vegan, gluten free, soy free, egg free, oil free, dairy free, low fat, and nut free.

Everyone should have a basic muffin recipe in their repertoire, and these are the best banana muffins I’ve ever made in my life.

I hope you love them as much as we do!

Readers also love this Chocolate Banana Bread

Banana Muffins

Try the muffins with Homemade Nutella or my Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana muffin recipe ingredients

The recipe calls for mashed banana, pure vanilla extract, white or apple cider vinegar, optional oil, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder.

Types of flour that work include spelt flour, oat flour, and gluten free or white all purpose flour. I have not tried almond flour, whole wheat flour, or coconut flour here. Be sure to report back if you experiment with one of those options.

When combined with the liquid ingredients, the white vinegar or apple cider vinegar acts like a homemade buttermilk substitute.

Almost any all purpose granulated sweetener can be substituted for the sugar, including unrefined coconut sugar or date sugar, raw cane sugar, or xylitol or granular erythritol for added sugar free banana muffins.

To make muffins without oil, you can replace the three tablespoons with an equal amount of additional banana, Greek yogurt, or roasted mashed sweet potato.

For chocolate chip banana muffins: stir half a cup of regular or mini chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients. Press a few additional chips into the top of each muffin for presentation, just before baking.

You can also stir half a teaspoon of cinnamon and up to half a cup of crushed walnuts, almonds, or pecans into the batter before baking the muffins.

For a blueberry version, make Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Banana muffins in muffin tin

Serving suggestions

Thanks to their natural sweetness, the muffins are delicious hot out of the oven, without needing any butter or frosting.

They are also really great if you want to add a little of cinnamon to the batter and eat them with melted coconut butter or vegan cream cheese.

It almost makes them taste like eating a frosted banana cinnamon roll, and you will completely forget they’re actually good for you!

Or top the baked banana treats with peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, apple butter, or pumpkin butter.

Soft Moist Banana Muffins

How to make the best banana muffins

Whisk all of the liquid ingredients, including the banana, in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a muffin tin with liners.

Add all remaining ingredients, and stir until just evenly mixed. Smooth the muffin batter into the liners, and bake on the oven’s center rack for 20 minutes.

The muffins should be domed, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out mostly clean.

Once cooled, the liners should peel off easily from muffins with oil. Even if you make the fat free version, I’ve found that the liners still peel off easily the next day if you let the muffins sit loosely covered on the counter or in the refrigerator overnight.

Leftovers can be stored for a day loosely covered with a towel on the counter. For freshness, I recommend refrigerating any leftover banana muffins after this time. They can also be frozen for up to a month or two.

While the oven is hot, bake a Chocolate Mug Cake

bunch of bananas

Banana mini muffins

If you wish to turn this into a mini muffin recipe, follow the baking instructions above, using a mini muffin pan instead of a regular size pan.

Bake the homemade banana mini muffins for twelve minutes, then let cool on the counter before removing the liners.

Vegan Banana Muffins

Converting banana muffins to gram measurements

If you prefer to use a food scale instead of cups for precise baking, use the following metric measurements.

240 grams mashed banana, 30 grams water, 10 grams each of pure vanilla extract and vinegar, 36 grams of oil, 130 grams of flour, 65 grams of sugar. Add all of these along with the salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Note: One cup of mashed banana is usually equal to about two large bananas.

Use leftover bananas to make Banana Ice Cream

Easy Banana Muffins From Scratch
Pin it now to save for laterPin Recipe

Banana Muffins

These soft and moist banana muffins are a delicious healthy breakfast recipe!
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Yield 8 – 9 muffins
5 from 188 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mashed banana
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp white or cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp oil or nut butter, or 3 tbsp banana for fat free
  • 1 cup spelt, white, or oat flour (for flourless, try these Keto Muffins)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp each: baking soda and baking powder
  • 1/3 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
  • optional 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  • Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, and set aside for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a muffin tin. In a new bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients. Feel free to add 1/4 tsp cinnamon if you wish. Pour dry into wet, and stir until just evenly mixed. Portion into the muffin liners. Bake on the center rack, 19-20 minutes or until muffins have domed and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out mostly clean. Let cool. (I’ve found that if you loosely cover overnight—either on the counter or refrigerated—the liners then peel off easily, and flavor and texture are even better too!)
    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

The banana muffin recipe was adapted from this Healthy Banana Bread.
 

