These healthy banana muffins are moist, fluffy, and flavorful! Made with whole wheat flour and maple syrup, they're a delicious breakfast or snack.
I’ve been making this banana muffin recipe on repeat lately! Adapted from my healthy banana bread, it’s made with whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. But even though these muffins are healthy, they’re super moist, fluffy, and full of sweet banana flavor. Kids and adults (well, at least Ollie, Jack, and me) can’t get enough of them.
I love these healthy banana muffins for breakfast or as a snack. We’ve been going through them pretty quickly in our house (I’ve made them 3 times this month already!), but if you have more restraint than we do, they’re great for meal prep. Bake them on the weekend and store them at room temperature for a couple of days, or freeze them for months. You’ll love being able to grab them on busy weekday mornings.
This recipe is easy to make with basic equipment and simple ingredients. If you have ripe bananas on hand, let’s get baking!
Healthy Banana Muffins Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this healthy banana muffin recipe:
- Ripe bananas, of course! Like my banana bread, these muffins are packed with banana. The recipe uses 2 cups mashed, about 4 large bananas. If you’re a little short, you can top off the measurement with whole milk Greek yogurt to keep the muffins moist.
- All-purpose flour and whole wheat flour – I like using a mix of these two flours in healthy baked goods. You get some of the benefits of whole grains (more fiber, more protein), without the muffins coming out dry or dense.
- Baking soda and eggs – They help the muffins puff up as they bake. The eggs add protein too.
- Pure maple syrup – It sweetens the muffins naturally.
- Melted coconut oil – For moisture and richness. A neutral oil like vegetable oil, or even olive oil, would work here too.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract – For warm, spiced depth of flavor.
- Walnuts – For crunch.
- Whole rolled oats – For sprinkling on top of the muffins. They become lightly crisp and toasty in the oven!
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Banana Muffins
This banana muffin recipe is easy to make in about 30 minutes! Here’s how it goes:
Start by making the batter. Mix together the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl and the wet ingredients in another.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the walnuts.
Evenly divide the batter into a 12-cup muffin pan that’s lined with muffin liners or lightly oiled. Sprinkle with the oats.
Bake at 350°F until the tops spring back to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely (or devouring them warm!).
Recipe Tips
- The riper the bananas, the better. Brown, spotty bananas will give these muffins the sweetest banana flavor.
- Spoon and level your flour. One of the most common baking mistakes I see people make is accidentally using too much flour. Because flour can easily become compacted, this happens when you scoop it up directly with your measuring cup. To measure accurately, fluff up the flour in its canister or bag, then gently spoon it into your measuring cup and level the top with a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stirring the batter too much will start to develop the gluten in the flour, making the muffins chewy and dense. For the best fluffy texture, mix the dry and wet ingredients until just combined.
Recipe Variations
- Change up the mix-ins. Replace the walnuts with another type of nuts, like pecans, or swap them out for dried fruit like raisins. Of course, chocolate chips would be great too!
- Make vegan banana bread muffins. These muffins are naturally dairy-free. For a vegan option, see my vegan banana muffins recipe.
- Turn them into quick bread. See my healthy banana bread recipe!
How to Store and Freeze
These healthy banana muffins keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
To freeze: These muffins freeze well. Allow them to cool to room temperature before sealing them in an airtight container or bag and storing them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To thaw: Let frozen muffins sit on the counter for about an hour to thaw, or defrost one in about 30 seconds in the microwave!
More Muffin Recipes to Try
If you love these healthy banana muffins, try one of these muffin recipes next:
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Or any of these 11 Healthy Muffin Recipes!
Healthy Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed very ripe banana, about 4 large
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup melted coconut oil, plus more for the pan
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons whole rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don’t overmix. Fold in the walnuts.
