These banana muffins are soft, buttery, and spiced with cinnamon. They’re wonderful plain, with chopped walnuts, or even chocolate chips. You need 3 large ripe bananas and a few basic kitchen ingredients to get started.
Banana bread is wonderful, but muffins are quicker, more convenient, easily portable, and taste just as good. I’ve been searching for the perfect EASY banana muffin recipe since my daughter began eating solids. We always have bananas in the house which means we eventually have spotty bananas ready for baking!
These quick and easy banana muffins bake in 30 minutes, so if you need to be in and out of the kitchen FAST (um, don’t we all?), this recipe is your savior.
Banana Muffin Ingredients—Each Is Important!
This banana muffin recipe requires a handful of basics like flour, sugar, and milk. That’s what I love about baking—it’s the same base ingredients for basically everything.
- Flour: I tested the recipe with both all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour and LOVED both variations. See recipe Note below.
- Melted Butter: We’ll use melted butter as the fat, though melted coconut oil works too. I love using melted butter in baked goods, and though I was afraid these banana muffins would taste too dense without creaming softened butter (which incorporates air), that’s not the case at all.
- Bananas, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg: The flavor team.
- Egg: 1 egg gives the muffins structure.
- Milk: A common ingredient in some muffin recipes including pumpkin muffins, milk provides necessary moisture. Dry muffins… the worst.
- Sugar: Sweetens. When I make these for my daughter, I use half brown sugar and half coconut sugar. You can use all brown sugar, all coconut sugar, or a mixture of the two. Keep in mind that coconut sugar isn’t quite as sweet as brown sugar, so the flavor will change. See my recipe Note. 🙂
Do these banana muffins taste like banana bread? Yes, totally! But they have a lighter, softer, and more buttery texture. You’ll love it.
How to Make Banana Muffins Moist
There’s a fine line between a moist banana muffin and a dry banana muffin, aka sandpaper in a cupcake wrapper. To make banana muffins moist, make sure you’re using a solid ratio of dry to wet ingredients. I found the muffins to be dry without the addition of liquid, but a couple Tablespoons of milk solved the problem. Use a little fat (butter), brown sugar, and plenty of bananas for lots of moisture and flavor.
How to Mash Bananas
So I started doing this last year and it’s been a total game changer whenever I make banana cake, these breakfast cookies, or banana bread. Just use your mixer to mash bananas! Peel and break them into chunks, place in your mixer, and beat until mashed. Beat the rest of the wet ingredients right into this bowl, then beat in the dry ingredients. So easy.
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking. Try not to mash too much or else you’ll be left with 2 cups of banana-y liquid; some chunks are great.
This banana muffin recipe is perfect if you:
- Have 3 large spotty bananas
- Love banana bread
- Need a quick homemade breakfast, snack, etc.
- Don’t feel like creaming butter and sugar together
- Don’t feel like dirtying 100 pans
And, to turn these into a scrumptious treat, you could dip the tops of the cooled muffins into chocolate ganache and add sprinkles. (Affiliate link: I love these naturally colored sprinkles.) You can also add the streusel topping from these banana chocolate chip streusel muffins.
More Muffin Recipes
These easy banana muffins have been my default for awhile, though I usually switch between these and a couple other muffin recipes previously published. I consider these muffins on the healthier side and they’re each toddler & adult approved. 🙂
- Baby Apple Oat Muffins
- Bran Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins (these include oats)
- Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Healthy Apple Muffins & Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Would love to know if you try any of them!
PrintQuick & Easy Banana Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These banana muffins are soft, buttery, and spiced with cinnamon. They’re wonderful plain, but taste fantastic with 1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips. You need 3 ripe bananas and a handful of basic kitchen ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas)
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
- 2/3 cup (135g) packed light or dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)*
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk*
- optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then beat or whisk until combined. If adding nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now. Batter will be thick.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).) Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to continue cooling.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-Count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Why the initial high temperature? The hot burst of air will spring up the top of the muffin quickly, then the inside of the muffin can bake for the remainder of the time. This helps the muffins rise nice and tall.
- Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to substitute whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour or use a mix of both as long as you use 1 and 1/2 cups total. If using all whole wheat flour, add another Tablespoon (15ml) of milk.
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Sugar: You can use 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar or coconut sugar. Or a mixture of these to yield 2/3 cup. If using 2/3 cup coconut sugar, the muffins won’t be as sweet. I find they taste best with 2/3 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup of each. 2/3 cup of honey or pure maple syrup works too, though the muffins will taste a little more moist in the centers. I’m unsure about sugar substitutes, but let me know if you try any.
- Milk: Use your favorite variety of dairy or nondairy milk.
- Banana Bread: Here’s my favorite banana bread recipe. 🙂
Best banana muffins I have ever tasted!!!!
My dauhgter of 6 wanted to bake bananacupcakes… they are delicious! So all the way from Belgium… Thank you !
Pretty good! Would recommend adding chocolate chips or nuts for more flavor.