Have you made this recipe?

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Published on August 31, 2022

Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been 
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Huffington Post, and 
ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

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114 Comments

Leave a comment or reviewLeave a rating
    • Jason Sanford says

      There’s really no way to know unless you try, but it sounds like a fun experiment. Be sure to report back if you try!

    • Julie says

      I just tried almond flour and for some reason it didn’t seem to work, the muffins are tasty but still kinda wet like the mashed bananas. Had them in the oven almost 30 min too.

    • Vivian says

      Try sorghum flour. This is often used for muffins, cakes, cookies, etc. It creates a nice light texture and does not have any “unique” flavor.

  1. Cassie Autumn Tran says

    I totally don’t mind making all kinds of modifications for recipes, so fat free and gluten free muffins are my go-to when I’m not in the mood to purchase a giant tub of coconut oil, LOL! But in all seriousness, these are definitely going to become a staple dish for me once I stock up on oats and overripe (and hopefully discounted) bananas!

  2. Bonnie says

    These were delicious!! My daughter has celiac so finding gluten free recipes that taste good and don’t require expensive flour is always a win in my book. I just ground up some of the gluten free oats I have to make a flour and I subbed out pyure for the sugar and added a few chocolate chips..everyone LOVES them!!

  3. Peggy says

    These are delicious! I used mini muffin tins. Perfect little snack to pop in your mouth. I had a little extra batter so I made a mug muffin in the microwave. Thanks for another easy recipe!

  4. Linda says

    These banana muffins were so good! I added crushed walnuts and dried cranberries to the batter. Next time I want to add chocolate chips and shredded coconut. So many possibilities right now. Do yourself a favor and make these.

  5. Lauren says

    I’m curious as to why the ingredients are by weight: 100 grams of flour etc. That is so helpful when baking and I thought most of Katie’s recipes were measured by weight.

    • Helen says

      You can covert it very easily by google. For example: 1 cup flour in grams. 1/2 teaspoon salt in grams, etcetera. I always do that.

  6. Baker says

    Hey Katie!
    I love baking as a hobby and I just made these. They are so soft and fluffy and warm! I can definitely say that this is one of my favourite recipes of yours. I like how it isn’t too sweet as well. Thank you. 🙂

    • Jamie says

      These were so good! I used cashew butter and left out the sugar. For the flour, I did a mixture of oat flour, whole wheat flour and flax meal.

      It was really good right out of the oven with peanut butter on top.

  7. Isabel says

    Do you think I can add chocolate chips to these without needing to adjust baking time or other parts of the recipe? Looking for a banana chocolate chip muffin recipe and hoping it won’t be a big deal if I just toss from chips into this base.

    Thanks!

  8. Tanya says

    These are delicious!! I made them as mini-muffins, in the oven for 15 minutes. Also added 1/3 cup chocolate chips 🙂 me and my 2 year old ate these up so fast! Making another batch right now ?

  9. Helen says

    Really delicious! I found the mix a bit thick so i added a little liquid. Cant believe they rose so well and I dont feel the egg was missed. Top!

  10. Jenn says

    These were AMAZING!! Definitely going to make them again… and again… and again. I added some chopped walnuts. Thank you so much for sharing this.

  11. Mari Bakes says

    These turned out great. Used oat flour and nut butter. Could I add cocoa powder? And if so how much and do I need to make any other modifications?

  12. Sarah says

    I made these today but unfortunately they didn’t turn out well. Definitely putting it down to me using Greek yogurt instead of oil or extra banana. Also found these very sweet so would omit sweetener if I were to try again. They were like raw batter even when left in the oven for an extra 10 minutes.

  13. Maegan H says

    I found your page after I made a banana muffin recipe and was horrified how much sugar was in them! I made these this evening (without Nutella due to time AND accidentally forget the milk-oops) but the taste is still nearly identical!! I also used frozen bananas that I thawed, which gives a great flavor!

  14. Ti says

    Great recipe! Just made them and subbed applesauce for the oil/nut butter and they were so light and fluffy. Gonna check out the sweet potato brownies recipe next! Thanks so much!