- Evenly divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups, adding about a heaping ⅓ cup to each one. Top with the oats.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops spring back to the touch. A toothpick inserted should come out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
These muffins turned out great!! I didn’t have nutmeg but it didn’t matter. I also added some coconut sugar because I still have a crazy sweet tooth, but they were still perfect and not over the top sweet! Thank you for the recipe!
My favorite muffin recipe of all time (and that is including my non-vegan muffin recipes). The chocolate chips take it over the top.
Hi Carol, I’m so happy you’re loving the recipe!! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I have made this recipe at least 10 times and it comes out perfect every time! I make these and put them in a large zip lock bag for our busy family to be able to grab on the way out the door for breakfast. My teenage daughter and husband love them. I made some for my brother-in-law who LOVES banana bread and he actually ate them for his dinner one night because he “could not wait until breakfast”. Thanks for sharing this quick, inexpensive and delicious recipe.
Hi Mateo – wow, I’m so happy these have been a hit with the whole family!
Hi! How many calories are in each muffin?
I’m not sure, but there are calorie calculators online for free that you could use to figure it out 🙂
could i make this recipe into banana bread? like in a loaf pan?
I think it would work – I’d just bake it longer, probably somewhere in between 40-50 minutes. Hope that helps!
Looks delicious, especially the muffins
Just made these and they’re amazing! Even my non-vegan family loves them! ❤️
Yay, I’m so happy to hear that!
These muffins are my new favorite! The flax makes them so yummy and moist (and fiber-rich- yay!) Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Beth, I’m so so glad you loved them!!
I made these to share at church and they were a big hit! So SOFT and chewy with a wonderful texture. It was my first time baking with flax meal instead of eggs, and I was skeptical, but now I think I might try flax more often! Next time I will probably add some chopped toasted walnuts to get a little more of that banana bread flavor. This recipe is definitely going into my regular dessert/snack rotation – thank you!
Hi Mary, I’m so glad they were a big hit! And yay for flax :). It doesn’t always replace eggs perfectly but I like to post about it when it does!
These are wonderful! I used a combination of flours: 1 cup regular and 3/4 buckwheat and it was delicious.
I’ll have to try that combo – I’m always looking for ways to use buckwheat!
Used King Arthur gluten free baking mix and these came out delicious! Also silicone cupcake cups and no additional greasing was necessary.
Hi Corrie, thanks for the tip about King Arthur’s GF mix!
Well, aren’t these just the cutest muffins EVER!
Made these for the family, everyone loved them!!
Yay, so glad to hear that!!
I love banana chocolate chip muffins! These look so delicious and chocolatey – perfect for brunch or as a sweet snack!
Yum! These sound delicious!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
These look so delicious and I can’t wait to make them. Any suggestions of what I could subsitute for the oil? Would it still taste good if I leave it out? Thanks!
Cindy,
Hi Cyn, I’m not sure, I don’t typically bake without some type of oil.
Applesauce 🙂
Yes, Marina has it right with the applesauce! I do it all the time since I am Whole Food Plant Based in my kitchen. It does tend to sweeten things though, so I wouldn’t use it in savory cooking. Baking though, it’s great!
I’ve been really enjoying using flax eggs in place of regular eggs lately in baking!! 🙂
I’m so glad! I find it so much easier to have flax on hand 🙂
I have tried a lot of vegan banana muffins and these are the best yet! They have a really nice crumb. Just don’t overmix the batter. It’s also nice to find a recipe that doesn’t have a whole cup of sugar in it. They are not overly sweet…they are just right. I used hazelnuts in place of the chocolate chips because that’s what I had in my cupboard, and it was really good!
Could you sub in spelt flour?
yep, you can!
Have you tried this with almond flour by chance?
Hi Allie, I haven’t tried this recipe with only almond flour, but I usually have success with 1/2 almond flour and 1/2 regular flour.
Wow, these look so yummy! I love that the chocolate chunks are still visible and not totally melted!
Ha, well they are pretty melty out of the oven, it was a challenge to shoot this one without shmearing chocolate all over everything 🙂