Oh my goodness these are so good! Like bet you can’t have just 1 good! I used whole wheat flour and added 1 cup of chocolate chips. Total cook time was 21 minutes. This recipe is a keeper!
Spot on!!!!
Just wanted to say thank you for also listing the “grams” for each ingredient!!! In Europe we usually don’t work in “cups”. Kiss
Yum! So delicious and easy. This will be my go to banana muffin recipe going forward. Thank you!
I have easily tried 30 different banana muffin recipes and could never find one I liked. This is by far the tastiest I have ever tried. This will now be my go to recipe. They were so light and tender. I added chocolate chips. My family devoured them!
I made these for the first time today and made a double batch – half mini muffins and half regular. They all turned out amazing and I will definitely be using this recipe from now on! They’re perfectly moist, the cook times were exact, and I already had all the ingredients at home. Highly recommend making these!
Fabulous, moist, easy, addictive, and they freeze beautifully! I added 1 cup of sliced almonds. It is now a staple recipe in our house. Wow and thanks!
Made these yesterday and they were delicious, per usual! I would highly recommend a little dollop of Nutella in the middle of a muffin or two, kind of sandwiched in there. They still baked up deliciously and it was a nice sweet addition! Thank you, Sally, for another great recipe!
I’ve used this recipe so many times over the past few months and the muffins always come out super moist and delicious! I usually split the batter in half and make a batch with chocolate chips and another with nuts. Just made a batch now with whole wheat flour, a bit of yoghurt and some blueberries – it smells amazing and I can’t wait to dig in!
Suspiciously easy and super tasty, first attempt at banana muffins. Perfect for lockdown baking. Added Lindt dark chocolate pieces, great combination. Thank you.
I’m not a fan of banana cake/bread but my 3 year old wanted to bake something and we had bananas that needed using so figured we would give it a whirl and keep her happy. Omg they are amazing, the cinnamon and nutmeg make it taste like Christmas! Not overly bananary (yes that’s a word ) and so light and moist. We will defo be making these again!
I have blueberries that I’d like to use, would it be okay to add a cup or more?
Adding 1 cup of blueberries works just fine.
Thanks for the recipe. Was great plus easy. Followed the recipe exactly. But when I went for the walnuts empty container. So I soaked some raisins in hot water drained them and the muffins are yummy!! Ty again from wa.st.
Hi Sally! I’m going to try this today but was wondering if I can use the big muffin pan for this. Will there be a difference in the cooking time maybe? Thank you!
Hi Elle, if using a jumbo muffin pan, I recommend following the same baking times as my jumbo blueberry muffins. (With the initial high temperature trick.)
Delicious!! Very moist and lots of flavor. I was wondering about adding a crumb topping on top? Do you think that would work?
These are the best banana muffins!! It’s my go to and they always come out perfect. I’ve tried dozens of different recipes. I do like to butter the muffin pan instead of using liners. These are amazing thank you for sharing!
I usually make a very simple banana bread muffin that doesn’t have flour or dairy in it, but decided to give this recipe a try. The results smell HEAVENLY! Some of my muffins ended up more lopsided, but they taste great so I’m not even worried! Super easy recipe to whip up whenever your muffins start getting a bit more brown. Thanks!!
Your banana muffins taste amazing!my daughter is a big fun too, I was surprised that they turned out perfect the first time over
These turned out great. My sons loved them! About a week ago, I also made your bakery chocolate chip muffins and they were a huge hit too. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Love it! I noticed that the muffins browns quickly though (assuming because of the high heat the beginning), but it is still ok with 16 mins at 350F.
We made these today and they were a little on the dry side but we still ate them. Next time I will check my muffins closer to 13 mins.
hey!
I did this recipe at altitude (6500 ft). I used 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and baking soda and 4 tablespoons of milk. Recipe turned out great!
Hi sally, I tried ur recipe (doubled) and it turned out just perfect. added some choc chip for the little sweet tooth at home..
So I just made these tonight. Did not have brown sugar, so I used 2/3 cup of regular granulated sugar. And added half a bag of butterscotch chips. They were PERFECT. This is the perfect recipe. They were moist, and just delightful. Will be bookmarking this recipe!
The best banana muffins I have ever made! My kids can’t get enough of these. I also made them to give to family and friends and everyone wanted the recipe! They all said “there’s something different about these we can’t figure out!” I find cinnamon a bit overpowering so I used 1/2 teaspoon instead of 1 teaspoon and it was perfect for me! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Who knew making muffins could be so easy! I absolutely love this recipe and can’t stop baking them for friends and family, as well as myself. Delish… Thank you!
I made them today.. so wonderful… moist, full flavored…and so moist. (I even forgot the milk) this is my new muffin for life.. THANKS Sally
Hi! I just wanna drop by and say I tried your recipe and it is just delicious! Those little extra things you added in there such as the cinnamon and the nutmeg make a big difference than just making them with the basics. In other words, those tiny things which do not cost much more effort make a huge difference. Thanks for sharing!