  15. Jessie says

    No less than 15 mistakes and a cup of blueberries later, these turned out great! I love a recipe that’s forgiving. Thanks, Katie!

  16. Katie says

    Bananas, almond butter, vanilla, 2% milk, vinegar, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt. only difference is coconut flour. i don’t have another kind besides that.

    • Jason Sanford says

      Well that would definitely be it! Coconut flour is unfortunately not something you can substitute for other flours in most recipes, because it is completely different – it soaks up liquid like a sponge.

    • Jason Sanford says

      No problem! Coconut flour can be really fun to experiment with, you just almost always end up having to change other things around in a recipe when you do.

  17. Sal says

    I subbed oats w golden flax seed and used a no sugar agave liquid they have now for a more low carb version. Very good! My son loves them…

  18. Deliah says

    They came out a little bit too sweet for me the first time I made them, so I lowered the sugar to 1/4 cup and ohhhh my god these are so delicious! It took a lot of willpower not to eat the whole batch in a single day.

  19. Lisa says

    Flavor was amazing! I wish they were bigger though. Will they work as well if I doubled the recipe and filled up the cup to 3/4 full?

  20. Frances Biggins says

    I mistakenly put in 1/4 cup of almond milk, (in addition to the 2 tbsp of almond milk), but they turned out lovely.

  21. Kristen says

    Really good. Next time I’ll add quite a bit more non-dairy milk; the batter was super dry, and yielded less muffins than described. But regardless these were very good and super easy, will make again!

      • Kristen says

        I used plain, regular flour, and unsweetened soy milk.
        Maybe my bananas weren’t ripe enough?
        The muffins were still good though! 🙂

        • Jason Sanford says

          Haha I just asked because a lot of times when someone mentions a baked good being dry, it turns out they subbed coconut flour. In this case I guess maybe Katie used more loosely packed flour, or maybe it was a dry day, unripe bananas, so many things can change a baked good recipe! Glad they tasted good in any case 🙂

          • Kristen says

            Ohhh ok yep I’m in Australia – it’s quite dry down here! 🙂 Makes sense, thanks

  22. Giulia says

    We are obsessed with this muffins, this is our breakfast for life! They are so good and good for you. I made them with whole wheat flour to make them even healthier, they were very good…but I add chocolate chips everytime 🙂

  23. Emma says

    Katie, your recipes wow me every time!
    These were superb. Cinnamon is a must in my opinion. They turned out soft, moist, and delicious.
    For reference, I used about 3 medium bananas, 2 tbsp vegetable oil, AP flour and oat milk.

  24. Cari J. says

    These truly are the best! My teenage son asked if I would make them ‘as often as possible’. Thanks for another fantastic recipe!

  25. Giulia says

    Hi, these are greats, I’ve been making these for breakfast and as a snack for my friends, everybody loves them!
    But if I try to calculate the calories I get more calories than the one calculated by Katie, (I even use less sugar than the original version) it must be related to the cups to grams conversion I assume, could it be possible to have the grams of this recipes?

    • Aspyn says

      hi,

      I actually converted these to grams for baking myself and here is what I got for 8 muffins:

      – 300g mashed banana
      – 30ml milk
      – 10ml vanilla extract
      – 10ml white or cider vinegar
      – 45ml oil OR 65g peanut butter OR 55g mashed banana
      – 150g flour (spelt, white, oat)
      – 1/2 + 1/8 tsp salt
      – 1/2 tsp baking soda
      – 1/2 tsp baking powder
      – 68g sugar
      – 1/4 tsp cinnamon

      With regular sugar and oil, I got 123 calories per muffin. Without the oil (ie using extra mashed banana), I got 94 calories!

      Hope this helps 🙂

  26. Jodie says

    These really are the best ever! Added walnuts and pecans for some crunch. Next time i will double the recipe as I only got 7 muffins. I did almost fill the liners as I prefer a good size muffin. Double batch for 12-14 muffins next time. Also i baked at night and covered with a kitchen towel over night, it really does help the texture and removal of liners. Great recipe. Thanks

  27. Vivian says

    Since we prefer our muffins to have some texture to them rather than be mushy (think grocery store muffins), I add 1/2 cup coarsely blended old fashioned oats. You could also use quick oats but I did not have them. I did not add any sugar because my bananas were very ripe. I did add 3 tablespoons of maple syrup so the batter would be wet enough to account for the extra oats. I used half whole grain spelt flour and half oat flour. I also add a scant 1/2 cup of small broken walnut pieces. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and reduced the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. I also lightly spray the bottom of my muffins papers with oil and then use a tissue to blot out any excess oil so that you can remove the papers even if the muffins are warm and they do not fall apart. I let the muffin batter sit for about 10 minutes in the cups so the oats had a chance to soak up the liquid. The muffins were AMAZING. For the previous poster who asked for a recipe that allowed her to fill the muffin cup 3/4 full, THIS is the one.

  28. KZ says

    LOVED these muffins!! used coconut sugar, coconut oil, out flour, and oat milk. My kids loved as well. They do not taste healthy 🙂

  29. Emm says

    Can I leave out sugar completely? I don’t don’t want to use any form of sugar or sweetener? Aren’t the bananas sweet enough on their own?

  30. Kelsie says

    These are the best muffins I have ever eaten, and that’s saying something… I’ve eaten a lot of muffins in my days. Now the only thing I have to do is figure out a way to hide them from my family!

  31. Amber Cruz says

    These are soooooo amazing!! I didn’t add the extra sugar and they’re perfectly sweet. Such an easy recipe yet the moistest banana muffins I’ve ever had!!

    • CCK Media Team says

      We know xylitol works so would think that any granulated sweetener that measures like sugar cup-for-cup should work, but unfortunately we can’t say for 100% sure about sucralose because we haven’t tried it.

  32. Sarah says

    Dear Katie. I’m using oat flour to make these muffins. May I know the weight of the flour in grams? Thanks a lot

  33. Sarah says

    Dear Katie. I’m using oat flour to make these muffins. May I know the weight of the flour in grams? Thanks in advance

  34. Claudie says

    Hands down the best banana muffins. I’ve been making muffins for decades and these are definitely a to go recipe. Everyone loved them. Super moist. I added a vegan silver dollar chocolate chip on top which was perfect.

  35. Rebecca L Dolbee says

    My husband and I are obsessed. Perfect texture and flavor. Made 3x in the last month and will keep doing so!

  36. Maria Warkentine says

    AWESOME! Made this as banana bread b/c I had no muffin tins and it’s amazing! tender, moist, sweet. Instead of sugar, I used a mix of stevia and xylotol. Used melted butter for the oil variation. love it!

  37. Chanuli says

    Hi, Katie! Tried this recipe today and it came out great!! Tasted just like banana bread. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who craves something healthy and tasty at the same time.

    • CCK Media Team says

      Hi yes, full nutrition facts for all of Katie’s recipes are always linked under the ingredients/instructions 🙂

  38. Frances says

    I really like this recipe but used SR flour and omitted the baking powder.
    When I first bite into them, I can taste the baking soda a little (not enough to stop me from scoffing the lot though!)
    Any advice please?

  39. Alex says

    5 stars
    For baking these — or anything for that matter — does it matter what pan I use if I don’t care about what form they come out as? (ie bake them into “cookies” if I don’t have a muffin pan?)

    If it works, I’m wondering if I can apply this liberal concept to everything on this site — just make the dough and cook it in ANY bake wear I have available.

  40. Susan says

    5 stars
    Easy & guaranteed delicious like all CCK recipes! I included the cinnamon & threw in a handful of extra dark chocolate chunks because…chocolate. Thanks as always, Katie.

  41. Jodie says

    4 stars
    Texture and moisture are spot on! Added a handful of chopped walnuts as well as optional cinnamon and opted for adding avocado oil -so good! I think you could cut the salt to 1/4 tsp total and be a-ok. A bit too salty with the full 1/2 tsp + 1/8 tsp.

  42. Tiffany says

    5 stars
    I don’t normally comment on recipes, but these turned out way beyond anything I expected. Probably the best muffins I’ve made so far. I added some walnuts and used a mini muffin tin. I’ll be checking your website out, thank you!

  43. Isabel Carr Smart says

    Made these yesterday with oat flour, mixed nut butter and no added sugar. The were delicious and filling, with great texture.

  44. m says

    5 stars
    this recipe is soo good! I had a couple small ripe bananas and they only came out to about 2/3 cup so I used applesauce for the other 1/3 cup and used coconut sugar instead of cane

    I baked them for 20 minutes and after they cooled they seemed slightly underbaked but still good, after refrigerating them they were perfect! moist, not too sweet, such a good banana flavor and a really nice texture, love these and will be making them
    again!

  45. Berlin says

    5 stars
    Bomb! I made two batches – one with peanut butter instead of oil, 1/4 cup of coconut sugar for the sweetener, and chocolate chunks mixed in. The second batch I just used extra mashed banana in place of the oil, added 2 tbsp honey for the sweetener and mixed in walnuts. The first batch was definitely a bit more decadent and the second more hearty, but both were so delicious!! I reckon next time I make them, i’ll omit the added sweetener, just used mashed banana and mix in chocolate chunks and coconut flakes! Thanks for the recipe.

  46. Deanna says

    5 stars
    These turned out so yummy!! Super light and fluffy and I like how vanilla-heavy they were – nice flavor. I used the measurements by weight and added directly to the mixing bowl so there were hardly any dishes to do either. 😊 win win!

  47. Ruth says

    5 stars
    These tasted great. Used light spelt flour, 3 ripe bananas, and natural creamy peanut butter. Only disappointment was that it only made 4 mini loaves!

  48. Alex says

    5 stars
    I have vanilla bean. — not extract. How can one use that in this recipe as a substitute for extract, or in any recipe on this website — or baking — for that matter? Is it possible to substitute one for the other? If so, how? One is solid and the other liquid.

  49. Susan says

    5 stars
    I made this today with 3 medium sized bananas. I used AP flour. I cut down the granulated sugar to1/4 cup (I’m not a sweet eater, so will use 1/8 cup next time). I added 1/3 cup chopped walnuts & 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Instead of oil, I added 3 T unsweetened applesauce. Baked as directed & 19 minutes later, had 8 fabulous banana nut muffins.
    I’m so glad I found you!

  50. Rachel says

    5 stars
    One of my go-to recipes for the past year. It’s foolproof—always soooo delicious, super easy, and I always have all the ingredients I need on hand. I add a bunch of chocolate chips to my batter and it’s just…perfection. 10/10. I’ve made these probably like 20 or 25 times at this point.

  51. Ruby says

    5 stars
    These muffins are AWESOME! They are delicious – very soft, tender, and fluffy! I made them in the past but I didn’t follow directions on amount of time to allow wet ingredients to sit (10 minutes). Definitely a keeper recipe! I love your site and have enjoyed each recipe I tried. Thanks! By the way, these muffins are fantastic with a little peanut butter (fresh out of the oven with a little peanut butter – fantastic! ).

  52. Margaret says

    5 stars
    Delicious muffins, but I’m curious why the recipe isn’t adjusted to make a traditional batch of 12 muffins. They disappear so fast otherwise.

  53. Ashley says

    5 stars
    These turned out great! I used extra bananas instead of oil as suggested. I also used 1:1 ratio of dates (minced in blender) instead of sugar! I added cinnamon and walnuts. NO oil! NO sugar! And they tasted awesome.

  54. Leonie says

    5 stars
    These are truly the yummiest muffins! The texture is super perfect and they are just the right amount of sweet (not sickly) at first I was annoyed because I didn’t read that it doesn’t make 12 but now I don’t care haha I will definitely be making these again!

  55. Karen Hickey says

    5 stars
    So yummy! This last batch that I made, I made the Keto version using Almond Flour. I added 1 egg and replaced the oil with Peanut Butter. Cooking time for the Keto version was about 22 minutes for full sized muffins. And, I always add pecans. They came out super moist and delicious!

  56. Chenoa Dickerson says

    5 stars
    These were so moist and yummy! I used walnuts on top which added a nice crunch. Will definitely make again!

  57. NSTamz says

    5 stars
    I did just banana, a coconut sugar and raw can sugar blend and added chocolate chips. They were exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for always having such lovely treats that can be modified to suit dietary requirements. Much appreciated!

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